Globalist Fueled Revolutions Around the World

Libyan Warplanes Strike Rebels at Oil Port

March 7, 2011

AP - Libyan warplanes launched multiple airstrikes Monday on opposition fighters regrouping at an oil port on the Mediterranean coast, the second day of a harsh government counteroffensive to thwart a rebel advance toward Moammar Gadhafi's stronghold in the capital Tripoli.

President Barack Obama said the U.S. and its NATO allies are still considering a military response to the violence and Britain and France were drafting a U.N. resolution that would establish a no-fly zone.

The anti-government forces trying to oust Gadhafi say they will be outgunned if the regime continues to unleash its air power on them and are pleading for the international community to impose a no-fly zone to protect them from more strikes. However, they oppose foreign troops on the ground.

"We don't want a foreign military intervention, but we do want a no-fly zone, said rebel fighter Ali Suleiman. "We are all waiting for one," he added. The rebels can take on "the rockets and the tanks, but not Gadhafi's air force" he said.

The government has managed to halt for now a rebel advance that began last week when fighters ventured beyond the opposition-controlled eastern half of the country.

The rebels are now struggling to maintain supply lines for weapons, ammunition and food, with many living off junk food, cookies and cans of tuna. They are waiting for rocket launchers, tanks and other heavy weapons to arrive with reinforcements from their headquarters in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has moved military forces closer to its shores to back up its demand that Gadhafi step down. But enforcing a no-fly zone could take weeks to organize, and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has noted that it must be preceded by a military operation to take out Libya's air defenses. British Foreign Minister William Hague said Sunday that a no-fly zone over Libya is still in an early stage of planning and ruled out the use of ground forces.

Obama said the U.S. will stand with the Libyan people as they face "unacceptable" violence. He said he has authorized millions of dollars in humanitarian aid. He also sent a strong message to Gadhafi, saying he and his supporters will be held responsible for the violence there.

Hague told the House of Commons Monday that Britain is "working closely with partners on a contingency basis on elements of a resolution on a no-fly zone." A British diplomat at the U.N. stressed that the draft resolution is being prepared in case it is needed but no decision has been made to introduce it at the Security Council. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the draft has not been made public.

Libya appears to be sliding toward a civil war that could drag out for weeks, or even months, as rebels try to oust Gadhafi after 41 years. Resorting to heavy use of air attacks signaled the regime's concern that it needed to check the advance of the rebel force toward Sirte — Gadhafi's hometown and a bastion of support for the longtime leader.

Anti-Gadhafi forces would get a massive morale boost if they can blast through Sirte, a major obstacle on the march toward Tripoli.

Libya's main population centers lie along the country's main east-west highway on the Mediterranean coast and the struggle for control of the country is being waged between the government and the rebels trying to push the front line westward toward the capital.

A force estimated at 500 to 1,000 fighters was pushing steadily down the highway toward Tripoli when it was driven out of the town of Bin Jawwad, 375 east of the capital, on Sunday by pro-Gadhafi forces using helicopter gunships, artillery and rockets. The fighting killed at least eight people and wounded 59, according to medical officials.

The rebels regrouped about 40 miles to the east in Ras Lanouf, where MiG fighters circled over rebel positions Monday before launching airstrikes behind their front lines in the morning and afternoon.

In and around Bin Jawwad, pro-regime forces were running patrols Monday and there were minor reports of skirmishes with rebels on the outskirts. One strike hit a road near the town's only gas station, destroying at least three vehicles and wounding at least two people.

The opposition also holds two main battleground cities close to Tripoli, and the government appears to have solidified control Monday of one of them — Zawiya. Just 30 miles outside Tripoli, Zawiya had been the city closest to the capital in opposition hands.

A Zawiya resident said government tanks and artillery opened fire on rebels around 9:00 am and the attack hadn't stopped when he left the city at 1:30 p.m. All entrances to the city were under government control and the rebels had been driven out of the city's central Martyr's Square and a nearby mosque by the heaviest attack in several days.

"The tanks are everywhere," he said. "The hospital is running out of supplies. There are injured everywhere who can't find a place to go."

Rebels also held much of Misrata, to the east of Tripoli about halfway to Sirte. But Valerie Amos, United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said in a statement that the Benghazi Red Crescent reported that Misrata was under attack by government forces again Monday. There have been repeated government attempts to regain control of Misrata.

"Humanitarian organizations need urgent access now," she said. "People are injured and dying and need help immediately."

The uprising against Gadhafi is already longer and much bloodier than the relatively quick revolts that overthrew the longtime authoritarian leaders of neighboring Egypt and Tunisia.

Unusually heavy and sustained shooting that erupted before dawn in Tripoli on Sunday gave rise to rumors and reports that there had been an assassination attempt against Gadhafi by someone inside the fortress-like barracks where he lives. But a government spokesman, Abdel-Majid al-Dursi, denied it on Monday, calling the claims "baseless rumors."

Hundreds if not thousands of people have died since Libya's uprising began, although tight restrictions on media make it near impossible to get an accurate tally. More than 200,000 people have fled the country, most of them foreign workers. The exodus is creating a humanitarian crisis across the border with Tunisia — another North African country in turmoil after an uprising in January that ousted its longtime leader.

