Benghazi residents seek evidence of disappeared Libyans

Hundreds dig up former army headquarters in search of bodies as Gaddafi's control over country continues to slip

Martin Chulov in Benghazi
guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 February 2011

"...The people of Benghazi came throughout the week to this godforsaken patch of earth in the back of the city's ransacked military base, convinced they were closing in on a scene of unimaginable horror. Fleeing soldiers buried dozens of people in underground vaults in the hours before they fled the city on Sunday.

After a walk through the two nearby dungeons that were used to house political dissidents and regime enemies, it's not hard to see what fuels the bystanders' paranoia. "Anyone who upset him either ended up dead on his own doorstep, or in one of these holes," said Hussein Abbas, pointing to one of the two giant mounds atop the underground cells. "We have to get these people out."....

Throughout this giant base, the damage is immense and the celebration is continuing. At least 5,000 soldiers and officers were based here until Sunday, when they were ousted by thousands of people who came at them with bulldozers, TNT and Molotov cocktails. Everything has been ransacked. The blackened barracks still smoulder. It seems to be the only place in town where the victory gunfire that still peppers Benghazi's night sky seems appropriate.

"This camp was the darkest fear of all of Benghazi," said one man, Nouri Kaskas. "Everybody had a relative somewhere who was in one of these holes."

"It is an unbelievable feeling to be standing here," said Assaad Mari, 25. "For 42 years nobody could get close to this place."

In the capital there were widespread reports that the Mizgati air force base, which has been a cornerstone of Gaddafi's four-decade grip on power, had met the same fate. Several senior officers took to opposition radio stations to announce that the base had fallen, a potential death knell to the dictator's ailing regime....."

Libyan energy infrastructure

(Click on map to enlarge)

From STRATFOR

Summary

The heads of several oil companies in eastern Libya’s Gulf of Sidra region announced Feb. 23 they had "pledged loyalty to the people" and were splitting from Moammar Gadhafi’s regime. The Gulf of Sidra is critical to Libya’s energy exports and its major ports handle approximately 77 percent of Libya’s oil exports. It is still very early in the conflict, but if eastern forces gain control over this region, it could provide crucial strategic depth in their fight against Tripoli.

Analysis

The Gulf of Sidra is critical to Libya’s energy exports. The ports of As Sidra, Marsa el Brega, Ras Lanuf, Tobruk and Zuetina handle approximately 77 percent of Libya’s oil exports. Allegiances in the Gulf of Sidra and the economic value they represent, therefore, are key to the survival of Gadhafi’s regime.

According to the report, the defecting directors came from the Arabian Gulf Oil Company and the Sirte Oil Company, both regional subsidiaries of Libya’s state-owned National Oil Corporation. The Benghazi-based Arabian Gulf Oil Company operates the Nafoora, Messla and Sarir oilfields in Libya; Marsa el Brega-based Sirte Oil Company runs the Marsa el Brega refinery, which has a maximum capacity of about 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), but sanctions have limited its actual production to about 18,000 bpd. The three oilfields are now allegedly under the control of the Zawiya tribe, which has threatened to stop the flow of oil to western Libya if authorities do not halt their operations against Libyan protesters. Oil appears to be flowing from the fields for now as the Zawiya tribe appears to be cooperating with oil companies, but it appears that the refinery of Marsa el Brega and several of the oilfields that supply it and other ports have fallen out of the control of the government.

On Feb. 22, a Filipino information technology worker living in Benghazi told Filipino news agency GMA that he had been transferred from Benghazi to Marsa el Brega because "the military has taken control" there. Given the large-scale military defections elsewhere in the country’s east, it is unclear if the worker was speaking of Gadhafi loyalists or breakaway factions.

In addition to the statements from the oil companies, anti-Gadhafi protesters claimed control over Ajdabiya, also along the Gulf of Sidra and adjacent to the strategic port of Zuetina. While there is little anecdotal evidence from Zuetina, the protesters’ proximity is a sign that the port and oil terminal are at serious risk of falling out of the government’s control. Farther to the east, the port of Tobruk has broken away from Gadhafi, bringing with it the terminal that services the Sarir oilfield.

This also means that around three-quarters of Libya’s oil export revenue, which was $30 billion in 2009, goes abroad via the Gulf of Sidra. Additionally, the Ras Lanuf oil refinery is Libya’s largest export refinery, with a throughput of 220,000 bpd. Western Libya does have the 110,000 bpd Elephant oilfield and the Greenstream natural gas pipeline, with a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters per year, which pipes essentially all of Libya’s produced natural gas to Italy. However, the revenue from natural gas is far smaller, at only around $3.8 billion in 2009.
Currently, the fluid situation in eastern Libya makes it difficult to draw boundaries between cities controlled by pro- and anti-Gadhafi forces. While there appears to be an east-to-west domino effect, protests are still contained in individual cities, and their success in recruiting the support of local tribes, military forces or business leaders is different from city to city. Geographic limitations will further constrain the ability of protesters in these cities to coalesce for a push westward.
As of now, there are no reports of protesters taking control or business or military leaders defecting in Ras Lanuf or As Sidra. Without evidence to the contrary, STRATFOR must assume that those cities not claimed as being controlled by anti-Gadhafi forces are still under Gadhafi’s control. That being the case, it appears that the allegiance in the Gulf of Sidra is geographically split between Marsa el Brega to the east and Ras Lanuf to the west, with Ras Lanuf being more important overall to Libya’s economy.
Finally, in addition to defections in the energy industry hurting the Gadhafi regime in the immediate future, their allegiance "to the people" may provide an economic and strategic underpinning to a secessionist movement in eastern Libya. It is still very early in the conflict, and there is no indication that anti-Gadhafi forces are consolidating in eastern Libya, but control of the Gulf of Sidra could provide crucial strategic depth to a region of Libya that is breaking away from Tripoli’s control.

Thousands Feared Dead in Gaddafi’s Crackdown on Libyan Uprising

"The United Nations is warning thousands of people may have been killed in Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s assault on the growing popular uprising across Libya. The United Nations is also warning Libya’s food supply network is on the brink of collapse. Deadly clashes are ongoing as anti-government forces close in on the capital city of Tripoli. We get a report from Democracy Now!’s Anjali Kamat in Libya...."

Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - Libya's power struggle

Al-Jazeera Video: Defiant Gaddafi pushes his case

Al-Jazeera Video: Libya - treating the injured as the fighting continues (graphic)

Al-Jazeera Video: Gaddafi blames Libya's unrest on al-Qaeda

Real News Video: Egyptian Workers Strike for Minimum Wage and Independent Unions

A TRNN report on the strike of the Mahalla workers 100 kilometers north of Cairo

Libya Executes 150 Troops for Refusing to Attack Protesters

Executions Occurred in Waning Days of Benghazi Attacks

"It is now a matter of common knowledge that the Gadhafi regime has lost control of virtually the entire military of Libya (as well as virtually the entire territory of Libya), but when troops first started defying orders to turn their guns on protesters, the reactions were quite shocking.

According to some new reports coming out of the now Free City of Benghazi, military commanders executed some 150 members of the army in their city alone to punish them for defying orders to attack the protesters.

Of course since then, much of the military has defected to the side of the protesters, and Libyan pilots ordered to bomb the protesters have either flown their planes out of the country or, in the case of one of them, ejected and let the plane crash into the countryside....."

Re-’Liberating’ Iraq

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Where 'days of rage' are coming…

by Justin Raimondo, February 25, 2011

"......He said that the protesters were young people who were being manipulated by al-Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden, and that many were doing so under the influence of drugs."

The World’s Wackiest Despot sounds like a neocon at the height of the post- 9/11 war hysteria: like, say, Andrew Sullivan accusing the "decadent left" on both coasts of being a pro-al Qaeda "fifth column."

So who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

Speaking of dogs, here’s another question: which Arab despot was quickest to echo Gadhafi? Find the answer here:

"Iraq’s prime minister warned his people to boycott a planned anti-government protest scheduled for Friday, saying it was being organized by supporters of Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.

"Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave no proof for his assertion in a nationally televised speech Thursday, which echoed similar blanket statements he’s made blaming terrorists and Saddam loyalists for an array of problems in the country."


So this is why we killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, sacrificed thousands of our own, and spent $3 trillion on "liberating" Iraq – so we could install this Gadhafi clone in office. Of course, Maliki hasn’t unleashed his hired thugs (hired by you) on the protesting populace quite yet – "only" three or four protesters have been killed, so far, in Iraq. Yet it isn’t hard to imagine a Libya-like scenario playing out in "liberated" Iraq: the country is a powder keg waiting to go off......"

The tribes against the bunker

By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times

"....Whatever emerges from this volcano, it's hard to see Libya not fractured across tribal lines. It's fair to say that the - tribal - Libyan youth who went out in the streets to fight the weaponized Gaddafi regime regard the tribal mentality as the plague. It won't vanish overnight. But the best possible expectation under the dire circumstances - with a humanitarian crisis looming and the specter of civil war - is that the Internet will propel the country to a post-tribal era. Before that, a bunker must fall."

Saudi probably won't fall, but if it does the world will change

Fawaz Gerges
The Independent

"There is a revolution taking place in the Middle East. The young people are emboldened and confident in a way they have never been before, and what we have seen in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and Libya could yet take hold in other countries in the region.

But if the revolution is going to stop anywhere, it is likely to be in the desert at the gates of the House of Saud; crucially the home of the world's greatest supply of oil.....

The rest of the world should be taking a careful look at the situation. If Saudi Arabia were to fall, an unlikely scenario, there would be an earthquake across the world economy. The two major spikes in Western inflation in recent memory were caused by Opec limiting supply in 1973 in protest at the US arming Israel, and later by the revolution in Iran. Saudi Arabia is a huge economy that oils the wheels of the rest of the world. Most of us believe Saudi is too big to fall. If we are wrong, the effect on the world will be devastating."

Mercenaries gather in Tripoli for final battle

By Donald Macintyre
The Independent

"Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi were yesterday said to be launching fierce counter-attacks as the Libyan uprising edged closer to the capital and the dictator chose to blame Osama bin Laden and teenagers on hallucinogenic drugs for the rebellion.

Amid ominous descriptions of groups of pro-Gaddafi militiamen gathering on the roads around Tripoli, there were reports that the minaret of a mosque in Zawiya – 30 miles west of Tripoli, where protesters had claimed victory – was being pounded by heavy weapons. Troops were said to be filling the streets of Sabratha, 50 miles to the west of the capital. A Libyan newspaper reported that in Zawiya 10 people had been killed, and a witness told the BBC that pro-Gaddafi forces had used machine-guns on unarmed residents in a main square of the city....

In an indication of the strength of the uprising in Zawiya, which he admitted at one point was "slipping away from us", he addressed many of his remarks to its citizens, appealing to them to "stop your children, take them away from Bin Laden, the pills will kill them". On the young anti-government protesters in general, he said: "Their ages are 17, they give them pills at night, they put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their coffee, their Nescafe."


In an even more bizarre passage the Libyan leader claimed that only he had "moral authority" over the country and added: "I am like the Queen of England. I have jurisdictions."

But Colonel Gaddafi also showed every sign of marshalling thousands of mercenaries, many from sub-Saharan Africa, and irregular forces to defend his redoubt in Tripoli, which also appeared to remain in a state of lockdown. Witnesses said that thousands of these forces were massing on roads to the capital.

One suggested that the scenes were reminiscent of Somalia with gangs of armed men in makeshift uniforms brandishing machine-guns, and unlike police, military units and army officers who have defected to join the protesters, were apparently willing to carry out the dictator's threat on Wednesday to defend the regime to "the last drop of blood"....."

History should come down hard on Tony Blair for embracing Gaddafi

Tony Blair knew what a murderous 'mad dog' Gaddafi was. The only convincing reason for the rapprochement was the promotion of British interests in Libya

A GOOD COMMENT
Alexander Chancellor
The Guardian, Friday 25 February 2011

"In the light of subsequent events, Neville Chamberlain's effort to appease Adolf Hitler is usually portrayed as one of the most shameful episodes in modern British history. But surely Tony Blair's love-in with Colonel Gaddafi was worse. Chamberlain never pretended to like Hitler. He certainly never embraced him. His aim was to prevent war by reaching an accommodation with a man whose full infamy he did not appreciate....

