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I agree about the lack of debate  -and it isn't Libya alone.  The total number of countries with popular unrest in the past few months also includes

Egypt, Tunisia - revolution successful

China, Bahrain, Yemen, Iran - revolution suppressed by government forces

Mauritania, Southern Sudan - news of unrest but little further reporting

Looking at the wider picture, the policy of many countries looks paradoxical, even hypocritical.

Why are we supporting anti Gaddafi forces in Libya yet not protesting at the suppression of revolution in the (equally undemocratic) countries of Yemen, Iran, China, Bahrain?  The West, in the form of the CIA, has allegedly been backing anti-Gaddafi forces for some years, The National Front For The Salvation of Libya,
(http://immuni.org/component/content/article/34-world/3513-national-front-for-the-salvation-of-libya, and Russia Today)
Al Jezira is supporting the anti-Gaddafi rebels, despite the risk that this might lead to US occupation of an Arab country as in Iraq.  Russia is not backing US action,although benefitting from it in terms of higher oil prices.  Meanwhile the USA / western Europe is backing such action, although being a loser from oil market turbulence.

OK,I'd like to think this means the West is taking a moral line on dictators like Gaddafi, not an economic-expediency line,but then why the lack of action on Bahrain, Iran, (with oil), Yemen, China?

Anyone know what's happening in Southern Sudan, Mauritania?

Hillary Shaw,
Newport, Shropshire

-----Original Message-----
From: francesca recchia <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sun, 20 Mar 2011 7:55
Subject: Re: Western-imperialist attack on Libya

Dear Raju

Thank you for your message!
The general lack of debate around western intervention in Libya is appalling and so is the assumption that UN interventions coincide with heavy shellings on countries that need "liberation"

I have been living and teaching for two years in northern Iraq and I have had the opportunity to see what is the role of western economic powers when a woar is supposedly over.
I think there is a serious reflection that needs to be made not only on the relation between "liberation" and oil, but also on the possible benefits and implications of western countries in post-conflict reconstruction.

Best
francesca

 
francesca recchia

it +39 338 166 3648
uk +44 7866477605

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From: Raju Das <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sun, 20 March, 2011 4:30:00
Subject: Re: Western-imperialist attack on Libya

The military assault on Libya which has just started is another bloody, western imperialist war of aggression against a poor country, a former colony.
Apparently western governments want to protect Libya’s civilians. It is as if other governments are not killing civilians in the region. How hypocritical.
The war is more about the control over oil and stopping the rebellion of workers and younger people in the region from being more radical and anti-systemic. The war is about a regime change: to create a new regime that will be deferential to oil companies and western imperialist states more than the current one.
Also: what better way to divert attention from western governments’ attack on the political and economic rights of their own people, thousands of whom languish in jails, than to start another war?  The governments launching the assault on Libya have been saying that they do not have money for education and health care, etc., but how are they finding the money to support a war now. Liars.  
The military attack on Libya proves the theory of endless war in the age of new imperialism. The question is: what is to be done?
Raju J Das
York University, Toronto