anyone else following Egypt on Aljazeera?

[Scarpia]

Those were Mubarak's goons, who deliberately targeted foreign press.

Who the goons were is unclear.  CBS reports she was rescued by a detachment of Egyptian Army soldiers and some Egyptian women. 

[Lethevich]

Such wonderful allies the west have. Even Iran didn't shoot and grenade protesters with live rounds.

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=208654

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12495733

[Florestan]

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned the violent clashes, calling on Bahrain's government to "exercise restraint".

Good ol' Chamberlain would have been very proud of this sign of continuity in the excellent British diplomacy. 

[Lethevich]

These protests are showing the braveness of everyday people and how pathetic domineering dictators are. After killing their own population the Bahrain monarchy are now whining about "dialogue". The funerals they caused became rallying points, it's clear that they are signing their own resignation notes.

Security Forces in Bahrain Open Fire on Mourners

Bahrain crown prince calls for dialogue

Yemen Protests Kill Four in Largest Demonstration Yet

Dozens dead in Libya anti-government unrest

All the western allies of these worms can muster is "concern" - so much effort involved there. The British involvement in Bahrain especially is nothing to do with geopolitical "security", it's about the government choosing the invest in repressive regimes at the cost of more "risky" democracies in the second world. Looks like the poisonous choice wasn't as secure as they thought.

In more immediately positive news:

Egypt Celebrates Mubarak's Fall From Power

[Lethevich]

Libya seems to the the first to try outright slaughter to put this down, but the protests are growing, as are defections.

Libya: mutiny as death toll nears 200

Libya protesters seize streets, Bahrain mood eases

[Lethevich]

Hahahaha oh lawdy, apparently Gaddafi may have fled the country.

Libya protests spread and intensify

Libya Violence Deepens as Protestors Claim Control of Second-Largest City

Edit: not settled with merely being evil, the regime now seem to be grabbing the chance with both hands to create Guernica part 2. Why be minor league sub-humans when you can try to compete for the all-time record.

[ibanezmonster]

Seems good and bad at the same time. Gaddafi is crazy, but as was mentioned, if Libya is a tribal nation, how are they ever going to agree on some type of system of government if they are so fundamentally different from each other? A Civil War wouldn't be good, either (hopefully it doesn't come to that, though)...

[Scarpia]

Seems good and bad at the same time. Gaddafi is crazy, but as was mentioned, if Libya is a tribal nation, how are they ever going to agree on some type of system of government if they are so fundamentally different from each other? A Civil War wouldn't be good, either (hopefully it doesn't come to that, though)...

I think the most likely future for Libya and the other sites of present unrest is a period of chaos where people literally starve to death, followed by the ascension of a tyrant that will make people remember Qaddafi as the Moses of his time.

[ibanezmonster]

I think the most likely future for Libya and the other sites of present unrest is a period of chaos where people literally starve to death, followed by the ascension of a tyrant that will make people remember Qaddafi as the Moses of his time.

Man, didn't know it was possible to get more pessimistic than me...
then again, you are being realistic. Sometimes people get the two confused, because often reality really is that bad.

[Scarpia]

Man, didn't know it was possible to get more pessimistic than me...
then again, you are being realistic. Sometimes people get the two confused, because often reality really is that bad.

Libya has the highest human development index in Africa.  I'm willing to bet that in 10 years it will be another Sudan. 

[knight66]

I think the only way they will get rid of Gaddafi is to kill him: he is different from the other endangered rullers who are more likley to go rather than kill their own people in large numbers.

Mike

[Lethevich]

I think the second he asked fighter jets to strafe civilians he pretty much lost the right to be treated like other humans. But in his case, I would much prefer the humiliation of jail.

[Florestan]

I think the second he asked fighter jets to strafe civilians he pretty much lost the right to be treated like other humans. But in his case, I would much prefer the humiliation of jail.

That would leave open the possibility of an escape and comeback attempt. 

[MishaK]

I think the second he asked fighter jets to strafe civilians he pretty much lost the right to be treated like other humans. But in his case, I would much prefer the humiliation of jail.

Yes. Big kudos to the pilots who refused and flew to Malta.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Libya---Air/Dassault-Mirage-F1ED/1871072/L/

[Scarpia]

Yes. Big kudos to the pilots who refused and flew to Malta.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Libya---Air/Dassault-Mirage-F1ED/1871072/L/

And shame on whoever sold Gaddafi the jets (Mirage-F1E, who'd have guessed  )

[MishaK]

And shame on whoever sold Gaddafi the jets (Mirage-F1E, who'd have guessed  )

Well, no surprise there... The Mirages are from the 80s (and superbly maintained by the looks of it), but the French wined and dined Qaddafi even a couple of years ago in Paris, even letting him pitch his tent in the gardens of a palais in the middle of the city, all in the hopes of a lucrative helicopter deal. He ended up buying only a couple of Airbuses for his new airline "Afriqiyah" (Qaddafi considers himself the king of Africa), one A330 of which promptly crashed last year for no good reason, all because the lazy tower controllers in Tripoli didn't want to inconvenience themselves by opening another runway and instead let the plane land on a runway with no ILS against the blinding light of the rising sun. Anyway, Sarko and company look pretty stupid right now.

[Scarpia]

Not that the US hasn't found itself in worse positions.    

[Lethevich]

The brilliantly useful international "community" can't even agree that a no-fly zone would be handy to stop this guy bombing civilians.

[Scarpia]

The brilliantly useful international "community" can't even agree that a no-fly zone would be handy to stop this guy bombing civilians.

It is easy to forget the Colin Powell rule, "You break it, you own it."

[drogulus]

     The international community can't implement a no-fly zone on its own. They would be making war in the name of freedom and human rights. They need cover that only the U.N. can provide, but won't. Can you imagine getting a resolution through the Security Council? Hah!

     The E.U. won't do it. NATO could do it, because then the U.S. would be "forcing them". In reality the Lilliputians will be invited to join in if Gulliver decides to act. Appearances must be saved. But that does raise the interesting question of how the Europeans will explain their fecklessness if the U.S. decides not to act. I almost want Obama to hold back long enough to see......ah, but power entails responsibility, so we can't do that.

     Still, it's remarkable how much readier Europeans are to jettison Qaddafi than they were with Mubarak. I chalk that up to A) lessons learned and B) Lockerbie.

     

      On the positive side, Rummy got rid of him. Sure, he didn't have those weapons, but Qadaffi doesn't have them either. So now, finally, at last, it's OK to liberate a country from an evil dictator even if he doesn't have weapons of mass destruction. Gee, that's what I thought all along!