THE GUARDIAN: Under Cameron the state is big enough for a war, but too small to keep our local libraries open
The onslaught by the US, Britain and France to impose regime change in Libya – for that is what this war is about – has little to do with saving lives and less with supporting democracy in the Arab world. It is about controlling, not sustaining, the drive for change in the Middle East, by bringing the whole process under western domination.
The belief of the rulers of Bahrain and Yemen – that they have the west's blessing to do whatever is necessary to crush protest while Colonel Gaddafi is to be obliterated for doing much the same – is the starkest sign of this.
The UN security council decision has given the stamp of legality to an essentially lawless project. This situation calls for assertive mediation, not massive bombardment, if saving lives is really the concern – as the second thoughts already gripping Russia, China and some Arab leaders indicate.
The UN decision was taken at the instigation of the frightened autocrats of the Arab League, few of whom can claim any mandate to rule superior to that of Gaddafi's brutal regime. Behind a transparent Qatari fig-leaf, its implementation has been subcontracted to the same powers who have spread such havoc throughout the Arab world for a century and more, up to and including Iraq. » | Andrew Murray | Tuesday, March 22, 2011
