It's getting quite silly now. Some weeks ago, the UN led by the US and other Western allies intervened against the violence set upon civilians by Libyan forces loyal to Gaddaffi's government. To the outside world, it was apparent this set the scene for American and British revenge for the 1983 Lockerbie bombing and the farcical handover by the Scottish government of the only guy ever tried in court for the bombing back to the Libyans for compassionate reasons. The powers with the big planes came round to reassure everyone that only military targets would be, well, targeted. It hasn't been that straightforward has it? Apparently, there have been civilian causalities and sadly, this includes Gaddaffi's grandkids and his son. As a result, there's renewed anger against NATO who is leading the intervention. This reminds me of the time when NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Serbian crisis of the late 90s, killing 3 embassy staff and ensnaring the wrath of a billion. So much for laser-guided missiles and satellite imagery. Innocents still die. And the rebel forces are no closer to victory either. (Mentioning rebel forces made me think of Star Wars) This could be a protracted engagement no one except the US and UK wanted to be part of in the first place. Now the sphere of Arab uprising has spread to Syria, another US enemy. There, things have been just as brutal as we've seen or heard of in Egypt and Libya. But what is the West with their democratic idealism going to do about it in the face of the ever-growing mess they've added on to in Libya? Attack? Put it to a UN vote?
Is Yemen next? In the same vein, why haven't they done squat about Somalia, safe haven for pirates galore? And of course nothing's been done about the most famous dictatorship in the world, North Korea. Hypocrisy, maybe. Fear, quite likely.
The right thing to do is sometimes very painful and many are asking if military might was the right course of action here. I guess we can't always do the right thing and sometimes change has to come from within. It always gets tricky when someone else helps out. How messy can it get? Will the help try to take control? What level of gratitude is considered enough when it works out fine? What if it doesn't work out fine, who's to blame?There are quite a few examples of US intervention that hasn't quite gone to plan, most famously the Iraq war. So many soldiers have died, the place is still in a shambles and no one seems to really care any more.
I'm wondering if the parents of these kids flying about in their NATO fighter aircraft worried that their precious little ones (they always are in parents' eyes) are gonna lose their lives for people who may not even care. It's possibly debilitating-ly scary for them.
Not sure if we picked the right fight here. Although I used 'we', I am not sure how the SG rep at the UN voted.
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