Tuesday 8 March 2011

No Fly for Libya Intervention

An interesting turn of events where by the US tries to catch-up with the UK and France in wanting a Libyan No Fly zone. A challenge for the lefties to re-write their comments of last week laughing at the ineptness of the Government that now leads the way and is in tune with their interventionist thinking!

However, before getting too carried away it is important to remember that China has not reported the Libyan crisis and does not discuss the real issue in the media. From the Chinese media you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between what has happened in Christchurch and what is happening in Ras Lanuf.

All this means that there is no chance of the UN agreeing intervention in Libya and no chance of a No Fly zone. Russia is likely to back China too as Russia sells $4 billion of military equipment to Qaddafi each year.

It is a shame for the world that Totalitarian states still are able to outweigh the power of democracies, but also it means the a big chance of a drawn out conflict in Libya which will depress markets and keep the oil price high which slows global growth and development for billions of people.

(It also menas Nick Drew's policy of investing in Gold and Silver is now thoroughly pasting CU's small cap oil and resources plays - but he ho!)

9 comments:

measured said...

I suspect we have burnt our boats if the SAS officers that were caught were carrying a letter signed by DC and Gaddafi stays in power. Awkward.

roym said...

hmm, dont think the govt are covering themselves in glory after this silly james bond stunt.
Obama may be catching up, but apparently all the rebels need are some batteries(?) for their stinger missiles. maybe some training too.

Budgie said...

Unless we have overwhekming firepower (and 'cast iron' Dave just scrapped ours, remember) and if we are hated by both Gadafi and the 'rebels' then intervening is a none starter. So talking about it was idiotic.

It stops being idiotic if the US joins in with their military might. So, no, CMD was not being prescient just daft. As usual.

Simple Simon said...

You clearly misunderstand. When Dave mentioned a no fly zone, his intention was to air drop a few crates of anti mozzie spray to the rebels.

Bill Quango MP said...

Might be good to do.
It would upset Emdadur Choudhury.
That's a good enough reason on its own.

rwendland said...

Don't know why you call this a left-right thing. Over in the U.S. of A. it's the Republican U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates who is aginst it:

"Let’s just call a spade a spade. A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses. That’s the way you do a no-fly zone. And then you can fly planes around the country and not worry about our guys being shot down. But that’s the way it starts.

... any operation to enforce a no-flight zone would have to be large, given Libya’s size. It would require more aircraft than are aboard a single aircraft carrier."

and people like John Kerry who are for it.

Steven_L said...

I read the Typhoon can't drop bombs until 2018.

The Harrier was useless against guided SAM's anyway.

Where's the Charles de Gaul these days and do the Rafales work yet?

Or would Europe really need the USS Enterprise to sort a small African tinpot state out for them?

I'm not convinced the US give a toss you know.

alan said...

China has as much to lose as we do in all this. So we pay for any military action (in blood and money), we get the bad press (arabs hate our guts on a good day).... and China will roll in afterwards and get all businesses.

Someone with a PPE degree should understand that. FAIL. Did our politicians actually take a PPE degree or did they just download the answers off the internet?

CityUnslicker said...

Alan - they did not have the internet in their days at Uni, but styill as you say....