Rising Hegemon
I have taken a lot of heat for my support of the revolution and of the United Nations-authorized intervention by the Arab League and NATO that kept it from being crushed. I haven’t taken nearly as much heat as the youth of Misrata who fought off Qaddafi’s tank barrages, though, so it is OK. I hate war, having actually lived through one in Lebanon, and I hate the idea of people being killed. My critics who imagined me thrilling at NATO bombing raids were just being cruel. But here I agree with President Obama and his citation of Reinhold Niebuhr. You can’t protect all victims of mass murder everywhere all the time. But where you can do some good, you should do it, even if you cannot do all good. I mourn the deaths of all the people who died in this revolution, especially since many of the Qaddafi brigades were clearly coerced (they deserted in large numbers as soon as they felt it safe). But it was clear to me that Qaddafi was not a man to compromise, and that his military machine would mow down the revolutionaries if it were allowed to.
I've been critical of this process for the same reason I've been critical of much of American military policy the last few years...I just don't find bombing things to be good policy, silly me, but it appears the multi-spelled man from determined to wear every outfit on the Sgt. Pepper album has lost power. And that's not too bad a thing to happen.
But now what?
7 comments:
My feeling, contrary to Cole's, is that this bunch will be just as thuggish as was Qadaffi, and will be just as determined not to be pushed from power when the West decides that they haven't been as friendly to Western oil companies as they could have been.
Want to see opinion turn on a dime? Watch what happens when the Chinese offer `em a better deal and they take it....
montag, if they were as thuggish as the tyrant, the sons wouldn't have been taken alive.
your line of prejudicial reasoning is akin to a post civil war prediction that newly freed slaves would be as thuggish as slave owners.
now what?
this academic argues the motivation fueling the wave of arab uprisings doesn't stem from a desire to topple the dictator in order to set up a new islamic regime. iran isn't their model. they want democracy. they want the "normalcy" they see the rest of the world enjoying.
zbig brzezinski makes a similar argument. he says because of the age of connectivity, there is a global awareness taking place that is unprecedented in history:
For the first time in human history almost all of humanity is politically activated, politically conscious and politically interactive. There are only a few pockets of humanity left in the remotest corners of the world that are not politically alert and engaged with the political turmoil and stirrings that are so widespread today around the world. The resulting global political activism is generating a surge in the quest for personal dignity, cultural respect and economic opportunity in a world painfully scarred by memories of centuries-long alien colonial or imperial domination.
Whose bid is highest for Libya's quality oil and will that high bidder give Libyans good security?
Policitally alert, engaged, stirrings, activism, surge, are buzz words. People don't risk lives for buzz works...the loot and booty matter.
vox
vox, did american revolutionaries risk their lives and die in the mud for the sake of loot and booty? no, they they took up arms in a fight for independence.
sure, greed is going to motivate some people to grasp at power but that isn't going to motivate 90% of people in a country. 40 plus years of living with a boot on your neck is enough.
did you assign greed to the people of tunisia as the reason they revolted? did the fruit vendor who set himself on fire do so because of greed?
a wave is a wave. every other country in the region has kicked up political unrest. does tunisia, egypt, syria have valid reason to revolt but libya is the exception? is libya the only uprising that's illegitimate?
people throughout the ages have sacrificed all, including their lives, for the sake of nationalism. everything doesn't boil down to greed.
Whose bid is highest for Libya's quality oil
some critics are more incensed with the prospect of a western oil company standing to gain one thin dime in additional profit than they are offended by the oppression of a people.
and will that high bidder give Libyans good security?
libyans just demonstrated they are equipped and capable to handle their own security.
i haven't seen this story confirmed but it looks like the tnc will refuse to allow nato to build bases in libya.
a few just forgot he was crazy. takes longer when a ruler is crazy.
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