Reuters has a flash report quoting British foreign minister William Hague, who says he has seen intelligence that suggests Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi has already fled the capital in Tripoli and is en route to Venezuela. The New York Times had previously reported that Qaddafi’s grip on power was slipping:
The 40-year-rule of Libyan strongman Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi appeared to teeter Monday as his security forces retreated to a few buildings in the Libyan capital of Tripoli where fires burned unchecked, senior government officials and diplomats announced defections, and the country’s second-largest city remained under the control of rebels.
Security forces loyal to Mr. Qaddafi defended a handful of strategic locations, including the state television headquarters and the presidential palace, witnesses reported from Tripoli. Fires from the previous night’s rioting burned at many intersections, most stores were shuttered, and long lines were forming for a chance to buy bread or gas.
In a sign of growing cracks within the government, several senior officials — including members of the the Libyan mission to the United Nations — announced their resignations. And protesters in Benghazi, the city where the revolt began, issued a list of demands calling for a secular interim government led by the army in cooperation with a council of Libyan tribes.
Security forces loyal to Mr. Qaddafi waved green flags as they rallied in Tripoli’s central Green Square Monday under the protection of a handful of police, these witnesses said. But they constituted one of the few visible signs of government authority around the capital.
Meanwhile Al-Jazeera is reporting that Libyan protesters are now being bombed by military jets.
Stay tuned at Egypt Watch for the latest on protests around the Middle East.
Is it 1968, or 1848?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe world is sorting out. Obama reveals his inner lizard that is in the tank for public employees' unions. Chavez reveals his inner lizard that is a refuge for tyrannical Arab dictators. It is a beautiful moment.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAfter a few months in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela, Qaddafi may wish he had decided instead to reside in a Libyan prison.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat a great term! 'Inner lizard.' Absolutely perfect.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is a very positive development. The fact that Col. Khadafy's regime employed mercenaries to shoot at protesters strongly suggests that he lost the confidence of the Libyan military. If he can fall from power, perhaps the military strongmen in Syria and Iran can fall too.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI guess this loon did not wait for Obama to demand that he leaves. Probably would have waited long time since Obama only dislikes dictators who are friendly to US.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe can hope that the Berber tribes and the Senussi reject the Wahabbi-Salafist Totalitarians as another colonial imposition, just like the Marxist-fascist Green Book posturing of the Tripoli elites under Ghaddafi was. Libya had a pragmatic heritage before 1969, maybe they can retrieve it.
Has anyone researched to see if there are links between Ghaddafi's fantasy ideology and Fascist-Futurist concepts imported during the Italian colonial period?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWho knew Qaddafi was a Democrat?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse'Run Away!'
As I read this story a story Jesus told came to mind which is found in the gospel of Luke chapter 11 verses 24-26:
24 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”
In this context an unclean man may be removed from a nation, but the result will be the same as when the impure spirit comes out of a person.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI hope this movement spreads to Venezuela, and on to Cuba.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo I wonder when the dust settles who will get the credit for the tumult of 2011? I figure if the regimes across the region miraculously become democratic (in a western civ kinda way) then Obama's Cairo speech will be pointed to as the catalyst, but if the more organized Islamists do then Bush will receive the blame.
Either way, I suspect the secular liberals (in a classical sense) will lose out in more countries than they win because they are nowhere near as organized or funded as their fundamentalist opponents.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe will soon live to regret Ghaddafi's exit. Much worse is coming i.e. a Shia
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusetakeover of North Africa and the Middle East--"from the frying pan...etc.
We will soon live to regret Ghaddafi's exit. Much worse is coming i.e. a Shia
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusetakeover of North Africa and the Middle East--"from the frying pan...etc.
I disagree that worse will come to replace it. These people are sick of tyrants, you think they will let more tyrants in so easily? If they can overthrow their own government that has total control of the military, police, intelligence etc, they are not about to let fanatics march in like Afghanistan did.
Libyan people are all armed, unlike some of these other countries, it would not be an easy fight for Sharia or for Taliban style takeovers. Besides, the military in these countries is not going to go for that either. I'm fairly confident most are sick of these tyrants as well. Yes in Libya they are bombing and attacking with the military, but some also switched sides and others simply flew to other countries in refusal to carry out orders.
When the dust settles, I wouldn't want to be the next idiot trying to set up another dictatorship in Libya or Egypt, as these people are sick of living their lives this way and have shown they desire more freedoms, not less. Take a look at the Middle East and where all of these uprisings are taking place, this is not a fanatical uprising to seek more oppression under Sharia Law, this is the opposite. They won't want Sharia, nor some despot to step in and rinse, repeat. They want freedom and liberty. Although they will remain primarily Muslim, I believe the vast majority are moderates, not fanatics. The fanatics were the ones in charge, and are being driven out, not the other way around.
Groups like the Muslim Brotherhood have nothing of value to offer the people of Egypt in the majority. They won't improve wages, freedoms, or bring the things that the people desire. They will be fundamentalists that will become less popular if they try to double down the tyranny. The modern age has arrived in the Middle East, they see with their own eyes and read alternative media, the majority know some liberty now, and seek even more. They want to listen to whatever music they want, and not devote themselves to destruction and suicide bombings as a way of life.
They have all lived in repression for decades and some for centuries, and this wave of uprisings is a rally cry to stop the repression.
The most important reason though is never discussed, and that is the fact most are reaching Peak Oil, and then what? They have very little in the way of infrastructure and a future once they lose their oil revenues over the next few decades. It is estimated that Saudi Arabian reserves are in fact over estimated by 40%, once the oil is gone, it is back to the 1650's for most of these countries, with a few Emirates being the exception.
So to George LeS, it isn't 1968, but they are facing a reality 1848 or worse under current trends, and they know it.
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