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March 2, 2011
From what I can gather the rebellion against the rotting Gaddafi regime in Libya has resulted in a divided country and civil war. Gadaffi controls the west whilst the rebels control the east, with the rebels aiming to take further territory away from Gadaffi's forces. Qaddafi’s regime is shrinking to the size of Libya’s capital, Tripoli and the rebel army is preparing to march on Tripoli.
Juan Cole points out that the problem that Gadaffi has is that some 80% Libya’s developed petroleum fields are in rebel-held territory and Gadaffi’s own foreign funds increasingly frozen. So his cash on hand to pay mercenaries and bribe clients will rapidly decline.
Steve Bell
The neo-con's New American Century looks tattered with the aftershocks from the political earthquake. Their strategy was one in which Washington would utilise maximum US force, power and influence to create a Middle East obedient to the interests and objectives of the US that was geared to the preservation of the superiority of Israel and the utilisation of American hard-power to eliminate any threats posed to it.
The attitude of western states is one where public declarations of support from political leaderships disguise unease at the prospect of dealing with more democratic governments. The western relationship with regional autocracies is decades old---the islands of stability that the US has traditionally favoured---and these forms of government were not the e sort that the people of the Arab world have desired
Old habits die hard. These habits extend back to the condition of European coloniality and are at odds with the birth pangs of the first postcolonial nations emerging from the post-independent pathologies of European colonialism, when native tyrants replaced their European counterparts and for decades abused thei rpeop[le, banked on their fears, plundered their r resources, wasted their hopes, robbed them of their democratic dignity, and delayed any meaningful formation of sovereign and liberated nation-states.
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As more and more countries explicitly denounce Gadaffi and his government, there seems to be growing pressure on the Obama administration to do something. The President and the Secretary of State--have ratcheted up the rhetoric against the Libyan leader in recent days, but the potential for massive and widespread violence has directed pressure on Obama to act, not just talk.
The US neocons want to launch military action to ensure regime change in Libya.