Crisis in Libya: 'U.S. Must Have Clear Objective'

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France Becomes First Country to Recognize Libyan Rebels

France Becomes First Country to Recognize Libyan Rebels

By ALAN COWELL and STEVEN ERLANGER
March 10, 2011

PARIS — Moving ahead of its allies, France on Thursday became the first country to recognize Libya’s rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi and said it would soon exchange ambassadors with the insurgents.

The move was a victory for the Libyan National Council in its quest for recognition and a setback for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi who has been seeking whatever international support he can as NATO members in Brussels began a debate about the possible imposition of a no-flight zone over Libya.

The French announcement came as loyalist forces in Libya claimed new successes against the rebels west of the capital in the town of Zawiyah, while, to the east, loyalist forces renewed ferocious assaults on the key oil town of Ras Lanuf.

President Nicolas Sarkozy met in Paris on Thursday with Mahmoud Jibril and Ali Al-Esawi, representatives of the Libyan National Council that was set up after the uprising in Libya erupted in February. He was the first head of state to meet with insurgent leaders.

Soon afterward, a French announcement said France recognized the council as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people. News reports said that, in response, Libya would break diplomatic relations with France.

The move puts France ahead of other European powers that have been seeking ways of supporting the rebels in their goal of toppling Colonel Qaddafi. Normally, European Union countries say they recognize states, not governments, but the European Parliament has advocated recognition of the rebel leadership in Benghazi.

France has also set itself apart from some other nations, including the United States, by insisting that any military support for the rebels be authorized by the United Nations Security Council, but not carried out by NATO, since the alliance has an aggressive image in the Arab world. Washington favors using NATO. While he was out of government, Alain Juppé, the new French foreign minister, opposed France resuming full membership in NATO.

France’s aggressive diplomatic stance is seen as a way of showing commitment to the popular uprisings and democratic changes in the Middle East and North Africa, after Mr. Sarkozy admitted that Paris was slow to recognize the strength of the revolutionary movements in Tunisia, a former French protectorate, and Egypt.

The British and German governments both indicated on Thursday that their practice was to recognize only states, but British authorities called the rebels “valid interlocutors with whom we wish to work closely.”

In a highly embarrassing incident last weekend, Britain sent a small contingent of diplomats and special forces to try to make contact with the rebels in Benghazi, but they were arrested and later withdrew aboard a British warship sent to pick them up.

For its part, Germany on Thursday ordered the freezing of Libyan assets, which the finance ministry in Berlin said were worth “billions.” Rainer Brüderle, the German finance minister, said the decision would affect about 193 accounts held at 14 financial institutions in Germany.

In Brussels, NATO officials said on Thursday that the alliance has started 24-hour surveillance of Libyan airspace where Colonel Qaddafi has deployed warplanes against rebels trying to advance westward toward loyalist strongholds along the shores of the Gulf of Sirte.

But it was unclear what further steps NATO would end up taking, if any. The alliance’s secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told reporters that NATO was considering a “range of options,” including humanitarian help, but that any move would be governed by three principles: that there was “demonstrable need,” a “clear legal basis” and “firm regional support.”

The Libyan National Council has been pressing for foreign aid amid divisions over the extent of external intervention in a revolt that rebel leaders want to preserve as a home-grown phenomenon. The insurgents have acknowledged being overwhelmed by the myriad tasks and challenges facing them.

“We’ve found ourselves in a vacuum,” Mustafa Gheriani, an acting spokesman for the provisional leadership, said Tuesday in Benghazi. “Instead of worrying about establishing a transitional government, all we worry about are the needs — security, what people require, where the uprising is going. Things are moving too fast.”

In the evolving diplomacy surrounding the conflict, Colonel Qaddafi has sent envoys across Europe and, according to some reports, Latin America and Africa, in many cases to argue against international intervention.

On Wednesday, emissaries were reported to have visited Egypt, Greece, Portugal, Malta and Brussels, where European Union foreign ministers were meeting Thursday to discuss Libya.

