LIBYA IS FREE

LIBYA IS NOW FREE – ruled by a temporary National Council pledged to bring democracy to the country. This may not be democracy as we know it, but ours is not much to write home about. It may be Islamic, but so what? Most of the people are Muslims. An “Islamic” government does not have to be like Iran, which is primarily fascist. Most governments in Europe were either Catholic or Protestant for over a thousand years.

“There are human rights abuses in the post-revolutionary era.” WOW! WHAT A SURPRISE. Tell you what, have a read up on the French, Russian and just about every other revolution. Read up on the aftermath of WWII. The idea that there would be NO human rights abuses after such an event is one that only cretins could harbour, but then there are plenty of cretins about.

This is what dictators DO; brutalise their countries, kidnap, torture, murder anyone in the populace that dares to rebel. This is how their achieve “STABILITY”, a condition that seems to impress the feeble-minded. In Libya, this went on for FORTY-TWO YEARS. Hundreds of thousands of people had their loved ones brutalised, maimed, scarred for life – in the indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas people saw their loved ones blown into thousands of unrecognizable pieces, legs and arms blown off, be made brain-damaged and/or paraplegic for life. And you want NO REPRISALS? Which planet do you live on? The ONLY test will be to see what emerges after a period of recovery; three, six months ……

The “abuses” are regrettable, but inevitable, one of the prices that has to be paid for liberation. The FAULT is in the regime that gave itself the undemocratic right to have the rule of life or death over millions of people.

No, Libya is FREE. They may fuck up their freedom, but they won’t be the only ones. At least they have some CHOICE.

Freedom? Always under-appreciated by those who have it. Indeed, there are those who sit well-off and comfortably in free countries who rant on about the wonderful life in dictatorships. One is always astonished that more of these people suffering under the yolk of freedom in capitalist countries don’t take themselves off to enjoy the wonders of life under a dictatorship, where indeed everyone is happy.

The nasty Americans? “It’s a funny old world,” would say Greavsie. Thanks to the Yanks – and some others, the following countries are free:

Libya, Iraq, Kosovo, (a Muslim country with no oil – funny thing that), South Korea, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Holland, Denmark, the UK, Belgium, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czeck Republic, Greece, Japan, Singapore, the Phillippines and indeed most of South-East Asia

We’re left with a few rather nasty unfree countries, including China, Iran, Syria and Cuba plus a variety of stans east of Poland. Still, the last few years have seen the end of Sadaam Hussein, Gaddafi, Ben Ali and Mubarak, so we can’t complain. In the meantime, Cuba, Iran, China and South Africa among the unfree joining together to refrain from condemning the despotic family kleptocracy of Syria for its indiscriminate murder of its citizens. Funny how these countries claim to represent the common man, but that making a stand against oppression doesn’t seem to be in the manual.

WELL DONE SARKO, CAMERON, OBAMA, QATAR, the UAE and others for liberating Libya, and if you really want to know about Gaddafi having “more support than we realize”, go and ask the Libyans how they feel about their freedom, and then what they think about the scummy, fascist dictatorships that constantly denigrated their revolution. You’d think the Cubans would welcome a people rising up against fascism – this is after all what THEY did. Unfortunately, as George Orwell made so brilliantly clear in “Animal Farm”, the revolting pigs soon take on the mantle of their oppressors.

Meanwhile, anyone who truly appreciates freedom will have nothing but contempt for those who both support dictatorships AND sneered at the Libyan people’s revolution. These scum did not include the governments of Britain, France and the USA, of which we can be proud.

 

Obama on Israel

I listen to Obama …. that rhetoric, those cadences; the studied pauses, the soundbite “Yes we can.” ….. and I struggle to find any real content.

Since 9/11, WHAT HAS THE US ACHIEVED ON PALESTINE? The latest achievement is to lose George Mitchell, who seems to have given up in despair at the lack of White House backing with any teeth.

OBL may have been a murderous religious nutter, but the problem is that in some areas he had a point …… In the 63 years since 1948, the plight of Palestinians who lost everything has not changed.

I compare the US glee expressed at his capture with the silence on the Palestine “peace talks”, during which Israel unfroze its settlement building.

And now many Palestinians have been shot dead by the Israeli army in the Golan Heights (occupied by Israel after the 67 war) and Ramallah in the West Bank. Why not just let them demonstrate? It would all have passed over …. instead, we have more deaths and bitterness.

And the Obama silence on Bahrein is deafening, as indeed is that of the F1 circus. No country and no individual can occupy the peak of the moral high ground, but the US is far down in the valley, picking and choosing its moral favourites with breathtaking unevenness.

