LIBYA: Behind The Scenes!
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:40 amLIBYA: Behind The Scenes!
New Data! Canada's Arms Exports to the Middle East!
From: coat@list.openconcept.ca
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 11:52 AM
Subject: [COAT] New Data! Canada's Arms Exports to the Middle East!
Support COAT's research: Please spread the word to friends, colleagues, media, government, etc.
NEW data now online!
Canada's Military Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/mideast.htm
In an effort to expose Canadian complicity in arming oppressive and undemocratic regimes in the Middle East and North Africa, the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) has compiled a wealth of information. COAT has packaged the material into four online sets of data tables:
(1) Canadian Military Industries Targetting the Middle East & North Africa
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/MilitaryExporters.htm
This resource provides the scoop on more than 200 Canadian military companies. Data includes:
> The list of countries where each company has exported, plus those they are "actively pursuing" exports to,
> A summary of each company's military products and services,
> Each company's Website, Address, Phone and Fax numbers; President, CEO or Contact Person,
> Facts: Company Sales and Exports figures, Number of employees, Business category, Year founded,
> Membership in the Canadian Assoc. of Defence & Security Industries (A government-funded lobby group),
> Exhibitor status at CANSEC 2010 (Canada's largest arms bazaar).
(2) Canadian Small Arms Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/SmallArms.htm
Thirty years of customs data reveals details about exports of Canadian small arms, light weapons and ammunition to countries in the region. COAT has created 19 data tables (one for each country) and has juxtaposed these with web links to online resources documenting the violation of human rights and labour rights committed by the governments that have imported Canada's small arms and ammunition. (Data source: Customs records compiled by the United Nations Statistics Bureau and made available thanks to the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers.)
(3) Canadian Munitions Firms Exporting to Middle East & North Africa
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/MunitionsFirms.htm
This table focuses on 20 Canadian munitions and ammunition manufacturers, and exposes the list of countries to which each company has exported, plus those countries to which they are "actively pursuing" such exports. (Data source: Industry Canada's "Canadian Companies Capabilities" database.)
(4) Canadian Military Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/mideast.htm
This resource compiles data on $1.8 Billion in Canadian military exports to 16 countries in the region between 1990 and 2006. COAT has created separate data tables for each of these countries to present the official figures on Canada's military exports. The export data is sorted into 22 categories of "munitions" that are "controlled" by the Government of Canada. The data tables also provide links to organisations and reports focused on the abuses of human rights and labour rights committed by the 16 recipient governments. (Data source: All of the Annual Reports on "Export of Military Goods from Canada," ever published by the Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade.)
===================================
The current issue (#65) of COAT's magazine Press for Conversion! also deals with Canada and the Middle East.
It is called: "Operation SILENT PARTNER: Canada's Quiet Complicity in the Iraq War"
http://coat.ncf.ca/P4C/65/65.htm
When the Liberal government proclaimed that Canada had refused to join the U.S. war against Iraq, many Canadians were understandably proud. Unfortunately, it was all a smoke-and-mirrors game. In reality, Canada did join the Iraq War in 2003 and our military has continued to support that war in many significant ways ever since.
For instance:
* About 2,000 Canadian sailors--aboard eight, multi-billion dollar Canadian warships--participated in the Iraq War
* Canadian pilots flew warplanes in Iraq-war missions, including U.S. C-17s, a British MR2 and Canadian C-130s and CP-140s
* Top Canadian military officers received U.S., British and Canadian medals for their leadership roles in the Iraq War
These are just a few of the many facts detailed in COAT's current, 54-page issue of Press for Conversion!
Please support COAT's research! Take this opportunity to subscribe or renew your subscription to our magazine ($25 gets Canadians the next 4 issues, or $45 for the next 8 issues)
Please subscribe or renew now, and we'll send some extra copies of our latest issue!
Just mail an old-fashioned cheque to COAT:
COAT
541 McLeod St.,
Ottawa ON K1R 5R2
Support COAT online
http://coat.ncf.ca/support_us/support_us.htm
Thanks,
Richard Sanders
Coordinator, COAT
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Canada benefits from arms sale loophole: report - 2006
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2006/10/02/
weapons-global.html
Last Updated: Monday, October 2, 2006 | 2:33 PM ET CBC News
Canada and other arms-producing nations are taking advantage of a legal loophole to sell weapons components to countries subject to international arms embargoes, a new report says.
