UN/US will go ahead and kill some brown people

[Mr. Perfect]

Non-reality.

[Mr. Perfect]

The skyhook/Obama/Wolfowitz doctrine is a flop right out of the gates.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/2 ... 39247.html

Muammar Gaddafi's snipers and tanks are terrorizing civilians in the coastal city of Misrata, a resident said, and the U.S. military warned Tuesday it was "considering all options" in response to dire conditions there that have left people cowering in darkened homes and scrounging for food and rainwater.

(SCROLL DOWN FOR LIVE UPDATES)

Heavy anti-aircraft fire and loud explosions sounded in Tripoli after nightfall, possibly a new attack in the international air campaign that so far has focused on military targets. But conditions have deteriorated sharply in Misrata, the last major city in western Libya held by the rebel force trying to end Gaddafi's four-decade rule. Residents of the city 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli, say shelling and sniper attacks are unrelenting. A doctor said tanks opened fire on a peaceful protest on Monday.

"The number of dead are too many for our hospital to handle," said the doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals if the city falls to Gaddafi's troops. As for food, he said, "We share what we find and if we don't find anything, which happens, we don't know what to do."

[YMix]

There are already three perfectly good threads on Lybia. Choose one and I'll move this post there.

[skyhook77sfg]

POOR FELLA AINT THE SAME SINCE I LIFTED HIS SKIRT IN PUBLIC AND EXPOSED HIS SECRET....

[Mr. Perfect]

It was never a secret. I molest young boys, get over it.

BTW, your policy is a disaster, and you're still dodging.

[YMix]

Attached here from new thread.

[Mr. Perfect]

US Troops shooting innocent civilians:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ilots.html

[skyhook77sfg]

middle east reality from real middle easterners living in real middle eastern reailty...

really.




All despots should fear Gadhafi's fate


Moammar Gadhafi likes his conspiracy theories. When the youth of Benghazi and other eastern Libyan cities were protesting against his monolithic four-decade rule, Gadhafi believed them to be drugged. When the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, the colonel deemed it part of a Western plot to recolonize former outposts. The man accused Israel of assassinating Kennedy.

The international airstrikes currently pounding Libya’s military assets, bringing further danger to a country already ravaged by fixation with power, have thrown up another opportunity for Gadhafi to churn out one more outlandish hypothesis about how a Western, imperialist plot aims to overthrow the self-proclaimed leader of Africa.

With Arab countries largely supporting Operation Odyssey Dawn, and with some such as Qatar and the UAE participating in air raids on Gadhafi targets, it seems the man who claimed Al-Qaeda was behind the Libyan uprising will have to reach elsewhere for his harebrained and self-pitying proclamations.

The passing of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 is to be welcomed, but not unconditionally. The organization needs to ensure it sees the job through to its conclusion. Half-measures will only confuse the situation and further endanger civilians. A Sudan-style partition, with the rebel held east cleaved from Gadhafi’s more loyal west, is unconscionable, as is any consideration of a ground invasion.



If further bloodshed is spared by forcing Gadhafi into hiding or surrender, the Security Council can consider their intervention – itself a highly divisive issue – as the right choice in the nick of time.

The operation is not a simple one. The logistics of lining up strategic targets, in some cases close to civilian areas, when the man in the crosshairs clearly has no qualms in using innocent Libyans as human shields are mind-boggling. With controversial interference comes heightened scrutiny. The world will be watching the accuracy of coalition jets closely. Now is not the time to repeat the supposed inaccuracy of “friendly fire” incidents or botched drone attacks.

The intervention offers a template with the clout to dissuade megalomania in other world dictators. If the prospect of a downtrodden populace losing their trepidation doesn’t strike fear into autocrats’ hearts, the possibility of an international military attack just might dissuade tyrannical tendencies.

Other leaders are killing their own civilians. Gadhafi may be grabbing the most headlines, but despots throughout the region and further afield are sanctioning state-sponsored murder. The U.N. cannot authorize no-fly zones over all such countries, but consistency is needed. Operation Odyssey Dawn has set a precedent it is to be hoped needs no repeating.


