Libyan No-Fly Zone?

[GO-NAD!]

Hmmm, I never thought about it this way before. I was wondering why the US wasn't pushing harder for a No-Fly zone over Libya, but Neil makes a convincing argument.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/03/16/f-rfa-macdonald.html

 

[its phillip]

Yeah, there are good arguments on both sides. Something should be done but it certainly isn't the USA's sole responsibility.

Anyway, my idea is this:
Instead of enforcing a no-fly zone with a bunch of planes and support personnel and aircraft sticking around, they (meaning nato/america alone probably and/or the arab league) should just send in a large joint strike force and crater ALL of the airfields/runways and be done with it.

 

[Rickster71]

There is a statement in the article that doesn't sound true: "...despite the fact that the U.S. contributes more aid to the Palestinian people than does any other nation, by far."

I did a search and found this:
One-third of ALL US AID goes to Israel and Egypt.

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/politics/us-foreign-aid.htm
These 2 countries receive
one-third of the total
aid, (with the most going to Israel) the majority of which
pays for armaments.
Yet, neither is a "developing" country.

 

[GO-NAD!]

There is a statement in the article that doesn't sound true: "...despite the fact that the U.S. contributes more aid to the Palestinian people than does any other nation, by far."

I did a search and found this:
One-third of ALL US AID goes to Israel and Egypt.

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/politics/us-foreign-aid.htm
These 2 countries receive
one-third of the total
aid, (with the most going to Israel) the majority of which
pays for armaments.
Yet, neither is a "developing" country.

Well, both statements can be true, Rick. A third of all US aid may go to Israel and Egypt. That doesn't contradict the statement you quoted.

 

[Jeepers]

Being a European I have to say that Neil is absolutely correct in what he wrote. On another note it is sad to see that Saudi Arabia and the UAE sent troups to support the monarchy in Bahrain but are doing absolutely nothing for their Libyan brothers and sisters.

 

[rnatalli]

Regardless of whether you support the idea or not, it's too late to implement at this point. It needed to be done when the rebels had the momentum.

 

[darien87]

Personally I'm sick of the U.S. being the world's police force. They ***** at us when we intervene and they ***** at us when we don't. Screw 'em.

 

[its phillip]

Personally I'm sick of the U.S. being the world's police force. They ***** at us when we intervene and they ***** at us when we don't. Screw 'em.

We put ourselves out there as the world's police but only when we felt like it....we never bothered to do anything about the genocide/war crimes that have happened for years (and still are) in various african nations, for example.

 

[Warpdrv]

Its all pretty simple...

It depends on what the US has to gain or lose, that is how you guage whether or not we will INTERVENE.....

 

[rnatalli]

Its all pretty simple...

It depends on what the US has to gain or lose, that is how you guage whether or not we will INTERVENE.....

Which option gives us cheaper oil?

 

[Rickster71]

Well, both statements can be true, Rick. A third of all US aid may go to Israel and Egypt. That doesn't contradict the statement you quoted.

Well it does, because Israel was the top recipient.... Has been for many years.
I do agree with story you linked though.

 

[its phillip]

The statement is that the US gives more to the Palestineans than anybody else does, not that we give most of our aid to them.

 

[highfigh]

Well it does, because Israel was the top recipient.... Has been for many years.
I do agree with story you linked though.

"contributes more aid to the Palestinian people than does any other nation, by far." means the US contributes more than any other nation, not that Palestine gets more from the US than any other nation.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Well it does, because Israel was the top recipient.... Has been for many years.
I do agree with story you linked though.

Israel and Egypt may receive the majority of all the international aid that the US provides. However, of all the donors to the Palestinians, the US can still be their biggest donor. In other words, nobody gives more aid to the Palestinians, than the USA - no matter how much you give the other two. No contradiction there.

 

[psbfan9]

No fly for you!

UN approves no-fly zone over Libya. 5 nations abstain.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/libya_diplomacy

 

[Davemcc]

Which option gives us cheaper oil?

The US gets about 5% of it's oil from Iraq.
The US gets less than 1% of it's oil from Libya.

Neither figure is worth going to war over. If it's war for oil you want, invade Canada, Mexico or Venezuela.

 

[highfigh]

Gadhaffi is starting to sound like "Baghdad Bob". He'll be denying what's happening and saying that he doesn't recognize the decisions of the other countries right up to the point where he stops talking and says, "They're right behind me, aren't they?".

 

[Jed M]

Everything about our relationship with Libya stinks. Our short term solution to oil dependency, making deals with the devil, is going to seriously harm us in the long run. Once this next internet generation becomes adults and have access to open information, our long history of inconsistent and hypocritical policies in the middle east are going to be impossible to repair. If you think they dislike us now...

 

[Davemcc]

Once this next internet generation becomes adults and have access to open information, our long history of inconsistent and hypocritical policies in the middle east are going to be impossible to repair.

On the contrary, once the real motives for Americas active influence in global affairs is commonly accepted, I think people will discover a renewed appreciation for America's influence in 20th century global affairs. Sadly, this may never happen. People want their history as well as their news delivered to them in 6 second sound bytes that appeal to their own preconceived ideas without regard to the truth. Slogans are jingoism are more likely to become the truth of history, disregarding the motives of the individuals and organizations that made that history. War for Oil...US Imperialism...Blood for Profit...there's your history. Never mind the policy of Containment, the struggle of peoples for freedom, the fight against religious hegemony or the expansion of democracy...you know, irrelevant concepts that have had no impact on the course of history.

 

[Jed M]

Never mind the policy of Containment, the struggle of peoples for freedom, the fight against religious hegemony or the expansion of democracy...you know, irrelevant concepts that have had no impact on the course of history.

I think those concepts could be easily summed up as the 6 second sound bites or jingoism the world has been fed for the last 50 years. Really, how was us befriending Gadhafi again related to the struggle of peoples for freedom or any of the other slogans we have been sold? I think the US gets a bad rap for genuinely trying to help and blamed for entirely too much, but I also think its obvious we were supporting dictators for no other reason than oil, unless you really believe we decided to get back in bed with Gadhafi for the reasons you mentioned above. I am not saying some countries fit your description, but some like Libya and many others clearly do not. Its not going to matter what we were like 80% of the time if you lived in 20% of the countries with brutal dictators for no other reason than he sold cheap oil to the west. I can't imagine it is going to soften the blow to hear it was to fight religious hegemony as to why your three uncles were grabbed off the street and tortured to death by a psychopath left in power by the US.