What's going on in the Middle East?

[virago]

Well we know full well what's happened in Egypt and Libya but many others are uprising over corruption and poverty.

The BBC even has an 'unrest index' by country! BBC News - Middle East protests: Country by country

I was reading yesterday about Yemen and amazed at how brutal the government in squashing the anti government protests with 45 people killed by snipers and police barricading protesters inside to stop any easy escape.

BBC News - Today - '45 dead' after Yemen massacre

[pin]

Time to start hoarding cooking oil.......

[Football16]

Egypt seemed to be the catalyst for those unhappy in other countries to take to the streets and let's face it - many of the gov'ts there are not exactly helping their people. Others suggest that back in Feb. Tunisia was the catalyst.

http://www.faqs.org/periodicals/201102/2274093051.html


This no fly zone with participation by Canada is very concerning. PM Harper sees a chance to get his majority now in Canada and a war which he is declaring unilaterally is a good thing to use with the voters who have been overly influenced by US TV that believing in war means you support the troops. He'd have fought in the Iraq War with Geo. Bush too but he had just taken office and knew he didn't have the political capital to do this.

The UN are onside with the Americans in the distance (do they ever support the UN?) as are the Germans who won't shoot down planes in Libya. Canada has no interest in the Libya oil as companies like ENI from Italy are huge there. News in Canada says: "Harper notes action amounts to a necessary 'act of war' on Libya."

Not long ago the Brits (Blair) were all over Khadafi welcoming him back to the good side.

The irony is that innocents folks get hurt with air strikes overhead as PM Harper admits to the press so let's kill more innocents in the name of freedom.

"The prime minister acknowledged that the military operation will be complex and could lead to casualties among the very civilians that nations are trying to protect, and perhaps among the military personnel being sent to Libya."

[virago]

Not long ago the Brits (Blair) were all over Khadafi welcoming him back to the good side.

Yes that's right. Britain let go the convicted Pan Am bomber!

Even some of the Jet Fighters are French! So they would have purchased them at some stage with approval from the government.

[Freetrader]

This no fly zone with participation by Canada is very concerning. PM Harper sees a chance to get his majority now in Canada and a war which he is declaring unilaterally is a good thing to use with the voters who have been overly influenced by US TV that believing in war means you support the troops. He'd have fought in the Iraq War with Geo. Bush too but he had just taken office and knew he didn't have the political capital to do this.

The UN are onside with the Americans in the distance (do they ever support the UN?) as are the Germans who won't shoot down planes in Libya. Canada has no interest in the Libya oil as companies like ENI from Italy are huge there. News in Canada says: "Harper notes action amounts to a necessary 'act of war' on Libya."

Football, what are you talking about? How is Canada participating 'unilaterally' in an action that was declared by the UN???

As far as the US is concerned, it is fairly well-known that Hillary was working closely behind the scenes, as the US has no interest in being seen as launching another war in the Middle-East. I believe Hillary has worked closely with Sarkozy and Camereon in overcoming the usual objections from the dictatorships on the Security Council - China and Russia. They are certainly not in favor of this precedent, but basically had no choice once the Arab League asked for a NFZ. It is for that reason that the US did nothing - publiclly- until the Arab League went to the UN for the approval of the no-fly zone. Personally, I think the no-fly zone should have been enforced earlier, before Qadaffi got the upper hand, and that UN SC resolutions are not particularly necessary, but I fully understand the political calculations behind it.

As far as Libyan oil goes, an intelligent guy like you knows better than that - that oil is a commodity, and that it doesn't particularly matter where the Libyan oil is actually shipped - if it isn't, the the Italians will have to get the oil somewhere else, and the price would go up. If I were a real cynic, I would suggest that as a Canadian, you have an interest in an increased price of crude oil, because that price has to be pretty high in order for the vast Canadian oil sand holdings to become economically viable. But I am not, of course, suggesting that.