Showing posts with label Gaddafi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaddafi. Show all posts

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Gaddafi Helped Mandela

Imran Khan, December 2007Image via WikipediaIt is important to maintain perspective.

I have always believed in democracy, and I have never thought of it as some kind of a western thing.

The day 9/11 happened I compared it to the start of something along the magnitudes of the Cold War.

Gaddafi is like Castro in that he saw a lot. He saw colonialism, the Cold War, the aftermath, the War On Terror. This guy stayed in the news for half a century.

I was doing school in Kathmandu. We were amazed about this guy who seemed to drive Reagan crazy. Who i-s this guy? We read up on him.

One of the details that has to be noted is that Gaddafi helped Mandela when nobody helped Mandela. Dick Cheney was opposed to imposing sanctions on the apartheid regime and I don't think he has ever course corrected that stand.

I have often wondered what a Gaddafi like political animal functioning in a democratic set up might look like. Because the world does need people who will speak to the west on their own terms.

I am thinking Imran Khan might emerge that welcome voice, someone who is a democrat, a son of the soil, intelligent beyond belief, and someone who simply can not go corrupt.

Gaddafi was a dictator like Saddam was a dictator. I would not put Castro in the same basket. Castro was never a mass murderer. And the US could learn from some of what Cuba has done in education and health. Castro exported many a doctor to Third World countries over decades.

A new world order asks for personalities like Imran Khan who will ride the world stage on behalf of their peoples, democratically elected, and subject to peaceful recall once every few years.

Imran Khan
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Monday, March 21, 2011

Many, Many Nonviolent Options In Libya

BENGHAZI, LIBYA - FEBRUARY 25:  Halifa Awad Ta...Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe idea never was to bomb Gaddafi into submission. The military action has been designed to make sure he does not unleash animal brutality upon peaceful protesters. Otherwise there were mass protests already in Tripoli. Once Gaddafi has been neutralized, the thing for the Libyan opposition to do is to organize peaceful protests all over again, with the international community standing by. Could you bring a hundred thousand people out into the streets of Tripoli? That is the question. The idea is not for the Libyan opposition to outgun Gaddafi's forces. That never was the idea. The idea always was to win through nonviolent methods.

Come out into the streets all over again. Do it again in Benghazi. Organize peaceful marches in support of democracy. Do that is cities all across Libya. Finally do it in Tripoli. Gaddafi has to go. That is the only acceptable outcome.

Days of military action followed by a few weeks of nonviolent street action. That is the recipe for success.
BENGHAZI, LIBYA - FEBRUARY 25:  Children visit...Image by Getty Images via @daylife
And if Gaddafi performs a repeat and unleashes animal brutality upon those peaceful protesters, take him out. Sometimes you don't get to take the criminal to court. He gets gunned down because he decided to fight to the end.

Ultimately It Is About Iran, Because That Is Where It All Started
Syria's Turn
The Anatomy Of Revolutions For Democracy
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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Democracy's Despair


If Gaddafi can treat half of Libya like Saddam Hussein treated Kuwait, if the Saudi king can send his army into a neighboring country to pull a Gaddafi on a people peacefully demonstrating for democracy, if we are requesting Chinese and Russian cooperation for the necessary work for democracy - I mean, we might as well seek Gaddafi's cooperation on human rights then - I am at a loss for words.

For the first time I have begun to have my doubts about Barack Obama. I am not seeing much audacity. I am not seeing much hope.

The fire of democracy is being snuffed out by two mad dogs in the Middle East through brute force.

This is how the Burmese Generals did it a few years back. This is how they did it in Iran in 2009. They decided there was no limit to how much brute force they were willing to unleash upon a peacefully demonstrating people.

I am not feeling too good right now.

The thing to do was to get a NATO mandate to make surgical strikes to take the mad dog out early on when the rebels were looking to march on Tripoli. Instead you have a scenario where Gaddafi is about to bulldoze Benghazi. This is sad.

If Gaddafi and the Saudi king get away with what they are doing, forget the idea of democracy demonstrations in China. It is not happening. The momentum will have been broken. A democracy movement is all about momentum.


North Korea In Sight
Secretary Hillary
John Kerry Has The Solution
No Fly Zone Or Massacre
Saudi Arabi Next
Talk to Jazeera: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
The Anatomy Of Revolutions For Democracy


Wednesday, March 02, 2011

If Gaddafi Is Not President, It Should Be Easier For Him To Leave

The leader de facto of Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi.Image via WikipediaGaddafi has been responding to Barack's call for his resignation by saying he is not president, what office is he to resign from? Good, if you don't hold a political office, it should be easier for you to leave the country. Don't resign. Just leave.

You have committed crimes against humanity. If you are not president, chances are you are a warlord. Maybe you pretend to be some kind of a tribal leader. Whatever it is that you are, you need to get out of there. Leave the country.

