Libya revolution

[PathWalker]

Libya is going into revolution as the citizens transcend the regimes' terror.

Libya protests: gunshots, screams and talk of revolution
Benghazi student says fear of Muammar Gaddafi's regime is ebbing away, Afraid to leave her barricaded home on the outskirts of Benghazi, a student blogger and member of Libya's youth protest movement sat shaking as she described the violence unleashed on the Mediterranean city in five days of demonstrations against the Libyan regime.
read more here... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/20/libya-gunshots-screams-revolution

Libyans Say Gaddafi Uses Mercenaries to Crush Uprising
Watch video clips in here: http://allafrica.com/view/resource/main/main/id/00020624.html

Violent clashes wrack Libya, after scores said killed in single day
Violent clashes continued into the night in Libya on Sunday between anti-government protesters and supporters of longtime leader Moammer Gadhafi. Some 200 people have been reported dead since the demonstrations erupted six days ago.

The violence spilled into Tripoli late Sunday, according to the Al Jazeera news channel, after Libyans protesting against Gadhafi's four-decade rule had appeared to control the streets of Benghazi, the country's second largest city. At least 50 people were killed on Sunday alone, doctors said, in the bloodiest of multiple revolts now rocking the Arab world.
Read more here...
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/violent-clashes-wrack-libya-after-scores-said-killed-in-single-day-1.344666

[Holly Lindin]

This video was put up today by somebody in Libya. There is really some awful stuff happening over there. What can we do to help?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyIyz44oKQQ (Sorry, I totally don't know how to embed.)

<3

[chelmostef]

We should concentrate on there being a as peaceful transition as possible and that the soldiers will see what is happening and join up with the people in thier fight against kelptocracy.

[Rocky_Shorz]

Emerging reports early Feb. 21 indicate the unrest in Libya might have spread from eastern Libya to the capital of Tripoli. According to initial reports, heavy gunfire was heard in central Tripoli and in other districts with Al Jazeera reporting 61 people killed in Tripoli on Feb. 21. Other unconfirmed reports say that protesters attacked the headquarters of Al-Jamahiriya Two television and Al-Shababia as well as other government buildings in Tripoli overnight. According to Saudi-owned al-Arabiya, the government-owned People’s Conference Centre where the General People’s Congress (parliament) meets when it is in session in Tripoli was set on fire. U.K. energy firm British Petroleum reportedly said it would evacuate its personnel from Libya and suspend its activities due to massive unrest.

better fill your tanks, oil prices aren't going down with operations being shut down...

¤=[Post Update]=¤


There is really some awful stuff happening over there. What can we do to help?!



Everyone step into the light and think peace and love for Libya...

[jjl]

Emerging reports early Feb. 21 indicate the unrest in Libya might have spread from eastern Libya to the capital of Tripoli. According to initial reports, heavy gunfire was heard in central Tripoli and in other districts with Al Jazeera reporting 61 people killed in Tripoli on Feb. 21. Other unconfirmed reports say that protesters attacked the headquarters of Al-Jamahiriya Two television and Al-Shababia as well as other government buildings in Tripoli overnight. According to Saudi-owned al-Arabiya, the government-owned People’s Conference Centre where the General People’s Congress (parliament) meets when it is in session in Tripoli was set on fire. U.K. energy firm British Petroleum reportedly said it would evacuate its personnel from Libya and suspend its activities due to massive unrest.
better fill your tanks, oil prices aren't going down with operations being shut down...Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch...
:rolleyes:

¤=[Post Update]=¤

not to worry you can get all the BP oil you want right here in the US...gulf

[Rocky_Shorz]

actually I was thinking here we go again, getting hurt by BPs actions...

it might be 1% of supplies but it is hitting the market like it was 50% thanks to the news...

¤=[Post Update]=¤

BP is drilling down from Alabama now, they moved onshore for the well...

could that have something to do with the earthquake offshore from Mobile a few days back?

[kouby]

The situation there is really scary, authorities shooting at peaceful citizens in the streets, local media silenced. I hope they get out of this one relatively peacefully but knowing that Khadafi character and knowing that he is a good friend and ally of Sarkozy leaves me quite sceptical. Anyway, things are definitely moving down on our little rock, this will surely be an interesting year.