Greece confirmed that the colonel himself had spoken with Prime Minister George A. Papandreou and a government statement in South Africa said that he had spoken by telephone with President Jacob Zuma.

South Africa’s international relations minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said on Thursday that Mr. Zuma told Colonel Qaddafi that South Africa “abhors the heinous human rights violations against his own people.”

“We took advantage through our president to tell him this has to stop with immediate effect,” the South African Press Association news agency reported.

Judy Dempsey contributed reporting from Berlin.

Keiser Report Episode 128

Biden to meet with Putin on second day of Moscow visit

Biden to meet with Putin on second day of Moscow visit

Published: 10 March, 2011, 08:35 Edited: 10 March, 2011, 10:12 Russia Today

US Vice President Joe Biden will continue his two-day visit to Moscow with a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Turmoil in Libya is again likely to dominate talks, overshadowing the issue of missile defense and Russia’s bid for the WTO.

­As a veto-holding member of the UN Security Council, Russia is strongly against imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, which would entail a ban on its national air force and civil aviation and the disabling of its anti-aircraft systems. The Kremlin has insisted that the international community not become involved in Libya’s domestic affairs.

“I don’t think [Biden] has a mandate to ask for Russia’s support for any sort of intervention into Libya, because there is no agreement within the US and of course within NATO whether it should intervene,” says political analyst Mikhail Troitsky.

But the US has been considering the option of imposing the no-fly zone, given the continued escalation of bloodshed in the region and pressure from the UK and France.

Talks with Putin will precede further meetings with Russian opposition parties and civil society activists, whose names have not yet been disclosed, raising some speculation about the US involvement in Russian domestic politics ahead of the 2012 presidential elections.

On Wednesday, Biden met with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev and held a business roundtable to address US-Russia trade and economic ties.

PFLP Comrade Jamal: Recent events in Libya mean the fascist dictatorship will soon fall

Recent events in Libya mean the fascist dictatorship will soon fall

PFLP Comrade Jamal:

Comrade Hussein al-Jamal, member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said on February 24, 2011 that what is happening now in Libya demonstrates that the official Arab regimes, and specifically, the rule of the fascist dictatorship in Libya, have nothing to do with the masses of the Arab people while exploiting the capabilities and wealth of the masses.

Comrade al-Jamal spoke with the Voice of the People radio station in Gaza, saying that the fascist dictatorship in Libya is attempting to defend its authority and protect its private interests, using the most powerful weapons against the proud masses of the Libyan people in revolt. The masses of the Libyan people, he said, are engaged in an ongoing revolution, determined to achieve victory and complete its objectives in bringing down the regime.

Furthermore, he called for this expired fascist dictatorial regime to be brought before the Libyan people and international criminal courts to be tried for the heinous crimes committed against the heroic Libyan people.
Furthermore, he expressed his salute to the masses of our Arab people, and to the Libyan martyrs who were killed in brutal massacres committed by the dictator Muammar Gaddafi, his gang and his mercenaries, emphasizing that these systems and services and security battalions have been sponsored by the Mossad, Western intelligence services and the U.S. intelligence community. He said that these systems will not be stronger than the voice of the revolutionary Arab masses who are sweeping aside the weak thrones of all corrupt and dictatorial Arab regimes, particularly Gaddafi's dictatorship.

Comrade al-Jamal said that the spread of awareness among the Arab people which has led to the uprising and revolt against injustice in Tunisia, Egypt, now Libya, and throughout Arab countries reflects the historical development of the revolutionary process among the Arab people, saying that this process may be long or short and that the Arab people have accumulated revolutionary experience since before the last explosion in the mid-twentieth century. He noted that these revolutions had been delayed, in particular by the subordination of Arab officialdom to colonialism and imperialism, disengaging from the Palestinian national cause, and looting the wealth of the masses to their own benefit, leading to the absence of the Arab role in global political, cultural and scientific levels.

