US, British and French forces began their military strikes against Libya on Saturday in an operation the United States has codenamed Operation Odyssey Dawn.
The military action followed a West-engineered United Nations Security Council resolution on the establishment of a "no-fly" zone in Libya and started with an hours-long bombardment of the North African country.
Western countries have long harbored the intention of dethroning Libya's Muammar Gadhafi regime. The recent military strife in the country between government troops and rebels offered an immediate and a rare excuse for Western military intervention.
In the wake of political, economic and social crises in neighboring Egypt, Tunisia and other Middle East countries, Libya was soon hit by a similar social unrest, with opposition forces calling for Gadhafi to relinquish his decades-long hold on power. But the crisis in Libya was partly a result of political incitement from Western countries, which seem to have seen a glimmer of hope that Gadhafi might be driven from power by unrest such as that in Egypt.
The Gadhafi regime, however, chose to take a tough stance and mobilize the military. In the face of the more powerful government troops, Libya's opposition forces were soon on the brink of collapse, a result beyond the expectations of the US-led Western nations. Against this backdrop, the Western countries plotted a "no-fly" zone resolution within the UN Security Council and then launched military assaults in the name of guaranteeing the implementation of the UN mandate.
But no matter what the well-decorated excuses, the latest military action in Libya is part of Western political and strategic intentions.
The US and other Western countries have long regarded the Libyan ruler as a thorn in their flesh that, they believe, should be uprooted. However, any means adopted by the West over the past years failed to produce a power change in the oil-rich African country. Under these circumstances, the ongoing Middle East unrest was seen as a rare opportunity for the West to oust Gadhafi and realize a power change in Libya.
Some politicians in the West are also using the military action in Libya as a means to extricate themselves from their current political predicaments.
In the US, the ongoing social crises as well as public demonstrations in Wisconsin and other states have plunged many state organs into functional paralysis. The government has also suffered a setback on the issue of the federal budget because of opposition from Congress. As a result, US President Barack Obama's approval rating has declined to a record low since he took office. His declining popularity, if not curbed, will pose a severe challenge to Obama's bid for re-election. In this context, a limited military action in Libya is possibly seen as an effective way to help Obama to break away from the current unfavorable political situation.
France, the spearhead of the latest Western action in Libya, is also suffering from widespread social problems. With strikes spreading, President Nicolas Sarkozy still trailed his political rival Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front in a latest opinion poll, despite several cabinet reshuffles. His party hopes that France's military action in Libya will help boost Sarkozy's popularity ahead of next year's elections.
Given their unparalleled military pre-eminence, the military action by the multinational coalition in Libya is capable of producing a power change in the North African nation. But in view of Gadhafi's clout within Libya and his announced determination to unite all the people in the fight against Western aggression, the coalition forces will in all likelihood refrain from launching a large-scale and highly intensive ground offensive.
In the face of the much more powerful Western military forces, the possibility cannot be ruled out that Gadhafi will adopt a flexible stance by choosing to hold talks with the opposition parties and asking for mediation from other major powers and even from the UN.
The author is deputy secretary-general of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies.
(China Daily 03/22/2011 page8
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Indonesian Troubles
oh, on the news...i see the wave of unrest in muslim countries may be coming to indonesia...ooooh. retired army generals are promoting unrest and dissatisfaction with the president. libya, iraq etc is not important to asia...but indonesia is very important to asia.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Oil is thicker than blood
The War on Libya so begins on the 8th anniversary of the war on Iraq, to the day, with 110 Cruise missiles landing in the cities of Libya; and on the night of the big Perigee moon. This is War and war is Hell. Why wait til we're dead...why not create Hell on earth now, and call it Justice? Peace is so much harder. Oil floats on top of blood, and covers every truth and every decent thing.
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Book-Tom Carter-China Portrait of a People
Friday, 18 March 2011
The Benefit of Non-Interference
It was Michel de Montaigne in 1580 who said something along the lines of 'I cannot control the world and events so therefore I control myself' and so I think i'll do that rather than ranting about the West's perpetual invasions that always end up causing greater harm than they could possibly prevent. With Libya, I simply believe that it is up to Libyans to work out their problems. It's an imperfect calculation but far less imperfect than a horrific invasion and the inevitable destruction of a society (see Iraq and Afghanistan). Libyans have to work out their issues and external force doesn't really work. Foreign armies don't 'do peace'.The same goes for Korea...the North and the South must work out their disunity for themselves. It's no good to have such massive interference from 'great defenders' because after 50 years its worse than it was when it was divided by the 'great defenders' of each. Koreans north and south are blood brothers and Im sure there will be some blood spilled in accepting each other and working things out, but its no one elses business.
