Thread: Libya, Syria and the Road to World War III

Head of Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation says Moscow to supply Damascus with MiG-29 fighters, truck-mounted Pantsir short-range surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery systems

Earlier this week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Syria – the first visit to Damascus by a Moscow ruler since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution – and oversaw talks on Russia's possible assistance in building a nuclear power plant in Syria.

Ynet article.
Russia to sell Syria warplanes, air defense systems - Israel News, Ynetnews

This is a blatant, harsh shakedown!


Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has urged the European Union to pay Libya "at least €5bn (£4.1bn) a year" for Tripoli to stop the waves of clandestine African migrants who sail from the country's Mediterranean shores in smugglers' boats toward Western Europe.

Otherwise, Colonel Gaddafi warned during a speech in Italy, Europe "could turn into Africa" with millions of immigrants.

The Italian government's practice of returning those found at sea to Libya without screening them first for asylum has been criticised by human rights groups and Catholic Church officials.

As part of a treaty with Italy, Libya agreed to crack down on the thousands of African migrants who set off from Libyan shores for its former colonial master. Premier Silvio Berlusconi's key partner in his conservative coalition is the anti-immigrant Northern League party.

Gaddafi asks EU for €5bn to stop African migrants - Europe, World - The Independent

Is Tunisia a Zionist coup to take full control of the oil, gas of Algeria, Libya

Feb. 23, 2011 9:57 AM ET

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish tabloid Expressen says Libya's ex-justice minister claims Moammar Gadhafi personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people in 1988.

Read more here:
Report: Ex-minister says Gadhafi ordered Lockerbie - Associated Press

Last updated at 4:08 PM on 23rd February 2011

Libya's former justice minister claims Colonel Gaddafi personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing which killed 270 people in 1988.

Swedish tabloid Expressen says Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who has just resigned from his cabinet post in protest at the violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations, told their correspondent in Libya: 'I have proof that Gaddafi gave the order about Lockerbie.'

He told Expressen Gaddafi gave the order to Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, which killed all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground.

Read more here:
Libyan leader 'personally ordered' Lockerbie bombing, says former Justice minister | Mail Online

Bull.

I'm pretty sure the Jews do this deliberately as a token of disrespect. It can't be that hard to translate a name from Arabic.

Gadhafi, Gaddafi, Qaddafi, Khadafy, or Khadafi?

February 24, 2011 10:58 AM

As the crisis in Libya has intensified we've been treated to several variations on the spelling of the leader of Libya. So what, exactly, is the proper spelling of Colonel Crazy's name?
If you use the Associated Press as your standard-bearer you should use the spelling Moammar Gadhafi.

When Moammar Gadhafi told the world he was a changed man, some leaders were skeptical. Others, like Britain's Tony Blair, were quicker to see the benefits of rapprochement with the oil-rich nation.

The Washington Post is using Moammar Gaddafi as their preferred spelling.

Moammar Gaddafi blamed the revolt in his country on Osama Bin Laden, in what came across as a desperate plea to citizens Thursday to abandon their 10-day-old rebellion.

The New York Times is using Muammar el-Qaddafi and even acknowledging his position in the military.

Thousands of mercenary and irregular forces struck back at a tightening circle of rebellions around the capital, Tripoli, on Thursday, trying to fend off an uprising against the 40-year rule of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, who blamed the violence on “hallucinogenic” drugs and Osama bin Laden.

The Boston Globe is using Moammar Khadafy.

Whatever ambivalence may have colored President Obama’s cautious response to uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain, he should offer full-throated support for Libyans who are risking their lives to shake off dictator Moammar Khadafy.

Agence France-Presse is using Moamer Khadafi when writing about the Libyan dictator.

The London School of Economics has cut ties with the Libyan leader's son, Seif al-Islam Kadhafi, after a violent crackdown on protests in Libya, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday. A leading academic at the university who knew Moamer Khadafi's son when he studied there said he was "deeply disturbed" by the former student's condemnation of anti-regime protests.

.....

The Excuses....

