Gaddafi's last stand

[Bassman62]

 

know what you mean, it'll be a parking lot if they get hold of nuke weapons:hihi:

It will be if they're daft enough to push Israel too far.

Can you imagine Saddam, Hack Me Dinner Jacket, Gadaffi or any of the other radical/lunatic Arab leaders showing the restraint Israel has if they posessed

nuclear capabilty that Israel has?

[L00b]

He will be captured, killed and strung up, like Mussolini

Ceaucescu, more like.

 

Funny how there was no mention of no-fly-zones and what-not by the West, with either Tunisia or Egypt. The common denominator, as with Iraq/Kuwait and as usual, is oil & gas.

 

The same will happen if emirs aren't successful bribing the crowds and the kicking off continues/worsens on the Peninsula (Emirates/Kuwait/UAE/etc.)

 

Anything beyond that is just irrelevant hyperbole.

 

(Am I getting too cynical for my own good, yet?)

[Bassman62]

Ceaucescu, more like.

 

Funny how there was no mention of no-fly-zones and what-not by the West, with either Tunisia or Egypt. The common denominator, as with Iraq/Kuwait and as usual, is oil & gas.

 

The same will happen if emirs aren't successful bribing the crowds and the kicking off continues/worsens on the Peninsula (Emirates/Kuwait/UAE/etc.)

 

Anything beyond that is just irrelevant hyperbole.

 

(Am I getting too cynical for my own good, yet?)

 

I think you're a little off beam there, neither Tunisia or Egypt which were both quickly resolved started attacking their own people as Gaddafi is doing.

[L00b]

I think you're a little off beam there, neither Tunisia or Egypt which were both quickly resolved started attacking their own people as Gaddafi is doing.

(i) Mubarak certainly did in Egypt for a week or two and (ii) I only mentioned the "no-fly-zone" by way of example: basically, just 'interventionism'.

 

Coin it any way you like: there's no oil or natural resources worth fretting about in Tunisia or Egypt

[alchresearch]

What is he supposed to do??? What would happen if anti government groups started ripping up the UK, Germany, or the States??????? If the crowds have guns then you can't just use a few battons and a bit of tear gas!!!

 

I was hoping during the student protests for the police to be a bit heavy handed and stop belting people with truncheons so that Libya could express concern and organise no-fly zones and sanctions and arrange for emergency evacuation of terrified Libyans in this country!

[Treatment]

We have a no fly zone over Britain most years, it's called two snowflakes.

[johncocker]

intresting post from basil fawlty via the bbc:hihi:

 

 

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

 

The Scots have raised their threat level from "****** Off" to "Let's get the ********." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

 

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.

 

Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

 

The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbor" and "Lose."

 

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

 

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Flag

[Jason Bourne]

intresting post from basil fawlty via the bbc:hihi:

 

That is excellent

[Jason Bourne]

It will be if they're daft enough to push Israel too far.

Can you imagine Saddam, Hack Me Dinner Jacket, Gadaffi or any of the other radical/lunatic Arab leaders showing the restraint Israel has if they posessed

nuclear capabilty that Israel has?

 

Restraint?

 

I'd hardly call two murderous rampages in Lebanon and Palestine restrained behaviour.

 

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[Jason Bourne]

It just about sums it up for me. The problem in the Arab world is that democracy seems not to work. The people are united by tribal loyalties or religion not policies. In place of democracy they seem to embrace dictatorships. The problem is when the folks get fed up with their dictator and can't agree on the one they would like to take over.

 

That's a good point and seems to be the case in some of the poorer countries without a proper domestic infrastructure, such as Yemen.

 

But looking elsewhere in the Middle East, let's not forget Iran tried to be a democracy back in the 1950s when Mossadegh tried to nationalise the oil industry... but the CIA didn't like the idea of that and overthrew him in a bloody coup within a few years. The hated Shah of Iran was installed and ruled the country for a couple of decades before he was in turn overthrown by the hardline clerics in the late 1970s.

 

Middle East countries can become democracies. But it will take time, and I'm talking in terms of years and decades, rather than weeks or months. And a lot depends on whether Western countries will take the short term view and decide to invade again.

 

But democracy in the Middle East can happen.

 

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