The report by Control Arms, a group comprising organizations including Amnesty International and Oxfam, says the arms trade, worth $1 trillion annually, has globalized, meaning weapons are being assembled using components from countries around the world with little control on where they end up.
For example, China's Z-10 military helicopter is built from components made in the United States, Britain and Canada. Pratt & Whitney Canada manufactures the helicopter's turboshaft engine.
Canadian, British or American rules would prohibit the sale of an entire helicopter to China because of its human-rights record and its sale of weapons to countries with a history of human-rights abuses.
However, selling only parts of a weapon is perfectly legal, a loophole the report, "Arms without Borders," says needs to be closed.
The report calls for a global treaty to block the sale of weapons components to countries that violate human rights, block the resale of weapons to these countries and limit the supply of such weapons to rebel groups around the world.
The report also urges the United Nations to do more to block the trade in military hardware and small arms that kill at least 300,000 people every year. The UN is to debate disarmament measures this week.
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Russia might lose billions in arms sales to Libya following UN sanctions
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/
expert-russia-might-lose-billions-arms-sales-libya-20110227-094225-311.html
By The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Sun, 27 Feb, 2011 12:42 PM EST
MOSCOW - A Russian arms expert says Moscow could lose billions of dollars in arms sales to Libya after the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
Tripoli actively bought Soviet weapons in the 1980s, and in January 2010, Moscow announced a $1.8 billion deal for Libya to buy six Yak-130 military planes. Talks were under way for other multibillion arms contracts.
Independent arms expert Pavel Felgenhauer said Sunday the contracts and the talks were suspended after Gadhafi brutally suppressed anti-government protests across the North African nation.
The Interfax news agency cited an unnamed Russian military official as saying the Russian losses might amount to $4 billion. [ . . . ]
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Why the West has been cozying up to Moammar Gadhafi
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/02/23/
f-vp-stewart.html
By Brian Stewart, special to CBC News Posted: Feb 23, 2011 7:31 PM ET Last Updated: Feb 23, 2011 7:31 PM ET
My own experience in Libya was farcically limited by the fact that I only visited twice in one week and was kicked out both times.
It was a small incident, but it left me with a sense of the chameleon-like nature of the Gadhafi regime, something that does not seem to have changed much over the years.
I claim no honour in being expelled on those two occasions in 1986 as I was never even able to report from there, given the hectic pace of my arrivals and forced departures.
I was simply one of a score of journalists who the regime welcomed one moment and then cast out a day later, before repeating the process all over again.
I remember shuddering to think what life must be like for Libyans, subject to the whims of Moammar Gadhafi or his henchmen and where one's fate can be sealed with the snap of the fingers.
My bizarre dance with the airport thugs epitomized in miniature the sense of quivering unreality around the Gadhafi regime — you never knew what you were going to get, and still don't.
But even as Gadhafi himself can seem removed from reality, he was clear on the fact that his survival rested on three key elements: vast oil wealth, brutal oppression and the willingness of Western democracies to bury their principles in order to win his favour.
When his formerly staunch ally, the Soviet Union, collapsed in 1991, Gadhafi simply changed his colours once again, whistled for new friends and the West started creeping closer, in keen anticipation of the profitable trade that oil ensured.
In fairness, it was not all about money. The U.S. and Britain also valued Gadhafi, who was never an Islamist crusader, as a hard-edged counter to al-Qaeda.
In fact, after 9/11, his reported advice to Washington on Osama bin Laden was, for Gadhafi, uncharacteristically brief: "Kill him."
The 'king of kings'
Gadhafi also knew how to play the repentance card.
When he abandoned his nuclear weapons plans in 2003, with great fanfare, international sanctions against his regime were dropped and countries now came running with new or upgraded diplomatic missions.
Among the swift, Canada, which had already begun regular ministerial visits and was proclaiming Libya "a beautiful, peaceful country — full of potential."