Over the past couple of days, top government officials from both the United States and the EU have been openly discussing the possibility of military intervention in Libya. In fact, it has seemed like there has been a full court press in the mainstream media to sway public opinion toward supporting a potential invasion. We are being told that we simply cannot stand by as Libyan civilians die. We are being told that this would be a “humanitarian” mission. We are being told that this would not be like Iraq or Afghanistan. Even now, the U.S. military is moving the USS Enterprise and other warships closer to Libya in case they are “needed”. Other nations are also sending warships into the Mediterranean and are preparing for military action. It really does appear that authorities in the United States and Europe really are serious about potentially going into Libya. But is there really any way that the United States can really justify getting involved in another war in the Middle East? Will the American people ever be convinced that an invasion of Libya by the U.S. military is a good idea?
Fortunately, so far it appears that the mainstream media propaganda is not working. A recent Rasmussen poll found that a whopping 67 percent of Americans do not want the U.S. to get more involved in the unrest going on in Arab countries and only 17 percent of Americans do want the U.S. to get more directly involved.
But that doesn’t mean that top politicians in the U.S. and in Europe are not going to continue to try to change our minds.
British Prime Minister David Cameron sure sounds like he is ready to go to war….

“If Col Gaddafi uses military force against his own people, the world cannot stand by.”

On Monday, Hillary Clinton made it clear that the U.S. government considers military action to be very much “on the table”….

“Nothing is off the table so long as the Libyan Government continues to threaten and kill Libyans.”

It is almost as if they want us to believe that their hands are being forced.
Of course nobody in the mainstream media seems to be bringing up the fact that the United States has stood idly by and watched millions and millions of Africans be slaughtered in bloody civil wars and genocides over the past couple of decades.
For decades the U.S. has looked upon the suffering of millions of Africans with indifference but now they are trying to convince us that it is a “moral imperative” that we intervene in the civil war in Libya.
It is funny how things can change when oil is at stake. Libya is the biggest producer of oil in Africa and that makes it a very important nation to the global elite.
Fortunately, it appears that the American people are starting to get sick and tired of sending our young men and women off to the Middle East to fight these endless wars.
American blood should never be spent cheaply. Each American life is precious, and our military men and women should never be sacrificed unless there is a darn good reason for it.
Well, right now the global elite are working overtime to try to create some “good reasons” for going into Libya.
The following are 14 potential justifications for an invasion of Libya by the U.S. military that are currently being floated in the mainstream media….

#1 “We Can’t Stand Aside And Watch Gaddafi Kill His Own People”
#2 “It Would Just Be A Humanitarian Mission”
#3 “Libya Is Torturing Prisoners“
#4 “The Libyan Rebels Will Not Be Able To Take Down Gaddhafi With Our Help”

#5 “U.S. Interests Are Being Threatened”
#6 “Gaddafi Is Crazy”
#7 “Gaddafi Has Weapons Of Mass Destruction“
#8 “Gaddafi Will Use Chemical Weapons If We Don’t Stop Him”

#9 “Gaddafi Has “1,000 Metric Tons Of Uranium Yellowcake“
#10 “European Energy Companies Are Deeply Invested In Libyan Oil And Gas Fields”
#11 “Millions of Dollars Worth Of Infrastructure Will Be Destroyed If We Don’t Intervene”
#12 “The Crisis In Libya Is Bad For The Global Economy”

#13 “Someone Has To Protect The Oil”

#14 “We Have Got To Go Into Libya To Keep Al-Qaeda From Getting A Foothold”

Al-Qaeda?

Really?
Yes, they are being trotted out once again as a reason for us to invade someone.
A recent article in Time Magazine made the following claim….

“U.S. counterterrorism officials have noted the disproportionate number of Libyans turning up in the ranks of al-Qaeda both in northern Africa and in Iraq.”

You can always count on Time Magazine for some good government propaganda.
Hopefully the American people will not fall for this nonsense.
But it looks like it is not just going to be the U.S. military that is going to be involved. This is already being framed as a “NATO operation”, and we are being told that a direct invasion will probably not happen immediately.
Rather, we are told that a “no fly zone” would likely be set up first and special forces troops may be sent in to help “advise” the rebel forces.
Well, the truth is that the moment that we shoot down one Libyan plane or we insert one U.S. solider into the country we are at war.
In fact, the Pakistan Observer is reporting that hundreds of “defense advisers” from the United States, the U.K. and France have already landed in Libya and are helping to train rebel forces.
Let us hope that the Pakistan Observer report and other similar reports in the international media are not true.