 

TARGETING GADDAFI

Few would weep for Colonel Gaddafi, but targeting him is wrong

RUBBISH of course. “Might” IS right. Might is the ONLY thing that allowed Gaddafi to seize and hold power for 42 years. It is the ONLY thing that will remove him. It was NO DIFFERENT from Hitler. It is NOW no different in Syria, Bahrein and Yemen and elsewhere, including Saudi Arabia, Burma, North Korea and indeed China.

We may all WANT to live in a world of law, but WE DON’T. “International law”? Sanctioned by many despotic countries. The world’s biggest dictatorship (remember Tiananmen Square??) sits on the Security Council.

GADDAFI is responsible for HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of deaths and maimings. How come it is “right” for him to indiscriminately shell civilians day after day yet NOT right to kill him? What a BIZARRE logic!  He is personally directing the “fight” (basically long-range random shelling) against “his” people.

HE HAS NO LEGITIMACY. He is NOT the “leader” of Libya. He is  MASS-MURDERING GANGSTER THUG; It is pretty despicable that people like the writer defend some sort of “law” that A) doesn’t exist and B) if it does is INDEFENSIBLE.

The ordinary people of Libya live in the REAL WORLD, not the comfy one of reporters, or indeed of judges sitting in a posh and above-all safe office in the Hague or somewhere.

What happened with EMPATHY with all these people? You’ve sitting under the incoming rockets and shells from Gaddafi’s gangster army. Your kids could be blown to pieces at ANY minute. Killing Gaddafi MIGHT stop it.

I’m with the VICTIMS of these criminal tyrants.

 

GET OUT OF BAHREIN

The USA should at once get out of Bahrein, which along with Saudi Arabia & Syria should be subject to UN sanctions.

Either you believe in and act upon right and wrong or you don’t. You can’t convincingly pick and choose whom to support just because of geo-political considerations. So WHAT if Iran is looming in the background? TWO WRONGS DON’T MAKE A RIGHT. The Bahrein govt has shown itself to be illegitimate; hunting down doctors because they have evidence of state atrocities is beyond the pale. NO FREE STATE can POSSIBLY be ANY KIND of ally to a state doing this kind of thing.

It would be nice to hear the F1 circus stating that no more Grand Prix would be held in Bahrein under the present government.

 

Why Gaddafi must be Defeated

Libya – Why we must remove Gaddafi by any means possible.

A) If Britain succumbed to anarchy and a fascist gang seized control of Suffolk and then began shelling the town in neighbouring Norfolk where my old WHS mate lived with his lovely wife and three beautiful children then I, living in so far peaceful Esher, would feel compelled to come to my mate’s aid – IF it were at all feasible (it might not be).

This would be because:

1. I have a general principle that we must fight evil and fascism (same thing) and
2. I wouldn’t like to see my mate’s kids have their heads or legs blown off while I was sitting peacefully listening to the Archers.

The idea that I would say: “None of my business; let my old mate and his kids “fight it out” is surreally immoral. (always assuming that the line has been crossed – see below)

OK so far?

B) Now, if it weren’t a question of my old mate but of a stranger – equally innocent with equally lovely kids – then it wouldn’t actually make ANY difference. I would still think it right to “do something”, and if you’re going to do something it might as well be effective.

C) Now, if this fascist shelling of innocents happened in ANOTHER country it is of course “different”, since there are concepts of “sovereignty” and so on to deal with. HOWEVER, the victims involved are ALSO humans and “NO MAN IS AN ISLAND”. Moreover, there is a LINE IN THE SAND, and PLEASE don’t tell me there is NO line. For example, supposing WHOB X as a “let them fight it out” merchant learned that Gaddafi was building gas ovens and crematoria to final-solution his enemies then I suppose that THIS would be a line EVEN FOR THE RABID “It’s none of our business” brigade. Agreed?

So, there is ALWAYS A LINE. My line is clearly way to the left of certain people who vilified me for supporting intervention. Fine, we ALL have a different line in the sand. HOWEVER, in THIS case, the United Nations Security Council itself (to my surprise, given the quota of fascists kicking around the “international community”) ITSELF decided that Gaddafi had crossed the line.

The Arab League, Europe and the USA have ALL agreed that Gaddafi has crossed this line. The UN said that the International Community should take ALL EFFECTIVE MEASURES short of a ground invasion to protect civilians. More than this, the EU, NATO, the US and the Arab League have ALL said that there must be “regime change”, even though the UN couldn’t bring itself to say this – hardly surprising, when so many UN members are themselves despotic in one form or another.