CNN/ China Support for Japan
Editor's note: "Jaime's China" is a weekly column about Chinese society and politics. Jaime FlorCruz has lived and worked in China since 1971. He studied Chinese history at Peking University (1977-81) and served as TIME Magazine's Beijing correspondent and bureau chief (1982-2000).
Beijing, China (CNN) -- Disasters usually bring out the best and the worst in people.
At Beijing Language and Culture University this week, it's the best.
Japanese and Chinese students gathered on campus during lunch break to raise cash donations for Japan's quake and tsunami survivors.
"We know the situation in Japan is terrible right now, so we hope that our activities can help the Japanese victims," said Chinese organizer Jing Yao, a junior aspiring to be Mandarin language teacher. "We want them to know that there are many people who care about them here in China."
Countless people across the globe are opening their hearts and wallets to help the Japanese, but the Chinese offer of help carries an extra weight.
China was one of the first to send a rescue team, a 15-member crew many of whom are now scouring disaster areas in Sendai searching for survivors.
China has also flown millions of dollars in relief to Japan. "China is also a country prone to earthquake disasters, and we fully empathize with how they feel now," said Premier Wen Jiabao. "When China was hit with the massive Wenchuan earthquake, the Japanese government sent a rescue team and also offered rescue supplies." China is ready to give more, as Japan needs it, he added.
Food, gas scarce in Tokyo China has been hit with two massive earthquakes in the past three years.
In May 2008, an 8.0-magnitude quake devastated Wenchuan in Sichuan province, leaving over 80,000 people dead or missing. In April last year, another major quake, followed by a mudslide, left more than 2,200 people dead in northwestern Qinghai province.
Just last week, a 5.8-magnitude quake shook southwestern Yunnan province. It killed at least 25 people, injured 250 others and destroyed many houses.
"We are still dealing with the aftermath of that quake, but it will not stand in our way to give aid to Japan," said an official in Beijing, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to talk about the subject. "We genuinely sympathize with the Japanese people no matter what some netizens say," he said, referring to China's active online community that has not always been unanimous in supporting the aid effort.
At his school in Beijing, Japanese exchange student Makoto Hachiya appreciates the Chinese gestures of sympathy.
"Of course we are very moved and thankful for the support from our Chinese classmates," said Hachiya, a sophomore studying Mandarin, whose family lives near the quake's epicenter. "It shows how friendly and good the China-Japan relationship can be."
Still, anti-Japanese sentiment runs deep among some Chinese.
On social networking sites, some bloggers were sarcastically "congratulating" Japan on the earthquake. Others have called the quake "baoying" (karma) for Japan's occupation of China during World War II. Their numbers may be few, but their voices echo deep-seated animosity.
The Chinese suffered miserably under Japan's wartime occupation from 1931 to 1945. Millions of lives were lost.
Nearly 70 years after the war ended, memories of Japan's war atrocities continue to bedevil the relations.
Even movies can reopen raw wounds.
I remember a controversy in the late 1990s when a big-budget movie, "Pride, the Fateful Moment," opened in Tokyo. The film, about wartime general Hideki Tojo, infuriated Japan critics in China because it claimed that Tojo was not so bad after all.
The movie also implied that the Nanjing Massacre, a killing spree by Japan's imperial army, may not have happened at all. China condemned the movie as an attempt to "whitewash Japanese wartime aggression."
Other irritants fester: the revision of Japan's history books, Japanese officials' visits to ancient shrines honoring wartime heroes, trade issues and territorial conflicts.
Of course we are very moved and thankful for the support from our Chinese classmates
--Makoto Hachiya, Japanese exchange student in Beijing
The two neighbors have a running dispute over a group of islands known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan. At stake in the conflicting claims: national pride and potentially lucrative natural gas drilling rights in waters around them.
Six months ago, the simmering territorial dispute erupted when Japanese patrol officers arrested the captain and crew of a Chinese fishing boat near the islands.
Meantime, at least, Japan's current woes are giving China a chance to show its soft side.
"It's a very important opportunity for China to make a statement in favor of the long-term values of cooperation and humane treatment of your neighbors," said David Kelly, professor at the University of Technology Sydney.
Students at Beijing Language and Culture University say their charity campaign is more important than the amount they collected because it transcended politics.
"There are many things in politics and diplomacy that China and Japan don't see eye-to-eye on, but because of this humanitarian situation and people's willingness to help, we're coming together and improving our relationship in a friendly way," said Hachiya of Japan.