The American people are sick and tired of using the U.S. military as the police of the world. The Libyan civil war belongs to the Libyan people and it should stay that way.
No mater how it is justified, if the U.S. military does go into Libya the Libyan people and most of the rest of the world are going to deeply resent it.

14 Potential Justifications For An Invasion Of Libya By The U.S. Military That Are Currently Being Floated In The Mainstream Media

The Real Motivations...?

NEW YORK -- U.S. President Barack Obama's executive order freezing $30 billion in assets of Muammar Gaddafi, his family and the Libyan government could impact several U.S. banks and private equity firms, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and the Carlyle Group. The Obama administration described it as the largest seizure of foreign funds in U.S. history.
The oil-rich country's sovereign wealth fund, the Libyan Investment Authority, controls at least $70 billion in fixed assets and reserves. It has invested the bulk of its money in European banks and businesses, including Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis, Italian bank Unicredit, the Pearson publishing empire, Italian defense firm Finmeccanica SpA, an oil-production sharing agreement with BP and even a slice of the Italian soccer team Juventus.

In the wake of the Bush administration's lifting of sanctions against Libya in 2004, following Gaddafi's agreement to give up weapons of mass destruction, American businesses and private equity firms also came flocking to the North African country to court government and LIA officials. As The Huffington Post reported last week, a broad coalition of U.S. oil companies, defense manufacturers and businesses lobbied the U.S. government to repair relations with the longtime international pariah and to take advantage of business opportunities in the country.
The secretive Libyan Investment Authority has reportedly invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Goldman Sachs Asset Management funds, including a loan fund designed to invest in new hedge funds set up by the Kuwait Investment Authority. Goldman Sachs already has a relationship with Libya -- in 2008, Goldman was the first U.S. bank to get a contract with the country following the removal of sanctions, when it was hired by Libya's central bank to provide information on its behalf to credit rating agencies. A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs did not return calls seeking comment.

The Libyan government, including LIA, has also banked with Citigroup, according to several sources familiar with the matter. A spokesperson for Citigroup declined to comment on the bank's interactions with the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which is in charge of carrying out Obama's order regarding Libyan assets.
JPMorgan Chase reportedly handles much of the LIA's cash and some of the Libyan central bank's reserves. The summer after then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Gaddafi in 2008, LIA gave "mandates to some of the international banks, including JPMorgan to manage their funds in the interbank money markets, according to Vanity Fair.
The LIA fund's general consultant has been Mercer Investment Consulting, a unit of Marsh & McClennan, the global risk consulting and advisory firm. A spokesperson for Marsh declined comment. The fund set up a $2 billion investment fund with the Qatar Investment Authority to invest in Libya, Qatar and Western markets, which could complicate the effort to freeze the LIA's assets.

Two years ago, the Carlyle Group's co-founder and managing director, David Rubenstein, and Blackstone chief executive Steven Schwarzman traveled to the Libyan capital of Tripoli to help celebrate the wedding of Mustafa Zarti, the deputy director of the LIA, in a massive tent set up on the outskirts of the city, reported the Financial Times. And when Gaddafi's son and longtime likely successor, Saif al-Islam, visited New York in November 2008, Schwarzman hosted a lunch for him at the Blackstone CEO's Park Avenue apartment. The younger Gaddafi was also honored on that trip by Carlyle's retired chairman, former defense secretary Frank Carlucci, who hosted a dinner for him in a private room at the City Club.
Thanks to the efforts of Rubenstein, who first traveled to Libya in 2006, the Carlyle Group received funds from the LIA. A spokesman for Carlyle declined comment. A spokesman for Blackstone told The Huffington Post, "We have no investments in Libya. They have no investments with us."
In addition, several U.S. banks each manage up to $500 million of the secretive fund's assets, according to a 2010 diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks that reveals details of a January meeting between the LIA's Mohamed Layas and the U.S. ambassador in Tripoli at LIA's office overlooking the Mediterranean.
"We have $32 billion in liquidity, mostly in bank deposits that will give us good long-term returns," Layas told the ambassador, according to the cable. "He explained that several American banks are each managing $300-500 million of LIA's funds ... He noted that LIA's primary investments are in London, in banking and residential and commercial real estate."

