LIBYA CRISIS!

2011-04-01T04:10:00.000-07:00

Libya is currently ruled by a largely unpopular dictator called Colonel (Muammar) Gaddafi. He gained power by a military coup in 1969 and has clung on to power by distributing wealth to his friends and keeping a close eye on what was going on. Around 10% to 20% was thought to have worked as an informant for him.

Libya is in north Africa

Recently Libya has been the centre of public attention, again because spurred on by the success of the people in Egypt they started a rebellion which has wrestled power from colonel Gaddafi in many parts of the country. Gaddafi has met these protests increasingly violently using helicopters, tanks and even anti aircraft guns on his own people. (Which there is plenty of evidence for online but most of it is not appropriate for human viewing search at your own risk)

In the past few weeks NATO forces have entered Libya to “protect civilians”. The NATO forces bombed and destroyed large numbers of tanks and vehicles as well as enforcing the no fly zone. But recently the NATO forces has been hampered by the fact many civilians armed by Gaddafi have been fighting against the rebels. This means that NATO cannot interfere despite the fact these “fighters” are still using tanks and heavy artillery.

Current map of control in Libya

This situation is not as clear cut as it sounds though. The west has to be very careful with the rebel fighters that they are supporting. This is because it would be very easy for some groups of the rebels to be militants supporting al Qaeda. This might sound like the colonels scaremongering but lots of there fighters come from the terrorist group,even a rebel commander has admitted that he has previously fought in Afghanistan. [telegraph, rebel commander admits al Qaeda links].

I Personally think this is a very challenging political situation, and it should make the western countries ask very hard questions about there foreign policy's. Especially on hard-line dictators where they have been prepared to make concessions and ignore certain situations to set up trade.

Whats your view? should we support the rebels? is our relationship with dictators in the Middle East and Africa ok? what would you do if you where a leader of a country with the power to intervene?

WELCOME TO POLITICS TOMORROW

2011-03-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

Hi I guess, welcome to what I hope in the near future will become a vibrant place where current affairs can be analysed and discussed in an unbiased way. Also I would like to look at the affects these policy's will affect us as individuals, and what they will mean in the long term for this country as a whole.
Thanks for reading I will back soon with an update.

Politics Tomorrow

LIBYA CRISIS!

WELCOME TO POLITICS TOMORROW