Inspired by this story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/09/07/gadhafi-petro-canada.html
Continue readingTag: libya
RedBedHead: Libya’s Rebels: Yesterday We Tortured Them, Today We Arm Them
There’s no doubt that NATO, primarily the UK, France and the US, inserted themselves into the Libyan uprising as a means of gaining control over the course of the Arab Spring. In the case of France, it’s clear that expanding the control of Libya’s oil …
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Libya Rebel Leader Underscores Our Deep Hypocricy
When it first became clear that NATO actions in Libya were going to far exceed the UN mandate of a no-fly zone to protect civilians and would instead be a massive and sustained bombing campaign on all kinds of military targets in support of the rebels …
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Taking care of business
The Financial Post is pleased to report that Suncor Energy Inc., along with other oil companies, is preparing to return to the Libyan oil fields. After six months of intense fighting that shut down oil-production facilities and forced massive evacuations of expatriate oil workers, Libya’s future as a place to do business brightened dramatically as leaders of the Libyan uprising met with world powers in Paris to map out the country’s rebuilding and Canada lifted unilateral economic sanctions imposed last February. My emphasis. And that, after all, is what this has mainly been about, isn’t it? It wasn’t a matter of ensuring that Libyans could control their own destiny. It was about ensuring that the right Libyans ended up in control of the oil fields — the Libyans who were already on good terms with NATO countries, who were already in favour of privatizing Libya’s oil and who would be agreeable to giving easy access to the countries who helped them take control. Until recently I’d been thinking of NATO as an organization desperately seeking justification for its own existence since the original threat it was to protect against had faded. Now I think of NATO as just one more…
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Canada Wins The War! Canada Wins The War!
And history will record this: that it was the good work of Canada’s Armed Services – your work – working with our allies, that enabled the Libyan people to remove Gaddafi from power.Not to denigrate the efforts of our Royal Army. …
Continue readingRedBedHead: Did NATO Kill The Libyan Revolution?
What do you say when a dictator is overthrown and the news shows pictures of people celebrating? That’s easy, right? You feel good that the world is a slightly better place. But, then, what do you say if the dictator wasn’t fundamentally defeated by th…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Has Libya Already Fallen to al-Qaeda?
According to Asia Times, the Libyan rebel commander now in charge in Tripoli and his colleagues elsewhere throughout the country are al-Qaeda assets.His name is Abdelhakim Belhaj. Some in the Middle East might have, but few in the Wes…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Battle of Underground Tripoli
Where’s Waldo, er Gaddafi? After all, the guy swore he’d fight to the end but, then again, some of us remember when Muammar Gaddafi was determined to fight Israel to the last, well to the last Egyptian anyway. The Libyan rebels …
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: And this is where we juxtapose
Yesterday in the Guardian (with my emphasis): Nato will continue to deploy strike aircraft, spy planes and unmanned drones over Libya but will not put any troops on the ground to help the transitional council maintain law and order, alliance officials made clear on Wednesday. I’m sure that means just as much as the previous commitment not to put boots on the ground at all. Yesterday on CNN International: Special forces troops from Britain, France, Jordan and Qatar on the ground in Libya have stepped up operations in Tripoli and other cities in recent days to help rebel forces as they conducted their final advance on the Gadhafi regime, a NATO official confirmed to CNN Wednesday. … Qatari and French forces also have provided some armaments, the official said. The NATO spokesperson in the first article says that helping the new Libyan government to keep order is a perfect job for the UN. Knowing full well that the UN has few options in that regard that don’t involve NATO countries, he goes on to state that NATO would be pleased to help the UN if asked. I’m sure they would. H/t to Toedancer for the CNN article….
Continue readingRedBedHead: Good Gaddafi, Hello NATO
There will be much celebrating across Libya over the next several days even as the mop-up operations get under way. Of course, there’s no guarantee that this will be over for a while. It’s hard to know what kind of resistance to the rebel victory will …
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Where’s Waldo? Tripoli Style
Muammar Gaddafi has gone to ground and nobody seems to know where. He might be hunkered down inside his personal compound where a fierce firefight continues as rebels close in. He might have already fled the country. Al Jazeera …
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: The Pottery Barn Rule applies to Libya: We broke it, now we own it…
U.S. Marines board the Barbary Pirates’ gunboat in Tripoli harbour, Feb. 16, 1804, a big night for the United States Marine Corps. Things are more problematic for the United States and its NATO allies in Tripoli tonight. Below: Col. Muammar Gaddafi.
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Blunt Objects: End of a very long road, or just a new corner?
The Libyan rebels are inside Tripoli in a so-far amazingly successful push against the tyrant Gaddhafi’s stronghold. There are credible rumours that his son, Saif Al-Islam (pictured here), has been captured, while other rumours abound about Gaddhafi’s …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.
– Andrew Jackson describes the next phase of the global economic crisis:
Now we face a new financial crisis, or at least a stock market correction of major proportions, which may precipitate a new phase of the c…
The Disaffected Lib: Our Libya Policy Is Just What Islamist Extremists Prayed For
The most important thing in the fight against Gaddafi was the one we ignored – getting the job done quickly.Time was very much of the essence in this one. In neighbouring Egypt, Mubarak had only recently been toppled but the face of the governmen…
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Libya in Turmoil as Top Military Rebel Leader is Assassinated
Rebel military leader Abdul Fatah Younis has been killed, possibly by his own soldiers. Younis was called before a tribunal, after rumours circulated that he had maintained his connections with Gadhafi.However, he was shot dead before he had a chance f…
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Never mind Gen. Natynczyk, the French have it right: jawr-jawr in Libya better than war-war!
Air forces: delivering failure from the sky since the dawn of flight. Next up, seeing as that didn’t work, boots on the ground? Below: Gen. Walter Natynczyk, Muammar al-Gaddafi.Gen. Walter Natynczyk, Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff, has raised the …
Continue readingParliamANT Hill: Canadiant troops getting results in Libya
Inspired by this story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/07/14/pol-mackay-libya.html
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Harper’s Assault on Libya NOT Sanctioned by UN
I wondered why Harper took the extension of the so-called “mission” in Libya to Parliament. He didn’t have to. As prime minister he alone can decide whether or not to go to war.One of the arguments was that it was sanctioned by the UN. However, what go…
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: We Knew it Was Just a Matter of Time. Libya Open for Business!
It didn’t take long for the vultures to swoop down on Libya. News that Washington’s largest lobbying group, Patton Boggs, has been hired to sell the rebel army as the new government of the oil rich country, should come as no surprise. The firm has been…
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