LIA has placed several hundred million dollars of assets with FM Capital Partners, a London-based firm set up in 2009 by former Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan asset manager Frederic Marino, according to an FM Capital statement and British news reports.
The LIA has historically shunned investing in the United States due to concerns that politics overly complicate U.S. market movements. "The only market which is unfortunately not a pleasant market is the United States. It's a very active market, but it is full of politics and unpleasant actions. In Europe, politics is not very much interfering in trade," Libya's former prime minister Shokri Ghanem told Bloomberg TV in 2008.
But the LIA's Layas was upbeat about the prospects for U.S. deals during a recent visit to Washington, where he met with U.S. company representatives and the Export-Import Bank. "Some of the advantages that Layas saw the U.S. having over European competitors for contracts in Libya are the weakness of the dollar compared to the euro, as well as U.S. access to more advanced technology," according to the WikiLeaks cable, which also revealed Layas' claims that the LIA had turned down investment opportunities in schemes run by jailed financiers Allen Stanford and Bernie Madoff.
The LIA is unusually secretive compared to other sovereign wealth funds, analysts say, and it is difficult to sketch a more complete list of U.S. companies that have received the fund's assets. Several months ago, during the bankruptcy proceedings of Boston Generating LLC, it was revealed in court documents that the power conglomerate had contacted the LIA about selling the fund some of its assets. And another of Gaddafi's sons, Al-Saadi, invested $100 million in a movie production fund, Natural Selection, that is producing "The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer," starring Mickey Rourke, Bloomberg News reports.

About $300 million of the LIA's investments were handled by the now-defunct financial-services firm Lehman Brothers, but the LIA's Layas claimed that the fund had "a legal disagreement with Lehman Brothers due to a major investment that was 'mismanaged.'"
And though the fund prefers to invest in commercial property and real estate in London, it has not done the same in the United States, according to Geoff D. Porter, a political risk and security consultant specializing in North Africa and the Sahara. "In general, U.S. investors are wary of the Libyans and Libya is wary of the U.S. -- they don't want their assets attached just like Americans are wary of political risk in Libya," Porter said. "Most firms, such as Blackstone, are well aware of the reputational risks and are wary of the LIA."

Libya's Billions Invested In U.S. Private Equity, Big Banks

Warning ; If you notice all the Jew Names in the preceeding post ; then You Are An Anti-Semite !


Repeat after me ;

Jews have nothing to do with money ....

Jews have nothing to do with War ....

Jews have nothing to do with selfish Greed....

It's just evil White Bigots smearing the poor jews....

The negroes in Libya are supposedly getting lynched by the rebels.

And you guys say the Arabs aren't White...

Libya - The American South as it once was (if nobody gets it, this is a pun on the Croatian tourism commercial on CNN)

A couple of years ago Mr. Gaddafi sent troops to his southern border to restrict the flow of sub-Saharan "refugees" coming into Libya en route to Europe. A lot of the "undocumented immigrants" decided to stay in Libya and mooch. Sound familiar?

When I read of this action, I questioned at the time just how long he would be allowed to live and/or retain power.

I don't think this is true. I don't this the government of Libya, even its leader, would willingly accept any compromise with anti-Gaddafi (or however you'd like to spell his name) rebels.

----------------

The Libyan government accepts a plan by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to seek a negotiated solution to the ongoing conflict in the North African nation, a Chavez spokesman told Reuters.

The Venezuelan plan would involve a commission from Latin America, Europe and the Middle East, along with talks between Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi and opposition forces.

"Libya accepts the proposal to work for a negotiated end to the conflict accompanied by an international commission. Venezuela will continue its contacts in the Arab world and elsewhere to find formulas for peace in Libya," Venezuea's Information Minister Andres Izzara tells Reuters.

[...]