However, all these august groups are being intellectually dishonest. The idea that you can “protect civilians” WITHOUT destroying Gaddafi’s regime is MORONIC. I’m sorry to use this word as I suspect it will get many people steamed up. However, I stand by it. Even massive air-power is not preventing Gaddafi’s “army” from INDISCRIMINATE SHELLING of Miseratu even while his spokespeople blather on about “democracy in six months”.

So, to be INTELLECTUALLY HONEST the intl community SHOULD have sanctioned “regime change” AND a UN-backed ground invasion, which would have toppled Gaddafi within hours. NO, the aftermath would not have been easy but just look at what is happening ALREADY. Apart from Miseratu, there are numerous villages and towns in the far west that we hear nothing about where Gaddafi is ALSO indiscriminately shelling civilians. And what chances do you give ANYONE fighting against him who is forced to surrender? This is why the Miseratu rebels say they will fight to the death. Defeat MEANS death for many of them. (BTW as I write the Libyan “government” is denying there is any shelling in Miseratu …..)

“Civilians”? Most of the “rebels” are civilians. You can see that just by watching Al Jazeera for 10 minutes. They have taken up arms in desperation, much as the peasants did in Russia, France and of course CUBA.The “army” in Libya is MINUTE – a few thousand men with forced conscripts and mercenaries led by members of Gaddafi’s odious family. So “protecting civilians” ALSO means protecting the rebels = SIDING with the rebels. To pretend anything else is intellectually dishonest.

The bottom line is:

• There can be NO PROTECTION for civilians while Gaddafi remains in power.
• While despots have to be tolerated up to a point, there is a LINE IN THE SAND. Gaddafi CROSSED THAT LINE. (more than once, but he got let off by Blair et al)
• We can’t do everything, but doing NOTHING is – for me – not an option. And WHAT IS THE POINT OF DOING SOMETHING INEFFECTIVE THAT DOESN’T SOLVE THE ROOT PROBLEM?
• In this case, we COULD do something effective at MINIMAL COST. We are not proposing to defend the Tibetans against the Chinese …..
• If something is not done soon, Miseratu will fall; thousands will disappear and/or die; Gaddafi will have shored up his position while hoping the intl community gets fed up and/or chickens out of tough decisions.

 

Gaddafi’s “Support”

Dictators who won’t respect the majority will ….. (do any?)

All the appalling chaos and bloodshed in Ivory Coast is the fault of Gbagbo who did not go gracefully when he lost the election that the UN stated was free and fair and who is now whipping up his supporters into a frenzy of anti-sectarian hatred, much as happened in Rwanda.

There will be no peace in the world until it is rid of dictators who think they have the right to rule other people’s lives and who are the cause of immense misery, suffering and often premature and violent death to millions of people.

It is the moral duty of all free people to fight where possible to rid the world of this scum oppressing their fellow-humans. Anyone DEFENDING a dictatorship is as morally bankrupt as the dictatorship itself. Such people involved in and/or defending dictatorships have removed themselves from the mainstream of humanity and all that is best – or could be – about the Human Spirit.

Fundamentalist Islam is of course in the vanguard of this loss of humanity, supporting as it does the dictatorship of religion. That democracies themselves are not perfect is no reason to defend dictatorships.

“GADDAFI HAS MORE SUPPORT THAN WE THINK.” -  Really? Only a complete moron could spout such rubbish.

A) How do we know about Gaddafi”s “support”? Only a secret BALLOT BOX could tell us this. Dictators don’t do free and fair elections.

B) Much of his “support” is from foreign mercenaries used as I write to snipe to death ordinary civilians in Miseratu.

C) Most of his “supporters” were born and have grown up knowing NOTHING ELSE but his murderous regime, except that for those of course who received the money and favours it obviously seems “a good thing”.

D) Anyone showing anything BUT “support” in areas his men control risks torture and death. Hardly surprising such areas are quiescent. Where people HAVE dared to rise up, they have been mercilessly eliminated, and there are LOTS of towns even in WESTERN Libya where this has happened, as it still is happening in Miseratu.

 

Let them fight it out

Of course, in this business it is essential to know who to believe. One can start by working out whom NOT to believe or indeed listen to.

- First of course, is Chavez of Venezuela. As Sibyl Fawlty said: “I’ve seen headless chickens running round farmyards with more sense.”

