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Let The Bombing Commence: UN Set To Impose "No Fly Zone" Over Libya
The endgame in Libya begins. The UN has agreed on a draft resolution to implement a no fly zone over Libya, which means the bombing may commence as soon as the vote passes later today. As to what Gaddafi's retaliation will be, and whether he will burn down the oil wells, which previously were in rebel hands, but have since fallen back into his control, we will surely find out in the next 24 hours.
UN Security Council members agreed on a draft resolution that will impose a no-fly zone over Libya, diplomats in New York said. The decision will be brought up for a vote later in the day.
Earlier, American ambassador to the UN Susan Rice told reporters that the UN may need to contemplate steps that go beyond the no-fly zone
Denmark is the first country to step up and promise the use of its F-16s.
Lene Espersen, the foreign minister, told parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that the Air Force is preparing four F-16 fighter jets to take part in an internationally-backed no-fly zone over Libya, should Nato high command decide to act.
The government is trying to build support in parliament and internationally for a United Nations-backed no-fly zone over Libya to block Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi from making further advances against rebel forces and attacking Libyan civilians.
"The Arab world has made it very clear that the UN Security Council must make the decision. That’s why we all need to work right now to ensure that the UN Security Council has the backing it needs to make that decision,” Espersen said.
As to the real firepower, here is today's update of the US Naval deployments.
h/t Scrataliano
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<<< Earlier, American ambassador to the UN Susan Rice told reporters that the UN may need to contemplate steps that go beyond the no-fly zone >>>
Sounds like somebody wants to provoke a war. If Gaddafi feels his back is against the wall, there is no telling what he might do.
Imagine how much less stress there would be in the world without raging food price inflation.
UN Security Council members agreed on a draft resolution ...wow,sounds ominous..a draft resolution!!
Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the Russian ambassador's UN office!
You'll be eatin' those words when they break out the comfy chair™!
I don't see anything. Help me see thru the fog
http://www.un.org/documents/scres.htm
http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/
http://www.un.org/en/
-------------------------
Cooperation Manifests as a Zero-Sum Strategic PrincipleThe President, the President, Ohhh, you mean Obama. Hmmm, let me make the call.
This will be WAR! And anything will go, including attacks in Europe, America and the ME. I would suspect the G'daffys to have something under their sleeve. And they will have time too, since a ground invasion will take more time.
Hopefully Gaddafi at the least has some good NCAA picks going for him.
I got the saudi's and china in the final 4
Germany is my Dark Horse pick. They always make it to the end of the tournament before finally losing.
That would make them the Pitt of the international theater.
How dare you! But...you're right. *sigh*
Good pick. Germany has the industrial capacity and infrastructure to weather the coming storm.
Now if only there were a way to avoid that pesky Extinction Level Event that will destroy 90% of all life on Earth in the next couple of years...
Man the I agree shit is fucked up but seriously guys..take a fucking breath.
Not one comment on the premature buildup in the Asian theater with existing conflicts in the ME?
Can you say HAARP?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro
I'm young and have just saved my first $25,000. This is a nightmare trying to figure out where to put my money :( What a time for someone like me during these nutso times.
Half cash, half physical gold.
$10,500 bullion value US Mint-produced gold US coinage.
$10,500 ditto silver coinage.
$4,000 cash.
this assumes you are still "earning and saving" as when you saved the $25K, ok?
and, keep shopping for The Real. cash talks. it helps to be a savvy trader, even at the grocery store.
I'll believe it when I see it: U.S. planes discharging ordinance over Libya or U.S. troops on Libyan soil that is... Just don't think it will happen.
Good thing they were quick to the punch ...
Question - who thinks the UN is still relevant?
UN relevant??? ...it's where you send politicians that are so delusional you can't bare them in your country to embarras your Govt in front of voters... at the UN nobody pays any attention it's so irrelevant ....so we're talking the elite Goon Squad
I didn't know the UN had an Air Force to enforce this "no-fly" zone. I hope they do not figure we (the USA) are the ones to enforce this...let the Euroids or Arabs do it. Not our boys, not our jets, not our fuel.
Why not the lizard people of the holy land? We gifted them hundreds of F-14's, and billions of free USD's....
