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Clay Claiborne on the Daily Kos
Libyans are Spilling Their Blood for Us All! - a reprint
Thu, 03/17/2011 - 17:28I first published this diary three weeks ago. I really have nothing to add except that what I predicted then, that if massive violence against the protest were to succeed in Libya it could be a very dark turning point, already seems to be born out by events this week in Yemen and Bahrain.
These struggle is not lost yet and I am hearten by the fact that in spite Gaddafi's bragging and apparent success on the road, General Abdel Fattah Younes has come over the rebels with 8,000 soldiers of which 3,000 are special forces. It's hard to find much good information about what is really happening on the ground, something of a fog actually. But this former Interior Minister strikes me as possibly a patriot but certainly not a fool. So I don't think he would come over to the side of the rebellion this late in the game if he thought all was lost.
The brute force approach to popular uprisings is now being tried in earnest in Libya. In using artillery, aircraft and navy on peaceful protesters Colonel Gaddafi is attempt to break the protest movements with massive violence.
If he is successful, this type of violent response to popular uprising will almost certainly be used elsewhere with all the terrible consequences for humanity. If he fails and is hopefully executed for his war crimes, the reigning powers around the world will favor more peaceful methods of resolving contradictions.
Are We Siting on the Edge of a Nuclear Disaster?
Sun, 03/13/2011 - 18:40It is now reported that 7 out 10 nuclear reactors in the Fukushima complex are now in some level of trouble. So it doesn't take a rocket scientist or a nuclear engineer to conclude that these nuclear plants were not designed safe enough for entirely predictable geologic events. I am neither and it's been 40+ years since freshman physics but I can do the math. 7 out of 10 means that it wasn't a 'freak accident' or 'human error' or 'freak double failure'. 7 out of 10 means there is a fundamental design or philosophy flaw in the creation of these nuclear power plants.
They have failed the real world test.
Any release of man-made radiation into the environment does irreparable damage to the environment. I will allow that a tiny release does 'insignificant' damage but I challenge the nuclear experts at DKos to correct me on this.
Also yesterday I heard a Japanese nuclear engineer on NHK say that nuclear plants were designed to survive an earthquake of a given magnitude but only a single event, the effects of aftershocks weren't considered! He seemed to be talking about all modern nuclear plants, not just those in Japan. Please tell me that's not true. I don't have to check with Lucy to know that earthquakes are quite often accompanied by aftershocks. If the standard to which Fukushima was engineered didn't call for the ability to survive at least a 9.0, and a number of aftershocks in the 7.0 range and a tsunami, it wasn't designed to be safe in entirely predictable real world events.
Now I have also read somewhere that San Onofre, positioned on the beach between Los Angeles and San Diego is designed to withstand at least a 7.0! Please tell me that's not true because I think that if it's not designed to survive at least a 9.0, and a number of aftershocks in the 7.0 range and a tsunami, we are sitting on the edge of a nuclear disaster.
Verizon's Rebate Challenge
Sat, 03/12/2011 - 11:35 Verizon Denies my Rebate! Am I dealing with Crooks and Liars?
So many people have been telling me that I had to get a smart phone that I decided to get one when my Verizon contract qualified me for a discount on a new phone after January 23, 2011.
The evening of January 30th I went on-line to Verizon Wireless, logged in to my account and went shopping. I picked out a Motorola Droid X. The website said that with the $100 mail-in rebate they were offering me, this phone would cost me $169 plus tax. I understand how mail-in rebates are suppose to work and I know that the tax is charged on the full price of the phone so I was not surprised when the Verizon website asked me to charge $325.56 on my credit card.
Who's running Egypt?
Fri, 03/11/2011 - 15:47“The exceptional circumstances and putting the Constitution on hold are no grounds for dictatorship rule or and tyranny,” said Khaled Ali, head of The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) in a statement yesterday. On Thursday, 10 March 2011 ECESR filed a lawsuit against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) on behalf of named plaintiff, journalist Rasha Azeb and others. The lawsuit seeks to put an end to the trial of civilians by military courts. Azeb, who writes for al-Fagr newspaper, was one of six journalist assaulted in Tahrir Square and then taken before a military court.
