Unsurprisingly, Israel is to blame, according to the government in Tripoli. From Al Jazeera:
On top of its military response, the Gaddafi regime is trying to paint the revolt as a foreign plot to destabilise the country – a tool used by many other Arab regimes. After a long history of colonisation by Western powers and by Israel in the Palestinian territories, Arab people are deeply mistrustful of foreign interference.
The official Libyan News Agency (JANA) reported Sunday that the government was fighting an Israeli-inspired scheme to create anarchy in the country. It said that there were no genuine popular grievances behind the protests.
Israel is financing “separation” forces in the Arab region, JANA added.
Al-Shams newspaper, which is controlled by an arm of the information ministry in Tripoli, reported online that the government has exposed “foreign network elements” in several Libyan cities.
It used to be that George W Bush got the blame for everything from huricaines and global warming to causing the "Arab street" to explode. Now that the "street" is exploding nobody is giving credit where credit is due. W started all this rage by removing the worst of the tyrants. Then the purple fingers pushed it along and the result is an Arab street exploding at their own domestic tyrants.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTo paraphrase Homer Simpson talking about donuts, “Jews, is there anything they can’t do?”
While the Arab regimes deserve much blame for promoting Anti-Semitism and Conspiracy Theories about Jewish control, the bottom line is that the populations are receptive enough in the first place for the regimes to rightly believe it will be an effective strategy of deflecting blame. There’s not that far to go from the Walt and Mearshmier “Israel Lobby” mentality that’s become so popular on the American left, or even the Obama Administration’s linkage of Israel to every problem in the Middle East, and what the Libyan government is currently doing. American values of tolerance are the only thing keeping us from the same fate of having our Government blame everything on Israel, although that won’t stop people like Ambassador Rice from trying.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI wonder, are the "foreign network elements" exposed fish, or fowl? Both, as we know, are under the control of Mossad. Or has Israel now recruited the camels, too?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYes, it is so predictable yet still astounding. Nation Review on line, of late you run mini polls on various topics. How about running one which asks "If there never were Jews, who would falsely be blamed for all the ills of the world?" I'd go with the Irish, but I suppose that's what I get for being Irish.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLeaving Israel out of it, the real question is why we (the west, Europe, the US specifically) are not behind this, and what has taken so long.
The regime are a transparent pack of murdering goons without the slightest shred of legitimacy, enemies of all mankind. But nobody since Ronaldus Magnus has had the stones to stand up to them and treat them as they deserve, until the people in the streets right now.
And we sit on the sidelines, commenting and pretending it is all out of our hands. The British breathlessly compete to see how many times they can say "appalling" in one interview, but actually *do* absolutely nothing.
If Libyan jets bomb Benghazi, as some have reported, why aren't European jets bombing them? What magical impunity is conferred on third world dictators by their staggering awfulness?
In the cold war they were protected by an implicit threat of Russian military assistance. But long since they have been protected by nothing, nothing but the moral cowardice of the leading states in the world, ours among them.
Give them a shove already. It would be cheered and it is long overdue.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSomebody alert The Weekly Standard...democracy is on the march in Libya.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf the Jews and Israel are behind all of this and the Syntax in Iran, I would stop messing with the Jews if I were an Arab and start making peace as soon as possible, because you are obviously out matched in every regard.
I find it hilarious that every time a butt kicking is occurring somewhere, the Jews did it, even 9/11 according to the Arabs. These brave powerful people of Israel must be the chosen ones as they apparently conquer the world on a regular basis at will, and leave every dictator shaking in their boots.
I wonder if they will go after Chavez in Venezuela next for the fun of it. Come on Jews of Israel, snap your fingers and turn him into stone for a load of laughs, we all know you can do it, or make the Suez Canal swallow the Iranian ships today with a giant water spout.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOne of the things I have never understood about anti-Semitism is that if the Jews are really able to cause all this mischief in the world, make all the money, control governments, and get sharks to eat Egyptian tourists—then why don’t all the Muslims convert to Judaism and get in on the deal! Seems like a logical and reasonable approach to bettering one’s lot in life.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTo JasonC, who said, "Leaving Israel out of it, the real question is why we (the west, Europe, the US specifically) are not behind this, and what has taken so long":
Our current government is too busy trying to de-fund and dismantle itself, destroy all of our infrastructure, deprive workers of their rights, drive more Americans into permanent poverty, and wage perpetual war in Iraq and Afghanistan, to bother getting involved in tyranny in any more countries.
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