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp ... z1HN27PnY5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mr. Perfect]

A Wolfowitzian/Perle classic.

[skyhook77sfg]

A CLEARLY ENCOURAGING REPORT FROM THE REGION

PINPOINTING HISTORIC ARAB/EURO/AMERICAN CONVERGENCE

SOMETHING WONDERFUL IS HAPPENING



At last, Arabs seize the right moment



In the past 10 days I have been in Beirut, Damascus, Doha, and now Amman, and in a few days I will be in Abu Dhabi then Dubai. This hectic travel schedule has provided useful opportunities to gauge popular and elite sentiments on the ground during this historic moment of almost revolutionary change in the Arab world.

This extraordinary week of events in several Arab countries clarifies what was not clear when the first citizen revolt took place in Tunisia starting in December. The Arab countries can now be classified into three broad groups in terms of how they react to the demands of their citizens for serious reform or the removal of the leadership.

One group includes countries where strong protests will overthrow the leader and his ruling clique, as happened in Tunisia and Egypt and will happen soon in Yemen. A second group comprises a few countries whose leaders will fight back using all military means to crush the uprising against them, as has happened in Libya and Bahrain. The third group includes countries where protests and calls for radical reform will elicit the government’s willingness to discuss specific reforms and negotiate changes, as in Jordan, Oman and others to date. An emerging pattern indicates that the nature and character of the leader and the degree of legitimacy he enjoys are important factors in determining which of the three options a head of state chooses to respond to the demonstrations against his regime.

This week of momentous events has included: the constitutional referendum in Egypt; international airstrikes against the pro-Gadhafi units of Libya’s armed forces; the escalating opposition that promises to remove Ali Abdullah Saleh from his position as president of Yemen; the first demonstrations in several parts of Syria; the erratic forward movement of the national dialogue committee in Jordan; the reassertion of control by the Bahraini armed forces with the backing of Saudi Arabian and Emirati troops; growing demonstrations in Gaza calling on the two main Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas to unite; and street demonstrations in Lebanon calling for a non-sectarian governance system.

The variety of responses by different Arab governments contrasts vividly with the congruence of grievances and demands across the entire Arab region. It is now clear that what we are witnessing is a pan-Arab citizen revolt that comprises a core set of demands related to several common issues: the rights of citizens, the limits and accountability of state power, and government decision-making mechanisms based on credible participation by citizens. The modern Arab world that was born around 1920 has now been profoundly challenged by its own citizens, who are fed up with living in systems that do not respect their rights or adequately provide for their basic needs on jobs, security, equal opportunity and simple human dignity.



The most intriguing thing that happened this week has been the apparent congruence between militarized American and European foreign policy and the majority sentiments among Arab public opinion – both of which wanted to come to the aid of the Libyans fighting for their freedom against regime of Moammar Gadhafi. Much controversy surrounds the Arab League’s decision to approve a no-fly zone over Libya imposed by foreign powers, and the subsequent airstrikes against Libyan military assets and facilities. Yet I cannot shake off the satisfaction of seeing Arab popular sentiment and Western foreign military policy coming together in the service of the shared goal of protecting Libyan civilians who have rebelled against Gadhafi.

This is almost as historic as the Arab revolt itself. We should monitor this matter carefully, to identify the consequences of Arab-American-European congruence after so many decades of tension and outright opposition between Arab and Western parties.

The demonstrations in Syria that resulted in several deaths are also a potential milestone. Syria for the Levant is similar to Egypt for the whole Arab world – a lynchpin country that influences events in many other lands around it. Should the Syrian demonstrations continue and spread and result in significant policy or personnel changes in Damascus, the impact on the region would be enormous. This would be especially felt in Lebanon and Palestine, and would affect Iran’s posture in and links with the Arab world.