[Wiley]

These "Revolutions" are backed by powerful forces, they are not just springing up everywhere for no apparent reason or because of some freedom bug.Someone(s) somewhere has an agenda and we're watching it unfold.... Be an observer ladies and gentlemen... until you personally have to take action.

namaste

[Setras]

Dutch ISP provider XS4ALL has set up an internet dial-up service for Libya.

Use your modem to dial +31205350535
username: xs4all
password: xs4all

[Northern Boy]

These "Revolutions" are backed by powerful forces, they are not just springing up everywhere for no apparent reason or because of some freedom bug.Someone(s) somewhere has an agenda and we're watching it unfold.... Be an observer ladies and gentlemen... until you personally have to take action.

namaste

You are correct look at this region Iran and Libya are the only 2 in this region with out a Rothschild controlled Central Bank. The people may be seeing what is happening in other areas and swelling the ranks hoping for the domino effect . Could it be they are trying to effect change in these areas to topple the Iranian regime ? One thing for certain George Soros is involved

They are so afraid that they may have Nukes soon. They may have them now . So here is a question if they had them , got them from China or Russia , and Israel attacked Iran to blow up the Nuclear facility and Iran responded by using 3 nukes on Israel . Who would the MSM and governments of the world condemn ? Israel for the attacking of a peaceful nation or Iran for using nukes ? I see the world chastising Iran for using nukes in a response and minimizing the role of Israel.


World Economic Forum Ditches Saif Gaddafi


http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/



Libya's Saif Gaddafi has been stripped of his "Young Global Leader" status by the Davos World Economic Forum.

http://www.weforum.org/s?s=young%20global%20leaders

According to WEF:



Young Global Leaders represent the future of leadership, coming from all regions of the world and representing business, government, civil society, arts & culture, academia and media, as well as social entrepreneurs.

Nominated under 40, these young leaders are proposed through a qualified nomination process and assessed according to rigorous selection criteria that creates a diverse and truly representative body, while accepting only the very best leaders who have already demonstrated their commitment to serving society at large.

Among the global plotters, and apologists for the plotters, who have not yet caused enough public embarrassment to be thrown under the WEF bus and, thus, remain members in good standing of WEF's "Young Global Leaders" are:

Alfredo Capote, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs.

Muhammad Ali Tabba, Chief Executive Officer, Lucky Cement .

Manisha Girotra, Chief Executive Officer and Country Head, UBS

Carme Chacón, Minister of Defence, Ministry of Defence of Spain

H.R.H. Prince Khalid Bin Bandar Bin Sultan, Executive Chairman, Dayim Holdings

H.R.H. Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norwa, Crown Princess of Norway, Royal Palace

Simon J. Power, Minister of Justice, Ministry of Justice of New Zealand

Stanislav Voskresenskiy, Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation

Cenk Aydin, Head, Corporate Segment, Europe, Middle East and Africa, JPMorgan

Gila Gamliel, .Deputy Minister for Advancement of Young People, Students and Women of Israel, Office of the Prime Minister

Michelle Rhee, Chancellor. District of Columbia Public Schools

Shamina Singh, Vice-President, Government and Public Affairs, Nike


Dashdorj Zorigt, Minister of Minerals and Energy, Ministry of Minerals and Energy of Mongolia

David Chiu .President, San Francisco Board of Supervisors, City Hall

Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Facebook

Chad Hurley, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, YouTube

Francois-Xavier de Mallmann, Head, European Financing Group, Goldman Sachs International

Christoph Sutte, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, South Pole Carbon Asset Management

Monisha Shah, Director of Emerging Markets, BBC World News Worldwide

Deng Yaping .Deputy Secretary, Chinese Communist Youth League Beijing Municipal Committee, Beijing Municipal Government

Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg, Federal Minister of Defence of the Federal Republic of Germany, Federal Ministry of Defence of Germany

Mark Leonard, Director European Council on Foreign Relations

Daniel Shapiro, Founder and Director, Harvard International Negotiation Program, Harvard Law School

Ellana Lee, Managing Editor, Asia Pacific, CNN International

Betsy Fischer, Executive Producer, "Meet the Press", NBC News

Deborah Kan, Presenter and Reporter, Thomson Reuters Asia

Kimberly A. Moore, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Lydia Polgreen, Journalist, New York Times

Muna AbuSulayman, Secretary-General, Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation

Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook

Raju Narisetti, Managing Editor, Washington Post Company

Andrew Ross Sorkin, Columnist, New York Times

Andrew L. Cohen, Managing Director, JPMorgan Private Bank

Arthur G. Mutambara, Deputy Prime Minister, Republic of Zimbabwe

Andrew Rugasira, Chief Executive Officer, Good African Coffee

Michael Sherwood, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Goldman Sachs International

Alessandra Galloni, Bureau Chief, Southern Europe,Wall Street Journal

Joshua Cooper Ramo, Managing Director, Kissinger Associates

Maria Bartiromo .Anchor, CNBC's Closing Bell; Host and Managing Editor, Wall Street Journal Report CNBC

Qin Min, Director, Government Affairs, McKinsey & Company

Kevin J. Martin, Attorney, Patton Boggs

Christopher Alexander, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General. United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

Janet Mountain, Executive Director, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

Nilmini G. Rubin, Policy Adviser, International Economics and Development, US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Faiza Saeed, Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore

Devin Wenig, Chief Executive Officer, Thomson Reuters Markets, Thomson Reuters

Justin Fox, Editorial Director, Harvard Business Review Group

Larry Page, Co-Founder, Google

Sergey Brin, Co-Founder, Google

Van Jones, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

Sallie Krawcheck, President, Global Wealth and Investment Management, Bank of America

Dina H. Powell, President, Goldman Sachs Foundation

Jonathan Soros, Deputy Chairman, Soros Fund Management

Chrystia Freeland, Global Editor-at-Large, Thomson Reuters .

[Ouroboros]

These "Revolutions" are backed by powerful forces, they are not just springing up everywhere for no apparent reason or because of some freedom bug.Someone(s) somewhere has an agenda and we're watching it unfold.... Be an observer ladies and gentlemen... until you personally have to take action.

namaste


Soon coming to a region near you. As the boy scout motto says "Be prepared"

[Rocky_Shorz]

one interesting point...

only 3 banks - Goldman - JPMorgan - BofA

[jozam]

Question......Do you think the riots which started in Tunisia were a convenience for "whoever" to spark off more riots all over North Africa and the Middle East?? And for what gain..

[farmin8r]

DISTURBING pictures from Libyan hospital http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=203209353028633&oid=197898230226131&comments link to his livestream in Libya http://www.livestream.com/libya17feb

[Rocky_Shorz]

from your link...


Benghaziya: This is Zakareia,I live in Sarraj in Tripoli. This is all getting out of hand. There are NO planes firing at civilians in Tripoli. We personally called people in Souq Aljumma, Girgarish, Dhara, and Al and Alhai and there is NOTHING happening. This is just one of Ghadaffi's plans so that people DO not go out and protest! These are all just rumors. There are mercenaries but no planes.

[Rocky_Shorz]

Egypt is considering protecting civilians with air protection, Libya is talking of air strikes starting in 2 hours...

[Rocky_Shorz]

BBC says Reliable sources say Col Gaddafi has now left the capital and several planes were flown out of the country by pilots who refused to bomb civilians...

[Northern Boy]

one interesting point...

only 3 banks - Goldman - JPMorgan - BofA

4 you left out UBS

[Rocky_Shorz]

British SAS troops are parachuting in right now...

[ace]

Blair has done a great job in the middle East, (not) I think he will return to the UK when things get too hot for this liar.

Ace

[Rocky_Shorz]

now Morocco...

[stomy]

Question......Do you think the riots which started in Tunisia were a convenience for "whoever" to spark off more riots all over North Africa and the Middle East?? And for what gain..

It's a convenience for people who lead the world. According to the georgiaguide'S stone, 95% of people must disappear! In changing the national on the exchequer, it can happen to enormous problems

[Swami]

Got links Rocky...?
2 fighther-planes landed in Malta.....
Suburbs getting bombed...
Rumors are that italian planes are taking part in the bombing (?????)

If rumors are true Hell broke loose in Lybia........

[ace]

This one is going to go all the way

Gaddafi son says:

We are not Tunisia and Egypt,'
'We will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet.
'We will keep fighting until the last man standing, even to the last woman standing...We will not leave Libya to the Italians or the Turks.'

Ace

[Swami]

This one is going to go all the way

Gaddafi son says:

We are not Tunisia and Egypt,'
'We will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet.
'We will keep fighting until the last man standing, even to the last woman standing...We will not leave Libya to the Italians or the Turks.'