If the verdict of history has not, in fact, been kind to Chamberlain, it should be even harsher to Blair. For Blair, when he first shook hands with Gaddafi at their desert meeting in 2004, knew very well what a monster he was. During 35 years as Libya's dictator, Gaddafi, though not to the extent of Hitler, had proven himself to be vicious, murderous and corrupt – a "mad dog", as Ronald Reagan called him. Blair's justification for that ghastly embrace was Gaddafi's promise to give up weapons of mass destruction, but there was no good reason to believe such a promise of a man who had previously spent years fostering terrorism against both Britain and the US. The most convincing reason for – and only visible result of – their rapprochement was the promotion of Britain's oil and other commercial interests in Libya.....

A key figure in the Britain-Libya rapprochement may well have been Gaddafi's son Saif, an alumnus and generous benefactor of the London School of Economics, and owner of an expensive house in Hampstead. In his rambling address to the Libyan people last weekend, in which he pledged that his family would fight "until the last bullet" to stay in power, he appeared weird and almost as unhinged as his father. But this is a man whom members of the British establishment had previously found charming and civilised. His friends included not only Peter Mandelson, Nat Rothschild and Prince Andrew, but also Professor David Held of the LSE, who last year introduced him to an audience there as "someone who looks to democracy, civil society and deep liberal values for the core of his inspiration". How easily people are taken in! All you need is power, wealth, a plausible manner and a good command of English to be considered a first-class fellow. But the Libyans see Saif as no more than a chip off a disgusting old block....."

Live Blog - Libya Feb 25

As the uprising in Libya enters its eleventh day, we keep you updated on the developing situation from our headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

Al-Jazeera English Live Stream

Al-Jazeera Video: Latin America divided over Gaddafi

Lessons from the Philippine revolt

People Power revolution of 1986 in East Asian nation is a cautionary tale for Arab states in the throes of revolution

[Listen especially to the last 30 seconds; there is a warning to the Egyptians and Tunisians.]



"The Philippines is marking 25 years since its own "people power" revolution forced Ferdinad Marcos from power. As Al Jazeera's Marga Ortigas reports from Manila, there is a lesson for what is happening right now in the Middle East and North Africa."

اسرائيل تعيد فتح سفارتها بالقاهرة

So, What Exactly Has Changed? Was it all an optical illusion? When are we going to see the real Egyptian revolution? Or are we?

اسرائيل تعيد فتح سفارتها بالقاهرة

"رام الله ـ 'القدس العربي' اكدت مصادر اسرائيلية الخميس بأن الحكومة الاسرائيلية فتحت سفارتها بالقاهرة واعادت جميع الدبلوماسيين الذين غادروا مصر خلال الثورة المصرية التي ادت لخلع الرئيس المصري حسني مبارك.
وقالت المصادر الاسرائيلية انه بعد أكثر من شهر على إغلاق السفارة الإسرائيلية في مصر، قررت الحكومة الاسرائيلية فتح سفارتها بالقاهرة من جديد وإعادة جميع الدبلوماسيين إلى العمل بشكل اعتيادي.
وقالت صحيفة 'يديعوت احرونوت' الإسرائيلية الخميس ان وزارة الخارجية في إسرائيل اعادت فتح مكتب السفارة بالقاهرة من جديد واعادت جميع الدبلوماسيين إلى العمل بشكل اعتيادي. واشارت المصادر الى ان السفير الإسرائيلي بالقاهرة ظهر الثلاثاء أمام رئيس اللجنة الفرعية التابعة للجنة الخارجية والأمن في الكنيست الاسرائيلي واستعرض أمامهم السيناريوهات المحتملة لنتائج الثورة في مصر.
وعلى ذلك الصعيد ذكرت صحيفة 'يديعوت احرونوت' ان الاعتقاد يسود داخل إسرائيل بأن المجلس العسكري الأعلى في مصر سيقدم مرشح له في الانتخابات الرئاسية القادمة وسيعمل لكي يتم انتخابه، بالإضافة إلى أن أحد التقديرات المركزية هو أن المرشح سيكون رئيس هيئة الأركان المصري 'سامي عنان' الذي يتمتع بعلاقات جيدة مع إسرائيل.
وبحسب تقديرات وزارة الخارجية الاسرائيلية أيضاً أن الإخوان المسلمين لا يخططون لتقديم مرشح للرئاسة، كما لا يخططون للسيطرة على الدولة، مع ذلك هم يسعون للحصول على شرعية، وان يصبحوا حركة سياسية معروفة ويسمح لها بإنشاء مؤسسات وإصدار صحف والمشاركة في البرلمان.
إلى ذلك كُشف عن قيام طاقم من مسؤولى وزارة الخارجية الاسرائيلية برئاسة المدير العام 'رافي باراك' بزيارة سرية للعاصمة الأردنية عمان يوم الاثنين الماضي والتقوا خلالها مع مسؤولين في الحكومة الأردنية واللقاء اجري حسب طلب إسرائيلي وعلى ضوء التغيرات الجغرافية بالمنطقة.
"

Shame on Chavez , shame on Castro, shame on every progressive that will support them from now on

[I can not believe this !! how can these clowns defend the king of clowns Gadaffi ?I mean I know dictators  heart each other but this proves the futility of the cult of personality. To discredit the people who are getting slaughtered as part of an "imperial conspiracy" shows you how these "leftists" know Marx as much as Bush knows Nietzsche.... Shame on them , I hope Progressives (Tareq Ali , John Pilger ...etc) revise their opinions of Chavez who is not what they thought he is]

Venezuela's top diplomat on Thursday echoed Fidel Castro's accusation that Washington and its allies are fomenting unrest in Libya to justify an invasion to seize North African nation's oil reserves.

Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro claimed the United States and other powerful countries are trying to create a movement inside Libya aimed at toppling Moammar Gadhafi.

"Libya is going through difficult times, which should not be measured with information from imperial news agencies," Maduro added, referring to Western media.

Gadhafi has been a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and Chavez's political opponents have strongly criticized those close relations.

In a Twitter message Thursday, Venezuela's leftist president said: "Viva Libya and its independence! Gadhafi is facing a civil war."

ثورة الشعب في ليبيا .. اليوم الثامن .. د. عزمي بشاره

Part 1:



Part 2:

Video: Libya analysis: 'There's a sense of calm at the centre of the storm'

Middle East editor Ian Black assesses Muammar Gaddafi's grip on power, protests around Tripoli and the likelihood of a fightback by the regime

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 February 2011

Syria clamps down on dissent with beatings and arrests

Nervous regime breaks up protests and sends intelligence agents round to warn civil rights activists against taking action

The Guardian

"Tensions are mounting in the Syrian capital, Damascus, after the third peaceful demonstration in three weeks was violently dispersed on Wednesday. There are increasing reports of intimidation and blocking of communications by secret services in the wake of violent unrest in neighbouring Arab countries.

Fourteen people were arrested and several people beaten by uniformed and plainclothes police on Tuesday after about 200 staged a peaceful sit-in outside the Libyan embassy to show support for Libya's protesters.

Witnesses said at least two women were among those beaten....

Civil rights campaigners have told the Guardian that initimidation tactics have escalated to include visits from agents of the Mukhabarat – intelligence services – as well as close monitoring of internet and telephone conversations. Some activists have been warned not to leave the country.

There are unconfirmed reports of a crackdown on foreign journalists working in Syria. At least two reporters have been denied entry to the country.

"The situation is tense, they are clearly nervous," said one analyst, who refused to be named.

"We didn't think it was possible here but maybe it could happen after all.""

Video: Yemen's president must quit, say university protesters

Thousands of Yemenis gather outside a university in capital Sana'a to demand that President Ali Abdullah Saleh steps down after 32 years of authoritarian rule

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 February 2011

Libya rebels isolate Gaddafi, seizing cities and oilfields

• Gaddafi's rule confined to Tripoli and outposts
• Libyan leader makes another rambling broadcast
• Committees of lawyers and doctors take charge in Benghazi

Martin Chulov in Benghazi
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 February 2011


"Opposition activists are increasing the pressure on Muammar Gaddafi's ailing regime, shutting down oil exports and mobilising rebel groups in the west of the country as the revolution rapidly spreads.

Gaddafi's hold on power appears confined to parts of Tripoli and perhaps several regions in the centre of the country. Towns to the west of the capital have fallen and all of eastern Libya is firmly in opposition hands......"

Toward Palestine's 'Mubarak moment'

The Palestinian Authority should dissolve itself, as it is acting in Israel's interest, writer says.

A VERY GOOD PIECE
Ali Abunimah
Al-Jazeera

"The slow collapse of Palestinian collective leadership institutions in recent years has reached a crisis amid the ongoing Arab revolutions, the revelations in the Palestine Papers, and the absence of any credible peace process.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) controlled by Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction has attempted to respond to this crisis by calling elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and the PA presidency.....

A house divided

There are numerous reasons to oppose new PA elections, even if Hamas and Fatah were to sort out their differences. The experience since 2006 demonstrates that democracy, governance and normal politics are impossible under Israel's brutal military occupation.

The Palestinian body politic was divided not into two broad political streams offering competing visions, as in other electoral democracies, but one stream that is aligned with, supported by and dependent on the occupation and its foreign sponsors, and another that remains committed, at least nominally, to resistance. These are contradictions that cannot be resolved through elections.

The Ramallah PA under Abbas today functions as an arm of the Israeli occupation, while Hamas, its cadres jailed, tortured and repressed in the West Bank by Israel and Abbas' forces, is besieged in Gaza where it tries to govern. Meanwhile, Hamas has offered no coherent political vision to get Palestinians out of their impasse and its rule in Gaza has increasingly begun to resemble that of its Fatah counterparts in the West Bank......

Small mandate

Thus, the PA was only ever intended to be temporary, transitional, and its mandate limited to a mere fraction of the Palestinian people, those in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Oslo Accords specifically limited the PA's powers to functions delegated to it by Israel under the agreement.

Therefore, elections for the PLC will not resolve the issue of representation, for the Palestinian people as a whole. Most would not have a vote......

Given all these conditions, a newly elected PLC would only serve to further entrench divisions among Palestinians while also creating the illusion that Palestinian self-governance exists -- and can thrive -- under Israeli occupation.

A decade and a half after its creation, the Palestinian Authority has proved not to be a step toward the "legitimate rights of the Palestinian people," but rather a significant obstacle in the way of achieving them.....

Dissolving the PA

With the complete collapse of the "peace process" -- the final push given by the Palestine Papers -- it is time for the PA to have its Mubarak moment. When the Egyptian tyrant finally left office on February 11, he handed power over to the armed forces. The PA should dissolve itself in a similar manner by announcing that the responsibilities delegated to it by Israel are being handed back to the occupying power, which must fulfill its duties under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.

This would not be a surrender. Rather, it would be a recognition of reality and an act of resistance on the part of Palestinians who would collectively refuse to continue to assist the occupier in occupying them. By removing the fig leaf of "self-governance" masking and protecting from scrutiny Israel's colonial and military tyranny, the end of the PA would expose Israeli apartheid for all the world to see......

New leadership

.....Yet if Arab countries which host large Palestinian refugee populations undergo democratic transformations, new possibilities for Palestinian politics will open up.

In recent years, "out of country voting" facilities were provided for large Iraqi and Afghan refugee and exile populations for elections sponsored by the powers occupying those countries. In theory, it would be possible to hold elections for all Palestinians, perhaps under UN auspices -- including the huge Palestinian diaspora in the Americas and Europe.

The trouble is that any such elections would probably need to rely on the goodwill and cooperation of an "international community" (the US and its allies), which has been implacably opposed to allowing Palestinians to choose their own leaders.