In the rush for Gadhafi's favours, many Western democracies were surprising willing to brush aside his past acts of sponsoring terrorism and violence abroad, as well as to overlook his horrifying record of brutal repression at home.
MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/
2011/02/23/f-vp-stewart.html
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Behind the Arab Revolt Is a Word We Dare Not Speak
http://www.truth-out.org/
behind-arab-revolt-a-word-we-dare-not-speak68036
Thursday 24 February 2011
by: John Pilger, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis
Shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, I interviewed Ray McGovern, one of an elite group of CIA officers who prepared the President's daily intelligence brief. McGovern was at the apex of the "national security" monolith that is American power and had retired with presidential plaudits. On the eve of the invasion, he and 45 other senior officers of the CIA and other intelligence agencies wrote to President George W. Bush that the "drumbeat for war" was based not on intelligence, but lies.
"It was 95 percent charade," McGovern told me.
"How did they get away with it?" I asked.
"The press allowed the crazies to get away with it."
"Who are the crazies?"
"The people running the [Bush] administration have a set of beliefs a lot like those expressed in 'Mein Kampf,'" said McGovern. "These are the same people who were referred to, in the circles in which I moved at the top, as 'the crazies.'"
I said: "Norman Mailer has written that he believes America has entered a pre-fascist state. What's your view of that?"
"Well ... I hope he's right, because there are others saying we are already in a fascist mode."
On January 22, 2011, McGovern emailed me to express his disgust at the Obama administration's barbaric treatment of the alleged whistleblower Bradley Manning and its pursuit of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.
MORE:
http://www.truth-out.org/
behind-arab-revolt-a-word-we-dare-not-speak68036
- - - -
John Pilger, Australian-born, London-based journalist, film-maker and author. For his foreign and war reporting, ranging from Vietnam and Cambodia to the Middle East, he has twice won Britain's highest award for journalism. For his documentary films, he won a British Academy Award and an American Emmy. In 2009, he was awarded Australia's human rights prize, the Sydney Peace Prize. His latest film is "The War on Democracy."
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Libya and Imperialism
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23364
By Sara Flounders Global Research, February 24, 2011 workers.org
Of all the struggles going on in North Africa and the Middle East right now, the most difficult to unravel is the one in Libya.
What is the character of the opposition to the Gadhafi regime, which reportedly now controls the eastern city of Benghazi?
Is it just coincidence that the rebellion started in Benghazi, which is north of Libya’s richest oil fields as well as close to most of its oil and gas pipelines, refineries and its LNG port? Is there a plan to partition the country?
What is the risk of imperialist military intervention, which poses the gravest danger for the people of the entire region?
Libya is not like Egypt. Its leader, Moammar al-Gadhafi, has not been an imperialist puppet like Hosni Mubarak. For many years, Gadhafi was allied to countries and movements fighting imperialism. On taking power in 1969 through a military coup, he nationalized Libya’s oil and used much of that money to develop the Libyan economy. Conditions of life improved dramatically for the people.
For that, the imperialists were determined to grind Libya down. The U.S. actually launched air strikes on Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986 that killed 60 people, including Gadhafi’s infant daughter – which is rarely mentioned by the corporate media. Devastating sanctions were imposed by both the U.S. and the U.N. to wreck the Libyan economy.
After the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 and leveled much of Baghdad with a bombing campaign that the Pentagon exultantly called “shock and awe,” Gadhafi tried to ward off further threatened aggression on Libya by making big political and economic concessions to the imperialists. He opened the economy to foreign banks and corporations; he agreed to IMF demands for “structural adjustment,” privatizing many state-owned enterprises and cutting state subsidies on necessities like food and fuel.
The Libyan people are suffering from the same high prices and unemployment that underlie the rebellions elsewhere and that flow from the worldwide capitalist economic crisis.
There can be no doubt that the struggle sweeping the Arab world for political freedom and economic justice has also struck a chord in Libya. There can be no doubt that discontent with the Gadhafi regime is motivating a significant section of the population.
