Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya deal
Asia Times / Pepe Escobar
03-Apr-2011 (17 comments)

You invade Bahrain. We take out Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. This, in short, is the essence of a deal struck between the Barack Obama administration and the House of Saud.

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Escape

  The far right is very

by Escape on

  The far right is very pissed and has a right to be so,you fear them because they are the ones with the courage to act.I'm proud of that,that is what makes a true American.We fight for what is right,or what appears to be right.You should take a lesson from that.That's why America has led the world for so long.
 I use the word leftist in a sense of ones hands tied behind their backs by their idealogy.You know what is right and wrong but you have no will to fight what is wrong because you are afraid of how you appear,you're vanity comes first of who may demonize you before fighting for what is right..The right does not fear as you do.Right and Left stances,everybody has some of both.

I don't find the burning of a bible or kuran to be worth more than a human life.
You should take note of that,as the defining difference.

I don't know about the Libyan rebels anymore,who they are and what they stand for,what they want..Either way there should not be a slaughter of them I agree.We had to do what we had to do.But I am not so sure they are any better than Ghadaffi.Maybe they are worse.There is alot of horror in Africa,that is one continent that Islamist's are going to have a very hard time apologizing for and comparing to other religions.


Bavafa

Rea:

by Bavafa on

some folks use the word "leftist" as if the opposite is any good or decent!!!!

A quick glance of the right/far right shows nothing but hate and savage killing.

Mehrdad


Rea

Escape

by Rea on

Just because I'm an atheist and I abhore people brandishing bible or kuran doesn't mean I'm a letfist. 

I'm still trying to use my kitchen's brains.


Rea

DK, ufff

by Rea on

Lot of things in your comment. To answer just a few points. 

No, Russians have never had any scrupuls, they have always been mericless.

Žižek. Personally don't like him, to say the least. He can sell his leftovers in the West, but he can't sell at home. None buying his crap any more.

Libya, I still don't know what we are doing there. Peacefull demonstrations have turned into fratricide. We did not intervene at the very beginning, so, who are we to decide now what Libyans want or don't want? We don't know, do we ?


Asghar_Massombagi

Send in the clowns...

by Asghar_Massombagi on

Where was the outrage when Rawanda was being savaged, or the sense of urgency when five million Africans died in the Congo's civil war?  Have you even heard of this conflict?  Happened only a few years ago.  So pipe down and put your ass on a block of ice and stop this mock outrage.  Chill the crap out.  Pepe's point remains relevant - the Saudi-US deal.  The most reactionary regime in the middle-east, the heart of reactionary Islam is in Saudi Arabia, now that is something even pathological haters of the IRI like you can't deny.  So, where is the sense of urgency about Yemen?  Just today 12 people were killed in Yemen.  Why is Lieberman not issuing threat against Yemen? Why this selectivity? Why Libya and Syria and not Yemen and Bahrain?  Where is the demand for Saudi army to get the hell out of Bahrain?  There are daily demonstrations in Egypt, trade unions trying to get their rights, pushing the still-military government to concede to their democractic rights. Ditto in Tunisia. Why the sudden drop in coverage in the corporate media on Egypt and Tunisia?  Why all the concentration on Libya?  Aren't these the same powers who propped up Ghazzafi, made deals with him?  After all, who sold arms to Ghazzafi, who cut rich oil deals with him, who received him and re-habilitated his image?  Can one trust them not to set up permanant bases in North Africa, and frankly not %$*% up the situation further? I guess permanent American bases are just fine to people like you.  The probelm with the Amercians and their allies is that, to use a film reference which you seem to like, they're like Chaplin's Tramp character in The Kid, where he sends this little kid to break house windows and then saunters by carrying his glass repair equipment and offers his services to the outraged residents.Their records in Afghanistan, Iran (their dirty deal with Khomeini), Iraq (backing Saddam against Iran) and elsewhere is not very stellar.  Sorry if some people aren't going to just take the crap the mainstream media hands over.  Weren't these guys the same who cooked up "baby incubators" story in Kuwait before the first Gulf War?  Or "violating the wife of an Amercian soldier in Panama" story in the run up to invasion and ousting of the former CIA man Noeriga? For every report coming out of Libya on impending massacre in Ben-Ghazi, there is one coming out on rebel groups killing black migrant workers en mass. These are facts, not opinion.  So I don't trust this hurry, hurry, the sky is falling nonsense.  We've seen this scenario unfold before.