Would the energy and expense of running a transnational Palestinian bureaucracy be worth it? Would these new bodies be vulnerable to the sorts of subversion, cooptation, and corruption that turned the original PLO from a national liberation movement into its current sad status where it has been hijacked by a collaborationist clique?......

Inspirational boycott

In light of the Arab revolutions that were leaderless, another intriguing possibility is that at this stage Palestinians should not worry about creating representative bodies. Instead, they should focus on powerful, decentralized resistance, particularly boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) internationally, and the popular struggle within historic Palestine........

The BDS campaign is powerful and growing because it is decentralized and those around the world working for the boycott of Israel -- following the precedent of apartheid South Africa -- are doing so independently. There is no central body for Israel and its allies to sabotage and attack.

This might be the model to follow: let us continue to build up our strength through campaigning, civil resistance and activism. Two months ago, few could have imagined that the decades old regimes of Tunisia's Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak would fall -- but fall they did under the weight of massive, broad-based popular protests. Indeed, such movements hold much greater promise to end Israel's apartheid regime and produce a genuine, representative and democratic Palestinian leadership than the kinds of cumbersome institutions created by the Oslo Accords. The end of the peace process is only the beginning."

مجلة إسرائيلية: القذافي يهودي الأصل

"ذكرت مجلة إسرائيل توداي أن الزعيم الليبي معمر القذافي يعود إلى أصول يهودية، مستشهدة بتفاصيل أوردتها امرأتان يهوديتان من أصول ليبية قالتا للقناة الإسرائيلية الثانية العام الماضي إنهما من أقرباء القذافي.

وأكدت غويتا براون وحفيدتها راشيل سعدا أن أصول القذافي يهودية، مشيرتان إلى أن جدة براون وجدة القذافي شقيقتان.

وأوضحت سعدا أن القصة بدأت عندما تزوجت جدة القذافي اليهودية رجلا من بنى جلدتها ولكنه أساء معاملتها فهربت منه وتزوجت مسلما زعيما لقبيلة، فانجبت منه طفلة أصبحت والدة القذافي.

ورغم أن جدة القذافي اعتنقت الإسلام عندما تزوجت ذلك الزعيم، فإنها تبقى حسب القانون الإسرائيلي يهودية.

وعلق المذيع حينها بالقول إن "المهم في ذلك أن القذافي لا يملك أقرباء يهودا وحسب، بل هو نفسه يهودي".

وتقول المجلة الإسرائيلية إن تلك الأنباء ليست بالأمر الجديد، ولكن في ظل الانتفاضة الأخيرة في ليبيا التي تهدد بالإطاحة بنظام القذافي –كما حصل في تونس ومصر- فإن الزعيم الليبي "قد يبحث عن إستراتيجية خروج".

وإذا ما كانت تلك الأنباء صحيحة -والكلام للمجلة- فإن من حق القذافي الهجرة إلى إسرائيل وفقا للقانون الإسرائيلي الخاص "بعودة اليهود".

وتضيف أنه إذا ما رفضت جميع الدول استقبال القذافي، فقد تُرغم إسرائيل على القبول به.

ولفتت المجلة إلى كلمات المذيع في ختام اللقاء مع المرأتين حين قال "إنني متأكد بأن بعض السلطات المحلية في إسرائيل ستكون سعيدة باحتضانها رئيسا سابقا".
"

Libya's Gaddafi could find refuge in Israel

Israel Today

"Israel’s Channel 2 News last year interviewed two Israeli women of Libyan origin who claimed to be distant relatives of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The older of the two interviewees, Guita Brown, said she is Gaddafi’s second cousin (Brown’s grandmother was the sister of Gaddafi’s grandmother). The younger of the two women, Rachel Saada, granddaughter of Brown, explained in more detail:

“The story goes that Gaddafi’s grandmother, herself a Jewess, was married to a Jewish man at first. But he treated her badly, so she ran away and married a Muslim sheikh. Their child was the mother of Gaddafi.”

While Gaddafi’s grandmother converted to Islam when she married the sheikh, according to Jewish religious law (and common sense), she was ethnically still Jewish.

At this point the news anchor stated, “So, the point is that Gaddafi doesn’t just have Jewish relatives, he is Jewish!”

Rumors of Gaddafi’s Jewish background are nothing new. But with the current uprising in Libya that threatens to ultimately overthrow the dictator, as has happened in the neighboring countries of Tunisia and Egypt, Gaddafi may be looking for an exit strategy.

If the story told by Brown and Saada is true, Gaddafi is entitled to immigrate to Israel as a Jew under Israel’s Law of Return. Even if every other country on earth refused him entry, Israel would be obligated by its own laws to take Gaddafi in....."

"Everywhere There is Graffiti Saying, 'Welcome to the New Free Libya'": Democracy Now! Correspondent Anjali Kamat Reports

"Anti-government protesters have taken control of large swaths of Libya in the uprising against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. It remains unclear how many people have been killed in Gaddafi’s brutal crackdown, but estimates have topped 1,000. Democracy Now! correspondent Anjali Kamat reports from the Libyan city of Tobruk...."

Glenn Greenwald on the Assange Extradition Ruling, the Jailing of Bradley Manning, and the Campaign to Target WikiLeaks Supporters

"A British judge ruled today that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden to face questioning on allegations of sexual crimes. Assange plans to appeal within ten days. His defense team had argued against the extradition, in part, by citing the potential he could wind up being extradited to the United States and prosecuted for publishing classified government documents, a crime that could result in the death penalty. We speak to constitutional law attorney and legal blogger Glenn Greenwald about the Assange case; allegations of U.S. army torture against alleged whistleblower Bradley Manning; and a recently disclosed plot by three private intelligence firms to target WikiLeaks and its supporters, including Greenwald who has publicly defended the organization....."

Al-Jazeera Video: Yemen security forces 'to protect' protesters

Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - Embattled but defiant

Al-Jazeera Video: The chaos at Tripoli airport

Al-Jazeera Video: Gaddafi loses more Libyan cities

Al-Jazeera Video: More Libyan cities fall to the opposition

Behind the Arab revolt lurks a word we dare not speak

The people of Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Algeria, Yemen, Jordan and Libya are rising up not only against their leaders, but also western economic tyranny.

