Reports now are that the justice minister has resigned.
Their state TV is also broadcasting footage of pro-Gaddafi demonstrators - using very tight shots to prevent the fact these groups are only about 100 young men or so, and most likely are members of the military or police in civvies. I sincerely doubt these are spontaneous demonstrations in favor of the regime.
Libya has compulsory military service. There are probably quite a few civilians that can drive tanks well enough. I could see them getting out if protesters stormed the depot. It might be that few active soldiers have the guts to actively revolt.
Maybe the crews fled. Or maybe protesters overran a pro-Qaddafi* army camp.
Tanks R Us. They are on line. They will Fed Ex one in 2 working days.
That will give pause to mercenaries. They were contracted to shooting unarmed civilians. Now they have to think about it. What, they can shoot back?
How much of an oil exporter is Libya? I’m curious to see how much this could effect gas prices.
I am hopeful that the Libyans have been living as one nation long enough that they like the idea enough to hold onto it. I would hate to see Libya end up like Pakistan or Afghanistan, a nominal government with no power in large areas controlled by warlords.
:dubious: Now why would they do a silly thing like that?! If Libya’s such a dictatorship, the parliament is just a hand-picked rubber-stamp body. Destruction of its HQ would not have much symbolic value – and if the protesters are trying to establish a real democracy, they’ll need a parliament, and a building for it.
Well, they are, after all, mercenary soldiers. I doubt this is the first time they have faced an enemy who can shoot back.
[QUOTE=Tristan]
I am hopeful that the Libyans have been living as one nation long enough that they like the idea enough to hold onto it. I would hate to see Libya end up like Pakistan or Afghanistan, a nominal government with no power in large areas controlled by warlords.
[/QUOTE]
A lot of Libya is uninhabited/uninhabitable, so I don’t think this is a likely scenario in the long term. There is no equivalent of Afghanistan where warlords can hold out in their mountain fastnesses against all comers and out of touch with a central government. If you tried to hid out in the Sahara you’d either die or you’d be fairly easy to locate (you’d be at one of of the few known oasis or water holes)…or you’d be in one or two of the ‘large’ interior cities and subject to having your water cut off.
-XT
I sometimes doubt if there is any standardized spelling for it even in Arabic letters.
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Now why would they do a silly thing like that?! If Libya’s such a dictatorship, the parliament is just a hand-picked rubber-stamp body. Destruction of its HQ would not have much symbolic value – and if the protesters are trying to establish a real democracy, they’ll need a parliament, and a building for it.
[/QUOTE]
Pissed off people rarely think rationally.
-XT
Fastnesses is a cool word.
OTOH, it is entirely possible that if a stalemate develops at this point, Benghazi and the whole eastern half of the country (formerly known as Cyrenaica*) will declare independence.
It seems to me that if you can’t burn down the presidential palace, burning the parliament is a good enough second choice, with a pretty good symbolic value.
For values of “best” that include “prison”.
And according to Reuters, analysts are seriously considering that possibility, and how it would affect oil exports. (90% of Libya’s oil comes from Cyrenaica.)
Gadaffi’s son said forget the old regime. Starting tomorrow we can start a new one that we can all agree upon. If the starting point for the people is the thieving Gadaffis are gone, it will not go well
. He came across so arrogant. This is my heritage you people are fucking with. I am supposed to be the next ruler. Don’t piss me off.
He was pointing his finger and waving it as he talked like he was chastising children.
Switzerland. They’ll take anybody with a lot of cash. And I’m assuming he already has a fair amount stashed in an account there.
Wow. Al Jazeera (which you can watch streaming online, so happy to be living in the future) has reports of Libyan Fighters straffing crowds of protesters. Which sounded so extreme that I was willing to discount it as hysteria.
But now 2 colonels have landed Libyan jets in Malta, stating they have defected rather than follow their orders and fire on citizens in the streets.
Wow.
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net]
Switzerland. They’ll take anybody with a lot of cash. And I’m assuming he already has a fair amount stashed in an account there.
[/QUOTE]
According to this Libya and Switzerland aren’t on good terms (or were in 2008 anyway…no idea if it’s changed).
[QUOTE=Tristan]
Wow. Al Jazeera (which you can watch streaming online, so happy to be living in the future) has reports of Libyan Fighters straffing crowds of protesters. Which sounded so extreme that I was willing to discount it as hysteria.
[/QUOTE]
They (AJ) might actually have people that are there, so they might actually have a better feel for what’s going on than many Western media services. CNN has said they are trying to get in but have continually been denied, so are going on phone conversations. I could believe that things are that bad, however…especially yesterday. There were several attempts to storm actual military bases, so ‘straffing crowds of protesters’ is certainly believable. It’s pretty freaking ugly, that’s for sure, though from what I’ve been reading things have calmed down a bit today.
-XT