"Even if they dress up military action in humanitarian camouflage, the core agenda will be unchanged. More plausible perhaps in the current climate is the idea that Western action could be demanded and controlled by the Libyans themselves. Don’t believe it for a minute.
Leaving aside the practical disasters intervention would bring, the West would demand a high price for any ‘assistance’. One of the outcomes of Western occupation of Iraq, besides almost unimaginable death and destruction, has been Western corporate seizure of Iraq’s key assets including of course oil. It would be hopelessly naïve to think that the fact Libya is Africa’s premier oil producer isn’t at the forefront of the US’s current calculations. Any intervention would be shaped above all by this concern
Inevitably interventionists will say the Libyans are calling for action and they know best. Well some Libyans are and they are being widely reported. But there are many other voices. The uprising’s capital Benghazi is decorated with posters saying ‘no to foreign military intervention’ and one of the reasons that the representatives of the National Council gave for sending Britain’s farcical ‘diplomatic mission’ packing on the weekend was that they knew the dangers of being associated with the West"
For full article by Chris Nineham :
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.com/2011/03/no-to-no-fly-zone-why-western-planes.html
Inevitably interventionists will say the Libyans are calling for action and they know best. Well some Libyans are and they are being widely reported. But there are many other voices. The uprising’s capital Benghazi is decorated with posters saying ‘no to foreign military intervention’ and one of the reasons that the representatives of the National Council gave for sending Britain’s farcical ‘diplomatic mission’ packing on the weekend was that they knew the dangers of being associated with the West"
For full article by Chris Nineham :
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.com/2011/03/no-to-no-fly-zone-why-western-planes.html
At the same time that a no fly zone has been declared for Libya I hear that in Yemen, pro-government forces have killed 40 people, whilst in Bahrain government forces backed by Saudi, UAE and Kuwaiti troops, have fired on protesters from helicoptors in Manama. Where are the UN resolutions, where are the no fly zones, where are the calls for regime change from Cameron and co. Moreover the very same Gulf Co-operation Council whose support is so welcomed by Cameron and Miliband in the Libyan situation are suppressing dissent in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and so on.
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