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[Nadaka]

Apparently the UN is paying attention, and gee gosh....it's not very happy.

The Secretary-General had an extensive discussion today with the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar al-Qadhafi, on the deteriorating situation in that country.

The Secretary-General expressed deep concern at the escalating scale of violence and emphasized that it must stop immediately. He reiterated his call for respect for basic freedoms and human rights, including peaceful assembly and information.

Reacting to the leader''s interpretation of the events and the response of the authorities, the Secretary-General underlined the need to ensure the protection of the civilian population under any circumstances. He urged all parties to exercise restraint and called upon the authorities to engage in broad-based dialogue to address legitimate concerns of the population.

Well, that will certainly set things in order. 

But then, what are you gonna do? Even if the SecCouncil did act, they'd have to go through all the bureaucracy first, and neither Russia nor China want to set a precedent for the UN intervening in a how a country reacts to its rebellions.

That sounds exactly like the parody response that comedians have been saying about the UN for ages.

[olemars]

Yeah, there are calls for international action, but I don't know what that action could be... Any sort of military action would take weeks just to get a framework for an agreement drafted up.

[RedKing]

Okay, there is a continuous stream of reports that the airstrikes are being carried out by Italian aircraft. Even the primary Arab sources are incredulous about this, but claim that the eyewitnesses on the ground continue to insist that there are Italian aircraft involved.

And Berlusconi supposedly issued a statement this morning praising Gaddafi, who is known to be a close ally in the past. Now I realize Berlusconi is a little out of touch and not great at realizing when something's probably not a good idea (like paying for an underage prostitute or having wild orgies while being...y'know, Prime Minister)....but surely he's not THAT stupid? 

[Bouchart]

It's probably Italian-made aircraft, not Italy actually carrying out airstrikes against Libya.  I can't imagine they would be that stupid to get involved when Khadaffi probably just has days if not hours left.

[mainiac]

The UN should totally invade Libya and establish a democracy.  That will totally improve the situation.

[Darvi]

Yeah, 'cause invasions from abroad always help, right?

[olemars]

Libya only has some french-built mirages (10, 2 less than yesterday) and some old soviet crap.

I guess it's the mirages people are seeing and thinking are italian since they look quite different from the soviet crap. I don't know how you'd easily identify a plane as distinctly italian, it's not like they have ITALY painted across the frame, and if you have a fighter coming at you for a strafing round you should be busy hiding.

[Leafsnail]

For the Italian aircraft... plenty of countries sold Libya weapons.  Weird how we're fine with selling weapons to an oppressive regime until someone tries to bring them down.

[olemars]

On another note, libyans on the ground have put a lot of effort in getting out videos showing the things Ghaddafi is doing to his people. Many do this by uploading to youtube. Youtube on the other hand is putting a lot of effort into deleting them since the videos can be quite gory and I guess they're afraid of lawsuits from parents of sensitive american kids who might see a dead body on their computer.

Some of those videos might be lost forever because of it, even though they are evidence of crimes against humanity.

[RedKing]

Well now this is even more interesting. STRATFOR and BBC are reporting that the Libyan Air Force is now targeting Libyan military facilities. Some reports that the Libyan Navy is shelling ground targets as well. Sounds like the Air Force (and possibly Navy) are going down with the ship, while the Army has seen the writing on the wall and, while maybe initially was just refusing to fire on protestors, is now dragged in as an active combatant.

There are also some vids floating around purporting to be the charred remains of an Army barracks full of troops that refused orders to fire on civilians and were burned to death (presumably by the pro-Qaddafi mercenary forces he brought in, or paramilitaries or other elements of the Army still loyal).

Congratulations, Muammar. You've decided to take the entire goddamn country with you. Once the various branches are done slugging each other, Libya will be lucky to have a military left. Or an infrastructure.

olemars: I've haven't seen all that much censorship by YouTube so far. Most of them come with a warning that they "may be offensive or contain content intended for persons over 18" or something like that.


EDIT: Tripoli bring roamed by African mercenaries brought in by Qaddafi. Accounts say they're shooting at any gathering of people, at hospitals, at ambulances, anyone who tries to help the wounded, etc.

Spoiler: Picture (click to show/hide)

Of course, these are the same mercenaries who supposedly got their asses handed to them by the Benghazi rebels the other day (like those guys we saw in the video the other day with the antitank rifle on their car). Wonder if the folks in Benghazi are currently on their way to Tripoli.

[olemars]

They deleted a lot yesterday, several of those working hard to get videos out got their youtube accounts suspended too IIRC.

As for bombing army bases, there was something about the AF bombing abandoned army bases in the east to destroy the weapons there so they wouldn't be taken over by benghazi rebels. Beyond that it does seem like many army units have defected though.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Someone should try to spread the word to the revolutionaries that they should send all the videos to dozens of news organizations, other governments, as many video uploading sites as they can find, and Wikileaks all at once. I'd like to see all of that get lost.

Hell, give the videos to 4chan as well and see what happens. I mean, chances are they'll just make a music video out of the horrific images, but there's a possibility somthing else might happen.

[PTTG??]

Youtube is in league with evil mercenaries?

[RedKing]

Someone should try to spread the word to them that they should send all the videos to dozens of news organizations, other governments, as many video uploading sites as they can find, and Wikileaks all at once. I'd like to see all of that get lost.

Hell, give the videos to 4chan as well and see what happens. I mean, chances are they'll just make a music video out of the horrific images, but there's a chance somthing else might happen.

Yeah....somehow I think rickrolling with images of dismembered children would still not be beyond the pale for /b/.

Another image of African mercs in Tripoli (courtesy al-Jazeera, who is doing a bangup job compared to the other major networks):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[GlyphGryph]

Youtube instituted a crackdown on videos depicting murder after it became a trend a few years ago to basically have murder competitions by posting videos on youtube for various South American groups (I believe), leading to copycats and attempts to do one better. I'm sketchy on the details, but I know they have been a lot more particular on what sort of people getting killed type videos they allow on it now.