Btw, with all your bitching about Dabbashi, I have never seen a single coherent piece from you that actually bothers critiquing the guy rather huffing and puffing like a petulant child.  Grow up already.  As to the left, there is a debate going on the left on this issue anyway.  Here is Gilbert Achcar's peice if you care to read:

//www.zcommunications.org/libyan-developments...

 


asadabad

GCC has the money

by asadabad on

The Saudis should pay the Bahraini/Saudi Shia to immigrate to Iran.  It should at least be tried as a form of settlement.


Escape

Short term memory loss

by Escape on

Peace means letting crazy murderer's run wild.

I mean Peace in a leftist sense..


Darius Kadivar

Rea Jaan they are cutting deals for a new world order

by Darius Kadivar on

That is what is going on and we are simply impotent observers of a tragedy unfolding ...

But the origin of the problem as much as the current dilemma which was not to be is the American Administration's neutral behavior with a President who decided to relinquish all sense of responsibility in this conflict by hindering anyone including European Powers like France and the UK from helping the Libyan Rebels.

All this back and fro arguments has been a pretext particularly on behalf of the Liberals in the US and Europe to present this conflict as something unsolvable on obsolete grounds of Neo Colonialism.

The Russians had no such scruples when they went after the Tchechens and yet this conflict has nothing to do with a tribal war or even Al Quaeda Threats.

That has been the convenient argument for all those who REFUSE TO TAKE ACTION !

What Obama had to say was give a Green Light to the French and the British to go in and finish the Job regardless of what the UN, Russia or other countries had to say.

The 1973 resolution was flexible enough to allow even foreign intervention in order to help the rebels take over.

Instead THEY CHOSE to Let this situation turn into an unsolvable quagmire and at the source of this indecisiveness is no other but the Nobel Peace Laureate too afraid to tarnish his reputation as the Peace Loving Saint and the 21st Century Icon he has become only because people were fed up with that other nitwit George W. Bush !

If Obamamania is what the West is reduced to in the 21st century then I can guarantee you that Western Civilization and the United States are on the verge of going down the drain of history in the same way the Roman Empire did.

If we think Democracy and Human Rights are to be taken for Granted ... Be sure that the Western Powers will feel the Boomerang Effect due to their Incompetence and Hypocrisy at some point in a not so far fetched future.

Russia, China and India are all situated in Asia and will form a more or less united bloc which will be powerful economically,militarily and geo strategically in the decade to come.

The Tables are Turning and that is very troublesome given that neither China or Russia can be considered as beacons of democracy or Human Rights.

As for India if it is a role model of development for Third World Countries and on the verge of surpassing China in terms of population, it is far from being a model of democracy as we understand it in the West.

 

Wikileaks: Congress party 'bought India votes'



One can also legitimately ask why Not ? After all Democracy is not merely a property of the West but as much as I believe in individual intelligence, I am less convinced by Collective Wisdom.

When you see the indifference of even the Arabs to the slaughtering of Libyans on grounds that nothing should be done to stop a madman, one can also legitimately wonder how much value they give to human lives let alone on democracy and democratic values.

 

Cairo Book Fair: Religious works, “Mein Kampf” selling well


 

Democracy is first and foremost a mindset. It takes time to be fully assimilated and absorbed in order to be functional.

Even given on a Silver Plate that is not bound to happen for some people or communities because they are either not prepared for it yet or they don't have the experience which other nations notably in the West acquired after more than 3 centuries.

 

But by relinquishing it's global responsibility on a World Stage after more than a century of presence shaping the World's political future for better or for worse, America has decided to step down as it has done often in the past century with disastrous consequences be it in WWI when it interfered only in 1917 or WWII when it entered the conflict after Pearl Harbor or in Vietnam when it waited to see the French defeated in Indochina.