- Second is anything whatsoever that Libyan “state” television says. At the very moment as a govt spokesman was announcing that a ceasefire was in place (without looking at the camera – is it a Muslim fascist thing? I’ve noticed that Gaddafi rarely looks the camera in the eye – in his latest rants he hasn’t even shown his face.) armour was advancing towards Benghazi in a stupid but murderous attempt to take the city before the “no-fly zone” came into operation. NINETY-FOUR people were killed during this incursion, which was repulsed. The injured included a young boy and his mother shot. The injured in all cities subject to Gaddafi’s indicriminate shelling are often disfigured, limbless for live – their lives totally destroyed.

Allah be praised for the French, whose planes destroyed these scum as they scurried out of the city back west.

And of course the Libyan “govt” is claiming that the Allies hit a hospital. Anyone who believes that has less sense than the aforementioned headless chickens.

- Third is the Russians who want us to “avoid indiscriminate action”. They of course are the experts on this, having honed the art in Chechnya. All their actions were extremely discriminate, though whether that made any difference to those killed by their soldiers is a moot point.

Of course, Russia is led by Putin formerly of the KGB of the USSR which certainly avoided “indiscriminate action” in Katyn Forest, where they machine-gunned TWENTY-THOUSAND Polish intellectuals, high-ranking military and so on. One can certainly admire the Russian’s stoic defence of “indiscriminate action”. They have a different philosophy; “If you’re going to kill someone, do it with discrimination.”

As for the action, what a pity that so few speak the truth. The murder and oppression of civilians will continue until Gaddafi is removed from power, most likely dead. This has always been true of tyrants. And the idea that this can de done without killing a lot of his people is stupid, just as the Nazis and Wehrmacht soldiers had to be defeated and in most cases killed before victory came.

Which reminds me of “letting them fight it out”. What a hilarious, morally-vacuumed nonsense! Can you pls tell me why my father had to flog his way across North Africa and then all the way from Normandy to Berlin when we could QUITE EASILY have let Hitler and Stalin “fight it out”?

We could easily have made a separate peace with Hitler – after all, the French did. He wasn’t interested in us. After all, we were mostly Aryians, weren’t we? He was only interested in Lebensraum and the extermination of the Jews and Slavs.

Come on – let’s hear it. Why DID we fight Hitler, killing HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of innocent Germans? Why did we put our men in danger, resulting in the deaths and maiming of MILLIONS on the Allied side? Why did Taffy Evans risk his life every day on convoys to bring aid to Russia?

Because it was the RIGHT THING TO DO TO FIGHT FASCISM.

TODAY’S FUNNY? Gaddafi complaining that “foreigners have no right to interfere in Libya” HA, BLOODY HA ….. and I supposed the massed mercenaries from black Africa are Libyans are they?

And again: “What right has America et al to interfere in Libyan affairs?” What a MORON. He clearly cannot see that he himself HAS NO RIGHT TO RULE, having NEVER BEEN ENDORSED by the people. More than that, he has systematically opressed and murdered “his” people for FOUR DECADES, quite apart from those OUTSIDE the country.

As for “Gaddafi has more support than we realize” (from the headless chicken brigade) let’s review this when Tripoli falls, shall we, where the mass of the population are terrified. And so would you be; in true despot fashion, Gaddafi’s diehards even shoot their “own” soldiers who refuse to kill civilians.

As for the action, Gaddafi’s, tanks have finally broken into Miseratu, which has heroically held out for weeks against overwhelming odds. No doubt the Gaddafi people will strap kids to their tanks to use as human shields – another fascist ploy. And a ship is supposed to be preventing aid reaching the people from the sea. I hope the insufferable Yanks sink the ship and supply the “rebels” with anti-tank weapons. That should bring home the message.

This won’t end till Gaddafi is dead, and the sooner the better. All this pissing about pretending otherwise is pathetic. It was true FORTY YEARS ago, and every year since, and it is still true. It was EXACTLY the same with Hitler as it ALWAYS is with dictators, unless they manage to flee at the last minute. Can we look forward to Chavez presenting Gaddafi as a “hero of the people” at a press conference. He is of course a clown already, but that will prove he is a headless-chicken brained one, too.

“Let them fight it out”! Christ, what an appalling moral sickness has seized some people’s brains.

 

The Arab states “SHOULD” do something

Military force may be necessary against Gaddafi.
If so, the Arab states, rather than the West, should provide it.

I love this word “should”. Unfortunately, it is just about the most useless word in the English language. I must admit that “calls” comes close, as in: “The EU calls for Gaddafi to step down.”

As for “should”, most of the Arab states are fascist dictatorships of one kind or another. Secondly, since when do you remember dictators respecting “calls” for them to do ANYTHING?

