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Syndicate
On CNN right now: one of the American oil companies (Marathon) forced out of Libya by Gaddafi is in talks with the NTC to return and get their oil production back up and running.
Doesn't take long does it?
Positive, the North Vietnamese Army (whom really won the war) and the Taliban are both not weak and are both heavily armed...
Exactly! Bang on!
Except for the part about Milosevic. I am not so sure he was a socialist so much as he was a nationalist. And he was on side with the IMF and neoliberal ideologues by the 1990s while a ruinous economic ideology devastated the former Yugoslavia and created animosity along ethnic divisions and people who normally got along well with one another in the former Yugoslavia. Neoliberalism is about destroying labour rights and labour in general within economies and making whole countries subserviant to and reliant on foreign creditors and the western banking cabal.
But bang on about NATO and Qaeda rebels. Qaeda were allied with NATO countries against the former Yugoslavia. Like European Muslims were, Balkan Muslims were moderately religious before the NATO gang created a militant Islamic base in civil war time Bosnia, Macedonia etc.
Syria
with the old new one still Iran.
Don't make me laugh.
The Vietnamese were armed with the same weapons the Afghan insurgents are armed with and (are) fought/fighting against the same enemy: the U.S. and modern countries with the strongest militaries in the world.
The mainstay weapons of the Vietnamese were AK-47s, grenades, GPMGs (general purpose machine guns), RPGs and improvized (boobytrap) weapons. The mainstay weapons of the Afghan insurgents are AK-47s, grenades, GPMGs, RPGs and Improvized Explosive Devices (IEDs.)
Ever heard of asymetric warfare - well, the asymitry is tipped in our favor.
Yet here we have the spectacle of advanced industrial countries using modern advanced weapons against 'backwards' pre-industrial countries (Vietnam and Afghanistan) using primitive and much less advanced weapons and tactics - and losing.
Since we lost in Vietnam and are losing in Afghanistan,
I guess you would have to use the pretzel logic that it therefore follows that Vietnam was and Afghanistan is necessarily "not weak and heavily armed."
Their morale was/is definitely better than ours and, unlike us, they were/are convinced of the certainty of victory.
And that makes all the difference.
Gaddafi Son Makes Surprise Appearance in Tripoli (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/gaddafi-sons-rebels-detain-557/
"One of Gaddafi's sons, Seif al Islam, who was earlier reported to have been arrested, made a surprise appearance in Tripoli. He appeared in a convoy of armoured Land Cruisers. Fox News spoke with Seif Gaddafi who said that his father and several of his sisters are indeed alive as well, and that he is still in Tripoli.
'Yes, he is in Tripoli, he is alive and well and we are winning,' he said. 'The rebels have been lured into a trap and we will crush them.'
Journalist and anti-war activist Susan Lindauer claims that the people of Libya are 'furiously angry' at NATO and are blaming the rebels for destroying the country's infrastructure.."
'Western Countries Fighting for Libya's Oil Fields like Piranhas' (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/west-oil-fields-libya-657/
"William Engdahl says NATO's actions in Libya have created a very virulent precedent. Engdahl said it is simply an insugency being supported covertly by US-financed arms shipments to the rebels - in order, he claimed, 'to simply carve up the oil fields and get them into Western hands, rather than in Libya state hands, which Gaddafi held firmly on to.."
as this thread will close soon for length, I guess we can all just make it unanimous:
congratulations to the brave Libyan people for overthrowing an insane decades-old dictator and may peace, prosperity and national unity follow your revolution, also next door in Tunisia, the spark for this Arab spring and summer
NATO's Covert Hand Crucial in Rebel Advance on Tripoli (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/nato-help-rebel-tripoli-523/
"If you ask a direct question, whether NATO takes part in the ground operation, or whether major Western forces have taken part in storming Libyan cities, the answer you will get is of course 'no', which is no surprise, Mr Rogozin said. 'They'll nver confirm what is becoming evident to everyone else..."
Rebels Might Redraw Libya's Oil Contracts (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/oil-contracts-libya-russia-645/
"Pierre Guerlain, a professor of political science at the University of Paris, Nanterre, says that no matter who ends up running Libya, the West will get the country's oil."
So when will al-Qa'eda and their NATO pals be overthrowing corrupt imperialists and NATO-backed military dictatorships in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait etc?
Here's a tip: don't hold your breath.