F-14"s with no parts. Those are awesome aircraft Judy. You know your flight deck. I'm impresssed.
Ai, me aft decks matie. Slewie the Pi-rat and ey will hijack a vessel in Mallorca and go pie ratin'.
http://www.yachtbooker.com/Yacht-Charter-majorca-palma-de-mallorca/jeann...
Lib'ya her we come!
Of course they do ... and it's backed up by an infantry consisting of the pope's brigades.
Swiss guards, bitchez.
No one expects the Knights Templar calvalry! :>D
The UN specifically requested Charlie Sheen, the F-18.
I've got the saudi's making it to the light sweet sixteen
Well, after 4 weeks of inaction on GoDhaffi, at a cost of 1000's of innocent civilian lives in our American supported penal colony in Libya, a UN 'no-fly' imposition comes not a minute too soon.
Lord help us if we ever had, oh say, a multi-reactor hydrogen/oxygen explosion-meltdown-nuclear-chain-reaction developing, and authorities waited 4 weeks to respond to an escalating breakdown threatening worldwide radiation disaster, which is fortunately just beyond comprehension.
(Snark off button not responding, probably due to electrical failure of back-up generators.)
We need to focus on Barry's bracket picks
That's probably how long it will take for a decision to be made once something goes wrong with a nuclear plant in the States. Another Brownie.
Did you study sarcastics in college?
You have my respect. Be patient and use your wisdom.Thank you Judy.
Yes, indirectly: Dostoyevsky said, sarcasm was "usually the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded".
Do you really believe that our corrupt kleptocratic, lying world leaders and taxpayer funded cabalistic experts (denying the fatal dangers of both fiat-credit-binge economics and under-protected and designed nuclear facilities) deserve more?
"Understanding the subtlety of this usage (of sarcasm) requires second-order interpretation of the speaker's intentions. This sophisticated understanding can be lacking in some people with certain forms of brain damage, dementia and autism...", from which you, fortunately, along with with other contributing ZHers can of course be considered excluded. (from Wikipedia, for what that's worth).
Notice how it's just for Libya-- God forbid these fucks give a damn about the innocent unarmed protesters who are being gunned down by Saudi and Bahraini forces. What a joke-- these institutions continue to be motivated by the assets they seem to gain from intervention rather than keeping the peace.
Shhh hush, hush. We don't want to wake up Iran.
Nice parking lot for the US 5th Fleet.
+1 ...Selective help...
Here's all you need to know about the US State Department's Orwellian stance on peaceful protest:
Ray McGovern dragged out of Hillary Clinton "Freedom Speech"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My29YT1T4R4
The whacky Gaddafi has already snuffed out all the rebels so he won't need airpower any more. He'll finish the mop up with ground forces.
Good job UN.....you're a couple of weeks late.
The UN idiots couldn't find their ass with both hands.
Bingo!! We have a winner. Milestones
WTF!! I think it is about time that Europe and Middle East nations took care of shit like this with US lending at most a supporting hand. Maybe the world is fucked up but it sure is here too. Are we going to go stomping around in every country where people want to throw off tyrants. We are headed down the chute with our own abundance of oligarchs and thieves. Two wars currently, a rapidly decaying economy, on edge with Iran and North Korea and an empire of military bases spanning the globe. Seems like were headed for the Hundred Years War II. All this while world monetary systems are headed toward critical mass.
LMAO!
Unless the western world is prepared to spend upwards of 50% of their income on food and fuel perhaps our "leaders" should re-examine the wisdom of enforcing a no fly zone over Libya.
Since Russia and China will veto the no fly resolution ... how can it work?
Is China opposed to this resolution? I haven't read anything to that effect. Just askin'.
Well this was too late to begin with. K-daffy Duck is chasing the rebles back to Benghazi and will wipe out every last citizen there so a no fly zone will do very little. Second why the hell doesn't Europe do this job except us? What is the point of the British,French,German,Spanish,Italian,Portugese air force. I mean what do they do all day? Why can't these Europeans do a coordnated airstrike against Libya earlier instead of waiting for us to play broke-ass Globocop again? For fucks sakes can't these europeans grow balls and just do it on their own. What is the point of these European nations to have a military when they wait on us to do everything?
