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[Leafsnail]

There's just as much about it in my newspaper as there was about Egypt.  Heck, it seems the crackdowns are a lot more violent in those 2 countries, especially Libya.

[Phmcw]

Oh and Sarkozy warmly welcomed Kadhafi in France just three years ago...
And then he brag about France being the country of human right.
But it's rather good, at this count French could not possibly hate him more, so he'll loose in 2012.

[Aqizzar]

Violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators in Bahrain and Libya. They can get away with this, because unlike Egypt, the eyes of the world are not so sharply focused on them, and in at least the case of Libya, we don't really have high expectations.

Well, Libya yes, because it's a journalistic no-man's-land.  But most of the big international reporters packed up and headed for Bahrain as soon as it was clear Egypt wasn't getting hot again.  I know Richard Engel is there, and I think Anderson Cooper.

[olemars]

Libyan protests seem to be of a bit different character than those elsewhere. Much more like a rebellion. Rumors are they have near control of several eastern cities, including Tobruk and Benghazi, and have occupied several army bases and the benghazi airfield. Then there's stuff like this getting uploaded to youtube. That looks like a large-calibre recoilless rifle to me. This twitter account is interesting to watch, although I don't know the veracity or accuracy of it.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Then there's stuff like this getting uploaded to youtube.

That....that's a cannon. That is an honest-to-god cannon mounted on a car. Libyan land pirates are a thing now. Nothing can be said about that. No words in the english language properly express it. I don't even know.

[Aqizzar]

Then there's stuff like this getting uploaded to youtube.

That....that's a cannon. That is an honest-to-god cannon mounted on a car. Libyan land pirates are a thing now. Nothing can be said about that. No words in the english language properly express it. I don't even know.

I wonder what the Arabic term for "bitchin'" is...  Heck, I wish I could read Arabic at all, so I could read the title and comments, and know which side those guys are on.

[olemars]

Google translate says the title is "White City Youth Heading to attack the camp Shahat". White City refers to the city of al-Bayda near Benghazi. The video was posted by a libyan youth movement that seems to be spearheading the protests/rebellion.

EDIT: The weapon seems to be an M40 recoilless rifle.

[Willfor]

Spearheading takes on an entirely new meaning when you're rolling around the city with a cannon on your truck.

[Aqizzar]

Let it never be said that the youth of Libya don't know how to party.  Considering Libya is, or at least was, the definition of a Bond-villain-style One Man's Country for decades, where the Hell did they get an M40?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Where the Hell did they get an M40?

Bribing greedy armory guards? Insane youthful antics? Corrupt millitary contractors? Defected from the Libyan Army?

[Taricus]

Where the Hell did they get an M40?

Bribing greedy armory guards? Insane youthful antics? Corrupt millitary contractors? Defected from the Libyan Army?

Theft?

[olemars]

I think Aquizzar meant where did the Libyan Army get M40's: probably second-hand from friendlier (to libya) countries like Pakistan or one of the 100 other places who have these things.

[Aqizzar]

Well, I didn't even think about it, but now that you mention it, Libyans having M40s at all is a bit incongruous.  Then again, they've been used since the 1950s, so I bet every army in the world has at least a few of them.  America certainly dumped a lot of them on anti-Communist insurgents in Africa over the years.

I was honestly wondering how the equivalent of a street gang got hold of vehicular military weaponry.  If an illegal arms market is that open, or the military that sloppy, I'm starting to wonder how unpopular Qaddafi could be, since he hasn't been ousted already.

[olemars]

The army's been run off from the city they're from, so they probably raided an armoury. Looks like it was a collective effort too (video by same guy as the other one).

[Phmcw]

Wow, now there will be trouble and pseudo inappropriate comment from earlier would become relevant again.
An armed screaming mob usually doesn't take sensible decision.
Now everything will depend of how much INTERNET affect the IQ of a mob.