However, it is important for progressives to know that many of the people being promoted in the West as leaders of the opposition are long-time agents of imperialism. The BBC on Feb. 22 showed footage of crowds in Benghazi pulling down the green flag of the republic and replacing it with the flag of the overthrown monarch King Idris – who had been a puppet of U.S. and British imperialism.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23364
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Western arms helping Libyan forces massacre anti-regime rebels, EU documents reveal
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/
africaandindianocean/libya/8350862/Western-arms-helping-Libyan-forces-massacre-anti-regime-rebels-EU-documents-reveal.html
By Praveen Swami, Diplomatic Editor 11:32PM GMT 27 Feb 2011
European and British arms firms supplied Libya with hundreds of millions of pounds of military hardware which is now being used by its armed forces to put down the revolt against Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
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60 Years Of American Arms Exports To The Muslim World
http://www.warisbusiness.com/research/
us-arms-exports-to-the-muslim-world/
Research | By Corey Pein 26.Jan.2011
I thought it would be worthwhile to append some numbers to yesterday’s post about America’s short-sighted practice of arming certain authoritarian rulers.
What follows are the official Defense Department totals of overseas arms sales agreements from 1950 through 2009. These are mainly big weapons deals between the US government and the governments of other countries; small arms sales are not included.
The table offers a simple comparison of worldwide arms sales during that time, and sales to what the Pentagon calls “the Near East and South Asia.” This super-region corresponds roughly with the Islamic world, as shown by the maps here, minus a few key countries such as Turkey and Indonesia. (The full list of countries is at the end of this post.)
The comparison reveals that in almost every year since 1970, nearly one-half of US weapons exports have gone to an area containing roughly one-fifth of the world’s population.
Few of those people have the power to choose their leaders, in no small part because their leaders are so heavily armed. Is it any wonder America’s self-image as a beacon of freedom is so out of whack with its perception abroad?
Lest you think Israel and India might be skewing the figures: Those two countries account for $31.1 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively, of the total $230 billion in arms sales in the super-region. Which leaves $198 billion for the remaining collection of monarchies, despotisms and nominal democracies.
Eventually, I’d like to create some interactive maps using the country-by-country arms trade data. But since the source document is over 500 pages of oddly formatted, spreadsheet-unfriendly text, that project may require some financial support.
US Arms Agreements Sales Since 1950:
http://www.warisbusiness.com/research/
us-arms-exports-to-the-muslim-world/
- - SNIP - - -
IN Comments:
Sandeep says: January 28, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Doesn’t US$483 billion for total US arms sale to the entire world for sixty year strike as somewhat a low figure?
May be the figure would be much higher if adjusted for inflation. But nevertheless, its simply a too low a figure.
How did world ended up spending more in 1950 on arms than in 2005?
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Corey Pein says: January 28, 2011 at 1:23 pm
Look again and you’ll see that the “1950″ number actually covers 1950-1969. Nevertheless, you raise a good point. I should probably take care to contextualize these numbers a little more carefully, and reiterate—again and again—that they’re an official accounting of a subset of arms deals. They don’t include “classified” transactions. More importantly, they don’t include commercial arms exports tracked by the US State Department.
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Canadian frigate headed to Libyan waters
http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/world/
canadian_frigate_headed_to_libyan_waters/3edf2a11
01/03/2011 7:02:45 PM CBC News
QUOTE: "The CBC's James Cudmore reported the frigate could also be used as a launching platform for special forces missions. But the defence minister said he would not comment on special forces operations."
Canada is sending frigate HMCS Charlottetown to the waters off Libya amid an international buildup of military forces in response to the violent internal crackdown by Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
The Halifax-based warship will depart its home port on Wednesday to assist in the evacuation of Canadians from Libya, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced during Tuesday's question period in the House of Commons.
Speaking to reporters outside the House after Harper's announcement, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said it would take six days for the vessel and its 240 Canadian Forces personnel to reach the region.
MacKay said the ship could have a role in enforcing any future sanctions - including a blockade - if such measures are approved by either the United Nations or NATO.
The CBC's James Cudmore reported the frigate could also be used as a launching platform for special forces missions. But the defence minister said he would not comment on special forces operations.
