BARACK OBAMA, STEPHEN HARPER, NICOLAS SARKOZY AND DAVID CAMERON DELIVERED LIBYA TO THE TERRORISTS.

Under the guise of UN 'No Fly Resolution', the western powers bombed Libya, a totally illegal action, deposing and killing dictator Qaddafi on the streets of Tripoli, leaving the country fractured and in complete disarray. Libya has since fallen in the hands of a variety of terrorists.  

This is a prime example of a thoughtless, ill planned, ill executed foreign policy that not only destroyed Libya but also took the life of an American Ambassador.

For his part, Qaddafi had ruled Libya for over 40 years, he should have seen the clouds of change in the Middle East and called fair and free general elections and handed over power to an elected government. Had he done so, he may still be alive today. But then, regardless of what history shows us, dictators think they will rule forever.

The following article on the current state of affairs is taken from Al Jazeera English:

Libya: 'We're fed up with fighting'

Civilians are the first casualty in a conflict over power and resources.

Libyans in Tripoli's old city are worried about keeping financially afloat [Rebecca Murray/Al Jazeera]

Tripoli, Libya -  Amal, a mother of five children, crouches over a sewing machine within the maze of whitewashed alleys in Tripoli's dilapidated old city, its ancient walls abutting the Corinthia Hotel compound.
The light in her dingy tailor shop has been on for most of the day, a rarity for the impoverished neighbourhood, which has been plagued with hours-long electricity cuts, skyrocketing food prices and crime.
"We hear gun shots everyday and we are tired," said Amal, nostalgic for the security she says she had before Muammar Gaddafi's overthrow in 2011.
While Libya's two competing governments continue to battle over power, territory and the country's oil wealth, against the backdrop of controversial United Nations-brokered peace negotiations in Geneva, it's the ordinary Libyans across the country that are paying the highest price.
"Of course I'd be happy if the two governments were unified. But they want the power, money and the country, so I think this will be [only] resolved by fighting."
About 600 people have been killed in three months of heavy fighting between Libyan pro-government forces and Islamist groups in Libya's second-largest city, Benghazi, medical staff have said.
The high-profile attack on the luxury Corinthia Hotel in downtown Tripoli on Tuesday, which has been mostly empty in recent months except for a handful of guests and businessmen, is the latest ominous sign of Libya's slide into violence and economic chaos.
Fighters allied with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have claimed responsibility for the attack. The Tripoli-based "Libya Dawn" coalition, however, blamed Gaddafi loyalists instead, which essentially means former General Khalifa Haftar's forces, commonly known as "Operation Dignity", in the east of the country.

The country's two main forces realised they were in a stalemate, and that the fighting wasn't allowing either to gain a decisive upper hand without going after oil infrastructure. Richard Mallinson, analyst, Energy Aspects

