Quote Originally Posted by Papewaio View Post
The Arab spring is just a start.

The internet is still young too.

If we are lucky we won't hit a singularity by 2050.

So my guess by then there just won't be enough places to R2P to justify a permanent membership in the UN security council, I think it will have to be found through different means... and ones that don't reek of colonialistic intent either... Gaddafi was one of the longest running dictators in history whose people rose up against him... those events are not the norm they are the exception where R2P looks good... the vast majority of the time things are a lot more messy... of course the UK has a much better streak of interfering and improving whilst the USA is out for a duck on that one.
The Libyan intervention is not Colonialistic, it sits along with the Ivory Coast one as an example of Western Powers using UN resolutions to pressure despots, and then supporting their removal through force.

Here's someone from the Guardian who doesn't get it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...n-intervention

Gaddafi could not have been felled without outside intervention to level the field between him and his opponents, that is all the UK and France did, not "Western armies" were used to oust him, Libyans bled and died for his removal and all the West did was take away his trump cards, his planes tanks and artillery.

Also from the Guardian, happy thoughts: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...arab-uprisings