The widespread extent and profound nature of the challenges to many Arab regimes by their own people represent nothing less than the first real process of national self-determination that the Arab world has ever experienced. This is a right that the Arabs should have enjoyed when their states were created decades ago, but they were denied that right. So now they have decided simply to seize it for themselves.



Rami G. Khouri is published twice weekly by THE DAILY STAR.



Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp ... z1HNGAy4dJ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

[Mr. Perfect]

A Dick Cheney/Donald Rumsfeld classic.

[skyhook77sfg]

observing monomania progress from tertiary to terminal stage

is a little like watching sheen succumb to cocaine psychosis

but not nearly as interesting due to its monotony...

[Mr. Perfect]

Projection.

[skyhook77sfg]

all hands now hear this...

worth repeating


The most intriguing thing that happened this week has been the apparent congruence between militarized American and European foreign policy and the majority sentiments among Arab public opinion – both of which wanted to come to the aid of the Libyans fighting for their freedom against regime of Moammar Gadhafi. Much controversy surrounds the Arab League’s decision to approve a no-fly zone over Libya imposed by foreign powers, and the subsequent airstrikes against Libyan military assets and facilities. Yet I cannot shake off the satisfaction of seeing Arab popular sentiment and Western foreign military policy coming together in the service of the shared goal of protecting Libyan civilians who have rebelled against Gadhafi.

This is almost as historic as the Arab revolt itself.

[Mr. Perfect]

Germany is pulling out of skyhooks coalition. Coalitions fracturing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ddafi.html

* Tensions with Britain as Gates rebukes UK government over suggestion Gaddafi could be assassinated
* French propose a new political 'committee' to oversee operations
* Germany pulls equipment out of NATO coalition over disagreement over campaign's direction
* Italians accuse French of backing NATO in exchange for oil contracts
* No-fly zone called into question after first wave of strikes 'neutralises' Libyan military machine
* U.K. ministers say war could last '30 years'
* Italy to 'take back control' of bases used by allies unless NATO leadership put in charge of the mission
* Russians tell U.S. to stop bombing in order to protect civilians - calls bombing a 'crusade'

Deep divisions between allied forces currently bombing Libya worsened today as the German military announced it was pulling forces out of NATO over continued disagreement on who will lead the campaign.

A German military spokesman said it was recalling two frigates and AWACS surveillance plane crews from the Mediterranean, after fears they would be drawn into the conflict if NATO takes over control from the U.S.

The infighting comes as a heated meeting of NATO ambassadors yesterday failed to resolve whether the 28-nation alliance should run the operation to enforce a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone, diplomats said.

Yesterday a war of words erupted between the U.S. and Britain after the U.K. government claimed Muammar Gaddafi is a legitimate target for assassination.

U.K. government officials said killing the Libyan leader would be legal if it prevented civilian deaths as laid out in a U.N. resolution.

But U.S. defence secretary Robert Gates hit back at the suggestion, saying it would be 'unwise' to target the Libyan leader adding cryptically that the bombing campaign should stick to the 'U.N. mandate'.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1HNf6S0cQ

[Mr. Perfect]

[skyhook77sfg]

WILBUR! ORVILLE!


stop this foolishness and get back to building bicycles...

a flying machine ?

You're nuts.

[Mr. Perfect]

Not all people have it in them to experiment.



Not all aircraft experiments end up the same...

[Sparky]

I've never seen someone so comically keen to see something fail as dear old Mr. P. Ironically, if the Republicrats were at the helm, he'd be shilling in the opposite direction for all he's worth.

[Mr. Perfect]

Sparky, it sounds like you may have not been following the news, so I will ask;

What is it that you think I want to "fail"?

[Sparky]

You know perfectly well what I mean.

[Mr. Perfect]

No, I don't.

What is it that you think I want to fail. You started this.

[Mr. Perfect]

Sheesh, don't give up so quick.

[Sparky]

A grown man of your obvious parts leaning on the F5 key in search of an argument in the middle of the night! Zounds!

[Mr. Perfect]

I guess then you're out of ammo.