Furthermore, said Comrade Jamal, there is no Arab regime that creates any budget item that receives as high an allocated budget as the "security" services, including training and arms for the police and security services, overseen by the U.S. and Western intelligence servives. There is no Arab regime, said Comrade Jamal, allocating budgets for scientific research; these regimes have squandered Arab history and civilization and exploited the vast capacities of the Arab people in order to remain on their flimsy thrones based on the accumulation of stolen wealth in their hands, and the hands of their families and courtiers. Comrade Jamal pointed to Tunisia's ruling family and their vast wealth and corruption, and Egypt, where Mubarak and his family have become a gang of thieves and looters who took over the riches and fortunes of the Arab world.
In response to a question about the impact of these events on Palestine, Comrade al-Jamal stressed that these developments are positive, saying that imperialism in the U.S. and Europe has been sent reeling by the rapid development of revolutionary change in the Arab world, noting that Arab popular power will dramatically affect the relationship between Arab countries and the Zionist entity.

Comrade al-Jamal emphasized that these revolutionary transformations will lead to increased national attention to the Palestinian cause at the political level, as well as to action on the domestic Palestinian level. He pointed to Palestinian youth mobilizing through social media, including Twitter and Facebook, seeking tools and mechanisms to end the division and weakness that has brought the Palestinian cause to a deeply weak state of division and fragmentation.

He noted that these young people have raised the slogan, "The People Want to End the Division," and more than 500 Palestinian and Arab youth groups have arisen to communicate through digital media in order to struggle for Palestinian national unity. He pointed to the fact that the Arab revolutions have inspired Palestinian youth to break the barriers of fear in order to call for an end to division and the restoration of the Palestinian cause.

Comrade al-Jamal noted that the Front calls upon all Palestinian youth to invest their energy in building the Palestinian community and cause and to take initiatives, and that it supports all such efforts to end the division and protect the national cause.

நம்பாதீர்கள் இந்த நயவஞ்சகர்களை!

அமெரிக்க ஐரோப்பிய ஏகாதிபத்தியமே லிபிய மக்கள் விவகாரத்தில் தலையிடாதே!

கடாபியின் சர்வாதிகார அரசை எதிர்த்த லிபிய மக்களின் ஆயுதக்கிளா்ச்சியை ஆதரிப்போம்!

அமெரிக்க, ஐரோப்பிய, ஐ.நா அந்நியத் தலையீட்டை எதிர்ப்போம்!!

* மத்திய கிழக்கு, வட அமெரிக்க நாடுகளில் எண்ணெய்ப் பிரபுக்களினதும், குலக்குழு மன்னர்களதும், குடும்ப சர்வாதிகார அரசுகளை ஊன்றி, ஊட்டி வளர்த்து பாதுகாத்தவர்கள் ஐரோப்பிய அமெரிக்க ஏகாதிபத்தியவாதிகளே!

* அந்நாடுகளின் ஏற்றத்தாழ்வுக்கும், வறுமைக்கும், வேலையின்மைக்குமான ஊற்றுமூலம் ஏகாதிபத்திய பொருளாதார உலகமயமாக்கல் திட்டமே! ஊழலின் ஊற்றுவாய் உலகமயமாக்கலே!

* மத அடிப்படைவாத, பயங்கரவாத, சிந்தனைப்போக்கு அரசியலில் செல்வாக்குச் செலுத்துவதற்கான அடிப்படை, உலகமயமாக்கலின் விளைவாக உள்நாட்டு உபரி மூலதனத்தை ஏகாதிபத்தியவாதிகள் அபகரித்துக்கொள்வதால், உள்நாட்டுப் பொருள் உற்பத்தி முறை முதலாளித்துவத்துக்கு முந்திய நிலையில் நீடிப்பதாகும்!

* மேலும் இஸ்ரேல் என்கிற அமெரிக்க இராணுவத்தளம் இப்பிராந்தியத்தில் தொடர்ந்து மூட்டிக் கொண்டிருக்கும் யுத்த ஆக்கிரமிப்பு நெருப்பு நாசகாரத்தனமானதாகும்!

* எனவே மத்தியகிழக்கு, வட அமெரிக்க நாடுகளின் பின்தங்கிய நிலைக்கு நேரடிப்பொறுப்பாளிகள் ஏகாதிபத்தியவாதிகளே!

