The Usual Suspect

Volume 2, Issue 13- March 25-31, 2011

International Tribune

Here they go again, the usual suspects - headed by China & Russia, and now even India and Brazil.  They are the same nations who are always vetoing military campaigns and the same nations with their own internal strife.  No one likes to go to war.  It is a bloody and very expensive enterprise and its end is always anybody's guess.  But when the oppressed are being massacred, as what press reports reveal, these are the times that try men’s soul.  And a good neighbor should be willing to give a hand.  If you have been following the events unfolding in Libya, I think everyone should agree that Qadafi must now finally go and his ragtag counterinsurgents should be stopped.  

After weeks of fighting between civilians and the Qaddafi loyalists, China, Russia, Brazil and India are convinced that this is merely an internal matter.  In other words, hands off United Nations Security Council.  The usual suspects (led by China and Russia) strongly believe that the Libyans can manage on their own and that foreign intervention will just escalate the fighting to an international level.  It has been almost a month since the protest to remove Qaddafi from power after 40 years of autocratic rule that rocked the Arab world started, and this once-peaceful movement is becoming a full blown civil war.  Should the world just watch and see how far this will go?

Foreign intervention in war-ravaged Libya from the ‘usual suspect’ is considered to be another colossal mistake by some members of the United Nations Security Council.  Prime Minister Putin condemned the UN Security Council’s decision as “deficient and flawed, and in general, it reminds him of another medieval call for a crusade”.  Furthermore, the most vocal of the opponents is China, who accuses the West of abusing their powers in the Security Council.  And that nations involved in the military campaign should be penalized.  

One has to think clearly if a president of a nation is using his own civilians as human shield, it is time for someone from somewhere to stop the madness.    Where do you draw the line?  China and Russia accused the allied powers that their military actions have ulterior motives.  Let us not also forget the relationship between China and Russia with Libya.  Russia and Libya are long-time allies since the Cold War- their relations run deep.  And China is one of the biggest investors of construction materials and supplies in Libya especially to the latter's oil industry.  When all is said and done, who now has the real ulterior motives in this case?

Here come the French.  After decades of non-military actions, in the name of human injustice, France has finally stepped up to the plate and rallied up its allies to do something about the massacre that is happening in Libya.  Great Britain followed suit and, of course, the United States will never leave its allies behind.   Once again, the allied powers are back in action fighting tyranny and rescuing the oppressed.   It has been almost a week since the UN Security Council granted a no-fly zone and outside intervention to stop the massacre of civilians in Libya.  The international coalitions’ military air campaign commenced in Benghazi but Qaddafi and his loyalists remain defiant.   

You may call it internal affair but how can a nation's citizens manage on their own when their own leader has to resort to foreign mercenaries and deploy his loyal military commanders to quell their demonstration down.  In this kind of scenario, outside help - military, economic and otherwise - should now be in order. The world will be a better place to live in with one less tyrant.