By John Pilger
The New Statesman

".......The revolt in the Arab world is against not merely a resident dictator, but a worldwide economic tyranny, designed by the US Treasury and imposed by the US Agency for International Development, the IMF and the World Bank, which have ensured that rich countries such as Egypt are reduced to vast sweatshops, with 40 per cent of the population earning less than $2 a day. The people's triumph in Cairo was the first blow against what Benito Mussolini called corporatism, a word that appears in his definition of fascism.

Enemy with a name

How did such extremism take hold in the liberal west? "It is necessary to destroy hope, idealism, solidarity and concern for the poor and oppressed," observed Noam Chomsky a generation ago, "[and] to replace these dangerous feelings by self-centred egoism, a pervasive cynicism that holds that [an order of] inequities and oppression is the best that can be achieved. In fact, a great international propaganda campaign is under way to convince people . . . that this not only is what they should feel but that it is what they do feel . . ."

Like the European revolutions of 1848 and the uprising against Stalinism in 1989, the Arab revolt has rejected fear. An insurrection of suppressed ideas, hope and solidarity has begun.

In the US, where 45 per cent of young African Americans have no jobs and the top hedge-fund managers are paid $1bn a year on average, mass protests against cuts in services and jobs have spread to heartland states such as Wisconsin. In Britain, the fastest-growing modern protest movement, UK Uncut, is taking direct action against tax avoiders and rapacious high-street banks. Something has changed that cannot be unchanged. The enemy has a name now."

Liberate Libya, by Mr. Fish

The Veto from Hell

by Philip Giraldi, February 24, 2011

"Last Friday’s American veto of the United Nations Security Council resolution that would have called Israeli settlement activity on the West Bank illegal was not only shameful, it was possibly the low point of the already foundering Obama presidency. To be sure, United States UN Ambassador Susan Rice accompanied the veto with a stirring rendition of "I’ll cry tomorrow" as she described how the Obama White House really is opposed to the settlements. Really. Rice argued that supporting or even abstaining on a resolution criticizing Israel, however mildly framed, might setback the peace process, which, as she well knows, died completely over six months ago....

So if we Americans are ever to regain control over our destinies we have to start by removing the poison from our body politic. A good start would be by first registering and then marginalizing AIPAC and any other organizations like it that represent pernicious foreign interests. It would also be nice to send Weiner, Lowey, Ros-Lehtinen, and the 67 GOP freshmen representatives who want to keep shoveling money to Israel packing in the next election. And also Obama and Susan Rice since they don’t appear to know what country they live in. We really don’t need their kind of hyphenated patriotism anymore and we certainly don’t need vetoes at the UN that demonstrate to everyone that we are a nation of amoral hypocrites."

The Gulf's terror of democracy

A GOOD PIECE

By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times

"There's a specter haunting the Persian Gulf: democracy.

This Tuesday, no less than 20% of the population of Bahrain poured into the Lulu (Pearl) roundabout in Manama in its biggest anti-feudal monarchy demonstration intimately connected to the great 2011 Arab revolt. A whole cross-section of Bahraini society - teachers, lawyers, engineers, their wives and children - rolled along in a wide, unbroken column of red and white, the colors of the national flag.

This Wednesday, there were reasons to believe the revolt was finally hitting the holy grail, ie, the House of Saud, as 100 youngsters hit the streets of Hafar al-Batin, in northeast Saudi Arabia, calling for the end of its drenched-in-oil feudal monarchy. What's extraordinary is that this happened as "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" Saudi King Abdullah, 85, was returning home after three months following surgery in the US and convalescence in Morocco - amid massive regime propaganda, complete with Orientalist touches such as men in white robes doing traditional Bedouin sword dances on special carpets.....

International banking center Bahrain - with a gross domestic product per capita just under $20,000 - is also very high, alongside Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in the scale of wealthy oligarchies based on slave labor, the proverbial "large pool of migrant workers providing cheap labor". It has spent a fortune promoting itself as "Business Friendly Bahrain". Last week it was more like "Bullet-friendly Bahrain".

The great 2011 Arab revolt, for all its specific reasons in different countries, is definitely not about religion (as Mubarak, Gaddafi and Hamad have claimed) - but essentially working class unrest directly provoked by the global crisis of capitalism.

Clash of civilizations, end of history, Islamophobia and other silly concepts are dead and buried. People want their social rights, and to navigate the waters of political democracy and social democracy. In this sense the Arab street is now the vanguard of the whole world. If the al-Khalifa don't get it, they are bound to go down."

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

This new poll asks:

Do you support international intervention to stop the violence of the Libyan regime?

With over 7,000 responding, 51% said no.

Live Blog - Libya Feb 24

(More from the western Libyan city of Misurata. This photo was published by Feb17.info, and purports to show protesters having taken over a tank in the city.)

Al-Jazeera

"As the uprising in Libya enters its tenth day, we keep you updated on the developing situation from our headquarters in Doha, Qatar......."

Get up-to-the minute updates, including photos, news and videos.

This is not about power. It's about a different world

A GOOD COMMENT

By Adrian Hamilton
The Independent

"With a repellent sense of timing Tony Blair is appearing in Prospect magazine with an interview arguing that the Arab world's problems don't start with despotism and corruption but still revolve around the Palestinian problem.

Well he would say that, wouldn't he? The bosom pal of Colonel Gaddafi, the friend of Arab kings and presidential tyrants, is not suddenly going to announce he got it all wrong in the interests of commercial imperatives and personal vanity. He's still Middle East envoy and is desperate to retain his position as a world statesman.

But what he's saying is just arrant nonsense. The current wave of unrest in North Africa and the Middle East has, for once, nothing to do with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict (although it will have profound consequences for Israel and the US in the region). What it does have everything to do with is the pervasive presence of cronyism and corruption which has ruled the region for a generation and more and which Tony Blair and successive western leaders, French as well as American, found it in their interests to sustain and benefit from....."