Libya has been sliding deeper into conflict since the 2011 uprising, with rival governments and powerful militias battling for control of its main cities and oil wealth.
Recent calls for a ceasefire have failed. Fighting continues to rage between Libya Dawn, affiliated with Prime Minister Omar al-Hassi and the General National Congress (GNC), and Operation Dignity forces led by Haftar, and allied with exiled Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni and the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk and Beida.
Battles in Benghazi and the east, in the west, around the oil-rich Gulf of al-Sidra, and in the southern town of Ubari, have forced an estimated 400,000 people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.
In Libya's southern desert, at the vast Sharara oil field, capable of generating up to 300,000 barrels of oil a day, all production has grounded to a halt.
On November 5, when Libya Dawn forces from Misrata teamed up with local Tuareg fighters to wrest the facility from its Zintan and Tebu security guards, the Zintan forces blocked the oil pipeline to the Zawiyah refinery on the coast.
Last summer, Misrata militia seized Tripoli's international airport from the Zintan, and battles between them continue in the west, and between Libya Dawn and Operation Dignity forces around al-Sidra oil terminal to the east.
"The country's two main forces realised they were in a stalemate, and that the fighting wasn't allowing either to gain a decisive upper hand without going after oil infrastructure," said Richard Mallinson, an analyst with the UK consultancy Energy Aspects.
"That can only point to escalation once you've opened the door to assets and infrastructure. But what is unclear is whether each side has the military ability or international legitimacy to assert itself across the whole country," he said.
"That creates space for small and more extremist groups to thrive, which is a concern for regional stability."
Snipers in nearby Ubari have blocked the road into Sharara, and all supplies for the facility's skeleton crew have to be flown in. Gasoline is scarce and expensive, and can only be trucked to the oil field and Libya's southwestern towns across desert dunes.
Heavily subsidised by the government, gasoline officially costs 0.15 Libyan dinars ($0.11) per litre at the pump. But many petrol stations are rarely open, and black market gasoline prices in remote desert towns like Murzuq and Ghat run about seven times the cost, boosting the price on transport and goods.
"There is no gasoline here," said Abdullah Othman, a Tuareg community leader in the town of Ghat near the Algerian border. "So there is no electricity, no healthcare or town services."
After the revolution, Libya's oil production peaked at 1.6 million bpd. Now it hovers around 330,000 bpd, Mustafa Sanalla, the National Oil Corporation chairman, told Al Jazeera.
He estimates that around 70 percent of gasoline for domestic use is now imported.

Can talks bring peace to Libya?

The Central Bank of Libya has warned that total revenues last year were $15.5bn against $34.1bn in spending, leaving a $18.6bn deficit. The government has vowed to cut subsidies on petrol and food, and enact austerity measures on a population heavily dependent on government pay.
Many salaries remain unpaid, crowds shove each other at banks for cash withdrawals, and in some cases, money has to be flown across the desert to reach certain communities.
In the shadow of the historic Central Bank building on Tripoli's harbour is a collection of trading shops for gold and currency. The Libyan dinar has lost nearly half its value, plummeting to less than half a US dollar, while the cost of chunky gold bars has increased.
"To tell you the truth, nowadays I'm nervous about putting money in the bank," said Mustafa Badr, a currency trader. "But if people start to withdraw a lot, they could be robbed. Then this would become normal."
Down the block, Ali Nefatti, a 22-year-old student, works at a gold jewellery shop when he's not at the Tripoli University. He says business has been bad because the traditional jewellery, mostly worn at weddings, is not essential for people now.
"Each side needs the power, and so they will finish it by fighting," he sighed. "I'm going to work, get money and go abroad. Most of my friends want to go abroad. We are fed up with all the fighting. Everything is wrong here. We need security and we need peace."

Source:  Al Jazeera English

France turns left with President Farcois Hollande

For the first time in seventeen years, a socialist candidate has won French Presidential elections. Francois Hollande's final round victory on Sunday, May 6 over Sarkozy has major implications for the Eurozone and Germany. The last socialist candidate to win was M. Francois Mitterrand in 1981, who remained President until 1995. The trend does not bode well for conservatives in the forthcoming French Parliamentary elections either, as socialists lead in the polls.

Sarkozy was the recipient of French anger for his arrogance and economic mismanagement. During the last few days he became so desperate to win that he swung hard right, making the most ridiculous statements against immigrants and the deprived that it drove away middle of the road voters. He is the first French President not to win re-election since 1981. It seems a Conservative wave that swept through Europe during the last 10-15 years may now be at an end.

The economy was the main reason for Sarkozy's defeat. He followed US Republican Party style economic management - no new taxes on the rich, but major cuts in social services. Francois Hollande promises a major policy shift and follows Barrack Obama style of economic management, reflating the economy with more cash infusion than cuts. He also plans to introduce a new tax on individuals making over One Million Euros a year.

Greece has also held elections during the weekend and Greek voters rejected right wing parties who had introduced major cuts to pension and social services. Even in the provincial elections in Northern Germany, socialist party has defeated the Conservatives.