Beijing, China (CNN) -- Disasters usually bring out the best and the worst in people.
At Beijing Language and Culture University this week, it's the best.
Japanese and Chinese students gathered on campus during lunch break to raise cash donations for Japan's quake and tsunami survivors.
"We know the situation in Japan is terrible right now, so we hope that our activities can help the Japanese victims," said Chinese organizer Jing Yao, a junior aspiring to be Mandarin language teacher. "We want them to know that there are many people who care about them here in China."
Countless people across the globe are opening their hearts and wallets to help the Japanese, but the Chinese offer of help carries an extra weight.
China was one of the first to send a rescue team, a 15-member crew many of whom are now scouring disaster areas in Sendai searching for survivors.
China has also flown millions of dollars in relief to Japan. "China is also a country prone to earthquake disasters, and we fully empathize with how they feel now," said Premier Wen Jiabao. "When China was hit with the massive Wenchuan earthquake, the Japanese government sent a rescue team and also offered rescue supplies." China is ready to give more, as Japan needs it, he added.
Food, gas scarce in Tokyo China has been hit with two massive earthquakes in the past three years.
In May 2008, an 8.0-magnitude quake devastated Wenchuan in Sichuan province, leaving over 80,000 people dead or missing. In April last year, another major quake, followed by a mudslide, left more than 2,200 people dead in northwestern Qinghai province.
Just last week, a 5.8-magnitude quake shook southwestern Yunnan province. It killed at least 25 people, injured 250 others and destroyed many houses.
"We are still dealing with the aftermath of that quake, but it will not stand in our way to give aid to Japan," said an official in Beijing, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to talk about the subject. "We genuinely sympathize with the Japanese people no matter what some netizens say," he said, referring to China's active online community that has not always been unanimous in supporting the aid effort.
At his school in Beijing, Japanese exchange student Makoto Hachiya appreciates the Chinese gestures of sympathy.
"Of course we are very moved and thankful for the support from our Chinese classmates," said Hachiya, a sophomore studying Mandarin, whose family lives near the quake's epicenter. "It shows how friendly and good the China-Japan relationship can be."
Still, anti-Japanese sentiment runs deep among some Chinese.
On social networking sites, some bloggers were sarcastically "congratulating" Japan on the earthquake. Others have called the quake "baoying" (karma) for Japan's occupation of China during World War II. Their numbers may be few, but their voices echo deep-seated animosity.
The Chinese suffered miserably under Japan's wartime occupation from 1931 to 1945. Millions of lives were lost.
Nearly 70 years after the war ended, memories of Japan's war atrocities continue to bedevil the relations.
Even movies can reopen raw wounds.
I remember a controversy in the late 1990s when a big-budget movie, "Pride, the Fateful Moment," opened in Tokyo. The film, about wartime general Hideki Tojo, infuriated Japan critics in China because it claimed that Tojo was not so bad after all.
The movie also implied that the Nanjing Massacre, a killing spree by Japan's imperial army, may not have happened at all. China condemned the movie as an attempt to "whitewash Japanese wartime aggression."
Other irritants fester: the revision of Japan's history books, Japanese officials' visits to ancient shrines honoring wartime heroes, trade issues and territorial conflicts.
Of course we are very moved and thankful for the support from our Chinese classmates
--Makoto Hachiya, Japanese exchange student in Beijing
The two neighbors have a running dispute over a group of islands known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan. At stake in the conflicting claims: national pride and potentially lucrative natural gas drilling rights in waters around them.
Six months ago, the simmering territorial dispute erupted when Japanese patrol officers arrested the captain and crew of a Chinese fishing boat near the islands.
Meantime, at least, Japan's current woes are giving China a chance to show its soft side.
"It's a very important opportunity for China to make a statement in favor of the long-term values of cooperation and humane treatment of your neighbors," said David Kelly, professor at the University of Technology Sydney.
Students at Beijing Language and Culture University say their charity campaign is more important than the amount they collected because it transcended politics.
"There are many things in politics and diplomacy that China and Japan don't see eye-to-eye on, but because of this humanitarian situation and people's willingness to help, we're coming together and improving our relationship in a friendly way," said Hachiya of Japan.
What does a No Fly Zone in Libya entail?
What does a No Fly Zone entail? Cruise Missiles, aerial carpet-bombing, the destruction of all military and commercial communications, military bases, airfields, highways, train stations, schools, hospitals, mosques & everything else except the oil pipelines and oil offices, to protect the freedom loving people inside those buildings.
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