Leaked cables reveal Gaddafi's iron grip on corrupt regime

The Independent

"For four decades, Muammar Gaddafi has toyed with his rivals and family in a skillful game of power politics that has allowed him to skim multimillion-dollar contracts to enrich allies and retain power, according to leaked diplomatic cables from the United States.

Despite carefully cultivating an image of an aloof "philosopher-king" above the political fray, Colonel Gaddafi has remained firmly in charge of a regime which has a stake "in anything worth buying, selling or owning", according to a 2009 cable released by WikiLeaks.

Painting a picture of a profoundly corrupt regime centred on the cult of Colonel Gaddafi's personality, US Ambassador Gene Cretz said in one cable that the aging autocrat personally reviewed all contracts involving Libyan government funds worth more than $200m (£123m)....."

Arming Arab Despots, by Dave Brown

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

Julian Assange to be extradited to Sweden

THE EMPIRE WINS THIS ONE!

"WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face sex offence charges, a judge ruled today.

The 39-year-old Australian is accused of sexually assaulting one woman and raping another during a week-long visit to Stockholm in August.

He is expected to appeal against today's decision at the High Court, with his lawyers arguing that extradition would breach his human rights....."

Tripoli: a city in the shadow of death

Gunfire in the suburbs – and fear, hunger and rumour in the capital
Thousands race for last tickets out of a city sinking into anarchy

Robert Fisk, with the first dispatch from Libya's war-torn capital, reports

"Up to 15,000 men, women and children besieged Tripoli's international airport last night, shouting and screaming for seats on the few airliners still prepared to fly to Muammar Gaddafi's rump state, paying Libyan police bribe after bribe to reach the ticket desks in a rain-soaked mob of hungry, desperate families. Many were trampled as Libyan security men savagely beat those who pushed their way to the front.

Among them were Gaddafi's fellow Arabs, thousands of them Egyptians, some of whom had been living at the airport for two days without food or sanitation....

There was little sign of opposition to the Great Leader. Squads of young men with Kalashnikov rifles stood on the side roads next to barricades of upturned chairs and wooden doors. But these were pro-Gaddafi vigilantes – a faint echo of the armed Egyptian "neighbourhood guard" I saw in Cairo a month ago – and had pinned photographs of their leader's infamous Green Book to their checkpoint signs....."

Libya: The urge to help

What can outsiders do to hasten the inevitable, avoid further bloodshed, and let Libyans start remaking their country?

Editorial:
The Guardian, Thursday 24 February 2011

"........Nobody wants any more Libyans to die. Yet it has to be said that there are at this stage arguments against all these measures. The softer ones are largely irrelevant. Libya's economy is in deep disarray. Most of the major foreign oil companies, for example, have stopped working and are concentrating on getting their workers out. Shops are running out of stock. Construction projects all over the country have been abandoned. No goods are leaving Libya's ports or airports and none are coming in.....


It is hard to escape the conclusion that European leaders are advocating these moves in part because they want to be seen by their electorates at home to be doing something, and in part because they want to be seen by people in the Middle East as being on the right side in the Arab democratic revolution. They may hope that a dramatic line on Libya will go some way toward effacing the memory of the dithering and equivocation with which they greeted its earlier manifestations in Tunisia and Egypt, France being particularly guilty in this regard. What can be said in favour of such measures is that they would be symbolic. As news of them reaches Libyans, which it will, since the media blackout there is far from complete, it will reinforce their sense that the world is with them and thus add to the momentum which is a revolution's most important characteristic.

Military measures fall into a more serious and more difficult category. There is evidence that the regime is crumbling rapidly, principally because of military and political defections. There are also indications that air attacks on civilians are being aborted by pilots who refuse to carry out orders. If this continues, there will be no need to attempt to control Libyan air space........

....But if it should prove otherwise, intervention on the ground would have to be considered. The Egyptian army has the means, other Arab countries could contribute, and western forces could help. But these are bridges to cross only when, and if, we come to them."

Video: Tripoli braced for violence as protesters fight for free Libya

Large anti-Gaddafi protests in Tobruk and street battles between protesters and government loyalists in Tripoli are among the latest video to emerge from Libya

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 February 2011

القذافي تحت مجهر ابداع الشباب العربي!

Arabs48.com

Saudi King is buying his people's potential rebellion

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has announced a series of benefits for citizens amounting to $10.7 billion, as he returned to the country after he spent three months abroad for health treatment, state television reported.
The steps, announced on Wednesday, include funding to offset high inflation and to aid young unemployed people and Saudi citizens studying abroad, as well the writing off some loans.
The move comes as governments in the region scramble to deal with pro-democracy uprisings sparked by youth unemployment and political repression.
As part of the Saudi scheme, state employees will see their incomes increase by 15 per cent, and additional cash has also been made available for housing loans.

Map of Oil and Gas Installations in Libya

(Click on map to enlarge)

Gaddafi has lost it ...

With his hold over Libya loosening, Muammar Gaddafi seems to have lost his mind and perhaps his nerves.

Marwan Bishara

"The Libyan leader has lost all three pillars of his rule - tribal, military and diplomatic. Judging from his desperate speech last night, he seems to be losing his mind and perhaps his nerves.

That's why it's only a question of time for his regime to breakdown.....

The capital, Tripoli, might still prove to be the most dangerous. An escalation in the capital where Gaddafi’s sons have concentrated their militias might lead to more bloodshed.

As Gaddafi 'loses it', diving deeper in isolation and finding no way out, he is more than capable of ordering the worst crimes.

Unless he loses the loyalty of these militias, or they are deterred from carrying his orders, the last hours and days could prove to be violent.

Having said that, like the Tunisian and Egyptian military before them, the Libyan military and militias could still prove to be more conscientious than their dictators."

The Latest: Libya: Defections leave Muammar Gaddafi isolated in Tripoli bolthole

• Crucial tribes and military units desert the president
• Uprising edges closer to his only remaining bastion

Ian Black, Middle East editor
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 February 2011

"Muammar Gaddafi was looking increasingly isolated after damaging defections by senior regime figures and key military commanders and units as the uprising spread closer to Tripoli.