Formally it is the army, meaning the SCAF that holds power for a 6 month interim period after Mubarak. The real struggle for power that is going on now will determine the success or failure of the Egyptian revolution. This lawsuit is just one small fight in the revolution's many arenas. Much has been accomplished but much remains to be done. Most of the forces that empowered the old regime are still entrenched in the Egyptian military and civilian society and they will coalesce into a new form of the old tyranny if they are not throughly rooted out.
Amonpour Plays Softball with Gaddafi
Tue, 03/01/2011 - 12:12On ABC News This Week with Christiane Amonpour Sunday, February 27, 2011 she went to Libya. She interviewed Saif Gaddafi, the so-called reformist son of Muammar Gaddafi. She failed to ask the hard questions or confront him with the hard evidence.
It was a soft sell job. IMHO they are trying to position Saif Gaddafi to replace the old man and carry on the oil business as before which is all that Disney, which owns ABC, cares about when it comes to Libya.
Warning. This video contains very graphic footage of very violent injuries to human beings made by large caliber weapons of war. It is they type of thing that can not be unseen. Given that ABC News has chosen to soft petal and prettify Gaddafi's violence, I'm afraid this in necessary.
Californians Support North African Revolts
Mon, 02/28/2011 - 14:02Support rallies around the world for the people struggling for their freedom in North Africa. I am using my diary today to highlight two in California for which I have great videos. They didn't win any Oscars last night but they should have.
There was a lively rally in support of the people fighting the Gaddfi regime in San Francisco this weekend. TomVeeTV posted this comment and video to YouTube:
There was an earlier rally in support of the Egyptian people in sleepy Los Angeles on February 5th. This was posted by jdmk3
Google Supports Revolts | Anonymous does too!
Sun, 02/27/2011 - 20:00I am blogging today from the So. Cal. Linux Expo [SCALE9x]. I am promoting Anonymous, among other things to the Linux and Free Software communities. While I was here yesterday, someone attending the conference told me what Google did to support the popular uprisings in Iran a few years ago.
He said that at before that time there was basically nothing in the way of computer based Farsi translation but Google had a project in the lab which they rushed into production to support the struggle then rapidly developing in Iran.
"We feel that launching Persian is particularly important now, given ongoing events in Iran" said Google principal scientist Franz Och in a statement on Goolge's Official Blog.
After Wael Ghonim was released from the custody of Mubarak's thugs, he said he would like to return to work at Google if he was not fired. Outgoing Google CEO Eric Schmidt tweeted back "We're incredibly proud of you, @Ghonim, & of course will welcome you back when you're ready."
Just why founder Larry Page is now stepping in to replace Eric Schmidt as Google CEO is not clear but rumor has it that differences over Google's China policy played a big role. Schmidt opposed the decision by founders Page and Brin to pull out of China over government censorship.
Secret U.S. Intelligence Source on Middle East Revealed !
Sat, 02/26/2011 - 12:32At the White House Press Briefing yesterday, Friday, 25 February 2011 Press Secretary Jay Carney inadvertently reveals the top secret source of CIA intelligence on North Africa and the Middle East.
This is followed by a plug for my documentary Vietnam: American Holocaust
If you like this you will probably love the documentary I made with Martin Sheen
Vietnam: American Holocaust
You can get it from Amazon or you can get it directly from me.
Libyans are spilling their blood for us all!
Fri, 02/25/2011 - 12:29The brute force approach to popular uprisings is now being tried in earnest in Libya. In using artillery, aircraft and navy on peaceful protesters Colonel Gaddafi is attempt to break the protest movements with massive violence.
If he is successful, this type of violent response to popular uprising will almost certainly be used elsewhere with all the terrible consequences for humanity. If he fails and is hopefully executed for his war crimes, the reigning powers around the world will favor more peaceful methods of resolving contradictions.
Colonel Gaddafi is not the only head of state that counts human life cheap. What he has been doing this week using large caliber military weapons against unarmed civilians, US Presidents do as a matter of course, week in and week out. This week US air assaults on the Afghan village of Heelgal killed 64 civilians including many children according to Afghan President Karzai. It was hardly noticed because the spot light is on the innocent blood being spilled by Gaddafi this week and because, with an estimated 8 million civilians killed by the US military since the Korean War, US presidents using military power on civilians isn't exactly news.
