libya

January 27, 2012

Tuareg: Fighting in Mali, impact in Libya

Map of Recent Tuareg Rebel Attacks in Mali, Sahel Blog. Links to analysis by Reuters, AP. In the past, Col Qadhafi of Libya was the primary force defusing the conflict. The Tuareg are unreached.

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November 15, 2011

A $300 billion windfall for friends of Libya

“Ruin & Rebuild: Warfare worth $300 billion Libya windfall,” RT.com. Rebuilding Libya may be worth that much to those who helped Libya through its recent war. Those who did not help may be left out in the cold: “Earlier it was the turn of German companies that expressed interest in taking part in effort to re-build Libya, but the NTC said ‘no’ to them. It was sort of ‘You did not participate in bombing and the no-fly zone, and since you did not take part in that, you will have no business opportunities either.’” In the long run, will there [...]

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October 20, 2011

Muammar Qaddafi, c1942-2011

A soul has just passed into immortality: we should mourn.

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August 16, 2011

Berber renaissance in North Africa

“North-west Africa’s minority: Springtime for them too?” in The Economist. “There is a Berber renaissance taking place across north Africa.” Their heartland is the center of some of the most fierce fighting in Libya. The article concludes with a look at “pan-Berber solidarity” and but notes only one place does a single Berber identity exist: “virtually–on the Internet and among diaspora intellectuals.”

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August 15, 2011

Libya: is the plot twisting against Gaddafi?

After a weekend of intense battle, the rebels were mostly in control of Zawiya, whose oil refinery is the “holy grail.” Wars, after all, are less about ammunition and more about maneuverability: you can lose for want of gasoline. The Zawiya refinery and assistance from Tunisia have “kept Gaddafi’s forces moving.” With the refinery in the hands of the rebels, the road to Tunisia blocked, and the skies filled with NATO jets pounding Gaddafi forces, the route to victory might actually be short. The rebels are more confident and the government’s morale seems to be slipping. There was a high-ranking [...]

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July 7, 2011

Some Conflict Updates: Libya, Syria, Yemen

Libya: Although the International Criminal Court has indicted Qaddafi, the future is still uncertain. The African Union has said it will not enforce the warrant for his arrest, as it only serves to prevent a peaceful solution. Tripoli’s security services seem to be fairly active by all reports. However, there are a myriad of other reports which indicate the rebels are closing on the capital and slowly cutting off its supply lines. It seems likely that Qaddafi will quit Libya eventually, but there have been altogether too many rumors to indicate it will happen any time “soon.” Nations are competing [...]

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July 1, 2011

The domino effect: the fall of Libya, the crash of Chad?

IRIN Africa writes about what happens when a nation’s people depend in large part on the remittances from some of its nationals who are working abroad–and then the nation where they are working falls apart. There are many countries – Chad is an example, the Philippines another – where a large portion of the population works in a foreign nation. They send money home to their families. These “remittances” form a huge portion of family budgets. When two countries fall out and those workers are sent home, or when a country goes politically unstable and that work falls apart – [...]

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March 25, 2011

Libya War 2011

This is a curated collection of some posts related to the ongoing conflict in Libya. Where will it end?, The Economist. Discusses some of the skeptics challenges to the Western attacks on Libya—and why we did not do the same in Yemen or Bahrain.

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February 21, 2011

Libya: reports on clashes in Tripoli

Clashes in Tripoli | STRATFOR: Unrest is spreading to the capitol of Libya, with heavy gunfire heard and 61 reported killed as of 2/21. (There are numerous conflict reports as to the total number of dead.) Update 2/21 1:42pm: Stratfor is now saying that reports of military aircraft firing are actually in all probability firing on groups of the military that have gone over to the opposition. In a speech made by Gadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam attempted to present himself as the new and untarnished face of the regime, reiterating the political, social and economic reforms that he has long [...]

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March 29, 2010

Will Libya Change?

Is Gaddafi’s son a modernizer – or just the front man in a performance? In TIME.

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