Libyan Government Reportedly Accepts Venezuelan Plan to End Conflict - FoxNews.com

WASHINGTON — President Obama called again on Thursday for the immediate resignation of the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, and said he had authorized American military airlifts to help transport refugees fleeing from Libya back to their home countries in the region.

“The U.S. and the entire world continues to be outraged by the appalling violence against the Libyan people,” Mr. Obama said after a White House meeting with President Felipe Calderón of Mexico. “Muammar el-Qaddafi has lost the legitimacy to lead, and he must leave.”

Mr. Obama said he had directed the Pentagon to prepare for a full range of possible military options in connection with the crisis in Libya. Asked about whether the United States would support sending warplanes over the country to keep the Libyan air force from attacking rebels, creating what is known as a no-flight zone, the president said that was one of the options being considered.

[...]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/wo...er=rss&emc=rss

Refugees should never be allowed in White nations.

There should be an international agreement so that Third World political refugees can move to equally-poor Third World nations that will accept them.

I would not mind the US paying foreign aid (or bribes) to a few Third World nations so that they accept refuges. This would be about a thousand times cheaper than letting the Third Worlders into the US.

That way, White nations no longer have some phony moral "obligation" to absorb a tidal wave of brown people from the Third World, who claim to be refugees.

Israel Company Recruiting Gadhafi Mercenaries – Report

An Israeli company is recruiting mercenaries to support Moammar Gadhafi’s efforts to suppress an uprising against his regime, an Israeli news site said Tuesday.
Citing Egyptian sources, the Hebrew-language news site Inyan Merkazi said the company was run by retired Israeli army commanders.

The next link seems pretty screwy to me, then again...these people are all related in some way.

Gadhafi the Jew

During a discussion on Israel Radio they just dropped this little tidbit. There is a Jew left in Libya. His name is Muammar Gadhafi.
- "You won't believe this...Gadhafi's mother was Jewish", 22 February 2011

Of his early life little is known, and even less is certain. He was born, it is said, in Sirte, a desert town, the son of a goatherd. Other versions suggest that his real father may have been French, and his mother Jewish.
- "Colonel Gaddafi is turning into a mellow megolamaniac"(comments), The Telegraph, 13 June 2009

Israel may ask U.S. for $20 billion more in security aid, Barak says

Defense Minister tells Wall Street Journal that Israel must be on guard considering the unrest sweeping the Arab world, adding increased aid could help make Israel a 'stabilizer in such a turbulent region'.

I burst out laughing when I read that, of course the above stories and this are not connected...no, no chance of Israel stirring up trouble, playing both ends against the middle for fun and profit, cleaning up a tidy 20 Billion from that old sucker Uncle Sam and still "Gettin their War on" with Iran.
Seriously though, I'll be very interested to see if they get the money.

Let's speculate on what the mercenary contract might be worth to an Israeli PMC.
What's a mercenary worth? Let's say US $1000 a day for western trained and combat experienced men and we'll assume that Africans being Africans they've signed on for half that.
So 25 million a day in wages...but, as anyone who works in labour hire or for a temp agency knows the company charges you out for a lot more than your hourly rate, usually double that but most often more.
So the most basic "Package" is going to be in the order of 50 million a day, but it would be padded with all sorts of extras, logistics like provisioning and transport, equipment, ammunition, cas-evac, intelligence.
The sky's really the limit.
How long have these rumours been about?
A fortnight?
So 14x50=$700million, it could easily be double that or more.
So brazen.

By Nick Collins 7:30AM GMT 08 Mar 2011

Links between Libya and two further British universities have been disclosed days after Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics, resigned over a £1.5 million donation from a charity run by Saif al-Islam, Colonel Gaddafi's son.

Read more here:
Two further universities linked to Libya - Telegraph

Qaddafi's latest gambit: Convince the European public that they really want him to stick around, with all the stability that entails.
He spoke today to TV network France 24.
This quote (via Reuters) certainly stands out: "There are millions of blacks who could come to the Mediterranean to cross to France and Italy, and Libya plays a role in security in the Mediterranean."

Qaddafi Warns France: If I Go Down, You Will Be Flooded With "Millions Of Blacks"