Ace



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEupW-kvdBo

[eaglespirit]

...about an hour ago

Two Libyan pilots defect, say ordered to bomb protesters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/21/us-libya-protests-pilots-idUSTRE71K4S320110221

[Swami]

Livestream

http://www.directsource-network.com/alhurra_tv.html

http://revolution2.moonfruit.com/

[Rocky_Shorz]

10 pilots shot for not bombing civilians 4 planes have defected, leader of military under arrest...

Itallian planes trying to put out oil fires... bomb drops...

Navy ships are pounding cities, tanks along with aircraft hitting Mesrata

[Swami]

Austrian plane with EU citizens stuck in Libya, airspace "blocked"


Vienna - An Austrian army transport plane with some 60 European Union citizens onboard appeared to be stranded in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Monday night.

'The entire airspace is currently blocked,' an Austrian Defence Ministry employee told the German Press Agency dpa.

The plane was scheduled to leave Tripoli at 6:30 pm (1630 GMT), but was delayed after passengers had trouble making it to the airport in time, the APA news agency reported.

The passengers were said to be mainly businessmen based in different parts of Libya. Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal said they include 15 Austrians and 45 other EU citizens. He could not immediately provide more details

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1620973.php/Austrian-plane-with-EU-citizens-stuck-in-Libya-airspace-blocked

[Swami]

Airspace over Libyan capital closed

http://www.presstv.com/detail/166403.html

[DevilPigeon]

where is all this leading...? what will be the outcome...? i've got a bad feeling about all this, it seems like someone's thrown a match into a box of fireworks....

the guardian (uk) - unrest-morocco-iran-algeria-yemen-china (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/20/unrest-morocco-iran-algeria-yemen-china)

[Swami]

http://www.flightradar24.com/

[MorningSong]

CNN reports:


Libyan official at U.N. accuses Gadhafi of 'genocide'

the Arab League will hold an urgent summit Tuesday to discuss Libya, Egypt's official news agency MENA reported Monday.

Libya's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Dabbashi, called on the country's ruler of 42 years to "leave as soon as possible."

Gadhafi "has to stop killing the Libyan people," Dabbashi told reporters in New York. "He has to give up and he has to leave the country as soon as possible."

He accused Gadhafi of "genocide" and asked the United Nations to help protect Libyans and impose a no-fly zone to cut off military supplies to the regime.

The country's justice minister, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, resigned, saying he was protesting the "bloody situation" and "use of excessive force" against unarmed protesters, according to Quryna -- a newspaper that last week carried regime propaganda but is now reporting on the protests and casualty figures.

Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi met in Tripoli with ambassadors of the European Union, blaming the unrest in the country on "terrorists and destructive plans" and stressing that Libya has the right to "take any measures" to protect its unity, stability, people and resources, Libyan state television reported.

Questions swirled around Gadhafi and his whereabouts. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Gadhafi may be en route to Venezuela. "I have seen some information that suggests he is on his way there at the moment," Hague told reporters during a European Union meeting in Brussels, Belgium.

Libya's ambassador to Britain, Omar Jelban, denied that Gadhafi was traveling to the South American country....

Two Libyan Air Force pilots defected to Malta on Monday after being asked to bomb Libyan citizens, a Maltese government source said. The pilots' fighter jets were armed with rockets and loaded machine guns, the source said....


http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/21/libya.protests/index.html?hpt=T1

This is having strong repercussions here in italy: The MIB stock exchange lost 3.59 points today. Ghedaffi has high financial stakes in ENI as well as Unicredit Bank, thanks to the Berlusconi connection.... this might start toppling dominoes in Europe again....

[Swami]

.....................

[Northern Boy]

where is all this leading...? what will be the outcome...? i've got a bad feeling about all this, it seems like someone's thrown a match into a box of fireworks....

the guardian (uk) - unrest-morocco-iran-algeria-yemen-china (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/20/unrest-morocco-iran-algeria-yemen-china)



Where will the box explode ?



Will the U.S. be the Final Domino to fall in the Greater Middle East?


As the dictatorship in Libya appears about ready to fall, following leadership collapses in Tunisia and Egypt, one can not wonder if the revolutions now taking place in the Greater Middle East may result in an eventual united front by the people of these countries against the American meddlers.

While the role the World Bank and the IMF have played as enforcers in foreign countries was not widely known or understood by most Americans until John Perkins' expose, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, it was always understood by those who suffered under the enforcement, including many enforcements against Greater Middle East countries.

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298320256&sr=8-1


Also, it is clearly understood in the Greater Middle East region that American dollars have propped up many of the most abusive regimes.