Malta denied a report that Gaddafi's daughter, Aisha, was on board a Libyan plane refused permission to land on the island on Wednesday. But Menas, a respected London Middle East consultancy, said the leader's wife, daughter, daughters-in-law and grandchildren had left Libya for an unknown destination.....

Al-Jazeera TV reported that tribes in the Azzintan and Nalut areas, also in the west, had come out against Gaddafi. Oil facilities were now under their protection.

Libyan and Arab sources said the biggest blow to Gaddafi so far had been the defection of his interior minister and veteran loyalist, Abdel-Fatah Younes al-Obeidi, who called on the army on Tuesday to "serve the people and support the revolution and its legitimate demands".....

Libyan exile sources also confirmed the defection of a senior figure in the revolutionary committees, Ali al-Sahouli, who warned that Gaddafi would sabotage the country's infrastructure including oil installations, power stations and banks.

Scores of Libyan diplomats across the world have also now resigned – taking the opportunity to distance themselves from the regime while there is still time......

In one possible pointer for the future, al-Saiqa (Thunderbolt) special forces battalion is said to have attacked Gaddafi's revolutionary guard in Benghazi.......

Libya's Quryna newspaper reported that a pilot and navigator bailed out and ditched their fighter plane rather than carry out an order to bomb Benghazi.....

Many Libyans say they expect him to go down fighting if the situation continues to deteriorate. It was unclear last night whether he would be able to leave his headquarters at Bab al-Aziziyah in Tripoli. "He is surrounded by his guards and is too scared to come out," said one opposition supporter. Gunfire was heard nearby on Wednesday.
"Gaddafi could hole up in his own tribal area around Sirte with a substantial back-up of military hardware or do the same thing at the al-Aziziyah complex," said the Menas consultancy......"

The Rats Are Jumping Ship!

Malta turns back 'Gaddafi kin jet'

Al-Jazeera

"A Libyan plane reportedly carrying the daughter of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's leader, has been turned back from Malta after it was denied permission to land.

"The [crew] initially said they had 14 people on board. They were circling overhead saying they were running low on fuel," Cal Perry, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Malta, said.

"At that point the ambassador from Libya who was here in Malta was called in to take part in the negotiations on whether or not they were going to allow this plane to land.

"As he entered the talks it became clear from the pilots that Aisha Gaddhafi, Muammar Gaddhafi's only daughter, was aboard the plane. The government said it was an unscheduled flight, it doesn't matter who is on board; they said it cannot land and diverted the plane back to Libya.".....

Relatives fleeing?

Wednesday's attempted landing on Malta is certain to fuel speculation over whether family members of Gaddafi are seeking to flee.

The attempted landing came a day after a private Libyan jet carrying the Lebanese wife of one of Gaddhafi's sons was prevented from landing at Beirut airport in Lebanon, the Voice of Lebanon radio reported on Wednesday.

It said Hannibal Gadhafi's wife and several members of the Libyan ruling family were aboard the jet that was denied permission to land at Rafik Hariri international airport on Tuesday.

Several Libyan regime figures could have been among the plane's passengers, the radio station said.

Lebanon's Safir daily said that the plane was due to take off from the Libyan capital before midnight but Lebanese authorities asked Libya to unveil the identity of the 10 people on board before allowing the jet to land.

When the Libyans ignored the Lebanese request, authorities in Beirut ordered airport officials to ask the pilot to divert the plane to a nearby country, either Syria or Cyprus."

The Tyrant's Latest Speech, by Carlos Latuff

THE WEST'S HYPOCRISY:

CUDDLING THE BLOODY TYRANT.

Video: Libyan protesters celebrate as symbols of Gaddafi regime fall

Footage posted to YouTube by 'FreeLibya' shows demonstrations in two north-western cities, Misrata and Zawiya

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 February 2011

Libyan city dubbed 'Free Benghazi' as anti-Gaddafi troops take control

• Guardian reporter enters country's second city
• Local doctors put massacre death toll at 230
• Rebel officers talk of army revolt against mercenaries

Martin Chulov in Benghazi
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 February 2011

"Libya's second city, Benghazi, appears to have fallen beyond the control of Muammar Gaddafi, with the local military defying his regime and monarchy-era flags flying from government buildings.

As the first foreign news organisation to report from so-called Free Benghazi, the Guardian witnessed defecting troops pouring into the courtyard of a ransacked police station carrying tonnes of weaponry and ammunition looted from a military armoury to stop it being seized by forces loyal to the Libyan dictator.

Soldiers brought rockets and heavy weapons which had been used in an assault on citizens in central Benghazi on Saturday as Gaddafi tried to keep control of the city. Doctors in Benghazi said that at least 230 people were killed, with a further 30 critically injured.

There was also the clearest confirmation yet that Gaddafi's regime used outside mercenaries to try to suppress the rebellion. Adjoining the police station a large crowd gathered in another courtyard. Upstairs, the Guardian saw a number of mercenaries, allegedly flown in the previous week, being interrogated by lawyers and army officials.

An air force officer, Major Rajib Faytouni, said he personally witnessed up to 4,000 mercenaries arrive on Libyan transport planes over a period of three days starting from 14 February. He said: "That's why we turned against the government. That and the fact there was an order to use planes to attack the people."......."

“We’re Witnessing the Violent Lashings of a Dying Beast”: Libyan Novelist Hisham Matar on the Gaddafi’s Violent Crackdown in Libya

"Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi vows not to leave the country as opposition protesters take control of key cities. After a week of demonstrations, thousands of protesters have been killed or injured by pro-Gaddafi police and hired mercenaries, and more than a thousand people are missing. For more on Libya, we are joined from London by Hisham Matar, a renowned Libyan novelist. He is the son of a prominent Libyan dissident and he is currently helping to run an ad-hoc news desk informing the Western media of events occurring in Libya. “The world now is watching the massacre and history will hold the international community responsible,” Matar says. “Not only are we watching an unelected dictatorship massacring its own people, we are watching a dictatorship that the world has profited from its close relationships with.”....."