MORE:
http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/world/
canadian_frigate_headed_to_libyan_waters/3edf2a11
New Data! Canada's Arms Exports to the Middle East!
From: coat@list.openconcept.ca
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 11:52 AM
Subject: [COAT] New Data! Canada's Arms Exports to the Middle East!
Support COAT's research: Please spread the word to friends, colleagues, media, government, etc.
NEW data now online!
Canada's Military Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/mideast.htm
In an effort to expose Canadian complicity in arming oppressive and undemocratic regimes in the Middle East and North Africa, the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) has compiled a wealth of information. COAT has packaged the material into four online sets of data tables:
(1) Canadian Military Industries Targetting the Middle East & North Africa
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/MilitaryExporters.htm
This resource provides the scoop on more than 200 Canadian military companies. Data includes:
> The list of countries where each company has exported, plus those they are "actively pursuing" exports to,
> A summary of each company's military products and services,
> Each company's Website, Address, Phone and Fax numbers; President, CEO or Contact Person,
> Facts: Company Sales and Exports figures, Number of employees, Business category, Year founded,
> Membership in the Canadian Assoc. of Defence & Security Industries (A government-funded lobby group),
> Exhibitor status at CANSEC 2010 (Canada's largest arms bazaar).
(2) Canadian Small Arms Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/SmallArms.htm
Thirty years of customs data reveals details about exports of Canadian small arms, light weapons and ammunition to countries in the region. COAT has created 19 data tables (one for each country) and has juxtaposed these with web links to online resources documenting the violation of human rights and labour rights committed by the governments that have imported Canada's small arms and ammunition. (Data source: Customs records compiled by the United Nations Statistics Bureau and made available thanks to the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers.)
(3) Canadian Munitions Firms Exporting to Middle East & North Africa
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/MunitionsFirms.htm
This table focuses on 20 Canadian munitions and ammunition manufacturers, and exposes the list of countries to which each company has exported, plus those countries to which they are "actively pursuing" such exports. (Data source: Industry Canada's "Canadian Companies Capabilities" database.)
(4) Canadian Military Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/mideast.htm
This resource compiles data on $1.8 Billion in Canadian military exports to 16 countries in the region between 1990 and 2006. COAT has created separate data tables for each of these countries to present the official figures on Canada's military exports. The export data is sorted into 22 categories of "munitions" that are "controlled" by the Government of Canada. The data tables also provide links to organisations and reports focused on the abuses of human rights and labour rights committed by the 16 recipient governments. (Data source: All of the Annual Reports on "Export of Military Goods from Canada," ever published by the Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade.)
===================================
The current issue (#65) of COAT's magazine Press for Conversion! also deals with Canada and the Middle East.
It is called: "Operation SILENT PARTNER: Canada's Quiet Complicity in the Iraq War"
http://coat.ncf.ca/P4C/65/65.htm
When the Liberal government proclaimed that Canada had refused to join the U.S. war against Iraq, many Canadians were understandably proud. Unfortunately, it was all a smoke-and-mirrors game. In reality, Canada did join the Iraq War in 2003 and our military has continued to support that war in many significant ways ever since.
For instance:
* About 2,000 Canadian sailors--aboard eight, multi-billion dollar Canadian warships--participated in the Iraq War
* Canadian pilots flew warplanes in Iraq-war missions, including U.S. C-17s, a British MR2 and Canadian C-130s and CP-140s
* Top Canadian military officers received U.S., British and Canadian medals for their leadership roles in the Iraq War
These are just a few of the many facts detailed in COAT's current, 54-page issue of Press for Conversion!
Please support COAT's research! Take this opportunity to subscribe or renew your subscription to our magazine ($25 gets Canadians the next 4 issues, or $45 for the next 8 issues)
Please subscribe or renew now, and we'll send some extra copies of our latest issue!
Just mail an old-fashioned cheque to COAT:
COAT
541 McLeod St.,
Ottawa ON K1R 5R2
Support COAT online
http://coat.ncf.ca/support_us/support_us.htm
Thanks,
Richard Sanders
Coordinator, COAT
= = = = = =
Canada benefits from arms sale loophole: report - 2006
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2006/10/02/
weapons-global.html
Last Updated: Monday, October 2, 2006 | 2:33 PM ET CBC News
Canada and other arms-producing nations are taking advantage of a legal loophole to sell weapons components to countries subject to international arms embargoes, a new report says.
