A twenty-five person peace delegation made up of academics, lawyers, journalists and professionals will be departing for Libya on 9th April, to call for an immediate ceasefire in Libya and an end to all hostilities. This is the first half of a two stage process that will involve reconciliation talks with tribal leaders, government […]
Geography Archives: Africa
Countries in the continent of Africa
Arming the Libyan Rebels
Jon Stewart: Jon Stewart: Oh, people, we are now into our third week of a military bombing campaign in Libya, Operation Odyssey Dawn. The operation cleverly named for the Odyssey, a 20-year harrowing journey through a hellscape where nearly everyone is killed. Adding “dawn” . . . so it’s the earliest part of that […]
Who Rules Syria and How? Interview with Joshua Landis
Paul Jay: The title of your upcoming book, Syria’s Democratic Experiment, first of all, what is the experiment? And then talk a little about how we got there. Joshua Landis: Well, the book really deals with a period at the time of independence — 1946, ’45, ’46 — in Syria, when the French left and […]
Ivory Coast: Humanitarian Intervention or Debt Collection?
This just in from Bloomberg: The West African nation’s 2032 bonds issued a year ago jumped 7.7 percent to 55.438 cents on the dollar, the highest since Dec. 2, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The debt has rallied 14 percent in the past two days after Gbagbo troops surrendered. . . . The country’s […]
Libya and the Laws of War: Interview with Michael Mandel
With respect to international law, in what ways does this intervention in Libya differ from those carried out in Afghanistan and Iraq? The intervention in Afghanistan, despite protestations to the contrary, was not authorized by the Security Council, whose relevant resolutions did not even mention Afghanistan, let alone authorize “all necessary means.” That was because […]
What Wisconsin Means for Immigrant Rights
A few weeks can do a lot to sweep away old assumptions. Last year U.S. leftists were wondering why the worst economic crisis in 70 years hadn’t inspired a stronger response from its victims; now Arabs have toppled neoliberal regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, and U.S. workers have fought cutbacks and union-busting in Wisconsin with […]
Al-Jazeera: An Island of Pro-Empire Intrigue
The Empire admits: without Al-Jazeera, they could not have bombed Libya. How did Al-Jazeera, once dubbed the ‘terror network’ by some and whose staff were martyred by US bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, end up becoming the media war propagandist for yet another Western war against a small state of the Global South, Libya? We […]
COSATU Supports Democracy, But Condemns Foreign Military Occupation in Libya
COSATU has reiterated its position in support of the legitimate and genuine struggles of the people and workers of the Middle East and North Africa for democracy, human dignity and social justice. In doing so, we however, seek to exercise caution in the manner Western powers claim to be advancing the struggle for democracy in […]
The Role Played by South Africa in the United Nations Security Council on the Libyan Situation
21 March 2011 The African National Congress Youth League is concerned by the role played by South Africa in the United Nations Security Council. South Africa voted in favour of UN Security Council Resolution 1973 to impose a No-Fly-Zone in Libya, and did not advocate for a peaceful solution or an African led solution […]
Attack on Libya Slights African Diplomatic Option
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) — Ongoing attacks on Libya by Western forces occurred in defiance of the ongoing efforts by the African Union (AU) to explore the diplomatic option to resolve the crisis in the North African nation. The Western coalition, including the US, UK and France, unleashed a barrage of missiles on Libya starting Saturday, […]
Lavrov to Visit Mideast amid Crisis, during Military Operation in Libya
Note that Algeria has backed the Gaddafi forces while Egypt has sided with the rebels in Libya, going so far as to arm them. — Ed. MOSCOW, March 20 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov leaves for the Middle East on Sunday under the conditions of the political crisis in the region and the […]
China Expresses Regret for Military Strike against Libya
China’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday expressed regret over the multinational military strike against Libya, saying that it did not agree with resorting to force in international relations. “China has noticed the latest development in Libya and regrets the military strike against Libya,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. China, as it always, does not […]
AU Calls for Cessation of Hostilities, Beginning of Reform Process in Libya
Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) — The African Union (AU) Panel on Libya has demanded an immediate stop to all attacks in Libya, after a coalition of Western nations opened military action against the north African nation. The demand was issued by the panel, set up by the AU, after its inaugural meeting in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Saturday […]
The Libyan Rebellion: The West’s Cloak over the Gulf
Fidel Castro was right. The West was planning an attack on a sovereign third world nation imminently: Libya. Nothing like a good old war against brown and black people in Libya by the West to remind oneself of what Western civilisation is all about. Many of us who have been politically active since the 1990s […]
The Libyan Opposition on Foreign Intervention
Is the “Provisional Transitional National Council of Libya” the kind of leadership for whom self-respecting Libyans would want to carry assault rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, Manpads, and so on? IMHO, a resounding NO, but, dear reader, draw your own conclusion. — Ed. * * * Excerpt from Eric Ruder, “No U.S. intervention in […]
A System Turned Upside Down
The Tunisian revolution has wiped out the Ben Ali system, and the Egyptian revolution is about to eliminate the Mubarak system after the fall of the president. No doubt, the epoch of unlimited domination in the Arab world is coming to its end. After decades of despotic, patronage-based regimes, the Arab peoples seem determined to […]
The Cash Option
When I was growing up, several decades ago, middle-class society in India was always a little delayed in catching on to Western fashions whether in music or dress or in other aspects. The past decades of globalisation seemed to have changed all that. Modern communications technology has ensured that at least the upper income deciles […]
Aslı Ü. Bâli and Ziad Abu-Rish on International Intervention in Libya: A Documentary Remix
In evaluating calls for intervention, the first question we might ask is how the Libyan case differs from recent events in Tunisia and Egypt, where intervention of this type was not invited. In both of those countries authoritarian leaders who were erstwhile Western allies were pushed out when their military institutions refused to turn on […]
Venezuela’s Position on Libya
Venezuela’s proposal to “set up a Goodwill International Commission for the search for peace in Libya” mentioned in the statement below has been accepted by the government of Libya but rejected by the opposition Libyan National Council, France, and the United States. — Ed. This statement records Venezuela’s position on United Nations General Assembly […]
What Does the Libyan Opposition Want?
As everyone knows, Muammar Gaddafi is an authoritarian dictator. Authoritarian dictators are a dime a dozen in world history, though, so that is not what would distinguish him from the rest of his kind in history books. What might make him stand out is this: in the twilight of his autocratic career, Gaddafi had become […]
