Libya: Benghazi unrest, to Civil War, to a new government and Gaddafi's death.

[RBH]

And the west is watching all this without doing anything...

Who are we to be world police and impose our cultural values on others? You don't want to be a colonialist imperialist, do you?

The west gains nothing from intervening. If we can get some Arab states to do our dirty job then we should go for it. Otherwise the west needs to stay out.

except that no Middle Eastern or African Nation has frozen Gaddafi's assets. (And the chairman of the African Union is freaking Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, a nation that has blacked out all coverage of the Libyan uprising)

the Arab government's are in an interesting spot of doing nothing to work for greater freedoms, and then using their media outlets to blame other people for their problems.

In other words, wait on the Arab league, and watch Muammar do a Saddam 1991 on the protesters as the Arab League does nothing. Followed by the people thinking the US is bad. And do something, and watch people think the US is bad.

So it's a matter of choosing who you want to be madder at you. And here, it'd probably be a lot of refugees who will have lost everything and who would have a grudge against the US government.

In the scheme of things, either Gaddafi dies or the protesters die. There's no exile or no compromise.

Oh yeah, they're gonna hold prayers outdoors in the Green Square to make it easier to murder any protesters. And Misurata got bombed.

Damn, deciding on a No-Fly Zone is hard, let's give Gaddafi a few more weeks to attack his opposition from the air.

[RBH]

Saturday Morning in Az Zawiyah: Gaddafi tanks roll in, at least 6 are taken out. The elite Libyan troops are executing people in the streets. Tanks are shelling the city. After a bit of fighting, the Gaddafi side retreats. And presumably by the time you read this, they might move back in.

As to the protester side being owed anything. All they're owed is a fair chance and a reduced chance of having war criminals violate all human norms in fighting them. The farthest you could go is a no-fly zone because of the realities of moving troops to the West over a long road.

Also, it would not shock me if the explosion in Benghazi that has claimed 27 was a Gaddafi-ordered event. But I can imagine that they have reasons to not admit that terrorist acts behind the lines occurred.

Oh yeah, the Libyan request to suspend the sanctions, contrasted with them killing people in the streets of Az Zawiyah and shooting at anything that moves there... yeah, they're not gonna get a suspension. And by this point, they're one big blow from circling the drain. Mercs are mercs, and the Libyan units can only fight for so long against a foe that's not going to roll over and die.

[RBH]

I found some footage of the negotiations between Gaddafi and the opposition



But seriously, this kinda sounds like someone is taking a Heinrich Himmler approach behind Gaddafi's back.

And I hear that the news from Sunday about massive victories came out to make Gaddafi happy because he was mentally on edge

[RBH]

When it comes to moving west. Once Ajdabiya is secure (or at least the bypass), then the rebels can move back into Brega and Ras Lanuf within days (both cities seem to be very quiet after Gaddafi took them). And if that lures more valuable Gaddafi forces out of Sirte to get flattened by France, then all the better.

The strikes around Sabha could reduce the ability to move through Fezzan to reinforce the middle.

It would not stun me if Fezzan/SW Libya is the last holdout for the Gaddafi forces.

Also reading rumors that the Gaddafi leadership is operating out of Sabha instead of Tripoli. Which would make a lot of sense. For one thing, Gaddafi has not been seen since last Tuesday. He has had 3 speeches via radio since then. 2 of the speeches occurred when his media was showing demonstrators at his compound. So if they could film demonstrators, but Gaddafi was not filmed, he must be somewhere else.

Gaddafi is not a legitimate leader in any sense of the word and it's a matter of time before the deadenders and mercs are defeated.