When Secretary of State Clinton made the rounds on the TV talk shows Sunday morning talking about events in Libya and complaining that it is wrong to turn to violence to solve political problems, most of the world knew they were listening to a hypocrite. The United States has led the world in using massive violence to resolve political problems.
Nor am I implying that the other world leaders are any less squeamish in applying massive violence if it will resolve their political problems. What I am saying is that the abhorrence for Gaddafi's violence that has been displayed by most world leaders, including our own, is mostly for public consumption.
They know that we are facing a world economic crisis of historic proportions. It's root cause is a world economy that has been organized to benefit a select handful at the expense of the majority. This system has insurmountable internal contradiction that can not be solve unless the rich and powerful are dispossessed and the world economy is re-organized to benefit the world.
They are having none of that. They will fight that with their last dying breath. The other day an Indiana Official suggested that peaceful protesters in Wisconsin be shot. They are like Gaddafi on a world scale in that they would sooner bring disaster and suffering for all rather than give up their privilege.
In Tunisia the general of the army refused to use massive violence on the protesters and the revolution succeeded in ousting the dictator. In Egypt the junior officers refused to open fire with their tanks and the revolution succeeded in ousting the dictator. And while all the leaders of the US, UK and EU are now claiming to welcome and even champion these popular democratic movements, it is a sham. That's not why they have supported these dictators all these years.
If massive violence can contain the wave of mass rebellions that now has reached even the state house in Wisconsin, they won't mind the bloodshed. They just haven't had the opportunity yet. Gaddafi gives them that opportunity.
That is why they have so far been so anemic in their response to Gaddafi. They secretly want him to succeed. They are hoping he will succeed and they won't act until it is clear to all [as is quickly becoming the case] that he has failed. You can count on it. If he can put a lid on things, restore the status quo and with it, the oil flow, they may put him back on the pariah list but they will allow him to stand and continue to do business with him.
This is a test and fate or history has selected the Libyan people to take it. But all of us will be drastically affected by the outcome. The unarmed Libyan protesters that have braved machine gun, anti-aircraft and artillery fire to take many of Gaddafi's fortresses around the country are giving their all, their very lives in many cases, to show that even massive violence won't stop the people's movement forward.
If Gaddafi's violence fails Governor Scott will negotiate with the demonstrators in the Wisconsin state house, if it succeeds he will send in the police. If Gaddafi's violence succeeds, many more will die in Yemen and Bahrain and everywhere else that people resist tyranny. If he fails, the powers that be everywhere on the planet will be less likely to follow his lead and try and massive violence approach.
Those brave Libyans who fate chose to brave machine gun fire to win their freedom are braking that machine gun fire for all of us.
Arming Gaddafi
Thu, 02/24/2011 - 07:16The young United States had barely thrown off it's own colonial shackles when in 1805 it flexed its nascent imperial powers against what is now Libya. U.S. Marines captured the Eastern Libyan city of Darnah, raise the U.S. flag over it and forced the ruler in Tripoli to sign a commercial treaty with the U.S. before withdrawing. Since those days, wherever US Marines fight and kill, from Vietnam to Afghanistan, they proudly remember those early battles to put down the Barbary pirates and insure favorable trade relations "on the shores of Tripoli."
Robbed of piracy as an income source the three areas which make up present day Libya, Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica, fell back under the control of the Ottoman Empire which had pretty much ran things there since the middle of the 16th century anyway. Libya rotted as a backwater of "the sick man of Europe" until Italy invaded and united the three areas as its colony in 1911. When Italy lost WWII, it lost its colony. It became the Independent and United Kingdom of Libya in 1951.
It stayed a kingdom until 1969 when a 27 year old army captain Muammar Gaddafi led a military coup d'état, installed himself as dictator and promoted himself to colonel. Military power put Gaddafi in control and he has always shown a keen interest in increasing it plus he has the petrol dollars to buy lots. This has long made him a most favored customer of the international arms industry.
Are "mutinous officers" are being executed in Egypt now?
Wed, 02/16/2011 - 16:58That is the extremely troubling question that has been raised by an email that came my way this afternoon.