 

Each and every time the US paid even more dearly it's non interference on grounds of protectionism and neutrality.

 

The World may well do without America or American Values ...as it did without Rome and Roman values But I am not certain that it will be better off with what may replace it on the more or less long term.

 

This was bound to happen after the fall of the Soviet Empire at some point. The World for more than 60 to 70 years was a Bi Polar One. We are entering a New Age of Multi Polar Worlds, and New Economic Empires.

What will be the outcome of all this ? No One Knows ... One can just hope that it won't encourage the rise of Totalitarian mindsets as it did in the 19th Century.

When Continents see the opportunity of being empowered and Rich nothing can stop that trend to supplant other Continents which have chosen to relinquish their powers.

Greed is the only permanent common denominator to all Civilizations regardless of under different which ideological cloak. Greed is what shapes and Undoes Empires. 

When the money keeps rolling in You don't Ask Why ? ... That is true whether you live in a Democracy or under Dictatorship:

Madonna Evita 14 Andthe Money Kept Rolling In and Out 1996

 

 

Except that in the case of the United States, this was not an Empire which seeked to extend itself through "totalitarian means" or so called "imperialistic" thirst and ambition to dominate the world.

Sure it was not always doing clean stuff like in the case of Chili ( assassination of Alende) or elsewhere to fight communism or Soviet and Chinese influence during the Cold War. But it was not aiming and changing human nature or control mindsets as other Totalitarian Empires in human history.

So the real question is : If the US and Western European Democracies which have long given up on Colonialist ambitions ( and therefore cannot be accused of Neo Colonialism anymore since most European powers gave up their colonies after WWII ) is the same true for the Rising Powers of the East ( China, Russia, Turkey ) ?  

Will the new "Empires" (or if you wish to call them differently as the new social economic and military entities) which are or will be emerging in the coming decade and which have always ambitionned to replace American Supramacy be built on the same democratic values which we uphold as "Universal" and "Sacred" in the Western Civilization ?

 

EMPIRE OF THE MIND: The Greeks - Crucible of Civilization narrated by Liam Neeson (PBS-1999)


I am not certain of that ... 

 

I would even argue that sooner or later we may even regret with some Nostalgia that so called "American Empire" which many liberals so called Intellectuals to date have loathed while directly benefiting from it:

 

PAX AMERICANA: Hitchens VS Kondracke on Reality or Fantasy of American "Imperialism" (1991)

 

Slavoj Zizek Slovenian philosopher views on the movie 300 and the Islamic Revolution's Cultural Legacy

 

GALLOWAY's REPUBLIC: George Galloway on the Decline of the British Monarchy


COLUMBIA PRESENTS: Academic Excellence With Hamid Dabashi & Sadri Bros



 

My Humble Non Expert Opinion,

DK 

 


Rea

Btw, what are we supporting in Libya now ?

by Rea on

None knows any more.

Are we supporting splitting of Libya? 


Rea

DK

by Rea on

Things are not going well in Libya. Don't know what to make of it any more, total mess.


Darius Kadivar

OK Esfand Aashena Jaan at least I am reassured by You

by Darius Kadivar on

Sorry for the trouble !

But Truly some people's Political correctness is worst than Profanity ( which I don't use) to make a point ! 

 


Esfand Aashena

داریوش جان چرا تهمت میزنید آخه؟!

Esfand Aashena


تازه اگر flag کنم هم که به شما نمیگم!  لابد شما یک flagging stalker دارید و خودتون خبر ندارید!  تأزه بذار فلگ کنند، به فلک که نمیبندنتون!  اگه بیخود باشه که خوب آبروش جلوی جهانشاه جان میره!  بی‌خیال این حرفها، سال نو، لباس نو، روی نو، روز نو! 

Everything is sacred


Darius Kadivar

Are you the one who is flagging me Esfand Aashena Jaan ?

by Darius Kadivar on

Cause if it is indeed You or another of Your Politically Correct BIG BROTHERS Behind this attitude then it is indeed a Cheap Shot for people running out of arguments 
 

صادق هدایت و برتری نژادی

 

I would like to think NOT 


Esfand Aashena

چه خبره داریوش جان انقدر گرد و خاک راه انداختین!