* இன்று மூண்டுள்ள நெருப்பு இதற்கு முடிவுகட்டுமா என்பது இத் தேசிய ஜனநாயக இயக்கத்தின் ஏகாதிபத்திய எதிர்ப்பு நிலையின் உறுதிப்பாட்டிலேயே முற்றும் தங்கியுள்ளது.

* இதற்கு முதல்படி இத் தேசிய ஜனநாயக இயக்கத்திற்குள் ஏகாதிபத்தியவாதிகளின் அனைத்து ஊடுருவலையும் முளையிலேயே கிள்ளி எறிவதாகும்.

வரலாற்றுப் படிப்பினைகள்:

1) முதலாவது ஏகாதிபத்திய உலக மறுபங்கீட்டு உலகப் போரின் உடனடி விளைவாக 1917 ஒக்ரோபர் ரசிய சோசலிஸப் புரட்சி உலகத்தில் முதல் தடவையாக ஒடுக்கப்பட்ட பாட்டாளி வர்க்கத்தின் சர்வாதிகார அரசை உருவாக்கியது.இதன் தலைமையில் ஒரு சோசலிச உலகம் உருவாகியது.

மனித சமுதாயத்தின் நவீன - முதலாளித்துவ- வரலாற்றில், இது முதலாவது மாபெரும் புரட்சியாகும்.

(உள்நாட்டு சர்வதேச ஏகாதிபத்திய சதியால் இப் புரட்சி முறியடிக்கப்பட்டது)

2) முதல் உலக சோசலிசப் புரட்சியைத் தொடர்ந்து நேரடிக் காலனியாதிக்கம் முறியடிக்கப்பட்டு காலனி நாடுகள் ‘சுதந்திரம்’ பெற்றன.

இது இரண்டாவது மாபெரும் புரட்சியாகும்.

(எனினும் முன் கதவால் வெளியேறிய ஏகாதிபத்திய சுரண்டல் பின்கதவால் வந்து நிலை கொண்டது.)

3) திரிபுவாத சோவியத் சமூக ஏகாதிபத்தியம் வீழ்ந்து நொருங்கியது.அதன் ஆதிக்கத்தின் கீழ் இருந்த நாடுகள் சிதறுண்டன.

இது மூன்றாவது திருப்புமுனையான நிகழ்வாகும்.

(எனினும் இந்நாடுகள் ஏகாதிபத்திய உலக மறுபங்கீட்டின் ஏதோ ஒருவகைத் தளங்களாகின,)

4) இதன் தொடர்ச்சியாக ஏகாதிபத்தியத்தையும் அதன் காவல் நாய் அரசுகளையும் எதிர்த்து, மக்கள் பிரதிநிதித்துவ குடியாட்சிக்கான
தேசிய ஜனநாயக இயக்கம் மத்திய கிழக்கு, வட அமெரிக்க நாடுகளில் தற்போது (2011) மூண்டுள்ளது.

இது நான்காவது மாபெரும் புரட்சிகர மக்கள் இயக்கமாகும்.

* முதல் மூன்று புரட்சிகளும் முற்றுப்பெறாதபோதும், ஏகாதிபத்தியத்தை எதிர்த்த சோசலிச தேசிய ஜனநாயக இயக்கங்களை அவை உந்தித்தள்ளின.

* இந்த நான்காவது புரட்சி அவ்வியக்கத்திற்கு புதிய வல்லமைகளை வழங்கும் ஆற்றல் கொண்டதாக உள்ளது. அத்திசைவழியில் பயணிக்க ஆரம்பித்துள்ளது.

