As British and French jets pound Libya tonight, I can't help but ask myself, are we making another huge mistake like we have in Iraq and Afghanistan?
When the UN voted for the mandate to allow NATO to enforce a 'no fly zone', the Arab League pledged their support. But, where has that support gone? The UAE and Qatar are the only ones now supporting action and that is with financial support. Where is the huge Egyptian air-force for instance? Have the Jews in the US administration held them back for fear that once they taste blood in Libya, Israel might be their next target? Gaddafi is already playing this as Western imperialists on an oil grab, using language like crusaders and Muslim brothers, how is that going to play in the Arab world? Are we going to have been said to have interfered in a civil war? Who are these rebels anyway and where do their loyalties lie? Will we be able to get rid of him anyway? We had a 'no fly zone' in Iraq for 11 years before Saddam was found in a hole in the ground, (maybe).
No mention of Western Military action in the Yemen or Bahrain. In both those countries, civilians are being massacred by Government troops and police. I have seen videos, as I'm sure you all have because they're circulating freely on the net, of civilians being shot indiscriminately by police and armed Government militia. But, of course, both these countries are pro-West and our allies, so that's alright then! Mind you, they don't have oil either, or am I just being cynical?
10 comments:
Have to agree with you in part DL, the Arab League voted for a No Fly Zone not a No Toyota Truck Zone.
While I agree with the principle of killing dictators there are too many inconsistencies (not least Bob Mugabe and that bloke in Belarus) but no, it's not about the oil, if it was the west could just buy the stuff just likr Ieaq. Recent price increases have had nothing to do with the Libya crisis, their loss of output was easily offset by Saudi Arabia who hate Gadaffi.
PS Bahrain has shedloads of oil, it's where it was first found in the Persian Gulf which is why it is being brotherly occupied by Saudi which is notably absent fromm the Coalition Of Love currently bombing the evil regime gang that still illegally controls parts of Libya.
:( "likr Ieaq", typo = like Iraq
Banned, I can well understand why the army in Egypt won't let their air force go to the aid of their fellow Arab, but why isn't Jordan's in the air. Those fuckers spend fortunes on arms, is is just so they can have nice parades and the King can wear some medals.
Banned, I'm glad we cleared that up you had me confused there!
I find the action in Libya inconsistent as well. The whole of the middle east is at risk just now, New demonstrations have started in Syria. And the Suadis are deeply worried. As they should be but in typical Saudi fashion they are just throwing cash at the problem. Personally I couldn't care less what happens to the muslims apart from the impact on the financial markets. We should have learned from our misadventures in Iraq that you don't pull down a fence if you don't know what it is keeping in. I suspect that what we are looking at will be a much less west friendly, stricter muslim block in the middle east. China and Russia abstained from the UN vote, I wonder if they know something we don't.
XX When the UN voted for the mandate to allow NATO to enforce a 'no fly zone', the Arab League pledged their support. But, where has that support gone? The UAE and Qatar are the only ones now supporting action and that is with financial support. Where is the huge Egyptian air-force for instance? XX
Typically, they get others to do their shit for them, then they withdraw support so they can sit back and say "we did not support them. See what the nasty evil West is doing to the muslim world, AGAIN!" Hey presto! They are the heroes of the Arab world.
Antonio, well, I wouldn't expect the Russians and the Chinese to support the West, they never have, but at the end of the day it's the oil we're after and we all know it. I expect it to be more Muslim in the Middle East and that is as far as I am concerned to the detriment of the argument. Why should religion come into it? What a fucking world! you'd think we could sit down and work out what natural resources are left and come up with a plan!
Furors, welcome to the blog! That would sem to be the way of it, the mighty 'Arab League' doesn't seem to know if it's eating bacon or not. The West will be the baddies and that is the way it should be, IMO, without religion coming into it. They have got the resource, we want it and are going to have to pay for it. That's business, but the West before has just grabbed what it wanted and that no longer is going to work.
Aye. But without the West, they would still be dusty slum dwellers living off the income of a rusting bucket taxi, in the back streets of Cairo.
It was the West that explored for the oil. It was US that built the wells, and the infrastructure to get it from the ground to our vehicles/power stations, etc. The arabs never lifted a damn FINGER.
They STILL don't. It is B.P, Shell, Texeco, etc that are STILL doing the exploring and building. So all the arabs have to complain about is that we should be paying ground rent for OUR oil.
Furors, I completely agree with that. They would never get anywhere without the educated workers from Europe who have proven over the last 300 years to have a superior intellect. Whether that's going to be the same in the next 300, somehow I doubt, but as I won't be here, I can only speculate!
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