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[Bouchart]

I'm surprised Russia did not veto.  The instability in the middle east is causing high oil prices and they must love that.

Ayup. Their cars are running on ethanol, so they don't mind.

I was referring to the fact that Russia is a huge exporter of oil.

[Ampersand]

Let's hope those Air Strikes 'accidentally' happen to fall on Khaddafi's bunker.

[Bouchart]

Let's hope those Air Strikes 'accidentally' happen to fall on Khaddafi's bunker.

The U.S., French and English (which looks like will be doing the first run of the bombings) probably want this to end as fast as possible, given that Bahrain is a huge wild card.  They'll want full air superiority first, which shouldn't take too long at all.  After that it gets tricky.  How much fighting will you let the rebels do?  How many civilian casualties do you tolerate?  I really don't expect any boots on the ground, except for maybe a token UN peacekeeping force after Khadaffi is killed.

[Ampersand]

The thing is though, they did not just approve a No-Fly Zone. They approved All measures necessary to protect Libyan civilians.

ALL Measures Necessary.

France especially wants to have a real heavy intervention, to put an end to this. In my opinion, the only thing that guarantees the long term safety of the Libyan people is the death of Khaddafi and the complete removal of the government in Tripoli.

[Jackrabbit]

Hope it works.

[Nilik]

Ok now this is just funny:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/After-pounding-rebel-hub-Gaddafi-calls-for-truce-as-UN-action-looms/articleshow/7732877.cms

He knows exactly how fucked he is now.

[Aqizzar]

Assuming it's true, and let's all hope to the God of Just Deserves that it is... Holy shit.  What did that take, about six hours, since he was promising to pound Benghazi into the dust?

Wait, accord to the article (which isn't exactly sourced, but who knows), it's not Qaddafi asking for a truce, but the loyalist military.  Once again, if true, that makes considerably more sense.

[Bouchart]

Well it seems like there will be mass desertion as soon as the first bomb drops.  Don't be surprised if you see hordes of loyalists surrender to CNN reporters.

[Nilik]

Yeah, he's not surrendering, he's offering the rebels a chance to surrender, which is a bit of a 180 from "I WILL MURDER YOU ALL" less than 24 hours ago.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Of course, the closest the rebels ever came to "surrendering" was giving Gaddafi a small window that he could flee the country in and not get chased down and murdered afterwards. Since that ended a week ago, I imagine they'll settle for nothing less than blood at this point.

[Phmcw]

We can thanks Kadhafi for his insane threat and his blood spilling oath. Without that, the UN would not have moved.
But given that he painted a giant sign above his head reading "blood thirsty psychopath" it was difficult to justify anything else than a military intervention.

[Zangi]

We can thanks Kadhafi for his insane threat and his blood spilling oath. Without that, the UN would not have moved.
But given that he painted a giant sign above his head reading "blood thirsty psychopath" it was difficult to justify anything else than a military intervention.

Its not so much justify... but more grand standing and getting epic bonus points.  I figure France predicted the way the crazy was going to go ahead of time and made the move for it.  See how quickly the US followed suit as soon as things were 'all clear' for the go-ahead... after a bit of secret dealings of course...

[olemars]

E-3C AWACS is in place not far from Libyan air space. If you're a big nerd you can listen to Malta ATC here.
http://www.liveatc.net/flisten.php?mount=lmml

If the Libyan foreign minister isn't just bullshitting (which isn't all that unlikely), the Gaddafi regime is now trying to play innocent puppy,  saying they will adhere to the resolution and stop all military ops, etc.

EDIT: Sounds like at least 6 NATO aircraft in Malta airspace. I think they're up to something.

[Duuvian]

Hooray, I'm glad there is finally some intervention. I hope they will show much restraint in regards to strikes on military targets in civilian areas and traffic. Hopefully Qadaffi's forces might oust him and agree to elections or something to avoid facing Western air power.

[olemars]

There are rumors that Gaddafi has been collecting bodies in preparation for NATO air strikes so they can be planted as "civilian casualties" wherever the bombs land.