Further, the covert meddling of American intelligence agents in these countries is also well understood by those living in the region. (See for example the recent cover blown in Pakistan of Raymond A. Davis ---caught in the act of killing two people.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/world/asia/22pakistan.html?hp

There are complex variables that make it difficult to understand with certainty how things will play out, but revolution and anger is certainly in the air and it is not difficult to see how that anger could turn against the United States in that part of the world. Indeed, the U.S. could be the final domino. This is not the time for Americans to be playing tourist in that part of the world.

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/

[Rocky_Shorz]

dude too graphic a picture...

[MorningSong]

EU, oil firms evacuate citizens, staff from Libya

lunedì 21 febbraio 2011 20:40:10
Windsor Genova - AHN News News Writer

Brussels, Belgium (AHN) - European Union countries and companies are pulling out citizens and employees from Libya as deadly protests engulf the North African country. Russia and Turkey are also repatriating workers and citizens from Libyan cities.

On Monday, Britain's energy company British Petroleum said it will evacuate 140 employees, including 40 foreign workers. The company also said it is suspending exploration in the Libyan desert.

A spokesman of Statoil said the Norwegian energy company's office in Tripoli was closed as staff were pulled out.

Italian energy company ENI and defense firm Finmeccanica also said they were evacuating staff from the country. ENI, the largest foreign producer of oil in Libya, continues its operation.

Portugal, Austria and Serbia announced they will send planes to Libya to extract citizens. Turkey flew out 600 of its 25,000 citizens in Libya over the weekend and will send more planes and ferries to pull out more.

Russian Railways said its employees are being pulled out.

Meanwhile, Germany and France have advised citizens in Libya to leave. The German airline Lufthansa has increased flights to Libya to facilitate the evacuation.

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/434/222/EU,_oil_firms_evacuate_citizens,_staff_from_Libya.html

[Swami]

Libya in REVOLT (2011) - Libyan Fighter Jets Arrive in Malta



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoaIps31EjY

¤=[Post Update]=¤



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9y6obGeLz8

¤=[Post Update]=¤



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6Exd532Ls4

[Chris411]

These "Revolutions" are backed by powerful forces, they are not just springing up everywhere for no apparent reason or because of some freedom bug.Someone(s) somewhere has an agenda and we're watching it unfold.... Be an observer ladies and gentlemen... until you personally have to take action.

namaste

No revolution ever happened by "the power of people". As Wiley said there are powerful forces at work, the same forces that have shaped the world for centuries and brought it to the sorry state we are in today.
The fate of the Arab leaders was sealed long time ago and not in their respective countries but in secretive meetings among the world powers and TPTB. The dead bodies in the streets are just to show the avid TV-watchers that the tyrants are violent against the rising people. What a mockery of "revolution". These so-called revolutions are all coup d'etat.

[DevilPigeon]

dude too graphic a picture...

it's a horrific photo, totally heartbreaking, but i can't help wondering that maybe if the majority of the MSM weren't in the back pockets of the 'ruling elite' & actually showed footage of this type of atrocity, then maybe just maybe a lot of (particulalrly) western societies may actually sit up and take notice of what's actually happening in the world...? and stop being hypnotised by the latest banal game/reality show, or whether brittney spears has shaved her head again etc etc....?

[jjl]

dude too graphic a picture...

This is what I didn't want children exposed to.

[Rocky_Shorz]

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, who has been leading the campaign to quell the popular uprising that has reportedly led to the fleeing of his father, has been wounded in gunfire, the Muslim Brotherhood has said citing unofficial reports. The report also says Gaddafi, his wife and daughter have fled the country...

He is speaking now, trying to find an English translation

[Swami]

..................

[MorningSong]

How much more must we put up with? When civil war is in every country? How many more must die before we all raise up and say "Enough!"? ....sigh

f55Gw8axFFg&feature





Please, Swami...that is just gross and heart breaking.... stop posting those vivid picts....

[Rocky_Shorz]

dude too graphic a picture...

This is what I didn't want children exposed to.

the ones standing there looking at it in person?

I agree no child should...

[Swami]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2005/04/12/VI2005041201240.html

[bodixa]

Swami, just an opinion, you can take it or leave it, but I think you need to give people a choice over whether they look at that or not. Just link to them with a warning. If that were my son on the slab I would not appreciate that.

