Civil War in Libya

[Banquo's Ghost]

Once presented with the choice, Egyptians prefer democracy. Who'd have thought?

(Or, alternatively, Egyptians have been deceived by a Western ploy to steal their oil by dismantling the Egyptian secret police and its systematic torture. )
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Bear in mind that Egypt had a pretty solid and professional civic society underneath which is now being called on. Both the judiciary and the military had and maintained a degree of respect through the revolution. The police however, are no so widely hated that few turn up for work.

Libya, by contrast, is a tribal society where all civic institutions have been removed by the dictator.

Would these purely strategic reasons have anything to do with Ireland's unwillingness to be a puppet fighting Britain's wars?

Partly. The Republic's stance on neutrality is complex but largely formed by our historical relationship with Britain. It is also the subject of quite energised debate (this is a good paper on the subject for the interested). For example, we were just as afraid of alliances with other countries which may have provoked Britain. Solution: garb the fence with both hands and sit firmly upon it.

I think Ireland has a great part to play in international affairs based on this "pragmatic" rather than "principled" neutrality. Our military has been very useful as non-threatening intermediaries and aid providers. We have an "underdog" history and tradition that many fractured nations find both comforting and non-threatening. Given the long list of countries that want to prove themselves well-endowed through the wanton murder of entirely unconnected civilians, the Republic can play a small part as a non-belligerent.

On the subject of Libya and debt, I am glad to see that the UK has been so successful at paying off the banking crisis loans, that they can happily spend millions of pounds on flying explosives. Good to know that public services are no longer affected and that the elderly, vulnerable and poor of the United Kingdom are no longer facing cuts because the country has so much surplus money they can afford to throw it away on filling some corners of a foreign field with the elderly, vulnerable and poor of that nation. Once the West has enraged enough people on both sides of the civil war by killing their children and grandmothers, the new Islamist state thus created can provide us with a whole new chapter of the War on Terror (which was in danger of going stale for a moment there).