Inkwell Institute
Middle East desk
We all have an opinion on the situation that has developed in Libya…..I have made my views known (go to search and type in Libya…if interested) and I have even asked a few questions that I would like to see answered….many readers have offered up their opinions and insights and we will just have to wait an see who may be right…..after writing my last post…I had another question that nudged into my bleeding brain……with all the fighting in the North of Libya….what if there is a stalemate….what then?
And a stalemate is in the making….loyal Qaddafi forces are using regular vehicles in attacks so that aircraft cannot discern who is who….a clever bit of strategy……
First of all I need to say a word or …well maybe a bunch….about what I see is going on in Europe (I would like for my friends, especially Quin to help me out since I am not there) with this military action…..
In the UK……will this action strengthen Cameron’s position? From what I see he is having a time with the public….could he gain from the participation of the UK in this conflict with Qadafi and his forces? Is there public support for the action?
France……Sarkozy has been a bitch when dealing with this thing…..his popularity is waning…nationalists and socialists have made in roads into local governments giving them an upper hand when the next election comes around….so Sarkozy is hoping that this action will improve his political capital….he wants to be in the lead for that will make him a DeGaulle-esque figure….if all goes well……
There was a recent meeting in London of the major players……….
As the Guardian noted, Cameron and Clinton were careful in their remarks at the conference to refrain from directly repeating their demand that Gaddafi step down, because among the governments represented at the conference there are differences over openly making regime-change an aim of the war.
“Cameron did not repeat his demand for Gaddafi to stand down immediately and to face justice at the International Criminal Court,” the Guardian noted. “The conference is attended by Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, who is hoping to broker a ceasefire between Gaddafi and the rebel forces. Franco Frattini, the foreign minister of Libya’s former imperial ruler, Italy, who has raised the prospect of spiriting Gaddafi to exile, is also attending.”
The bit about “Qadafi Must Go” is waning….as if they are setting up a scenario for him to stay…let surmise that that occurs…..what then….will Libya be partitioned? I am sorry….but Libya’s natural resources that are in abundance makes me think there is something afoot here………OK…that may be a bit of a conspiracy theory….but happenings from the past does not rule it out!
Yes. Good post. I’ve always seen this as one of the worst possible scenarios. However, as to your views of Britain and France. people are disenchanted with Sarcosy for far more complex reasons and that has nothing to do with Libya. Cameron has problems with the hard left unions, but then that is a perennial difficulty in the UK – for ALL of us and little or nothing to do with workers, but rather with non-workers and public employees who have in the past enjoyed a VASTLY superior employment package than the private sector – largely for doing sweet f*ck all that’s useful to most of us – in fact many of them are a severe pain in the ass! However, Labour’s HUGE expansion of the public sector has worsened that pain and expense immeasurably for the majority at no gain to anyone except those public sector workers and scroungers themselves. Now they are pissed because they can see their privilege about to wane considerably and quickly.
NONE of that has anything to do with Libya and Brits at least are largely supportive of the current action as far as I can tell. I think that most would support re-arming the rebels properly too – NO one (apart from a few lunatics and the odd pacifist) gives a sh*t if someone strings Gaddafi up, or helps others to shoot the bastard!
The UK media is quite good at reporting the news moderately fairly (apart from the tabloids of course, who mostly report who’s screwing who, rather than news and are not at all averse to making up what they can’t find out). However, just as “no news is often GOOD news” (as the saying goes) the converse is that “good news is mostly NO news”, so they do like to pick on the complaints of minorities and blow them up out of all proportion whilst spreading doom and gloom everywhere – it sells newspapers and attracts subscritions and viewers.
I am saying that Sarkozy will use this to divert attention from economy and will try to use it as some sort of rallying point….
Arming rebels……this is gonna be a tricky thingy….we armed AQ against the Russians and we see how well that worked out…..
Here the media is SO goddamn worthless that I go to African papers and the UK for info…..I want real news NOT spin and the US media is spinning its ass off….either pro or con…..
Thanx for the UK point of view…appreciate the stuff…..
Here we go……http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-01/libyan-rebels-seek-cease-fire-after-u-s-vows-to-withdraw-jets.html