In a resolution dressed up as a humanitarian gesture towards the citizens of Libya, the United Nations Security Council declared on Thursday a no-fly-zone over Libya even as pro-Qadaffi forces were poised to advance on the opposition stronghold of Benghazi. The resolution meant not only that Libyan airplanes and helicopters would no longer be allowed by the UN to fly in their own airspace, but Western powers notably, the US, France and Great Britain will undertake airstrikes against Libya’s airfields and air defenses to ensure that no-fly-zone for Libyan aircrafts will go unchallenged.
More than this, the resolution also called for a ceasefire in the on-going civil war in Libya with President Barack Obama of the USA even demanding that Qadaffi forces withdraw from towns and cities they have retaken from the rebel forces recently. This resolution together with earlier sanctions imposed by Western powers on Qadaffi are designed to aid the opposition in Libya and facilitate the ouster of the long demonized Qadaffi from power.
This is reminiscent of the West’s strategy towards Sadam Hussein of Iraq. A no-fly-zone was also declared over northern Iraq ostensibly to protect the Kurds from further air attacks from Sadam Hussein coupled with a decade long of sanctions which hit the Iraqi children most. When this was not enough to ease him out of power, the West led by the United States concocted the big lie of Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion and eventual destruction of Iraq and its people which continues to this day.
What attracts this kind of treatment for Iraq and now Libya from Western powers is the presence of abundant gas and oil reserves in both countries which Western powers want to control. Autocratic leaders and other dictators who lord over similar strategic resources are supported by the West provided they allow Western powers to have unlimited access to such resources. We see this in the case of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. But the moment you reserve such resources for your own country and people, then you become an immediate target of demonization and destabilization like what is happening to Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and patriotic leaders of Chile and Iran earlier.
So, all this military intervention of Western powers in the internal affairs of Third World countries like this no-fly-zone over Libya is not really all about freedom, democracy and the rule of international law. All these are mere fig leaves designed to cover their real intention which is to eventually take control over the resources of these resource-rich countries.
More than this, the resolution also called for a ceasefire in the on-going civil war in Libya with President Barack Obama of the USA even demanding that Qadaffi forces withdraw from towns and cities they have retaken from the rebel forces recently. This resolution together with earlier sanctions imposed by Western powers on Qadaffi are designed to aid the opposition in Libya and facilitate the ouster of the long demonized Qadaffi from power.
This is reminiscent of the West’s strategy towards Sadam Hussein of Iraq. A no-fly-zone was also declared over northern Iraq ostensibly to protect the Kurds from further air attacks from Sadam Hussein coupled with a decade long of sanctions which hit the Iraqi children most. When this was not enough to ease him out of power, the West led by the United States concocted the big lie of Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion and eventual destruction of Iraq and its people which continues to this day.
What attracts this kind of treatment for Iraq and now Libya from Western powers is the presence of abundant gas and oil reserves in both countries which Western powers want to control. Autocratic leaders and other dictators who lord over similar strategic resources are supported by the West provided they allow Western powers to have unlimited access to such resources. We see this in the case of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. But the moment you reserve such resources for your own country and people, then you become an immediate target of demonization and destabilization like what is happening to Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and patriotic leaders of Chile and Iran earlier.
So, all this military intervention of Western powers in the internal affairs of Third World countries like this no-fly-zone over Libya is not really all about freedom, democracy and the rule of international law. All these are mere fig leaves designed to cover their real intention which is to eventually take control over the resources of these resource-rich countries.
