Reagan did nothing. He just sat back and waited for the Soviet empire to collapse from within. It had been on the decline ever since Stalin’s death. He was extremely active, on the other hand, in removing the checks and balances which had assured a bond of trust between CEOs, their employees, and shareholders.

Raegan was instrumental in starting an arms race with the Soviets – which eventually prompted the collapse of the Soviet Union, amongst other factors.Such a huge empire like the Soviet Union could not have crumbled overnight (hasty retreat?)

Shaw is another expert in international affairs. Perhaps you don’t realise that the West is acting the way it is precisely because of the decisions taken by leaders past (Reagan et al) which made the East of today what it is.

And given that you’d make such a GREAT US President yourself, I suggest you leave and get yourself elected ASAP so that the rest of the world would be, certainly, in much better and capable hands.

Funny that you should mention the Alouettes. They can’t be flown because the Libyan government never handed over the docs.

You obviously have no idea what you’re talking about, kev. But perhaps that’s not your fault because locked up as you are in your Brussels-gravy-train-EU office, you’re not being trusted to get info from the ground.

The truth is that the rebels will probaby not need a no fly-zone, you outdated kraut. Secondly things have, since Kosovo and partly due to it, changed. It’s an entirely different ball-game now. You don’t have to be some great anyalyst to realise this, but we weren’t then all as lucky as you were to get a scholarship to Pravda University in Tovarich Breshnev’s Russia to fail our pilot’s course and get a degree in mental short-sightedness.

The rebels, bully for them, are managing to do it on their own. Had they not, and the international community had intervened, we would have heard you decrying the very interventions whose absence you now lament. It would be the greedy and evil West then, interfering, meddling in other countries’ affairs, wanting to grab their oil or some other rubbish that your Commie friends taught you so well.

All of the EU’s neutral countries except Cyprus have troops in Afghanistan: Sweden, Austria, Finland and our beloved Ireland. NATO member Iceland, which doesn’t even have an army, also has a contingent there. Luxemburg’s army is smaller than the AFM. They also sent a contingent.

Switzerland (“Svizzera fil-Mediterran!”) Had some 30-odd soldiers there from 2003 to 2008.

That’s just to put things in perspective.

Keeping those two jets was a much bigger blow to Gaddafi’s air force than immediately apparent.

He had only four of those and they were the only up to date fighter jets that he had. He is now left with only one, the other one having been shot down probably while trying to escape like the other two.

He does of course have a rather large number of less capable aircraft which are still very effective at shooting into unarmed or lightly armed crowds of people but nothing that would be of any significant threat to aircraft used in a potential no fly zone or other foreign military intervention.

“When, in the silence of despair, we hear nothing but the sound of the chains of slavery and the voice of accuser; when everything trembles before the tyrant, and when it becomes as dangerous to submit to his favours as it is to deserve his rebuke, the historian appears, to avenge the people. Nero prospers in vain, because Tacitus has been born in the Empire..”

The translation doesn’t do it justice, but you get the gist. Once Tacitus the historian or Daphne the journalist has denounced the dictator, his days are numbered. In Gaddafi’s case it’s even better: he’s been denounced by the world’s governments.

You may wish to start a topic on the subject in the link above. Cyprus is also a neutral, EU country, as you know, but its politicians are pro-active and have agreed to share the huge gas reserves just explored in the region. Furthermore, and this doesn’t feature in the article, Cyprus will be providing the Israeli Defence Force with temporary basing facilities for training purposes.

You may want to dig a bit further on this subject and I will do the same, hoping to make the people here more aware of how weak our foreign affairs policy is, especially with Tonio Borg around.

Effectively, this means two fewer jets in the skies of Libya that could bombard eastern Libya. With its action, Malta has done more that UK or USA to curb the dictator.