I seems that my earlier post Senior Egyptian Army Officers Ordered Massacre! here at the DailyKos and at WikiLeaks Central has caught the attention the activists that are making the Egyptian revolution. About it, On Thursday, 17 February, 2011, 1:39 AM, Mona Knoleif wrote:
However, I do not trust the military one bit and this report is very very worrying.
The revolution still has a long way to go. We must all be very alert, very aware and not drop our guard for one minute.
I have also heard runours that so-called "mutinous officers" are being persecuted and may be even executed. HELP! URGENTLY!!
Please post this on April 6th, We are all Khalid Said etc as I do not have access to facebook right now and distribute as widely as possible.
Are "mutinous officers" are being executed in Egypt now?
Wed, 02/16/2011 - 16:58That is the extremely troubling question that has been raised by an email that came my way this afternoon.
I seems that my earlier post Senior Egyptian Army Officers Ordered Massacre! here at the DailyKos and at WikiLeaks Central has caught the attention the activists that are making the Egyptian revolution. About it, On Thursday, 17 February, 2011, 1:39 AM, Mona Knoleif wrote:
However, I do not trust the military one bit and this report is very very worrying.
The revolution still has a long way to go. We must all be very alert, very aware and not drop our guard for one minute.
I have also heard runours that so-called "mutinous officers" are being persecuted and may be even executed. HELP! URGENTLY!!
Please post this on April 6th, We are all Khalid Said etc as I do not have access to facebook right now and distribute as widely as possible.
Algeria's 19 year long State of Emergency to end soon, President says
Tue, 02/15/2011 - 14:04President Abdelaziz Bouteflika promised through official APS news agency that he would lift the state of emergency which has been in force for the last 19 years in Algeria "in the very near future," Government opponents, who have been inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have been pushing for its end. The promise to lift the banned on public demonstrations is seen as a bid stave off unrest.
Opposition groups in Algeria are calling a major protest on February 12 and they have recently made repeal of the emergency powers one of their main demands. As the anti-government forces in Tunisia have given an example, hundreds have been willing to publicly protest the ban on public gatherings in Algeria.
Algeria's 19 year long State of Emergency to end soon, President says
Tue, 02/15/2011 - 14:04President Abdelaziz Bouteflika promised through official APS news agency that he would lift the state of emergency which has been in force for the last 19 years in Algeria "in the very near future," Government opponents, who have been inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have been pushing for its end. The promise to lift the banned on public demonstrations is seen as a bid stave off unrest.
Opposition groups in Algeria are calling a major protest on February 12 and they have recently made repeal of the emergency powers one of their main demands. As the anti-government forces in Tunisia have given an example, hundreds have been willing to publicly protest the ban on public gatherings in Algeria.
Senior Egyptian Army Officers Ordered Massacre!
Mon, 02/14/2011 - 14:35Please Recommend this diary as the info in it is extremely important to the Egyptian people.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has resigned and is said to be in a coma. his appointed replacement, Omar Suleiman, is nowhere to be found and the Egyptian army has taken over. There has been wild celebration in the streets of Cairo but there is good reason to think that all is not well and the danger is far from over. Thanks to the reporting of Robert Fisk, we now have the information upon which to arrive at the terrible conclusion of my title. Senior Egyptian army officers, the very ones that are exercising a military dictatorship now, where quite willing only two weeks ago, to carry out a wholesale slaughter of the thousands of protesters in Liberation Square.
Senior Egyptian Army Officers Ordered Massacre!
Mon, 02/14/2011 - 14:35Please Recommend this diary as the info in it is extremely important to the Egyptian people.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has resigned and is said to be in a coma. his appointed replacement, Omar Suleiman, is nowhere to be found and the Egyptian army has taken over. There has been wild celebration in the streets of Cairo but there is good reason to think that all is not well and the danger is far from over. Thanks to the reporting of Robert Fisk, we now have the information upon which to arrive at the terrible conclusion of my title. Senior Egyptian army officers, the very ones that are exercising a military dictatorship now, where quite willing only two weeks ago, to carry out a wholesale slaughter of the thousands of protesters in Liberation Square.