As for the UN:

• half its members are fascist dictatorships
• Russia is a mafia state with little true democracy
• China is a dictatorship, pure and simple
• The UN elected Gaddafi as an ADVISOR ON HUMAN RIGHTS.

Where is the credibility there?

The fatuous unreality of most of the pronouncements on Libya are extraordinary. Do we hear ANY politicians talking the TRUTH? Gaddafi is a gangster. His “right” to rule Libya was acquired by FORCE ALONE. He has ZERO legitimacy.

WELL DONE FRANCE, for recognizing the freedom-fighters trying to overthrow this tyrant, but WHERE IS THE REST OF THE WORLD? Don’t wait for the Arab States – half of them are as bad as Gaddafi; their governments DO NOT REPRESENT THEIR PEOPLES.

Are we going to sit and watch as he smashes city after city on the way to Benghazi and then wreaks a terrible vengeance on those who dared to defy him? THAT IS WHAT DICTATORS DO. THEY RULE BY TERROR. If nothing is done, THOSE WHO DARED STAND UP TO HIM WILL SUFFER A HORRIBLE FATE.

And the “international community” supplied the weapons that are allowing him to do it.

And have we forgotten his DECADES of sowing terror, not only WITHIN Libya but in his help to nasty regimes all over sub-Saharan Africa, not to mention Lockerbie, the IRA arms supplies and all the rest of it?

 

The Disunited Nations

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has called on the world to back the popular revolts shaking the Middle East.

A good article. She is right. The UN as it is currently set up is a nonsense. A large proportion of its  members DO NOT RESPECT the UN Charter. Many are fascist regimes. Last year the General Assembly voted Libya onto the Human Rights Committee. IT IS AN UTTER AND HYPOCRITICAL CHARADE.

Membership should be VETTED and allowed ONLY for DEMOCRACIES. Yes, this would cause problems, but they exist anyway. The world is ALREADY split into fascist v democratic regimes, even if all the latter are by no means perfect. But at least this would be HONEST. Nations excluded would have at some point to decide whether they wished to join the mainstream of Humanity. One by one, their PEOPLES would make the decision for them.

 

Israel’s Folly

Peter Oborne in “The Independent” – right on the nail as usual

Absolutely right. Israel is special for all of us, but it has completely abused our support. Whichever way you look at it, they have been occupying land gained by conquest for decades now. NO, they didn’t START the war that allowed them to occupy the West Bank, but on that basis Britain should now be ruling Germany and Japan be a state of the USA.

They have DONE ALMOST NOTHING to bring peace; no concessions or compromise on settlements, the exiles, Jerusalem. The Palestinians are the most educated, moderate and democratic people in the Middle East  and pose no danger to Israel, and yet Israel continues to steal their land andbuild settlements on it and maintain road blocks, apparently content to keep the people in poverty.

Nutandyahboo even CANCELLED the freeze on settlement-building IN THE MIDDLE OF PEACE TALKS. It is almost as if they are determined to provoke the next generation of Palestinian youth to rebel and join Hamas. The mainline Palestine faction has eschewed violence, but what have they been offered in return? Almost NOTHING.

The extent of the domination of Israel’s political agenda by right-wing religious nutters is astonishing. What do they EXPECT from the future? That they can go on for EVER like this? They simply give ammunition to Hamas but even worse to Hezbollah and Iran.

Obama is a disaster. When Nutandyahboo announced the end of the freeze on settlements, he merely said he was “disappointed”. The man is totally out of his depth, which is not surprising in one with so little experience and whose only competence is to make a good speech full of superficial froth but no substance – which the Americans in their desperation for a fresh start fell for hook, line and sinker. And not only the Americans of course – the surreally-stupid award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama showing the extent of the self-delusion.

What he SHOULD have done was get on the phone secretly (Wikileaks permitting of course) and told Nutandyahboo that if he didn’t compromise and therefore make real concessions then the USA would not only cancel all aid to Israel but start financing Palestine. An ultimatum to withdraw from the West Bank or face military action would not have gone amiss either.

As it is, the Israeli right-wing (Is it time to start calling them fascists? We would do if it were ANY OTHER PEOPLE) are leading the west by the nose into disaster. After 9/11 sorting out the Palestine Problem was supposed to be a top-priority.

It could and should have been so different. Israel and Palestine clearly need each other for trade, peace, as an example to the rest of the Middle East and the world.  At the moment, however, it is all a shameful disaster.

What can WE do? Well, nothing else has worked, so perhaps it is time for sanctions. We did it to get rid of apartheid; what is so different about Israel?