It certainly drives the point home, but people need to choose that...if poss.

Thanks

[Swami]

Tripoli last night....

http://vimeo.com/20197763

[Swami]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e0KIwmGX0Y

¤=[Post Update]=¤



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z3P1uWqsag

[Beth]

Could the posters of the disturbing images remove them please? I cannot look at them, so if someone could report back to me that they have been removed, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

[Rocky_Shorz]

army has taken control and are moving to the capitol to take over, no longer led by Gadaffi who is sitting in Venezuela according to Muslim Brotherhood out of Egypt...

update, Chavez denies he is in route and a brief telecast Gadaffi says he is still in the country...

[eaglespirit]

It IS Time, Right Now at this Very Moment...to send Loving, Balancing, Uplifting, Protecting Energy by Your(OUR) Very Own Choice and Volition to the Good Peoples of the southern shores of the Mediterranean and ALL around Mother Earth!

[quench]

Could the posters of the disturbing images remove them please? I cannot look at them, so if someone could report back to me that they have been removed, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

Swami is not online anymore, so it may be a while!!!

[PathWalker]

Libya unrest: Is Gaddafi's rule facing collapse?
The fact that anti-regime demonstrations were first confined to the region of Cyrenaica in the east of the country gives us a clue as to what actually happened.
Eastern Libya has long been hostile to the jamahiriyah, Colonel Gaddafi's "state-of-the-masses" based on "direct popular democracy" which decrees that all Libyans shall participate in the political process and which, to ensure that they reach the right conclusions, uses the Revolutionary Committee movement to discipline them.

Cyrenaica, after all, was the birthplace of the monarchy that preceded the revolution, whilst Benghazi has always spurned the regime for its lack of revolutionary rigour.

Libya leader Muammar Gaddafi will leave no obvious successor if he goes
No obvious successors or opposition movements are waiting to take over Libya if Muammar Gaddafi is forced from power after four decades in which political dissent was crushed and society atomised.

Academics, analysts and diplomats agree that until recently his most likely heirs were his sons, primarily the reformist-minded Saif al-Islam. But that option appears to have disappeared after Saif's TV address warning of "civil war" while promising reforms late on Sunday night.
read more here... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/21/libya-leader-muammar-gaddafi
Benghazi itself also has other grounds for rejecting the regime; it housed the 413 children infected in the late 1990s by HIV because of appalling sanitary conditions in its hospital.

And it was in Benghazi, in 2006, that several died at the hands of the security forces during demonstrations against Italy over its apparent support for Denmark in the cartoons crisis.

Earlier, in the second half of the 1990s, an Islamist rebellion centred on Benghazi and Derna threatened the regime.

As a result, Colonel Gaddafi's government has deliberately neglected and persecuted people in Cyrenaica, provoking more demonstrations in recent years in turn.
Read more... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12532579

[Swami]

Some Mercenaries are camped on top of the Hungarian embassy shooting people on the ground.

http://twitter.com/LibyanThinker/status/39819154097848320

[Beth]

Hi Swamster, can you remove those pics, please. You could link them but add a disclaimer. Thanks!

[Generous]

best pictures coming out
http://www.livestation.com/channels/43-al-jazeera-arabic
http://www.alarabiya.net/live/index.php

Gaddafi is so blatent he hires African rebels to kill his own people
Uses heavy artillery and RPG agains his own people, his time is very limited.

[Rocky_Shorz]

Pathwalker,

what is the update on the Iranian ships heading through the Suez?

[Moemers]

Pathwalker,

what is the update on the Iranian ships heading through the Suez?

Egypt is not stopping them. Their policy says anyone can pass as long as they're not in conflict with Egypt herself.

[LM-R]

Two Libyan fighter pilots defect, fly to Malta

VALLETTA (Reuters) – Two Libyan Air Force fighter pilots defected on Monday and flew their jets to Malta where they told authorities they had been ordered to bomb protesters, Maltese government officials said.

They said the two pilots, both colonels, took off from a base near Tripoli. One of them has requested political asylum.

The pilots are being questioned by the Maltese police.

The two said they decided to fly to Malta after being ordered to bomb anti-government protesters in Libya's second largest city of Benghazi, the sources said.

Police were also questioning seven passengers who landed in European Union member state Malta from Libya on board two French-registered helicopters.

The government sources said the helicopters left Libya without authorization by the Libyan aviation authorities and that only one of the seven passengers -- who say they are French citizens -- had a passport.

