Comments on Libya
I have been a bit of a forum junkie lately and have contributed my share in comments etc.
I was interested in a comment on ASW (A SMALL WORLD) that was making comparisons between Libya and Iraq etc and decided to respond.
Libya is indeed an interesting development. The escalation of intervention could be interpreted as institutional hysteria. It seems that no nation wants to be seen as inactive, neither do they want to appear heavy handed - with the Iraq war a not so distant memory - it appears to be a lose/lose situation.
I have no doubt there are atrocities being committed in Libya on a daily basis, but I think its possible that Gaddafi himself, the ageing, egomaniacal power hungry creature that he is, has lost control.
The two ceasefires that he announced were totally broken almost straight away, the gut reaction was it was just an opportunity for some public attention, and that he never intended to ceasefire. MY gut feeling, as an outsider is that he may have ordered a ceasefire and his own forces ignored him.
I think the issue runs much deeper than Gaddafi. I make no denial that he is an evil man and does not deserve to rule a car park let alone a sovereign nation. Libya is still a deeply tribal nation that consists of tangled webs of loyalties, honour and ego. It is not quite the organised dictatorship that many would have us believe (mostly to make it seem a clear cut regime to get rid of) - the main question is what would Gaddafi’s regime be replaced with as many of you fabulous people have already discussed, who are the rebels?
Another valid area of discussion is why Libya, it certainly isn’t the most corrupt or murderous regime still out there….
I do not think its as simple as just the fact that there is oil there. Other nations are in deep conflict and have much more precious and divisive resources to the West and yet are not targeted by the “Eye of Sauron” that the West (or at least NATO and UN) have become.
I am working on a photographic exhibition based on the effects of Chinese Investment in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The massacres that happen there on a daily basis puts Libya so far in the shade - the average amount of deaths daily in DRC due to conflict are 1800!!! (2009) - a truly astonishing and harrowing figure. The DRC conflict revolves around control of the minerals, especially COLTAN. It seems there is a general connection between many of the worlds most treacherous nations and that is they all tend to be extraction economies.
Despite the importance of the resources in the DRC, there is little intervention from our own governments and NGO’s. China is deeply entrenched in investment but does not go as far as to tell the DRC regime what to do. Instead it props up a blood stained industry.
If it is all purely about resources, the DRC would have been Public Enemy No. 1. It certainly plays a large part, but I do not believe is the only reason for these ‘interventions’.
I have no idea what the solutions are, I think we have even yet to understand what the problems are, in truth.
War is no longer a tidy concept contained by a start and a finish, as we have seen with the middle East.
Modern Warfare is an ever evolving and never ending entity - sapping energy and money as well as a dear cost in Human Life, whilst trying to maintain a righteousness that appeases the Liberal West (all of us).
War is messy, undefineable and no longer represents the “them” and “us” mentality of the twentieth century.
We are all in it, all part of the problem but hopefully can all be part of the solution.
Heres looking towards a peaceful resolution and future for us all…one day!
Brad
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