Libya: Benghazi unrest, to Civil War, to a new government and Gaddafi's death.

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Folks, Libya is up in arms. News media can't cover the story as they did in Egypt, because it is a far darker regime there. Just think about it: Libya has some of the most gorgeous coastlines in the world, and you'll get to vacation there without bankrolling the iron rule of a terrible, horrible dictator. So lend your thoughts and prayers for a Free Libya.

P.S. If Qaddafi gets overthrown it would be interesting to find out happened to Musa al-Sadr.

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William Hague has suggested Gaddafi may be on his way to Venezuela (?)

If so the Grauniad comments will go into melt down

Apparently Chavez's government has denied this. I think at this point it would be crazy even by his standards to give shelter to this guy - it would be a PR nightmare.

Thailand gave shelter to Pol Pot.

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Remind me why Libya is on the UN's Human Rights Council.

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OMG

On 21st Feb. 2011 during the Libyan awakening movement against the dictatorship of Gaddafi it has been claimed by a Libyan opposition activist Mr. Sami Al Masrati that Imam Musa Al- Sadr is still alive. He added Eyewitnesses have seen today a man resembling Imam Musa Al-Sadr who has been transferred in a small aircraft to an unknown place. Before this the Libyan opposition leader and the founder of Tabo Tribal Liberation Front Essa Abdulmajeed Mansoor had told that Imam Musa Sadr is still alive and was seen in the jail of Sabha.

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Musa al-Sadr. Believe.

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And the west is watching all this without doing anything...

Who are we to be world police and impose our cultural values on others? You don't want to be a colonialist imperialist, do you?

The west gains nothing from intervening. If we can get some Arab states to do our dirty job then we should go for it. Otherwise the west needs to stay out.

except that no Middle Eastern or African Nation has frozen Gaddafi's assets. (And the chairman of the African Union is freaking Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, a nation that has blacked out all coverage of the Libyan uprising)

the Arab government's are in an interesting spot of doing nothing to work for greater freedoms, and then using their media outlets to blame other people for their problems.

In other words, wait on the Arab league, and watch Muammar do a Saddam 1991 on the protesters as the Arab League does nothing. Followed by the people thinking the US is bad. And do something, and watch people think the US is bad.

So it's a matter of choosing who you want to be madder at you. And here, it'd probably be a lot of refugees who will have lost everything and who would have a grudge against the US government.

In the scheme of things, either Gaddafi dies or the protesters die. There's no exile or no compromise.

Oh yeah, they're gonna hold prayers outdoors in the Green Square to make it easier to murder any protesters. And Misurata got bombed.

Damn, deciding on a No-Fly Zone is hard, let's give Gaddafi a few more weeks to attack his opposition from the air.

Why do we owe the protestors anything? We shouldn't give Gaddafi any support but I don't see why military intervention is necessary. Then everyone is going to say the US is going in for the oil. It looks bad, and we don't gain anything. It's time to stop playing policeman.

He is drawing a parallel to how the US should have saved the Iraqi Shi'ites in 1991 from Saddam Hussein's wrath.

This is somewhat different anyway.

Until Qaddafi loses control of Sabha we wont find anything interesting.

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Witness a live negro lynching by anti-Qaddafi rebels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2frKZ5jFhho&sns=fb

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Chavez: rebels a "group of terrorists."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/23/libya-rebel-government-venezuela-_n_934399.html

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Syria will go sectarian once Assad's position looks fragile.

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Syria will go sectarian once Assad's position looks fragile.

Have the protests been mostly sunni led?

Probably like 95%+ are Sunni-led.

The Assad's maintained rule by creating divisions within Syrian society. The regime actively promoted Alawites (a branch of Shi'ism, the sect of Assad) to leadership positions within the government, the military and the state security systems. I'm expecting mercenaries to arrive from southern Lebanon and Iran, if they aren't there already. Maybe Sunnis from other countries like Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, etc. coming out to help their coreligionists? BRTD has described it kind of like a reverse Iraq. Makes me wonder if Saddam Hussein was a Shi'a or some other non-Sunni sect, just how much Muslim opinion on Iraq would have been different.

The government (particularly under Bashar) has also greatly favored the business class Sunnis while cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood (also Sunnis). Christians in Syria have traditionally supported the government's effort to hold off the Sunni Islamist challenges, out of fear that they would be discriminated against.

Lastly, as the crackdown in Syria escalates and as more and more Syrians are killed the desire for revenge on one side and the fear of revenge on the other (protesters and supporters of the regime, respectively) sharpen the possibility for sectarian strife.

Should Assad fall, the Alawite community would retain many of the weapons of the military and would certainly be reluctant to disarm considering the fears of retribution for supporting Assad. Other sects (some Christians, business class Sunnis) are certain to face some retaliation for standing against the uprising as well.

The key to avoiding sectarian strife in Syria is disarming the Alawite army commanders and providing guarantees against retribution. Of course, there really is no way to tell whether a post-Assad Syria would erupt.

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Also the Obama-haters who opposed NATO intervention are looking pretty silly now.

yes, Qaddafi was a tyrant who deserved to die, but he was a secular tyrant...what will replace him will be much worse.  if you dont understand this, then you are very naive about the world.

No he wasn't. He banned alcohol, sponsored Islamist terror groups, sponsored Muslim organizations throughout Africa, and changed the flag to the color of Islam for God's sake. He adhered to a weird synthesis of Islamism and Socialism which was in vogue in the 60s & 70s, as opposed to the Salafism which is popular today, but to say he was a secular dictator who was useful because he kept the Islamists in check isn't really accurate.

Can't wait for JJ to post in this thread!

Also the Obama-haters who opposed NATO intervention are looking pretty silly now.

No we dont. If Libya doesnt get a democracy, it's Obama's fault.

*facepalm*

I could have sworn reading that the Green flag was a symbol of the "Green Revolution...

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I only wish what happened to Musa al-Sadr was revealed.