We Germans have some bad experiences with starting wars, you know...
On the other hand, in Libya, Rommel and the Afrika Korps did some nifty work.
"We Germans have some bad experiences with starting wars, you know..."
Don't let it get you down. Let's face it, the Germans were damn good at starting wars. They just had bad luck finishing them.
I'd be more than happy to have the Germans as allies in a war. Those bastards can fight!
If you are upset about dollar devaluation, write your congressman now! Tell them all that is needed for a strong currency is a few nuclear disasters to occur in the country.
It also helps if you have 200% plus debt to gdp ratio and will need to import all of your energy, incrementally more of your goods post disaster and your economic model relies on exports. This is indeed the key to a strong currency. Thanks for the blueprint japan.
/sarcasm
""We Germans have some bad experiences with starting wars, you know...""
Our 'Defense' Industry: The Great Untouchable….
http://seenoevilspeaknoevilhearnoevil.blogspot.com/2011/03/our-defense-industry-great-untouchable.html
"We Germans have some bad experiences with starting wars, you know..."
No, no, no! Germans were really good and had great experiences starting wars. They just sucked at finishing them.
The French is dragging the US into a civil war that they have no business being involved in. Sarkozy made so many statements against qaddafi and embraced the revolution that he is scared shitless if qaddafi stays in power.
Libya: Five Reasons Not to Intervene: Lead us not into temptation (but deliver us from blowback, amen) by Justin Raimondo | March 16, 2011 | Antiwar.com
As Moammar Gadhafi’s thugs move toward Benghazi, the rebel stronghold, and the provisional government calls for arms and other assistance from the West – principally the United States – we are told to put all doubts aside and simply respond to the alleged moral imperative of preventing a slaughter. This, intone the interventionists, is an “emergency,” which means: we must stop thinking, and respond emotionally to the call to “do something.”
There are several problems with this non-argument, the first being: how do we know the West isn’t already assisting the rebels? I would be very surprised if they aren’t. Libya has too much oil, and is too strategically placed on the Mediterranean shore, to be ignored by US policymakers. And they don’t always make their policy out in the open. Even as the Obama administration is being bombarded by busy-bodies the world over for its “inaction” on the Libyan front, there are reports Washington is acting through the Saudis, providing American military equipment to rebel forces. The British, whose “diplomatic” mission in the eastern half of the country was arrested and expelled, are almost certainly helping the rebels, and the French – who have already recognized the Benghazi rebel government – cannot be far behind.
In any event, even if Gadhafi succeeds in taking Benghazi – an unlikely scenario, because he doesn’t have the troops – the idea that he will have “won,” and can resume his reign of terror, is absurd. Some sort of “consent of the governed” is essential – yes, even in a dictatorship. The withdrawal of that consent is fatal to any regime – that was the lesson of 1989. Gadhafi can march his hired thugs up and down the streets of Libya’s cities all he likes, but actually ruling the country is quite a different matter. My guess is that he will soon be forced to withdraw from the east, and Libya will be divided – perhaps permanently – between Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. Both governments will claim to be the true and only legitimate representative of the Libyan “nation,” although, for all intents and purposes – as I explained in my last column – Libya as a unified country is finished.
Well, then – you ask – why not help the Libyans throw off the yoke of Gadhafi’s tyrannical rule?
I come up with five distinct albeit interrelated reasons (my readers are invited to add to the list in the comments below):
1) Because the moment we intervene, we’ll own what’s going on in Libya – just like we own Iraq. Neocons eager to acquire another Middle East colony are understandably eager to jump into the fray, but there’s less excuse for the centrist-to-leftish “humanitarian” interventionists, who argue in terms of our alleged moral obligation to prevent widespread bloodletting. I don’t hear these people calling for us to arm the rebels in Bahrain or Yemen, who are being murdered in large numbers as they protest peacefully.
Read more…
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2011/03/15/libya-five-reasons-not-to-...
The SAS and a couple of British diplomats were already dropped into Libya last week.
Their mission was to meet up with the rebel leaders and see what they needed for assistance.