A French Foreign Ministry spokesman could not immediately confirm the information as it was still being verified.

The four-decade rule of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been shaken by days of violent protests which reached the capital Tripoli for the first time on Monday.

(Reporting by Christopher Scicluna; editing by Diana Abdallah)

http://current.com/1vgv14c


Gaddafi obviously is trying to step it up. Good work for the two pilots to use their common sense and not only not bombing the people but taking 2 choppers from the armory is just brilliant.

[PathWalker]

Pathwalker,

what is the update on the Iranian ships heading through the Suez?

Egypt is not stopping them. Their policy says anyone can pass as long as they're not in conflict with Egypt herself.

Iran Warships Enter Suez Canal, Egypt's State-Run MENA Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-22/iran-warships-enter-suez-canal-on-syria-trip-egypt-state-run-agency-says.html

Out of topic, better open a thread about Iran - Israel conflict (maybe there is)

[PathWalker]

Flamboyant Gaddafi fights for survival

U.S. diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks website have shed further light on the Libyan leader's tastes.

One cable posted by The New York Times describes Gaddafi's insistence on staying on the first floor when he visited New York for a 2009 meeting at the United Nations and his reported refusal or inability to climb more than 35 steps.

Gaddafi is also said to rely heavily on his staff of four Ukrainian nurses, including one woman described as a "voluptuous blonde." The cable speculated about a romantic relationship.

Gaddafi was born in 1942, the son of a bedouin herdsman, in a tent near Sirte on the Mediterranean coast. He abandoned a geography course at university for a military career that included a short spell at a British army signals school.

Gaddafi took power in a bloodless military coup in 1969 when he toppled King Idriss, and in the 1970s he formulated his "Third Universal Theory," a middle road between communism and capitalism.

Gaddafi oversaw the rapid development of his poverty-stricken country, previously known for little more than oil wells and deserts where huge tank battles took place in World War Two.

GIANT PROJECTS
One of his first tasks was to build up the armed forces, but he also spent billions of dollars of oil income on improving living standards, making him popular with the low-paid.

Gaddafi has poured money into giant projects such as a steel plant in the town of Misrata and the Great Man-Made River, a scheme to pipe water from desert wells to coastal communities.

He has used tough tactics against dissidents, who include Islamists, and has used "purification committees" of army and police officers, joined by loyal students, to keep control.

But he also won the respect of many Libyans. He is a charismatic figure with the popular touch and has exploited the medium of television unlike other Arab leaders.

Gaddafi embraced the pan-Arabism of the late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser and tried without success to merge Libya, Egypt and Syria into a federation. A similar attempt to join Libya and Tunisia ended in acrimony.

In 1977 he changed the country's name to the Great Socialist Popular Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah (State of the Masses) and allowed people to air their views at people's congresses.

However, he was shunned by the West for much of his rule which accused him of links to terrorism and revolutionary movements. U.S. President Ronald Reagan called him a "mad dog" and sent war planes to bomb Libya in 1986. One of the 60 people killed was Gaddafi's adopted daughter.

He was particularly reviled after the 1988 Pan Am airliner bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, by Libyan agents in which 270 people were killed.

U.N. sanctions imposed in 1992 to pressure Tripoli to hand over two Libyan suspects, crippled the economy, dampened Gaddafi's revolutionary spirit and took the sting out of his anti-capitalist, anti-Western rhetoric.

Gaddafi abandoned his program of prohibited weapons in 2003 to return Libya into international mainstream politics.

In September 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush formally ended a U.S. trade embargo as a result of Gaddafi's scrapping of the arms program and taking responsibility for Lockerbie.

The return to Libya last year of the convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, released from a Scottish jail on health grounds, angered Washington.

Last month Gaddafi said he feared the change of power in neighboring Tunisia was being exploited by foreign intervention.

Gaddafi said he was "pained" by the violent events in Tunisia and that people there had been too hasty in pushing out President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Last night, with the death toll in Libya's revolution rising, Gaddafi made a characteristically eccentric television appearance, sheltering under an umbrella and denouncing rumors that he had fled to Venezuela.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/22/us-libya-gaddafi-profile-idUSTRE71L29L20110222?pageNumber=2

[MorningSong]

You can read updates on the turmoil in Lybia on the Al Jazeera Live Blog:

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/africa/2011/02/22/live-blog-libya-feb-23

[Rocky_Shorz]

UN Security council meeting on Libya
THE UN Security Council has held formal consultations on the Libya crisis with western nations pressing for a strong statement on the violence roiling the North African nation.

