France: “the moment has passed” to impose a Nato no-fly zone over Libya
Shiber, shiber - now the west will pay the price
From the Financial Times online edition, this evening:
Fears moment passed for Libya intervention
By James Blitz in London, Peggy Hollinger in Paris and Tobias Buck in Benghazi
Published: March 15 2011 19:08 | Last updated: March 15 2011 19:55
The UK and France have lost all hope of launching military action to halt Muammer Gaddafi’s attack on rebels in Libya, according to senior European officials who acknowledge the regime may be in a position to crush the uprising within weeks.
As forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi attacked Ajdabiya, a strategic town in eastern Libya whose capture would pave the way for an assault on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, Britain and France continued to press for a new UN Security Council resolution that maintains pressure on the Gadaffi regime.
But one senior UK government official said he can see no way for David Cameron, prime minister, to win international support for military action to stop the onslaught. UK officials are instead beginning to turn their attention to how a triumphant Col Gadaffi can be contained in the months and years ahead.
Alain Juppé, French foreign minister, said that “the moment has passed” to impose a Nato no-fly zone over Libya, despite his government’s continued lobbying for air strikes against strategic military targets.
“If we had used military force last week to neutralise a number of air strips and a few dozen of their planes, perhaps the opposition’s reversal of fortune wouldn’t have happened,” Mr Juppé told French radio.
US and British military calculate that Col Gaddafi has sufficient momentum to attack Benghazi within five to 10 days.
With China and Russia still resistant to military intervention in any form, European officials are lowering their sights and focusing instead on a UN Security Council resolution that would tighten the arms embargo on Libya and block the transport of African mercenaries to the country.
The US says it is looking at the possibility of providing financial support to the opposition by freeing up some of the $32bn in Libyan assets it has frozen.
Western policymakers are concerned Col Gadaffi’s advance on Benghazi will trigger an exodus towards Libya’s border with Egypt. But one European government official noted on Tuesday that while the battle for Benghazi may be bloody, people may well take cover in the city rather than flee.
In Ajdabiya, rebel commanders have established two defensive lines on the western outskirts of the city, which they are defending with tanks, missile launchers and armoured vehicles. However, the opposition’s hastily assembled band of volunteer fighters and army defectors struggled to hold their positions.
With the aid of a spotter plane circling overhead, pro-Gaddafi fighters launched one of the heaviest bombardments seen so far, with artillery shells and missiles raining down on the rebels, who appeared to have no effective reply.
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Here’s the link:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e5bcb39e-4f34-11e0-9038-00144feab49a,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fe5bcb39e-4f34-11e0-9038-00144feab49a.html%3Fftcamp%3Drss&_i_referer=&ftcamp=rss
http://www.libyafeb17.com
Whilst everyone else says that action needs to be taken, two large important countries Russia and China are holding back. The question is why? Who are they protecting? Do they know something the rest of the world does not? I can’t understand the logic.
Russia seems to be adamant in creating a precedent because of its restive regions same for China.
Conversely intervention in Libya without a good justification will create a precedent for belligerent nations to invade smaller neighbours at will.
Their logic is sound. They’re shutting up to get oil contracts.
Isn’t it obvious what Russia and China are waiting for? They know they are going to get control of the oil and gas fields and they don’t give two hoots about the number of people who may die to reach their objective. If there are two other countries which are known to have little regard for democracy and human life, it is them.
Although the headlines say “NATO to impose no-fly zone” they really meant “Nay to impose no-fly zone.”
There is no logic and the word “honour” seems to have disappeared from the dictionary in the West. I think that in their heart of hearts the majorityof the scum in the west are hoping for a Gaddafi come-back so that they can go back to their filthy financial and oil deals. Shame on you all. Praise to Sarkozy!
Much more important is to ask “How on earth does Malta find itself on the same side of the fence as the China of the Tiananmen massacre of students and on the same side as a communist Russia that sent in its tanks to crush the Hungarian freedom-fighters who had just pushed out the foreign occupiers pf their home land?
The silly pretext is our “neutrality and non-alignment”. If that is so, then the sooner we abandon that type of neutralization, the better it would befor us before we are faced with the necessity of defending our independence.
Dr.Saliba, I beg to differ. Malta is not on the same side of China or Russia unless you know of a massive army, navy and air force hidden somewhere in Malta. Whether Malta is neutral or not has no bearing on bringing Gaddafi down.
To be on the same side as Russia and China, Malta had to have used its veto to block a no-fly zone at the UN or EU. It has not done so.
Russia and China are blocking the no-fly zone is for egotistic purposes and to receive preference with regards to Libya’s oil contracts.
And you know what? It’s working.
China and Russia have a power of veto and they have made it clear that they intend to use it. Malta does not have that power and therefore Malta is in no position to use a veto that it has not got. We can only obstruct military measures that somehow involve Malta’s territory. Our politicians seem to be doing just that and in so doing Malta is pulling on the same rope as China and Russia whatever their different motivations.
The only thing that “is working” is Gaddafi’s massacre of his own people.