Instead, the Libyan rebels captured and held them as prisoners before kicking them out of the country in disgrace.
The rebels are being routed and now they're crying out for help from the West. That ship has sailed.
The UN is a perpetual stupidity machine. The war is already over 24 hours from now. Muammar has won thanks to the dithering at the UN.
The system of government known as Facebook prevails!
This is just a CMA move by the diplo-dinks so they can face the cameras later and say we tried. By the time they even get a Pipercub into the air, Muammar will already be the new arabian version of Vlad the Impaler.
Brent at $120 plus by April 1st.
Ehh, it's a little late. A no fly zone might have helped the rebels last week, before Qaddafi blasted his way to the rebel capital. The rebels would need close air support, e.g. blowing up Qaddafi's tanks, to keep the rebels fom getting wiped out at this point.
How nice of Denmark to offer their F-16's. Wonder how they'll get to Libya. F-16's combat radius is about 250 miles, and its 1,800 miles to Libya from Copenhagen.
4 F-22's, a single B-2, and a couple CIA guys with laser designators, and this thing would have been over 2 weeks ago. But no, Obama has NCAA brackets to finish. Contest for next month... who will be the first to spot the mass graves on google earth.
One Predator drone armed with hellfire missiles could have capped MQ during one of his hour long rambling diatribes. Of course, there would have been some collateral damage. Nothing a little money couldn't smooth over.
Who actually gives the UN the authority to commit act's of war? Who exactly do they answer to? Who oversee's them? These are question's that have never been answered for me honestly. All I ever get is the same run around about the council having to agree on it. Who elected these people to pass judgment?
Why don't you know?? we're on a mission from God. We always are the good guys.
Then they should review their contract with their God. I don't remember him requiring that they bomb and kill brown people when they are having enough trouble killing each other.
Sending four F-16s is a stupid move by the Dutch.
I swear I saw an AARP commercial on CNN an what retired people would like to do in retirement and the retired woman at the end said she wanted to "bomb Gaddafi".
Reported: The Associated Press --- immediately after the UN voted to support the "No Fly Zone" the security council imposed forced inspections of all pant zippers of those present.
So, if these ME uprisings were fomented by those who shall remain unnamed, what's the plan?...
Every time you get on a plane say "Lockerbie" three times.
Then come back with reason to support Kh-Qa-Ga-Daffy.
Nowhere to retreat form Banghazi, lets hope it holds.
My guess is the "left" will be OK with this so long as a few pilots performing the bombing were admitted after don't ask/don't tell was repealed.
Who are these Lybian civilians? Everyone keeps talking about them, but the TV only shows people carrying Ak-47, bazookas, shooting AAA guns and driving tanks. Those are not civilians - it is state's duty to bring order back. Where is the evidence that peaceful civilians are being systematically attacked? I have not seen a single clip on CNN or elsewhere. Certain country bombs civilians along with terrorists almost on a weekly basis and issues each time a sincere appology - that is what Lybians should do as well. And it is a complete BS that Lybians are so oppressed - their per capita is not only the best in Africa (including South Africa), but also better than Brazil and Turkey. These people have a normal life unlike the Egyptians. Seems to me Wag the Dog movie case more than reality. And I am strongly pro GOP - pro Iraq, Afganistan invasions. But this one seem to be too much of a BS.
Updated: O'Reilly last night told all these civilian slaughter claims are completely unproven. There is no evidence of anything that rebels are telling to be true. So at least the reasonable folks agree with me.
When 'the bombing commences' transformation of Libya to another Afghanistan begins.
Air cover will be useless for the rebels if Daffy's Tanks and artillery are allowed to move closer and closer. Just last minute face saving by the UN before the slaughter.
Sarkozy has volunteered to ride the first nuke bomb dropped on Q-daffy just like that guy in Dr Strangelove...Vive la france! whose honor has been damaged by allegations that Q-daffy and S-frenchy were in bed together during election campaign financing of 2007. After riding bomb into Libya, Sarkozy has promised to fly immediately to Japan. His actual kamikaze schedule there is still top secret. Maybe he will uncork Mt Fujiyama... Impossible is not french!