Some African Union leaders now miss Qadhafi’s largesse as Libyan Investment Authority assets are being returned to the new Libyan government.
Qadhafi Family’s Money Confiscated, Accounts Frozen
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Libya
Body Counts in Libya Could Prove Embarrassing
Most of the deaths in Libya occurred after the UN Security Council authorized the NATO sorties.
Risks for Dark-Skinned Libyans
Racism in North Africa has a long and complex history. In Libya, racial injustice has reached obscene proportions since the uprising against Qaddafi began in February 2011. Throughout the past year, dark-skinned Libyans and economic migrants have been subjected to torture, beatings, killings, rape, robbery, arbitrary arrests and, in several instances, horrific public lynchings.
In the Aftermath of Libya: a Chance to Define “Responsibility to Protect”
Responsibility to protect (R2P) must focus on persuading militias to lay down their arms and commit to a political process.
Libya for Libyans
I write in late December 2011, as the United States finally withdraws combat troops from Iraq, and the likely Republican nominee for president in 2012, Mitt Romney, criticizes President Obama for his “precipitous” withdrawal. Nearly nine years in Iraq in a disastrous war of choice is apparently not enough for dead-ender hawks like Romney, who, undaunted by the long debacle, continue to insist that the United States should leave up to 30,000 troops in the country–perhaps in partial fulfillment of John McCain’s suggestion that the United States remain in Iraq for 100 years.
Libya and the New Warmongering
The NATO intervention in Libya is likely to produce a more militarized and insecure world, and this will be its most enduring legacy. The military “success”in Libya has increased the possibility of new wars. There is a widespread perception that NATO has achieved an easy victory against Gaddafi, and the resulting sense of hubris augments the risk of future military actions against Iran, Syria, and other possible targets. Politicians in NATO countries surely welcome the public distraction that war provides, especially in the context of the world-wide economic slump, and this may prove an additional motivation for new military action.
Arab Islamists Are Here to Stay
The hysteria of the West about the Arab awakening turning into an Arab Islamist nightmare is reaching full-blown proportions. The United States and Israel, self-appointed referees of democracy in the region despite their long-running support for the Middle East’s most corrupt and authoritarian regimes, are crying foul.
The incitement? A series of victories by Islamist parties in Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt. Yet, given the history of Western support for governments that simultaneously quashed secular opposition movements and persecuted Islamists, the popularity of moderate Islamist parties should come as little surprise—nor should it be cause for concern.
Arab Spring Takes Back Seat to U.S. Military Aid for Egypt
There’s no accommodation that President Obama can make that will satisfy Americans hawkish for Israel.
We Have a Responsibility to Protect Responsibility to Protect
The principles of R2P — the U.N. doctrine of Responsibility to Protect — were trampled on by the United States and NATO in the Libya intervention.
Rebuilding Libya
Muammar Gaddafi’s misuse of governmental instruments and assets for over 42 years has left a gaping political vacuum, a severely impaired civil service, and a virtually non-existent civil society in Libya. Decades of intentional manipulation of state resources and a gross mismanagement of oil revenues have led to immeasurable social exclusion. According to the UN, over 40 percent of Libya’s population of 6 million lived below the poverty line under Gaddafi and reaped no direct benefit from its monumental oil riches.