The turmoil is being felt more broadly still in the form of rising oil prices. Libya's oil production has been seriously crippled by the unrest.

The conflict in Libya took a turn late last week when government opponents, backed by mutinous army units and armed with weaponry seized from storehouses, went on the offensive. At the same time, pro-Gadhafi forces have conducted counteroffensives to try to retake the towns and oil ports the rebels have captured since they moved out of the rebel-held east.

Oil Wealth 'Must Be Shared' with Citizens Says Globalist George Soros

George Soros: Middle East turmoil caused by 'revulsion against the corruption'

March 3, 2011

BBC News - Citizens of oil producing nations must see more benefit from their country's national resources, billionaire investor George Soros has told the BBC.

Revolts in Libya were partly the result of "revulsion against a corruption" fed by the misuse of oil money, he added.

More "transparency and accountability" was needed from other producers such as Russia and Saudi Arabia he said.

Mr Soros also predicted the Iranian regime would be overthrown in the "bloodiest of the revolutions."

Libya produces 1.6 million barrels of oil per day and is the 17th largest producer in the world. And Colonel Gaddafi's hold on power has been dependent on the billions of dollars in oil revenue that pour into the country.

Talking of the wave of governments being challenged in North Africa and the Middle East, Mr Soros said:

"What has caused the revolutions is a revulsion against a corruption that is fed by the misuse of natural resources like for instance in Libya.

"Transparency and even more importantly accountability in the use of natural resources is what you need for people living in those countries to get the benefit of those national resources.

"Libya produced enormous wealth which Gaddafi took as his own and now the people rebelled against it."

Asked whether there should be more transparency with what happened to oil incomes, Mr Soros said:

"Very much so."

And he said the US and Europe needed to more actively support the revolutions in Libya and elsewhere so that the new regimes will co-operate with the West.

"What is happening today in the Middle East is very similar to what happened in the former Soviet Union in 1989-91. But then it was a regime hostile to the West that was destroyed by the revolution," he said.

"Now it is regimes supported by the West, so the West has to regain the allegiance of the people in those countries by actually supporting the transition to democracy.

"It's very important that Europe and the US should be in front of the revolution rather than behind it because if they are behind it, they are going to lose the allegiance of the new regimes that are emerging and if they are properly supported they will be democratic regimes and it will be a tremendous improvement."

UK ‘to Send Team of Spies’ to Help Oust Gadhafi

March 5, 2011

UK Daily Mail - Britain is to send teams of spies and diplomats into Libya to help oust Colonel Gaddafi, it emerged last night.

MI6 operatives backed by the SAS are to land in the east around the key rebel stronghold of Benghazi 'within days'. In addition, 600 soldiers of the Black Watch are on 24-hour standby to fly in and avert a humanitarian catastrophe as Libya erupted into a new wave of bloodshed.

Witnesses said 50 people were killed and 300 wounded in clashes at Zawiyah, 30 miles west of the capital Tripoli. Victims included two rebel commanders. Last night another 17 died in a blast at an ammunition depot near Benghazi.

Around 200 of the 600 UK troops are ready to deploy at South Cerney forward barracks near RAF Lyneham, Britain's main military air transport base.

British diplomats and spies have been engaged in intensive efforts to speak to opposition forces, which are led by Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the rebel National Libyan Council.

Now ministers have approved a presence on the ground to gather information and boost the chances of the rebels.

The liaison teams will be primarily composed of envoys but will include some intelligence officers. They will link up with Special Forces already in Libya to provide protection and give informal military advice to the Libyan opposition. The teams are said to be there 'primarily' to gather information. But they will advise the rebels on how to secure a handover of power and set up a democratic government.

'Once we get to the stage where we have a transition, part of what we're looking at is supporting that transition,' a source said.

Britain has also stepped up its military preparations, sending the frigate Westminster and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Argus to the area.

Britain still has three Chinook helicopters in Malta. And military planning for a No Fly Zone gathered pace yesterday when the North Atlantic Council tasked Nato military authorities with providing a range of plans yesterday.

Britain is likely to play a central role in any military action since the continuing evacuation and humanitarian aid flights are all being coordinated by a Joint Force Headquarters in Malta. It is understood that the UK is more likely to supply air-to-air refuelling planes and AWACS spy-in-the-sky aircraft to any No Fly Zone operation. These planes are already flying around Libya's air space monitoring Colonel Gaddafi's use of his air force and helicopter gunships.

But a senior security official yesterday made clear that Britain will not be supplying arms and ammunition - in contrast to last Monday when Prime Minister David Cameron said he would consider arming the opposition -- an off-the-cuff reply to an MP which led to accusations of sabre rattling.

Military liaison officers also accompanied International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell yesterday as he toured humanitarian camps on the Libyan border with Tunisia. Officials say they are 'very concerned' by the lack of information about western Libya, the area under the command of Gaddafi's forces and where aid agencies have been denied access.

Shops and banks are still operating in Benghazi and other towns in the east and rebel forces have access to food and medicine.

Diplomats are also monitoring rebel-held towns such as Misurata, which is under attack from Gaddafi's forces from both sides. There, food and medicine are feared to be running out -- which could lead to calls for air drops of aid.

The Foreign Office says fewer than ten Britons who want to leave are still in Libya and yesterday finally warned Britons against going to the country.