Civil War in Libya

[ICantSpellDawg]

There are more than enough fighters committed to the enforcement of 1973 without counting the United States. I think that, since the European powers have shown such resolve, we should provide all the neccessary logistical support with only a minimal contribution of force.

BTW - Sweden is seriously considering providing military assistance. I'm not sure how Germany can sit there and say it has no intention of or interest in providing assistance. This is kind of irritating. They maintain that they are not neutral and support the resolution (even though they abstained from the votie), but refuse to kick in to provide for European security. How can they possibly be considered part of European Leadership when they skirt even UN responsibility? I hope all that fence straddling begins to chaffe.

[PanzerJaeger]

Awesome picture of Mig 23 (?) going down.

[Viking]

Not so awesome considering that it was a rebel jet. The rebels claim that it was shot down by loyalist forces, though it may well have been shot down by their own guns given the disorganised state the rebel "army" is in.

In other news; Reuters report that French figher jets have opened fire and destroyed their first target; and that they fired their first shots on a loyalist military vehicle.

[Sarmatian]

Does anyone know gini index for Libya?

[Tellos Athenaios]

Does anyone know gini index for Libya?

Well, no. At least wikipedia's map from the CIA 2009 world factbook paints Libya as “no data available” (grey).

[Slyspy]

Not so awesome considering that it was a rebel jet. The rebels claim that it was shot down by loyalist forces, though it may well have been shot down by their own guns given the disorganised state the rebel "army" is in.

I've not seen that particular claim. However the disorganised state of the rebels is worrying. Without some kind of strong, centralised and militarily competent (or at least, more competent than the loyalists) I don't see how they can "liberate" the whole country. Of course having such a leaderships is probably the best way to ensure that a authoritarian leader backed by military power supplants the current authoritarian leader backed by military power. I'm in the dark since there doesn't seem to be much info in the media about the rebel leadership.

[Ice]

I've not seen that particular claim. However the disorganised state of the rebels is worrying. Without some kind of strong, centralised and militarily competent (or at least, more competent than the loyalists) I don't see how they can "liberate" the whole country. Of course having such a leaderships is probably the best way to ensure that a authoritarian leader backed by military power supplants the current authoritarian leader backed by military power. I'm in the dark since there doesn't seem to be much info in the media about the rebel leadership.

I have also read the rebels were able to "acquire" one mig-23 and 2 attack helicopters from Gaddafi.

[Shibumi]

Awesome picture of Mig 23 (?) going down.

A jet crashing in a populated area?

I am unsure "awesome" is the right word here. I hope no civilians got killed.

[Louis VI the Fat]

All you couscous-eating Gaddafi-lovers are far too cynical for me.


Civilians are being crushed by a tyrant, so my default position is that you fight, barring compelling reasons not to. Some tyrant somewhere is going to hear the Marseillaise together with bombs flying in his direction, so I'm happy.

[Viking]

Kudos to both France and the UK for the efforts they have undertaken to get this through. I am happy that the Norwegian Air Force is going to participate with F-16 fighter jets. We have now quite literally experienced the take-off, let's how hope that we can manage a good landing as well..

The latest developments now is that the US has launched Tomahawk missiles on targets outside Tripoli and Misurata. More airstrikes are also expected to follow - things are building up.

[Jaguara]

Civilians are being crushed by a tyrant, so my default position is that you fight, barring compelling reasons not to. Some tyrant somewhere is going to hear the Marseillaise together with bombs flying in his direction, so I'm happy.

Agreed.

The sins of omission that we are willing to commit in the name of "stability" turns my stomach. Of course, I am cynical too...the only reason there is action being taken here is because Libya is a very short distance from France & Italy and the fact that there is oil there. Otherwise, we would be talking about Yemen, Bahrain, and a dozen African countries as well.

My fear was that any action would be too little too late. The unneccessary loss of life due to the delays in the UN acting on the requests of the UK & France is quite tragic. At this point, foreign forces will have to take some sort of decisive action to turn the tide and to reinvigorate rebels in cities already lost (assuming Quaddaffi loyalists did not already round them all up).

[LeftEyeNine]

Wow, people actually think that France and UK and whoever is in line are doing the right thing.

[Viking]

Wow, people actually think that France and UK and whoever is in line are doing the right thing.

Why don't you tell us whose side you're on and how you want them to win?

[LeftEyeNine]

I'm all for West/UN/WhatevarCoalitionMadeUpAsAMeansOfTheBenefitsOfG8 getting out, leaving them be.