As dawn broke Sunday in Libya, revolutionaries were telling Aljazeera Arabic that much of the capital was being taken over by supporters of the February 17 Youth revolt. Some areas, such as the suburb of Tajoura to the east and districts in the eastrn part of the city such as Suq al-Juma, Arada, the Mitiga […]
Qaddafi Rule Collapsing as Rebels Take Brega, Zlitan
The rebel forces are racking up an impressive series of wins, decisively taking Zlitan, Surman and Brega on Friday into Saturday morning. Qaddafi is increasingly surrounded and cut off from fuel and other supplies. NATO has visited substantial attrition on his heavy weaponry and armor, which he had used to attack his own people. Dissidents […]
Obama demands Regime Change in Syria
President Obama, along with the European Union, called on Thursday for Syrian President Bashar al-Asad to step down. At the same time, the US announced severe economic and financial sanctions against Syria, essentially cutting the Syrian banking system off from access to US banks, and forbidding American citizens and firms from doing business with the […]
Is Qaddafi Really going to Flee to Tunisia?
NBC News is reporting that US intelligence officials are telling it that Muammar Qaddafi is considering fleeing into exile in neighboring Tunisia. This in the wake of the dramatic advances made by Free Libya forces, who now control about 2/3s of the country, and who are in a position to cut the capital off from […]
Top Ten Reasons Radical Jihadis shouldn’t have Threatened David Letterman
Top Ten Reasons Radical Jihadis shouldn’t have Threatened David Letterman 10. David is The Man 9. You really don’t want David relentlessly making fun of you in revenge; ask Madonna. 8. David has survived that thing on his head for years, he can survive some fool wearing pajamas using his mother’s computer to threaten comedians […]
Campbell: Egypt’s Spring Becomes a Long Hot Summer
Dennis Campbell writes in a guest column for Informed Comment : Egypt’s Spring Becomes a Long Hot Summer Democracy is messy. Freedom is contagious. For 18 days in January and February, the world sat on the edge of its seats watching an Egyptian people yearning to breathe free. The overthrow of Hosni Mubarak by a […]
Qaddafi Explores Routes to Flee Libya as Rebels Advance
Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi is ill and is seeking a way to flee the country, according to the Arabic news site Albawaba.com. This report is plausible if only because Qaddafi’s performance on Sunday, in which he released a jumbled and mostly inaudible speech to state media for broadcast, raised questions as to whether he is […]
Historical Question for Governor Perry
Dear Rick Perry: I am a historian and if you will indulge me, I’d just like to ask you a question about historical parallels. So if we were living in Germany’s Weimar Republiic and it was 1930, and a politician warned a central banker that his policies were treasonous to the nation, and threatened to […]
Tripoli Surrounded, Cut Off
Aljazeera Arabic is reporting directly from Zawiya (to the west of Tripoli along the Mediterranean), where Free Libya forces have liberated some 80 percent of the city, all but the eastern areas and the refinery. People in most of Zawiya look pretty happy about the end of their ordeal. Stories are coming out about arbitrary […]