Tales of Tyrants: Ben Ali, Mubarak & Suleiman
Sun, 02/13/2011 - 19:48Many mysteries remain and questions still go unanswered about what just happen in Egypt last week, particularly with regards to Mubarak and Sulieman. Who even knows where they are and what they're doing now?
It is now well established that Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak was suppose to have stepped down when he spoke on state TV, 45 minutes after the announced time, late Thursday evening. That's why NBC News reported the 'scoop' early in the day, why various U.S. government sources were making assurances and even the supreme council of the Egyptian army, and that is where the power really lies anyway, all but proclaimed it.
The fix was in. Mubarak had promised to resign and turn his powers over to his new Vice President Omar Suleiman. Then at the last moment he threw the hook again. This was the third time that he had spoken publicly since the mass protests began on January 25th and it is being said that on each of the previous occasions be had been expected to resign but twice, on Jan. 27th & Feb. 1st, he had failed to do so but this time it was for sure.
Tales of Tyrants: Ben Ali, Mubarak & Suleiman
Sun, 02/13/2011 - 19:48Many mysteries remain and questions still go unanswered about what just happen in Egypt last week, particularly with regards to Mubarak and Sulieman. Who even knows where they are and what they're doing now?
It is now well established that Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak was suppose to have stepped down when he spoke on state TV, 45 minutes after the announced time, late Thursday evening. That's why NBC News reported the 'scoop' early in the day, why various U.S. government sources were making assurances and even the supreme council of the Egyptian army, and that is where the power really lies anyway, all but proclaimed it.
The fix was in. Mubarak had promised to resign and turn his powers over to his new Vice President Omar Suleiman. Then at the last moment he threw the hook again. This was the third time that he had spoken publicly since the mass protests began on January 25th and it is being said that on each of the previous occasions be had been expected to resign but twice, on Jan. 27th & Feb. 1st, he had failed to do so but this time it was for sure.
UPDATE: Egypt's Mubarak Has Resigned! - The Mubarak Screw Up & the Suleiman Danger
Fri, 02/11/2011 - 11:13UPDATE: 10:45am pst The Swiss are the first to freeze Mubarak assets:
Swiss freeze possible Mubarak assets
Climate change hits Mubarak. It won't be globe warming, for him it will be a global freeze.
This morning the protesters filled Liberation Square as never before, they spilled out into the Parliament building grounds and surrounded the state TV building. Also in Alexandria, Suez, all over Egypt, the people turned out in unprecedented numbers in response to President Hosni Mubarak's defiant speech yesterday in which he refused to resign and instead merely transferred some of his power to his new Vice President and long time intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. The anger of the people yesterday was incredible but they did not turn to violence in their outrage. Instead they built their numbers all night and pushed forward their demand for Mubarak to step down. Today at about 6:00pm Cairo time, V.P. Omar Suleiman made a short 20 second speech in which he announced that Mubarak had stepped down and the army was taking control of Egypt.
Mubarak Is Gone!
This is a great victory for the people of Egypt and the world.
The Egyptian Revolution enters a new phase.
UPDATE: Egypt's Mubarak Has Resigned! - The Mubarak Screw Up & the Suleiman Danger
Fri, 02/11/2011 - 11:13UPDATE: 10:45am pst The Swiss are the first to freeze Mubarak assets:
Swiss freeze possible Mubarak assets
Climate change hits Mubarak. It won't be globe warming, for him it will be a global freeze.
This morning the protesters filled Liberation Square as never before, they spilled out into the Parliament building grounds and surrounded the state TV building. Also in Alexandria, Suez, all over Egypt, the people turned out in unprecedented numbers in response to President Hosni Mubarak's defiant speech yesterday in which he refused to resign and instead merely transferred some of his power to his new Vice President and long time intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. The anger of the people yesterday was incredible but they did not turn to violence in their outrage. Instead they built their numbers all night and pushed forward their demand for Mubarak to step down. Today at about 6:00pm Cairo time, V.P. Omar Suleiman made a short 20 second speech in which he announced that Mubarak had stepped down and the army was taking control of Egypt.
Mubarak Is Gone!
This is a great victory for the people of Egypt and the world.
The Egyptian Revolution enters a new phase.