"There is even more concern after what was a very worrying speech by Muammar Gaddafi," said one diplomat before the meeting of the 15-nation council.

The Security Council held informal consultations earlier as the Libyan leader vowed to crush protests against his rule amid fears of hundreds killed in a bloody clampdown by his regime.

Germany's ambassador, Peter Wittig, called for the Security Council to take "swift and clear" action on Libya.

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said the UN Security Council "must bring its influence to bear."

He added that Britain "will condemn the violence and call on all parties to respect human rights and act with restraint and in accordance with international law. We will raise the Libyan government's responsibility to offer full protection to foreign nationals in Libya."...
link (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/un-security-council-holds-libya-meeting/story-e6freuyi-1226010538611)

[kouby]

"will condemn the violence and call on all parties to respect human rights and act with restraint and in accordance with international law."

When human rights have already been so blatantly baffled it's rather sad to see only words and no actions...
Here's to hoping they'll at least set in a no fly zone quickly before they're actually is a large scale bombing.
And I can't help but wonder if there wouldn't be a way to stop the abuse with mercenaries and the likes.

[Rocky_Shorz]

having Egypt say you harm one hair on the head of any of our citizens and we will respond with force, is enough...

Libya would make a nice state of Egypt

[Rocky_Shorz]

story link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/22/david-cameron-uk-muslims-democracy)



Cameron says UK prejudiced for believing Muslims cannot manage democracy


David Cameron will tell the Kuwait national assembly that Britain was wrong to prop up ‘highly controlling regimes’ as a way of ensuring stability. Photograph: Reuters

Britain has been guilty of a prejudice bordering on racism for believing that Muslims cannot manage democracy, David Cameron will say as he recasts foreign policy in light of protests across the Arab world.

In a speech at the national assembly in Kuwait, the prime minister will abandon decades of so-called "camel corps" diplomacy by saying Britain was wrong to prop up "highly controlling regimes" as a way of ensuring stability.

Cameron – who is facing anger in the UK for placing defence exports at the heart of his long-planned visit to the Gulf – will use the speech to show that Britain is promoting political reform in the region.

The prime minister, who attended a ceremony in Kuwait with Sir John Major to mark the 20th anniversary of the first Gulf war, said: "Now, once again, this region is the epicentre of momentous changes, but pursued in a very different way. History is sweeping through your neighbourhood."

Cameron, who on Monday visited the scene of the demonstrations in Tahrir Square in Cairo that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, said the protests had highlighted a hunger for freedom across the Middle East.

He depicted the protests as "movements of the people" that were not ideological or extremist.

But he indicated that the demonstrations presented a challenge for Britain as he dismissed as a "false choice" the old calculation that authoritarian regimes needed to be supported as the price of ensuring stability.

"For decades, some have argued that stability required controlling regimes and that reform and openness would put that stability at risk," Cameron said.

"So, the argument went, countries like Britain faced a choice between our interests and our values. And to be honest, we should acknowledge that sometimes we have made such calculations in the past."

He added: "But I say that is a false choice. As recent events have confirmed, denying people their basic rights does not preserve stability – rather, the reverse...

very interesting, first they start the Islamic revolution putting a religious leader in place in Iran, what they thought would control the region...

how did they know 30+ years later that Iran would order the collapse of all the countries protecting Israel...

Oh yeah, in 64 when Israel threw the Brits out, they sided with the Arabs to crush them and lost...

interesting seeing the Iranians calling for the destruction of the Zionist who they are led by isn't it...

[Odah]

I find it kinda funny . that people think the powers that be are that good that they can get young people all over the middle east to rise up and through off.. most of the powers that bees little lapdogs. If they are how does it look to the other people in cahoots.. that they might be the next to be tossed to the lions..

No the powers that be might want you to believe they are behind this .. but something else is behind this. the growing feeling in the human being that things much change . The very thing the power that be are working their butts of to surpress in the rest of us.

they powers that bee are sitting back watching people get killed and cracking beers. but they are rooting for the bad guys to win because they are bad guys too.

[Rocky_Shorz]

I find it kinda funny . that people think the powers that be are that good that they can get young people all over the middle east to rise up and through off.. .

I guess you've never heard of religion... lol