I’m not caught up on the story yet, but I heard some news on NPR today which suggests that Gaddafi may be the next dictator to take the walk. It sounds like his government is falling apart. Even his blond Ukrainian adviser has returned home. Reuters has the latest.
So where does the Muslim Brotherhood type concern fall here? Is this good news or bad news?
Any good links?
Addendum: The opposition rebellion took the city closest to the capital. So what does anyone know about the opposition leadership?
And here’s a lefty piece entitled “How Gaddafi became a Western-backed Dictator.” Those of us old enough to remember, throughout the seventies and eighties he had brief flurries of military skirmishes with the US, none of which went well for him. He seemed to fall into semi-favor in recent years.
This piece suggests that while those military confrontations were lost by the Libyan military, they worked to the benefit of Gaddafi in terms of power consolidation.
Second addendum: Here’s a piece from Marc Cooper on Libya and Latin American leftists – I really miss hearing Radio Nation on Thursday mornings on KMUD, but he tended to piss off the truther/chem trail set so the subscription was canceled. I love the intro.
Here I am apologizing again. Every time I promise to start blogging again, some Arab nation or another blows apart and sucks me back into work. I’ve been putting in about a 1000 hours a week over at our USC-based Neon Tommy web site and I invite you to take a peek as we have been all over the Libya story (and everything else).
I’ve been fascinated by the Libya story as I had the great displeasure of spending some very brief time in Colonel Gaddafi’s little paradise back in 1973 and I have been waiting a long time to see him get strung upside down from a lamp post. It’s been great, once again, to have Al Jazeera’s live stream and live blog to stay abreast and I’m sure there’s little I can add to bring much light to this dark subject.
I am obligated, however, to note the wonderful little ironies that have popped up in the sub-culture of The Left, a demi-monde in which I spent a great part of my life. The Atlantic notes that the blood-soaked dictator is getting virtually NO international support except from a few would-be and has-been dictators down in Latin America.
The rest is almost as good.
Some tragic images from the conflict.
Third addendum: Here’s a video from Tripoli, though it’s about a week old.
24 comments
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February 27, 2011 at 8:51 pm
Andrew Bird
Who knows where this is going to end. Mohamed Bouazizi is becoming one of history’s most renowned martyrs.
February 28, 2011 at 6:14 am
Fred
The opposition rebellion took the city closest to the capital.
I’ve been curious about this same thing. I realize it’s a bit early to use this to make judgment as to what the opposition leadership is all about but is life any different in a town without Gaddafi in control?
Is life any different in Egypt for the average person with Mubarak gone?
February 28, 2011 at 8:18 am
Eric Kirk
A couple of notes here.
A report that the Libyan rebels downed a military aircraft.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2011/02/rebels_down_libyan_aircraft_governments_discuss_ne.php?ref=fpa
And a report from a source I am unfamiliar with describing a rift between Obama and the Saudi King over Egypt, with the rumor of a related heart attack.
http://www.debka.com/article/20650/
February 28, 2011 at 8:47 am
Erasmus
The article you link to that explains how Libya was “backed” by Western “imperialist” (when is that anachronistic word going to die a peaceful death?) powers is an example of why I rarely read “hard Left” journalism any more. The author fesses up to having written an essay defending the Kaddafi revolution, and he is well aware of the US bombing of parts of Libya in the late 80s, yet he insists that “imperialism” was somehow “backing” the Libyan dictator. He bemoans the interest that the West has shown in Libyan oil —- huh? What would any rational person expect? Would he prefer that we react to Libya as we responded to the Castro revolution? Had we imposed a total sanction on the Libyan economy, we would have read a piece by the author condemning our cold-bloodedness. You can’t win with a Leftist like Boyle. When you point out the deficiencies of a so-called “socialist” state, the reply is always: it’s not really socialism, it’s …. state capitalism or a similar meaningless, all-purpose term. Or it’s the West that undermined a revolution that might have turned out well. —- In any case: thanks for link, and for reminding me of what I’ve been missing in my reading.
February 28, 2011 at 9:40 am
Anonymous
it is very distasteful having to listen to al jazeera in the morning, so i don’t. kmud is turned off.
February 28, 2011 at 10:26 am
Anonymous
It is very interesting to listen to al jazeera in the morning and I commend kmud for giving us the option, to listen or to turn it off!
February 28, 2011 at 11:39 am
scott LaMorte
” Here’s a piece from Marc Cooper on Libya and Latin American leftists – I really miss hearing Radio Nation on Thursday mornings on KMUD, but he tended to piss off the truther/chem trail set so the subscription was canceled. ”
Wait, the truther/chem trail set at KMUD, or KPFA? If the former, it’s news to me, though not unexpected.
February 28, 2011 at 11:55 am
tra
Is Marc Cooper the one who always sounds like he’s sucked in a bit of helium before each sentence?
Or is that somebody else on Radio Nation?
I haven’t heard it for a while, but what I remember most about it is that voice!
February 28, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Joel Mielke
“Is life any different in Egypt for the average person with Mubarak gone?”
Fred is so patient.
February 28, 2011 at 3:02 pm
tra
Is life any different in Egypt for the average person with Mubarak gone?
Yes.