Where Qadaffi went wrong was agreeing to release from prison the CIA's and MI6ers Qaeda gladios linked to LIFG as well as LIFG terrorists supported by the "democratic west." Those released from Libyan jails were not reformed nor did they renounce terrorism as part of the deal. The CIA and Brits moved right in and began funding and arming Islamic militants like they did in so many other countries since Afghanistan and Pakistan, former Yugoslavia etc. Terrorists R U.S. gang again.
al-Qa'eda = al-CIA'duh and vice versa
... and also a rousing cheer from Fidel to the dearly departed Mr. Ghadaffi ...
And apparently we can count DaveW's approval a rousing cheer for NATO terrorists and their best friends forever, al-Qa'eda. Terrorist dregs of the world united, once again.
NATO SLAUGHTER IN TRIPOLI: "Operation Mermaid Dawn" Signals Assault by Rebels' Al Qaeda Death Squads
Well that's your opinion, I'll stand by my mine; the North Vietnamese Army (not the Viet Cong) and to an extent the Taliban are both excellent light infantry forces, well armed and certainly not weak, with the NVA being a national standing army; the Taliban less so. To be honest I find your marginalizing of the NVA a bit insulting to this excellent army.
This could be the start of the fight for the "Reichstag" of Col Kaddafi...
Three questions on Libya
Al Jazeera's chief political analyst interprets what the fall of Tripoli means for Libya, the Arab Spring and the West.
excerpt:
First and foremost Western leaders need to wipe that smug look from their faces and make sure not to gloat about doing the Arabs any favours.
Certainly the NATO aerial bombardment did help, but this was a revolutionaries' victory par excellence. The battle was won first and foremost in the hearts of the Libyans, just as with the Egyptians and Tunisians before them.
Besides, after decades of complicity with Arab dictators, Western powers have much to make up for: They inserted themselves in the Libyan revolution after Gaddafi made genocidal threats against his people, but their interference was not necessarily motivated by humanitarian ends, rather more of the same geopolitics that led to befriending Gaddafi, Ben Ali and Mubarak in the first place.
Pepe Escobar: 'Libya Is Iraq 2.0' (and vid)
http://rt.com/usa/news/pepe-escobar-libya-iraq-132/
"People have such short memories,' says Escobar. 'This reminds me of the Coalition provisional authority in Iraq in 2003. This is the same thing. We're going to have western boots on the ground and we're going to open up Libya for hardcore, no holds barred, terrible capitalism,' adds Escobar. 'This is completely crazy.'
Escobar says that forces began 'killing everyone in sight and hitting everything in sight over the weekend, but that the journalists with the mainstream media are holed up in hotel rooms safe from harm. According to Escobar, all the mainstream media is doing is perpetuating the 'cover-story' that they've created for Americans to eat up. From there, he says, they'll eat whatever they're fed."
RT: British Brains, Brawn and Bombs Bolster Libyan Rebels (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/british-train-libyan-rebels-975-70939/
"The assault on the Libyan capital has been nurtured, orchestrated and coordinated by former and serving British intelligence officers. Questions now emerge as to how many of them have been KIA on the streets of Tripoli and if Gadhafi's troops will be capable of presenting living proof of the UK plotting a military coup in a sovereign state.."
Street Fighting Resumes in Tripoli
http://rt.com/news/street-fighting-rebels-gaddafi-951/
"Even fiercer street fighting between rebels and fighters loyal to Muammar Gaddafi has erupted on the streets of Tripoli. But NATO said on Tuesday it does not know where Gaddafi is. The bloc also played down the Libyan leader's importance in the conflict in the North African country, saying 'he is not a key player anymore.' Moreover, Gaddafi's leaving the country will not interrupt NATO's operations in the country, as the bloc's mission is to protect civilians, added Roland Lavoie, NATO's spokesman."
Umm, Escobar's memory seems even shorter:
1/ in 2003 there 100s of thousands of foreign troops in iraq; in Libya there are virtually zero
2/ in Libya indigenous forces took the initiative to overthrow their dicatator, but as recently as March 19th would have lost the whole show if tank columns heading to Benghazi had not been stopped from the air; they recognize the help, while running their own rebellion
3/ Libya under Ghaddaffi opened itself almost a decade ago to foreign oil companies' investments, and its technical infrastructure is basically undamaged, unlike Iraq; no big change there, and large new State revenues coming on line
4/ in short, Libya 2011 in way way better condition than Iraq 2003.
To say that the thousands of NATO air strikes "helped" the anti-Gaddaffi groups is to make the word "understatement" an understatement.
Some winners are indisputable, whether the victors will includes the "The Libyan People" will only become clearer in the weeks and months to come:
http://news.antiwar.com/2011/08/22/international-oil-companies-eager-to-...
Hmmm. NATO, the democracy "builder"-- that should be interesting.
Ground military, and the world's finest oil industry profiteers to the rescue?
Closing for length. Continue here.