The report by Control Arms, a group comprising organizations including Amnesty International and Oxfam, says the arms trade, worth $1 trillion annually, has globalized, meaning weapons are being assembled using components from countries around the world with little control on where they end up.
For example, China's Z-10 military helicopter is built from components made in the United States, Britain and Canada. Pratt & Whitney Canada manufactures the helicopter's turboshaft engine.
Canadian, British or American rules would prohibit the sale of an entire helicopter to China because of its human-rights record and its sale of weapons to countries with a history of human-rights abuses.
However, selling only parts of a weapon is perfectly legal, a loophole the report, "Arms without Borders," says needs to be closed.
The report calls for a global treaty to block the sale of weapons components to countries that violate human rights, block the resale of weapons to these countries and limit the supply of such weapons to rebel groups around the world.
The report also urges the United Nations to do more to block the trade in military hardware and small arms that kill at least 300,000 people every year. The UN is to debate disarmament measures this week.
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Russia might lose billions in arms sales to Libya following UN sanctions
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/
expert-russia-might-lose-billions-arms-sales-libya-20110227-094225-311.html
By The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Sun, 27 Feb, 2011 12:42 PM EST
MOSCOW - A Russian arms expert says Moscow could lose billions of dollars in arms sales to Libya after the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
Tripoli actively bought Soviet weapons in the 1980s, and in January 2010, Moscow announced a $1.8 billion deal for Libya to buy six Yak-130 military planes. Talks were under way for other multibillion arms contracts.
Independent arms expert Pavel Felgenhauer said Sunday the contracts and the talks were suspended after Gadhafi brutally suppressed anti-government protests across the North African nation.
The Interfax news agency cited an unnamed Russian military official as saying the Russian losses might amount to $4 billion. [ . . . ]
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Why the West has been cozying up to Moammar Gadhafi
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/02/23/
f-vp-stewart.html
By Brian Stewart, special to CBC News Posted: Feb 23, 2011 7:31 PM ET Last Updated: Feb 23, 2011 7:31 PM ET
My own experience in Libya was farcically limited by the fact that I only visited twice in one week and was kicked out both times.
It was a small incident, but it left me with a sense of the chameleon-like nature of the Gadhafi regime, something that does not seem to have changed much over the years.
I claim no honour in being expelled on those two occasions in 1986 as I was never even able to report from there, given the hectic pace of my arrivals and forced departures.
I was simply one of a score of journalists who the regime welcomed one moment and then cast out a day later, before repeating the process all over again.
I remember shuddering to think what life must be like for Libyans, subject to the whims of Moammar Gadhafi or his henchmen and where one's fate can be sealed with the snap of the fingers.
My bizarre dance with the airport thugs epitomized in miniature the sense of quivering unreality around the Gadhafi regime — you never knew what you were going to get, and still don't.
But even as Gadhafi himself can seem removed from reality, he was clear on the fact that his survival rested on three key elements: vast oil wealth, brutal oppression and the willingness of Western democracies to bury their principles in order to win his favour.
When his formerly staunch ally, the Soviet Union, collapsed in 1991, Gadhafi simply changed his colours once again, whistled for new friends and the West started creeping closer, in keen anticipation of the profitable trade that oil ensured.
In fairness, it was not all about money. The U.S. and Britain also valued Gadhafi, who was never an Islamist crusader, as a hard-edged counter to al-Qaeda.
In fact, after 9/11, his reported advice to Washington on Osama bin Laden was, for Gadhafi, uncharacteristically brief: "Kill him."
The 'king of kings'
Gadhafi also knew how to play the repentance card.
When he abandoned his nuclear weapons plans in 2003, with great fanfare, international sanctions against his regime were dropped and countries now came running with new or upgraded diplomatic missions.
Among the swift, Canada, which had already begun regular ministerial visits and was proclaiming Libya "a beautiful, peaceful country — full of potential."
