Libya

[Simon]

"The Telegraph - putting to one side its declared political allegiances - sometimes gives the best overseas news and opinion coverage..."

Irrespective of politics, I was always told at the start of my career that the DT was No 1 for overseas reporting. It was the norm to find it wherever one went in British institutions abroad. I think it still is.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

...excellent Panorama on Syria just now .... some Army defectors have created a Free Syria Army ... what is being done to people by the Assad regime is seriously bad and criminal ..

[Serial_Apologist]

...excellent Panorama on Syria just now .... some Army defectors have created a Free Syria Army ... what is being done to people by the Assad regime is seriously bad and criminal ..

Er, coincidental with a v good Dispatches on 4, Oborn reporting on Bliar's undeclared earnings from his role as The Quartet's world "problem solver", and what the deals are earning one of his main funders JP Morgan as funder of companies negotiated by Bliar to "help" in "re-constructing" the economies of Gaza and the West Bank. Insofar as unrevealing, very revealing, nar mean?

[Simon]

...excellent Panorama on Syria just now .... some Army defectors have created a Free Syria Army ... what is being done to people by the Assad regime is seriously bad and criminal ..

Oh. Are we finally seeing some sense of reality here? If so, I'm delighted.

It is, in fact, little different from that which Gaddaffi was doing to people in Libya, or Hussein was doing to people in Iraq, but unfortunately, as was said above, Syria is just too strong militarily to have a crack at ousting Assad & Co. At the moment, anyway.

Let us hope that eventually the people manage it. I have heard a rumour that a couple of senior army commanders may be getting cold feet about murdering civilians: there could yet be a coup/defection to help regime change on its way. But it's from the industrial network, so it may be wishful thinking.

Sadly, whatever happens, I've little doubt that there will be many thousands of brave and patriotic Syrian martyrs killed over the forthcoming months. I'm sure that all people of good heart wish them well: it is indeed a shame that we cannot help them more.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

reality! here? never!

the Assad regime is in its second generation, and pop was there a long time .... the establishment is Alawite not Sunni and controls the army and state terror apparatus ... the gloomy picture is described here

"The crux of the problem is Syria's unique minority-dominated power structure … Alawite solidarity renders the loyalty of the internal military-security apparatus nearly inviolable, enabling Assad to mete out a level of repression far beyond the capacity of most autocrats."

from the link

[greenilex]

Interesting From Our Own Correspondent this morning about the journalist who got appendicitis outside Bani Waled and was rushed into a top-class expat clinic which has been busy for the last week or so - but no-one is going home, they like it there.

[John Skelton]

"Militias from the city of Misrata are terrorizing the displaced residents of the nearby town of Tawergha, accusing them of having committed atrocities with Gaddafi forces in Misrata, Human Rights Watch said today. The entire town of 30,000 people is abandoned – some of it ransacked and burned – and Misrata brigade commanders say the residents of Tawergha should never return."

http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/10/30/libya-militias-terrorizing-residents-loyalist-town

[teamsaint]

presumably dave and barak will be intervening , as they have before, on "humanitarian " grounds.

or perhaps they will be too busy hatching plans for Iraq...........

actually, the plans for Iraq are probably complete, trying to figure out Syria/Yemen/wherever now.

[amateur51]

presumably dave and barak will be intervening , as they have before, on "humanitarian " grounds.

or perhaps they will be too busy hatching plans for Iraq...........

actually, the plans for Iraq are probably complete, trying to figure out Syria/Yemen/wherever now.

That's Iran, I'd say

But is Barak a reference to Barak Obama or Ehud Barak?

Could be either

Or both

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/8873009/Ehud-Barak-refuses-to-rule-out-military-strike-against-Iran.html

[teamsaint]

That's Iran, I'd say

But is Barak a reference to Barak Obama or Ehud Barak?

Could be either

Or both

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...inst-Iran.html

er yes sorry, my typo, meant Iran of course.
Barak Obama, bu then he's just a puppet (or is it muppet) anyway.
Hard to keep up with the speed of the invasions now.

[John Skelton]

"'Cleansed' Libyan town spills its terrible secrets."

"Many cities and communities suffered terribly in the war. Tawergha and Gaddafi's home town of Sirte, which was devastated by heavy shelling, are just two examples.

But they have no voice in the new Libya, as they were on the losing side."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16051349