The country wants to turn itself into a modern democracy. The country wants to get itself a proper constitution. The country wants to elect itself a proper president. You just leave. There are people waiting to greet you in The Hague.
Sound Military Options
Nicaragua, Ortega On The Radar
Make Surgical Strikes, Take The Guy Out
Kick Ortega Out
The Fuck With Mugabe
The Chinese Communist Party Can Keep The Power If They Agree To Pluralism, Federalism
This Is Also About Women's Rights
The Saudi King Is No Exception, He Has To Go Too
Democracy: An Israeli Plot?
China: 2 PM, Sunday
Bomb Gaddafi's Tent
Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu
Et Tu, China?
When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards
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Friday, February 25, 2011

Make Surgical Strikes, Take The Guy Out

F-16s from various Turkish Air Force squadrons...Image via WikipediaEconomic sanctions would be stupid. This butcher has declared war on his own people. Don't declare war on Libya, economic, military or otherwise. Make a few surgical strikes and take the guy out. Decapitate the regime and the game is over. You know where he is.

That would fit the definition of nonviolence. Violence is to stand by and watch as this guy sends warships and gunships to shoot at crowds like they were shooting at dogs. The guy crossed the line about a week ago.

Take the guy out. This game will be over within an hour of this guy's departure.

He has already killed 1,000 people. He will kill a few thousand more. There is no point at which he will say enough. Because vacating the throne or leaving the country are not options for him. He has already made up his mind to commit suicide.

End the game. Enough. It is getting uglier by the day.

A regime has the option to not accept the demand of peaceful protesters. But it does not have the option to unleash animal brutality upon peaceful protesters. A regime that viciously attacks peaceful demonstrators has no claim to sovereignty upon the land it might be laying a claim on.

Gaddafi is illegitimate. He does not rule any country. He is a mad dog. Take him out. If you don't take him out, you are being violent upon the peaceful people of Libya. The first 1,000 deaths might be on Gaddafi's hand, but the second thousand deaths will be on your hand. Don't wait no more. Take him out. You know where he is. Make the surgical strikes.

This guy will not stop on his own. Just like a mad dog has to be put to sleep, this guy has to be put to sleep. That fits the definition of non-violence.

Kick Ortega Out
The Fuck With Mugabe
The Chinese Communist Party Can Keep The Power If They Agree To Pluralism, Federalism
This Is Also About Women's Rights
The Saudi King Is No Exception, He Has To Go Too
Democracy: An Israeli Plot?
China: 2 PM, Sunday
Bomb Gaddafi's Tent
Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu
Et Tu, China?
When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards
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Sunday, February 20, 2011

Bomb Gaddafi's Tent

Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (in Dimashq, Syr...Image via WikipediaArmchair revolutionaries like myself have to be extra, extra respectful of the people who brave the streets. We have to suggest strategies that minimize human casualties without compromising the broad goal of democracy and human rights.

And so I am proposing America order surgical military strikes, Ronal Reagan style, to bomb Gaddafi's tent in the desert. If he is not in the tent, order surginal military strikes on his presidential palace. If he is not there, bomb the office of Libya's intelligence agency.

This guy actually ordered a missile strike upon peacefully demonstrating people. This guy has ordered machine gun fire and sniper shots at peacefully demonstrating people. This is not a human being.

This guy has left no room for an exit strategy. He is not going to voluntarily leave. He could not vacate the seat of power and stay in the country. He has nowhere to go outside the country. He will either succeed and hang on, not an acceptable outcome, or he will commit suicide, Hitler style, but before that he will have ordered the killings of hundreds upon hundreds of Libyans. Those lives have value. You prevent those deaths by snuffing out Gaddafi. Take him out.

Taking out Gaddafi by an American surgical military strike is the most nonviolent act that could take place at this phase of Libya's democracy movement.

Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu
Et Tu, China?
When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards
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Saturday, February 19, 2011

Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu

The leader de facto of Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi.Image via WikipediaAn autocratic regime does not have to meet the demands of a peacefully demonstrating people, but when that regime unleashes heinous brutality upon those peaceful demonstrators, it has crossed a line, and such a dictator deserves a Caecescu death. That still fits the definition of non-violence.

Khameini in Iran crossed that line. There was no limit to the kind of brutality he was willing to unleash. Gaddafi has gone down that same path. They kill demonstrators. They open sniper fire on mourners. They fire army colonels who refuse to carry out the vicious, inhuman orders.

A line has been crossed in Libya. The dictator in Libya has crossed the line. And it is for the masses to rise up like a tsunami. It is time to take over Tripoli.

The masses have what it takes to bring victory on behalf of their peoples. This tide will not stop. This wave will keep on keeping on. The Arab world is finally rising like it never has in its entire history. This is a first.

How many people could Gaddafi kill? 300? 500?

Et Tu, China?
When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards
Enhanced by Zemanta