I know I'm far from being alone in wondering why the Western Powers are still pissing around with the nonsense in Libya.
For decades, the Western World has not only tolerated but has actively supported the grotesque dictator, Gaddafi. This lunatic came to power in 1969 following a revolution that overthrew the ailing King Idris; this seems to have been a salutary lesson in the old adage of 'be careful what you wish for, 'cos you may not like what you get'. In this case, it could scarcely have been more true.
Gaddafi is bonkers, of that there can be little doubt. Regardless, the US, UK and other major powers have all provided recognition, support and aid to Gaddafi as the ruler of Libya and have never taken any real steps to remove him, until now. They have, in fact, kept this madman in power, supplying his regime with a variety of support, including miltary aid.
Today, they are trying desperately to remove him, without overtly removing him; the political hypocrisy of this is mind-blowing. The United Nations has agreed to a range of measures with specific aims though rather vague operational limits; some nations, notably the UK and France, though with the US close by, have involved themselves in serious actions and have now said that Gaddafi has to go. The problem is that so-called 'Regime change' has not been approved by the UN.
Bollocks. The problem is that the Western World, and that really means the UN as well, allowed this situation to develop through their support of a mad and vicious dictator in an oil-rich county because it suited their needs or aims at the time; now, they see their interests to be better served by a change of leadership and so they're supporting a revolution. Whether or not the UN approves, the aim is now 'Regime change' and there will be no peace until it's achieved.
I'm getting old and I'm cynical. I'm also tired of the political tripe that's trotted out daily around the world. Why can't we just leave well alone ? If the Libyan people want, or don't want, Gaddafi, what has that to do with us ? If we want, or don't want, the Queen, what has that to do with any other country ? The questions are the same and have the same answer; it's up to the people of the country to decide. In the West, we seem to believe that we have a duty to interfere in the affairs of other countries, though only when it's politically expedient; I haven't seen us really trying to stop the butchery in Zimbabwe, for instance.
Gaddafi is a product of Western imperialism, not overtly, but by stealth. Unfortunately, he has proved to be a loose cannon and has now become an emabarrassment, so he has to be removed; this is political hypocrisy of the highest order. This man has shaken hands with Presidents and Prime Ministers and yet now is anathma. "You're havin' a laugh", as someone of my acquaintance would say.
There is no doubt that Gaddafi is a vicious dictator and that he oppresses his own people to a horrible extent. It is also true that he is far from being alone in possessing these debatable attributes but why has he been so suddenly singled out for denigration by the Western Powers who mostly run the UN ? There are numerous countries with equally oppressive regimes and yet we seem to ignore them; sadly for Gaddafi, he's simply become non-flavour of the month, and that's all it amounts to.
Next year, it may well be Burma, or Venezuela, who knows. What we can be sure of is that the Western Powers will continue to try to impress their world view on everyone else until they're stopped. China currently has a different agenda in that it's trying to develop an economic monopoly on the world's resources and the Western Powers are going to have to develop a strategy to counter this. One way or another, World War 3 is looking more and more likely, and much sooner than anyone would like to imagine.
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