Why we will do nothing about Libya

Unless you are living under a rock and if so thanks for coming out to read this blog, you probably know that the most recent of the countries to be having a little revolt is Libya.  A country run by the ever highly entertaining, dangerous, insane bastard by the name of  Muammar Gaddafi or Khadhafi, it seems like each news organization picks a new way to spell his name.  The link below will give you a little background on this madman and his past atrocities which include sponsoring the terrorist who destroyed a flight over Lockerbie, Scotland which included killing one of my friend’s siblings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaddafi

Without a doubt Gaddafi is a bastard who in seeing what was happening to Saddam Hussein decided to give up his WMD programs in order to pacify the Bush Administration.  He’s insane, not stupid.  He bought himself a place outside of the spotlight and stayed tucked away in his little corner until the recent uprising.  Now, his people, seeing the successes in Tunisia and Egypt decided it was time to take the tyrant down.  However Libya is not Egypt and Gaddafi has not been above hiring mercenaries, killing civilians or using airpower and his military to subdue his citizens.

So today both the EU ministers and the NATO Alliance folks sat around and debated what they might do.  Of course they will do nothing without a mandate by the United Nations.  The fact is, that by time they get around to seriously considering doing anything Gaddafi will quite literally have crushed the opposition.  Libya is small potatoes in the oil business, a small country that accounts for only 1-2% of the world’s oil supply so in the end, unless the French oil companies doing business there can truly pressure NATO, we will watch the Libyan people get crushed.  Gaddafi and his family know this and they are so sure that they are brutally bombing, torturing and killing their citizens to put down this revolt.  As usual, in order to see what drives the events of history, we need look no further than the financial impact on the military industrial complex and Libya just doesn’t register a large enough hit.

Why you should care about protests in Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt

Several weeks ago there was a governmental overthrow that occurred in Tunisia and it is easy to write off Tunisia as a tiny country that has no impact on life in America, more about Tunisia at the following link:

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/16/132975274/Social-Media-Gets-Credit-For-Tunisian-Overthrow

Then there were protests in Yemen and we’ve talked about Yemen before, first a post about the recent protests:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12295864

And what we’ve discussed about Yemen previously:

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/the-next-big-terror-threat/

Finally, unless you’ve been in a coma for the last week you probably know that there are massive protests going on in the country of Egypt.  The protestors on the street, in what have been relatively peaceful protests so far; seem to want one thing, Hosni Mubarak out of office.  Mubarak has been the ruler of Egypt for nearly thirty years and the people of Egypt are demanding a change, you can read more about Mubarak at the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosni_Mubarak

At this point a natural question arises were the neocons correct about the Middle East?  Are we seeing the results of the policy of forcing democracy on other countries?  An interesting discussion on this topic is available at the following link:

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/01/30/matthews-were-neocons-right-about-middle-east-was-bush-better-equippe

Personally, I don’t see a stable democracy in Iraq or in Afghanistan, and there are still plenty of non-democratic governments in the Middle East including Iran and Saudi Arabia.  What seems to be occurring in the streets of the Arab world is not related to Islam and democracy but a very simple issue, basic human survival and the gap between those who have power, money and control and those who are struggling to survive.  Unemployment, poverty, and lack of education and opportunity is what the people are calling for in the streets of Tunisia, Yemen and especially Egypt.

So why should you care?  You are safe at home and watching Egypt on CNN, so really why should you care?  Ok, first this can impact our economy, in a minor way if Egypt’s economy generally melts down without too much violence.  If however things in Egypt really disintegrate and there is an interruption in travel through the Suez Canal, which is controlled by Egypt, then it could be a very big deal.  That interruption would cause oil coming out of the region to travel an additional 6,000 miles around Africa and that will impact oil prices.  You may have noticed gas prices creeping up recently and I think you can count on the creep continuing with what’s going on in Egypt.  If it really goes south there could be a significant increase in gas prices and as we have seen that impacts prices across the board in the US.

However, I’ll give you an even bigger reason to worry about what’s going on in these countries.  The issues that are being taken on in Egypt, poverty, education, unemployment, and the prosperity gap, do not only exist in these countries.  Looking at Greece, Spain, the UK and the United States this issue exists everywhere and is getting worse.  My friends, there is a limit to how long a person can suffer, can watch his/her children suffer while others have control of his/her life.  At some point people will say no more and express themselves, and then, all bets are off.  So why should you care, I’ll tell you, the country you live in, is not as different from Egypt as you might like to think.