**அதனால் அவற்றை ஏற்று ஆதரிப்போம்! அந்நியத் தலையீட்டை எப்போதும் எதிர்ப்போம்!

** மத்திய கிழக்கு, வட அமெரிக்க நாடுகளின் தேசிய ஜனநாயக இயக்கங்கள் ஓங்குக!

** அமெரிக்க ஐரோப்பிய ஏகாதிபத்தியவாதிகளே அவர்கள் தலைவிதியில் தலையிடாதீர்!

** லிபிய மக்களின் எண்ணெய்வளத்தைக் கொள்ளையிட அந்நாட்டைத் துண்டாட கனவு காணாதீர்!

** ஆபிரிக்க அரசுகளே, லிபிய மக்களின் விடுதலை வேட்கையை நசுக்கும் கடாபி பயங்கரவாதிக்கு, கூலிப்படைகளை கொடுத்து அரசபயங்கரவாதத்துக்கு துணை போகாதீர்!

** எகிப்திய, துனூசிய இளம் மக்களே லிபிய மக்களைத் தாக்கியழிக்க ஏகாதிபத்தியவாதிகள் உங்கள் நாடுகளில் தளம் அமைக்க அநுமதியாதீர்!

ஐ.நா.ஒழிக!   நேற்றோ ஒழிக!

லிபிய மக்களின் ஆயுதக் கிளர்ச்சி வெற்றிபெறுக!

தேசிய ஜனநாயக சோசலிசப் புரட்சிகள் ஓங்குக,

உலகத் தொழிலாளர்களே ஒடுக்கப்பட்ட தேசங்களே ஒன்று சேருங்கள்!

=======  புதிய ஈழப்புரட்சியாளர்கள் =======

கடாபியின் ஆபிரிக்க கூலிப்படைகளைக் காப்பாற்றும் ஒபாமா!

In UN Libya Resolution, US Insistence on ICC Exclusion Shields Mercenaries from Algeria, Ethiopia
By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 26 -- After passage of a compromise Libya resolution by the UN Security Council on Saturday night, Inner City Press asked French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud if mercenaries aren't let off the hook by the sixth operative paragraph, exempting personnel from states not members of the International Criminal Court from ICC prosecution.

Araud regretted the paragraph, but said the the United States had demanded it. He said, “No, that's, that was for one country, it was absolutely necessary for one country to have that considering its parliamentary constraints, and this country we are in. It was a red line for the United States. It was a deal-breaker, and that's the reason we accepted this text to have the unanimity of the Council.”

While a Bush administration Ambassador to the UN in 2002 threatened to veto a UN resolution on Bosnia if it did not contain a similar exclusion, the Obama administration has maintained this insistence on impunity, which in this case applies to mercenaries from Algeria, Tunisia and Ethiopia, among other mercenary countries. (In the case of Algeria, there are allegations of official support for Gadhafi).

While Inner City Press was able to ask UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant about the exclusion for mercenaries from non ICC countries, US Permanent Representative Susan Rice did not take a question from Inner City Press, and none on this topic, despite having mentioned mercenaries in her speech.

When Libya, but no longer Gadhafi, diplomat Ibrahim Dabbashi came out to take questions, Inner City Press asked him which countries the mercenaries used by Gadhafi come from.

He mentioned Algeria, Tunisia and Ethiopia -- highlighted by NGOs as non ICC members -- as well as Chad, Niger, Kenya and Guinea. So some mercenaries could be prosecuted by the ICC, and not others, under language demanded by the US Mission to the UN. (Watch this site.N/A)

Here is the US-demanded paragraph:

6. Decides that nationals, current or former officials or personnel from a State outside the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya which is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of that State for all alleged acts or omissions arising out of or related to operations in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya established or authorized by the Council, unless such exclusive jurisdiction has been expressly waived by the State.

Footnote: Araud blaming the US position on "parliamentary constraints" seemed to some a way to try to blame a decision by Obama's executive branch on the Republicans who recently took over the House of Representatives. But it was an Obama administration decision. More nuanced apologists blame the Defense Department for pulling rank on State. But the result is mercenaries firing freely.

Source: Inner City Press

U.S. and Allies Weigh Libya No-Fly Zone

* “There hasn’t been discussion that I’m aware of related to military intervention beyond that, and a discussion of that nature would have to begin at the U.N.,” a senior administration official said. But, the official added, “I wouldn’t say we’ve ruled anything out, either.”