In the rush for Gadhafi's favours, many Western democracies were surprising willing to brush aside his past acts of sponsoring terrorism and violence abroad, as well as to overlook his horrifying record of brutal repression at home.
MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/
2011/02/23/f-vp-stewart.html
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Behind the Arab Revolt Is a Word We Dare Not Speak
http://www.truth-out.org/
behind-arab-revolt-a-word-we-dare-not-speak68036
Thursday 24 February 2011
by: John Pilger, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis
Shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, I interviewed Ray McGovern, one of an elite group of CIA officers who prepared the President's daily intelligence brief. McGovern was at the apex of the "national security" monolith that is American power and had retired with presidential plaudits. On the eve of the invasion, he and 45 other senior officers of the CIA and other intelligence agencies wrote to President George W. Bush that the "drumbeat for war" was based not on intelligence, but lies.
"It was 95 percent charade," McGovern told me.
"How did they get away with it?" I asked.
"The press allowed the crazies to get away with it."
"Who are the crazies?"
"The people running the [Bush] administration have a set of beliefs a lot like those expressed in 'Mein Kampf,'" said McGovern. "These are the same people who were referred to, in the circles in which I moved at the top, as 'the crazies.'"
I said: "Norman Mailer has written that he believes America has entered a pre-fascist state. What's your view of that?"
"Well ... I hope he's right, because there are others saying we are already in a fascist mode."
On January 22, 2011, McGovern emailed me to express his disgust at the Obama administration's barbaric treatment of the alleged whistleblower Bradley Manning and its pursuit of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.
MORE:
http://www.truth-out.org/
behind-arab-revolt-a-word-we-dare-not-speak68036
- - - -
John Pilger, Australian-born, London-based journalist, film-maker and author. For his foreign and war reporting, ranging from Vietnam and Cambodia to the Middle East, he has twice won Britain's highest award for journalism. For his documentary films, he won a British Academy Award and an American Emmy. In 2009, he was awarded Australia's human rights prize, the Sydney Peace Prize. His latest film is "The War on Democracy."
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Libya and Imperialism
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23364
By Sara Flounders Global Research, February 24, 2011 workers.org
Of all the struggles going on in North Africa and the Middle East right now, the most difficult to unravel is the one in Libya.
What is the character of the opposition to the Gadhafi regime, which reportedly now controls the eastern city of Benghazi?
Is it just coincidence that the rebellion started in Benghazi, which is north of Libya’s richest oil fields as well as close to most of its oil and gas pipelines, refineries and its LNG port? Is there a plan to partition the country?
What is the risk of imperialist military intervention, which poses the gravest danger for the people of the entire region?
Libya is not like Egypt. Its leader, Moammar al-Gadhafi, has not been an imperialist puppet like Hosni Mubarak. For many years, Gadhafi was allied to countries and movements fighting imperialism. On taking power in 1969 through a military coup, he nationalized Libya’s oil and used much of that money to develop the Libyan economy. Conditions of life improved dramatically for the people.
For that, the imperialists were determined to grind Libya down. The U.S. actually launched air strikes on Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986 that killed 60 people, including Gadhafi’s infant daughter – which is rarely mentioned by the corporate media. Devastating sanctions were imposed by both the U.S. and the U.N. to wreck the Libyan economy.
After the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 and leveled much of Baghdad with a bombing campaign that the Pentagon exultantly called “shock and awe,” Gadhafi tried to ward off further threatened aggression on Libya by making big political and economic concessions to the imperialists. He opened the economy to foreign banks and corporations; he agreed to IMF demands for “structural adjustment,” privatizing many state-owned enterprises and cutting state subsidies on necessities like food and fuel.
The Libyan people are suffering from the same high prices and unemployment that underlie the rebellions elsewhere and that flow from the worldwide capitalist economic crisis.
There can be no doubt that the struggle sweeping the Arab world for political freedom and economic justice has also struck a chord in Libya. There can be no doubt that discontent with the Gadhafi regime is motivating a significant section of the population.
