The 2011 Uprisings

basil

don't mention the blinds
Gramaisc said:
basil said:
However once it's all settled down what will billy hague say to the libyan leader when begging for more trade/business ?.......
One gets the feeling that his talents may possibly be re-directed in the not so distant future..
Ministry of Silly Voices?.........
 

Astro Boy

Pocket Rocket
The Arab counter-revolution is winning
In the inextricable Saudi/Washington nexus, democracy may be acceptable for Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, but it's a very bad idea for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other friendly Gulf dictatorships. The message of the Gulf kingdoms and sheikhdoms to Washington is unambiguous and effective; if we "fall", your strategic game is in pieces. Once more, "stability" trumps democracy.
Pepe Escobar
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Astro Boy said:
another aspect is that in these times of economic woe the arab nations in league with washington / the pentagon do spend a lot of money on weapons - propping up the industrial military complex.

Astro Boy said:
... the US has sent Bahrain dozens of "excess" American tanks, armored personnel carriers, and helicopter gunships.

The US has also given the Bahrain Defense Force thousands of .38 caliber pistols and millions of rounds of ammunition, from large-caliber cannon shells to bullets for handguns.
Despicable - anti-competitive practices are totally unacceptable.

In the end, the Arab lobby ensured that, when it came to Bahrain, the White House wouldn't support "regime change", as in Egypt or Tunisia, but a strategy of theoretical future reform some diplomats are now calling "regime alteration".
Suave - soft-shoe shuffle semantics.

It couldn't have taken the Arab lobby long to explain how quickly their spending spree might come to an end if a cascade of revolutions suddenly turned the region democratic.
Breaking News - Business As Usual Returns.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Possibility of British and French forces being deployed 'within hours' if the UN resolution on Libya is passed....
 

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
Gramaisc said:
Possibility of British and French forces being deployed 'within hours' if the UN resolution on Libya is passed....
Which town will the bodies be driven through now that RWB is retiring?

( Prince Andrew must be delighted with so many world 'events'..)
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Gramaisc said:
(Possibility of )British and French forces being deployed 'within hours' if the UN resolution on Libya is passed....
See the spirit of cooperation, and people will worry, if it was the other side of the World, whether we would stand wing-tip to wing-tip on the good ship Charles de Gaulle.

Course we would.
 

Astro Boy

Pocket Rocket
The Club Med war
The passage of resolution 1973 has put the ball (of fire) in Gaddafi's court. Every civilian and military target in the Mediterranean is now fair game as he threatens to "get crazy", and with the colonel willing to fight to the death, it's fair to assume the Security Council vote gives a mandate that only ends with regime change.
Pepe Escobar

escobar said:
Libya is the largest oil economy in Africa, ahead of Nigeria and Algeria. It holds at least 46.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves (10 times those of Egypt). That's 3.5% of the global total. Libya produces between 1.4 and 1.7 million barrels of oil a day, but wants to reach 3 million barrels. Its oil is extremely prized, especially with an ultra-low cost of production of roughly $1.00 a barrel.
escobar said:
The key point of UN resolution 1973 is point four - as in "take all necessary measures ... to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack ......... while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory".

It's essential to stress that "take all necessary measures" goes way beyond a no-fly zone, stopping short of a land invasion. Crucially, it covers air strikes, or cruise missiles unleashed on Gaddafi tanks on the road to Benghazi, for instance. But it may also cover bombing of Gaddafi regime installations in Tripoli - even his headquarters. With Gaddafi willing to fight to the death it's fair to assume the mandate only ends with regime change.
it's difficult not to be cynical!

Kerry nudges Obama into North Africa
With an eye on the potential for the Arab awakening to be as epoch-making as the collapse of the Berlin Wall, US foreign policy pillar Senator John Kerry is nudging for a proactive stance in North Africa. But the scope of the UN no-fly resolution opens the door to land operations, and the world stands at a threshold that leads to events of another time and place - Afghanistan.
M K Bhadrakumar
 

joshua

Well-Known Forumite
On a slightly different note... The involvement of so many EU countries under UK/French leadership is an interesting test of what may be the future shape of European defence forces. Also given Germany's clear aspirations to be the de-facto leader of the EU, should this campaign be successful then their refusal to participate might damage those aims in matters that are not purely economic. Others (including London & Paris) may look at an Anglo-French rather than the established Franco-German axis in a slightly different light.
 

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
5wah8nd
 

joshua

Well-Known Forumite
This Arab spring malarkey isn't likely to be brief. Expect a bumpy couple of decades with regular oil shocks.

http://csis.org/publication/stability-middle-east-and-north-africa-other-side-security

The main report is worth reading. It has lots of graphs that are illuminating. Saudi scores very high on repression, as does Libya. Libya actually has a pretty respectable adult literacy rate, comparable with Lebanon. Libya is pretty bad on corruption but not as bad as Iraq. Both Libya and Iraq have terrible scores on government effectiveness. Iraq scores well on democracy, not as well as Lebanon, Libya scores badly but Saudi is worse. Both Iraq and Libya are very poor on rule of law. Libya did score well on political stability, Iraq scores very badly, slightly worse than Yemen, Iran and Lebanon aren't much better. Both Libya and Lebanon score high on inequality, Bahrain is the most equal, Qatar the least. Qatar's score are generally good. Libya spends sod all (1.2% of GDP) on its military which is nice, Oman is spending over 10%.

From http://csis.org/
 

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
130 cruise missiles at $US634000 each

hmm...


trebles all round!!

Did we hit another aspirin factory yet>?

6byogpp
 

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
Dawn with her rose-red fingers might have shone
upon their tears, if with her glinting eyes
Athena had not thought of one more thing.
She held back the night, and night lingered long
at the western edge of the earth, while in the east
she reined in Dawn of the golden throne at Ocean's banks,
commanding her not to yoke the windswift team that brings men light,
Blaze and Aurora, the young colts that race the morning on.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Apparently, it's Operation Odyssey Dawn.

1666065-lunatic_dawn_odyssey_box_front_large.jpg


The PlayStation generation strikes back.


Edit: That's the American name, apparently. The British contribution is Operation Ellamy and the French, Opération Harmattan.
 

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
So ..

Is it Yemen on Monday? Bahrain on Tuesday, Ivory Coast Wednesday, The Congo Thursday and Syria on Friday?

And National Service starting in a fortnight

Or do we need an extra ordinary meeting of the 'shareholders' for that to ever happen?
 
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