* But the(Italys) treaty{with Libya) also contains a nonaggression clause that some analysts said complicated Italy’s position in the event of international military intervention in Libya. In it, Italy pledges not to use “direct or indirect” military force against Libya, or to allow the use of its territory “in any hostile act against Libya.”



* An Italian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Maurizio Massari, noted that Italy had suspended the treaty, not revoked it, and would evaluate how to proceed as the conflict in Libya evolved.

* “We signed the friendship treaty with a state, but when the counterpart no longer exists — in this case the Libyan state — the treaty cannot be applied,” Italy’s foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said Sunday in a television interview.

* There are several United States and NATO bases in Italy that presumably would be staging areas for any action against Libya, including the United States Sixth Fleet base near Naples.

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U.S. and Allies Weigh Libya No-Fly Zone

By JOHN M. BRODER
The New York Times February 27, 2011

WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials held talks on Sunday with European and other allied governments as they readied plans for the possible imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent further killings of civilians by forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

Further increasing international pressure on Colonel Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, Italy suspended a 2008 treaty with Libya that includes a nonaggression clause, a move that could allow it to take part in future peacekeeping operations in Libya or enable the use of its military bases in any possible intervention.

“We signed the friendship treaty with a state, but when the counterpart no longer exists — in this case the Libyan state — the treaty cannot be applied,” Italy’s foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said Sunday in a television interview.

White House, State Department and Pentagon officials held talks with their European and NATO counterparts about how to proceed in imposing flight restrictions over Libya. A senior administration official said Sunday that no decision had been made, and expressed caution that any decision on a no-fly zone would have to be made in consultations with allies.

A diplomat at the United Nations said that any such action would require further debate among the 15 nations of the Security Council, which was unlikely to act unless there was a significant increase in state-sponsored violence in Libya, including the use of aircraft against civilians.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, was scheduled to meet with President Obama on Monday afternoon at the White House to discuss the deteriorating situation in Libya.

Obama administration officials said Sunday that they were also discussing whether the American military could disrupt communications to prevent Colonel Qaddafi from broadcasting in Libya. In addition, the administration was looking at whether the military could be used to set up a corridor in neighboring Tunisia or Egypt to assist refugees.

“There hasn’t been discussion that I’m aware of related to military intervention beyond that, and a discussion of that nature would have to begin at the U.N.,” a senior administration official said. But, the official added, “I wouldn’t say we’ve ruled anything out, either.”

Italy’s treaty with Libya, signed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in August 2008, calls on Italy to pay Libya $5 billion over 20 years in reparations for its colonial past there. In return, Libya pledged to help block the flow of illegal immigrants to Italy and grant favorable treatment for Italian companies seeking to do business in Libya.

But the treaty also contains a nonaggression clause that some analysts said complicated Italy’s position in the event of international military intervention in Libya. In it, Italy pledges not to use “direct or indirect” military force against Libya, or to allow the use of its territory “in any hostile act against Libya.”

There are several United States and NATO bases in Italy that presumably would be staging areas for any action against Libya, including the United States Sixth Fleet base near Naples. After the treaty was signed, Italy had to explain to NATO that it would respect its multilateral international treaties.

An Italian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Maurizio Massari, noted that Italy had suspended the treaty, not revoked it, and would evaluate how to proceed as the conflict in Libya evolved.

At the United Nations, there was no formal discussion about Libya on Sunday, as diplomats weighed possible next steps and digested the Security Council resolutions passed Saturday night that imposed an arms embargo and economic sanctions on Libya.

An American official, who discussed United Nations deliberations on the condition that he not be identified, said the Security Council had moved more quickly on Libya than on almost any issue in recent years. The body is poised to take further steps, if warranted, like “a rapid deterioration, a significant uptick in violence,” he said. “In terms of big ideas like a no-fly zone, if the international community is ready, and there is a need to impose a no-fly zone or authorize use of force, that would require another whole debate and resolution.”

Helene Cooper contributed reporting from Washington, and Rachel Donadio from Rome.