However, it is important for progressives to know that many of the people being promoted in the West as leaders of the opposition are long-time agents of imperialism. The BBC on Feb. 22 showed footage of crowds in Benghazi pulling down the green flag of the republic and replacing it with the flag of the overthrown monarch King Idris – who had been a puppet of U.S. and British imperialism.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23364
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Western arms helping Libyan forces massacre anti-regime rebels, EU documents reveal
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/
africaandindianocean/libya/8350862/Western-arms-helping-Libyan-forces-massacre-anti-regime-rebels-EU-documents-reveal.html
By Praveen Swami, Diplomatic Editor 11:32PM GMT 27 Feb 2011
European and British arms firms supplied Libya with hundreds of millions of pounds of military hardware which is now being used by its armed forces to put down the revolt against Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
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60 Years Of American Arms Exports To The Muslim World
http://www.warisbusiness.com/research/
us-arms-exports-to-the-muslim-world/
Research | By Corey Pein 26.Jan.2011
I thought it would be worthwhile to append some numbers to yesterday’s post about America’s short-sighted practice of arming certain authoritarian rulers.
What follows are the official Defense Department totals of overseas arms sales agreements from 1950 through 2009. These are mainly big weapons deals between the US government and the governments of other countries; small arms sales are not included.
The table offers a simple comparison of worldwide arms sales during that time, and sales to what the Pentagon calls “the Near East and South Asia.” This super-region corresponds roughly with the Islamic world, as shown by the maps here, minus a few key countries such as Turkey and Indonesia. (The full list of countries is at the end of this post.)
The comparison reveals that in almost every year since 1970, nearly one-half of US weapons exports have gone to an area containing roughly one-fifth of the world’s population.
Few of those people have the power to choose their leaders, in no small part because their leaders are so heavily armed. Is it any wonder America’s self-image as a beacon of freedom is so out of whack with its perception abroad?
Lest you think Israel and India might be skewing the figures: Those two countries account for $31.1 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively, of the total $230 billion in arms sales in the super-region. Which leaves $198 billion for the remaining collection of monarchies, despotisms and nominal democracies.
Eventually, I’d like to create some interactive maps using the country-by-country arms trade data. But since the source document is over 500 pages of oddly formatted, spreadsheet-unfriendly text, that project may require some financial support.
US Arms Agreements Sales Since 1950:
http://www.warisbusiness.com/research/
us-arms-exports-to-the-muslim-world/
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IN Comments:
Sandeep says: January 28, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Doesn’t US$483 billion for total US arms sale to the entire world for sixty year strike as somewhat a low figure?
May be the figure would be much higher if adjusted for inflation. But nevertheless, its simply a too low a figure.
How did world ended up spending more in 1950 on arms than in 2005?
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Corey Pein says: January 28, 2011 at 1:23 pm
Look again and you’ll see that the “1950″ number actually covers 1950-1969. Nevertheless, you raise a good point. I should probably take care to contextualize these numbers a little more carefully, and reiterate—again and again—that they’re an official accounting of a subset of arms deals. They don’t include “classified” transactions. More importantly, they don’t include commercial arms exports tracked by the US State Department.
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Canadian frigate headed to Libyan waters
http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/world/
canadian_frigate_headed_to_libyan_waters/3edf2a11
01/03/2011 7:02:45 PM CBC News
QUOTE: "The CBC's James Cudmore reported the frigate could also be used as a launching platform for special forces missions. But the defence minister said he would not comment on special forces operations."
Canada is sending frigate HMCS Charlottetown to the waters off Libya amid an international buildup of military forces in response to the violent internal crackdown by Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
The Halifax-based warship will depart its home port on Wednesday to assist in the evacuation of Canadians from Libya, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced during Tuesday's question period in the House of Commons.
Speaking to reporters outside the House after Harper's announcement, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said it would take six days for the vessel and its 240 Canadian Forces personnel to reach the region.
MacKay said the ship could have a role in enforcing any future sanctions - including a blockade - if such measures are approved by either the United Nations or NATO.
The CBC's James Cudmore reported the frigate could also be used as a launching platform for special forces missions. But the defence minister said he would not comment on special forces operations.
MORE:
http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/world/
canadian_frigate_headed_to_libyan_waters/3edf2a11