They’ve managed to depose an dictator who had ruled for 30 years, and they will soon have their first free and fair elections. Their wages, and the price of food may not have changed, but yes, their lives have been improved already, because they have more reason to hope and more opportunity to have some say over their future. If you think that’s unimportant, well then we’ll just have to disagree about that.
February 28, 2011 at 3:19 pm
tra
Meanwhile, the usual apologists for maintaining the status quo in “friendly” authoritarian governments in the Middle East have an even harder time defending the status quo in Libya. While Gaddafi enjoyed significant success in courting the U.S., Britain, and other governments in recent years, offering himself as a bulwark against Islamic extremism, that hasn’t changed the fact that among the general public in countries like the U.S. and Britain he is still best known as a brutal dictator accused of masterminding, supporting and funding international terrorist attacks.
While it was all well and good to try to use the bogeyman of hypothetical future Muslim-Brotherhood-related Islamic fundamentalism in Egypt to try justify supporting Mubarak, in the case of Libya this strategy starts to look even more intellectually and morally bankrupt, given that the hypothetical future Islamic fundamentalist influences are being weighed against something not hypothetical at all, but very real: Gaddafi’s proven record of brutal repression at home and acts of terrorism abroad.
Does anyone really want to try to make the case that “The terrorist you know is better than the hypothetical future terrorist you don’t know?”
.
February 28, 2011 at 3:30 pm
Fred
tra wrote, “, but yes, their lives have been improved already….If you think that’s unimportant, well then we’ll just have to disagree about that.
I haven’t heard one bit of information that says there’s been any improvement… yet. You’re just saying it’s an improvement because they might become a democracy. We’ll see. I haven’t seen much improvement in Iraq. There’s probably more violence there now than before the war, from what I hear on the news.
Time will tell.
February 28, 2011 at 4:08 pm
tra
We just witnessed a populist movement throw out an authoritarian dictator. Among other things, they’re no longer living in fear of Mubarak’s secret police. The power of state-controlled proaganda media has been surpassed by other methods of communication. Many political prisoners have been released. I would have thought that a self-proclaimed libertarian would be rejoicing for them. What gives? Why so glum?
Now, as to the much narrower question of whether the average Egyptian has seen a significant improvement in their own economic situation in the couple of weeks that has passed since Mubarak was toppled: Well, no, but that does seem like a bit much to ask, given the timeframe. And money isn’t everything. I thought libertarians already knew that.
February 28, 2011 at 5:15 pm
Joel Mielke
“…I haven’t heard one bit of information that says there’s been any improvement…”
Fred has waited for, uh, days!
March 1, 2011 at 7:43 pm
Dave Kirby
If there ever was a time to send in a drone to take out an asshole it would be now. The next time M.G. shows his face we erase the prick. He’s a mad dog and there will be hell to pay if he’s allowed to kill thousands of innocent folks while the world watches.
March 1, 2011 at 10:40 pm
Ernie's Place
Kirby
I’m reminded of Iran, back in the Regan days, we did support their revolution, and to our surprise the Ayatollah Khomeini took power. He did graciously thank us though. We always seem to back the wrong dictators, even Cuba, on our own front porch didn’t turn out well. Maybe we are just to stupid to play the war game right.
I really don’t think it would serve us well to spread ourselves any thinner as far as Libya goes. Maybe we should just send M G a picture of Regan, he backed down real quick after Regan sent the missile through his bedroom window. At least there is no “Line of Death” that he is daring us to cross this time.
March 1, 2011 at 10:55 pm
Plain Jane
I’m confused, Ernie. The Iranian revolution occurred before Reagan was elected. The hostage crisis occurred during Carter’s term when he allowed the Shah sanctuary here. I don’t recall the US supporting the revolution, quite the contrary. After the US being directly responsible for the coup that put the Shah in power and decades of supplying him with military equipment, and training his monsters, the embassy being taken over shouldn’t have been surprising.
March 1, 2011 at 11:11 pm
Eric Kirk
Yeah, I don’t either. Granted, I was in junior high school. But my impression was that we pretty much stuck by the Shah through the end, despite that fact that he had openly tortured his dissidents. The term “blowback” had not yet entered our vernacular.
March 2, 2011 at 6:40 am
WTF
March 2, 2011 at 7:42 am
Joel Mielke
Ernie does not recall the episode correctly. The Carter Administration supported the Shah (who we helped install after destroying the democratically elected government in Iran) right up to the end, and beyond. And we wonder “why do they hate us?”
March 2, 2011 at 7:47 am
Plain Jane
Just another example of western business preferring to deal with dictators rather than democratically elected leaders because its easier to bribe one person than an entire country.
March 2, 2011 at 8:23 am
Joe Blow
Ernie does not recall the episode correctly.
Ernie is all about RE-writing history every time he can further his anti-democratic elitist’s agendas. Notice how he promptly returned and corrected himself?
March 2, 2011 at 4:48 pm
Not A Native
Has there yet been a call for a “Libya Brigade” in the tradition of the “Abraham Lincoln Brigade”?
Will SoHumers be among the early volunteers or would leaving behind their loved ones, the gardens, be too wrenchingly heartbreaking?
March 2, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Joel Mielke
Sorry Mr. Blow, but Ernie has no “anti-democratic elitist agenda” as far as I know. I, on the other hand…