Esfand Aashena


شما ماشاالله هزار ماشاالله بزنم به تخته انقدر راجع به لیبی‌ صحبت کردید و link دادید که ما اصلا نفهمیدیم موضع شما چیه!  بالاخره آمریکا کار خوبی‌ کرد یا نه!  حالا اصلا کرد یا نکرد انقدر گرد و خاک نداره! 

Everything is sacred


Darius Kadivar

Areh Jooneh Amatoon You Folks were against Intervention in Libya

by Darius Kadivar on

From DAY ONE when it could have precisely saved not only more lives but ensured a much quicker transition to democracy both in Libya's neighboring countries Egypt and Tunisia.

 

If it were not for all you Liberal Nerds and Clueless Pacifists including those unelected representatives in the Arab League the so called "Democratic Domino Effect" would have actually spread more efficiently across the Middle East cause the dictators would be scared Shit and would have been forced to step down very much like Mubarak and Ben Ali in their respective countries:

 

Barack Obama backs Bahrain king's pledge to reform



The Situation in Libya took a Radical U TURN precisely because of the US and Western Allies hesitations over Libya:

 

Bahraini cleric returns from self imposed exile (VIDEO)



 

Too Scared that the  uprising would fade out from the International focus what seemed at first to settle down in a mutual constructive dialogue between the Opposition and the Leadership the Shia's took a more and more radical position shifting their demands from asking for a Pure Constitutional Monarchy to one of a Republic:

 

Hardline Shia groups demand republic in Bahrain



 

 

hence considering Regime Change as their pre-requisite. In that encouraged by Iran's Islamic Republic ( for the historical reasons we know which link the Shia majority to the Iranian counterparts) :

 

PAN IRANIST: Pezeshkpour objects to Shah's decision on Bahrain Independence (1971)



Iran tells Bahrain to respond to people's demands (bbc)

 

 

 

Thanks to Your AUTHENTIC FRONTIER GIBBERISH:

 

AUTHENTIC FRONTIER GIBBERISH: Egypt's Rebuffs Washington's Speed Up Calls ;0)

 

 

 

Bashar el assad, The Saudi King's or other dictatorships can

sleep well at nights thanks to the fact that they know that the US and Western Powers have Absolutely No credibility or control over the course of events in the region.  

 

So Don't Think We Don't follow the News ... 


Soosan Khanoom

There is no business like war business

by Soosan Khanoom on

Of course this is nothing but a dirty dance between Saudi Arabia and the U.S with Saudi Arabia being one hell of a seducer. Rules of conduct no longer apply to Bahrain and White House is doing all it can to make sure Bahrain is buried by US media. While the very same media is leaving us speechless with one of the most beautiful poetic moves of all time " The Odyssey dawn " 

Thanks for posting this article  



Darius Kadivar

Doroogoo: Hypocrisy of the Liberal Left spilling crocodile tears

by Darius Kadivar on

The Bankrupt Left has nothing to offer but crocodile tears aimed at endorsing Non Interference as an argument to justify their OWN LACK OF SUPPORT To the Libyan Uprising.

All this is Sheer Hypocrisy to buy yourselves some conscience like your Clueless Guru Hamid Dabashi ...

 

Moral bankruptcy in Libya war by Hamid Dabashi

 

You couldn't care less about democracy in Bahrain as long as it was not Against Western "Imperialistic" Values ( amongst which Democracy and Human Rights ) ...

 

BREAD & CIRCUS: It Ain't about Democracy or HR Stupid, It's About Show Business


Don't try to buy our conscience  ... For Unlike YOUR's It's Not For Sale ... 


US, UN, Europe and the Arab League SHAME ON YOU !


IMPOTENCE IN ACTION: Western Powers Can't Figure Out How To Deal with Gaddafi 


QUO VADIS ? Nero Sings While Tripoli and Tehran burn 

Libya's Exiled Crown Prince calls on world to stop 'massacre,' remove Gaddafi


 

AUTHENTIC FRONTIER GIBBERISH: Egypt's Rebuffs Washington's Speed Up Calls ;0)