Libya

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 20 Feb 2011, 18:42

Libya seems to be making rather a special case of itself by killing a lot of people.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12517327

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/afric ... 76293.html

featherstick · Post by **featherstick** » 20 Feb 2011, 19:50

The UK sold the Libyan regime GBP3.5m worth of ammunition last year. Kind of make you sick, doesn't it?

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 20 Feb 2011, 20:05

For one very brief moment in our political history we had a thing called Ethical Foreign Policy. The nation laughed. All too soon Robin Cook was forced to resign as his Prime Minister insisted on going to war. Ethical Foreign Policy was finally extinguished on a Scottish hillside.

Lord Beria3 · Post by **Lord Beria3** » 20 Feb 2011, 20:33

Yes, Robin Cook died on Mod land...

Libya has oil which this country needs, realpolitik, nasty but necessary.

Cabrone · Post by **Cabrone** » 20 Feb 2011, 20:58

featherstick wrote:The UK sold the Libyan regime GBP3.5m worth of ammunition last year. Kind of make you sick, doesn't it?

Yes.

The protesters are incredibly brave, they must know that there is a good chance of being killed but they are out there fighting for the simple right to vote.

Has made me appreciate my vote a bit more.

Lord Beria3 · Post by **Lord Beria3** » 20 Feb 2011, 21:20

Yes, very true.

The total lack of interest from people I know is quite staggering... but not surprising... seems that the only thing people are interested in is the footie!

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 20 Feb 2011, 21:29

The twitter feed scrolling through on Al Jazeera is pretty amazing.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/afric ... 76293.html

The Warfala tribe, about a sixth of the population, has declared against Gadaffi and I just saw a tweet saying the Tuareg from the south are now against him.

He either goes quietly or there's a proper civil war in Libya.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 20 Feb 2011, 21:31

The Interior minister has just abandoned Gadaffi and joined the protesters.

It is after 11 p.m. in #Libya right now, and thousands of #Libyans in #Tripoli march forward despite ongoing brutality from #Gaddafi.

Only a tweet but

News Kaddafi has fled to Venezuela in last half hour from reputable source in #Tripoli #Gaddafi

Tibbu tribes from southern #Libya just declared they join the protests and abandon #Gaddafi

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 20 Feb 2011, 22:14

The Libya ambassador to China has just resigned live on Al Jazeera TV saying he no longer works for the Libyan government.

The tribal leader in control of oil exporting area has declared that oil exports will cease if Gadaffi does not go.

nexus · Post by **nexus** » 20 Feb 2011, 22:23

Thanks for all the updates Biff, it's like having our own PS twitter feed

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 20 Feb 2011, 22:31

There was a pretty intelligent discussion about oil futures with a guy fro Platts on Al Jazeera a few minutes ago, weighing up the possible forms of disruption to oil exports and its consequences for Europe.

Bangazi is clearly under control of the protesters, Tripoli looks quiet now too with the army and police vanished amongst widespread rumours that Gadiffi is no longer in the country.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 20 Feb 2011, 22:32

Story now emerging that Gadaffi sons have been involved in a gunfight, one having shot the other!!!

Antie Beeb is amazingly dull compared to Al Jazeera TV English

Ludwig · Post by **Ludwig** » 20 Feb 2011, 22:57

biffvernon wrote:For one very brief moment in our political history we had a thing called Ethical Foreign Policy. The nation laughed. All too soon Robin Cook was forced to resign as his Prime Minister insisted on going to war. Ethical Foreign Policy was finally extinguished on a Scottish hillside.

There's never been such a thing as a truly ethical foreign policy. Being ethical means that the unethical walk all over you. Even Churchill reneged on his promises to Poland. What else could he do? He needed to win the war. It was the lesser of two evils.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 20 Feb 2011, 23:02

I never said we had an ethical policy, just a thing called An Ethical Policy. Getting the label on the can right was hard enough, never mind sorting out the muck inside.

Meanwhile, in Germany the government has had a seriously bad hair day.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/02/2 ... EH20110220

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 20 Feb 2011, 23:07

This, if it's really what it says it is, is a remarkable video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhcKx5cZ ... e=youtu.be

Allegedly it shows a 71 car motorcade of Gadaffi and friends going who knows where in a hurry.