It remains to be seen how Angela Merkel will handle this major change in Europe. She may no longer wield the influence that she did in the Merkel-Sarkozy coalition. Farocis Hollande is not likely to see eye to eye with her on major economic and social issues. The Greeks are already saying, they will reverse some of the earlier cuts. If Germany and Brussels put their foot down and insist on Greece following through on earlier commitments, Greece may well exit the Eurozone leading to a major upheaval and ultimate collapse of Euro as a currency.

Germany has been the biggest beneficiary of adopting Euro as their currency. The weak European economies of PIGS countries (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain) have kept the Euro pinned down against the US Dollar, making German products cheaper for exports. Had Germany stayed with the Deutschmark, that currency would probably have gone through the roof, making German exports expensive and non-competitive. So Germany needs to step up to the plate and contribute many times more (than it has done so far) to the European Bank, so credit is available to Eurozone countries in economic difficulties.

A short term victim of all this change may be the Canada European Free Trade Accord. There is no reason to suggest that it will not happen, but for now, it may be relegated to the back burner while France, Germany and other European countries deal with their new realities.

It is an irony that before becoming President, Mr. Sarkozy called the ghetto developers of Paris scum. During his five year Presidency, he did absolutely nothing to uplift the poor or assimilate them in the mainstream society. As fate would have it, it is Mr. Sarkozy who is now relegated to the political heap.

 

The West Has Screwed Up in Libya?

After the riots and overthrow of dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, Col. Gaddafi should have seen the writing on the wall. He should have realized that forty year rule is long enough and instead of trying to install his sons in his place, he should called free and fair elections and offered to step down and handed over power to an elected Government. But dictators never learn, do they?

As the riots started and Ben Ghazi fell to opposing tribes, Gaddafi and his sons thought they could suppress the people by branding them thugs and drug dealers and by using brute force against them. The reality was quite different, after 40 years of rule, people wanted freedom of speech and a right to choose their own Government. After all a country is not one man's or one family's fiefdom.

To stop the killing of civilians in Libya, United Nations passed a timely resolution to prevent further bloodshed. However, the West took that as a License to Regime Change. This is blatant misuse of a UN resolution. NATO's bombing of civilians in Tripoli and elsewhere has by now probably killed as many if not more civilians than Gaddafi's brute attacks.

The main culprit in all this the French President Sarkozy, followed closely by Cameron, Obama and Berlusconi. Berlusconi seems to have seen the error of his ways of late and is trying to halt bombing by his NATO partners, but they are not listening to him as regime change is their real agenda and they say so openly. Berlusconi's enlightenment may also have something to do with huge economic losses staring Italy in the face by stoppage of uniterrupted oil flow from Libya. Also possibility of relicensing ENI's Libyan oil concessions to China and Russia may also be a factor.

NATO is in violation UN Resolution 1973. Perhaps this time the International Criminal Court (which took no action against Bush & Blair for causing death of over 100,000 Iraqi civilians) will show some courage and add the names of NATO leaders for crimes against humanity in addition to Gaddafi's! However, that may be too much to ask of ICC as up to now they have only found courage to charge minor African and Serbian leaders.

The UN Secretary General, Ban ki Moon's job is to bring peace to this world. He should have tried to bring all sides together in Libya and found a peaceful solution for a transition. Instead, he has failed to make any efforts to stop the carnage. He should resign and go home instead of seeking another term.

Gaddafi is a dictator and has been cruel to his people of late, but over the years, he has been a benevolent dictator. Food, Education (including higher education), Housing and Healthcare is substantially subsidized by the Libyan Government. This is something neither Obama, nor Sarkozy have been able to accomplish for their people. No wonder, Gaddafi still has support from a segment of Libyan population. The main opposition to him comes from larger tribes that Gaddafi has sidelined from power for a very long time. The West did not take all this into account before their gung-ho bombing of Tripoli.

Instead of removing Gaddafi, NATO's action have only served to strengthen him as it is beginning to appear that he may have outwitted the West. This is great shame, for it is time for him to step down and let Libyans elect a democratic Government.