Thread: The Libyan Crisis

Russia warns of "full-scale military action" following Security Council vote on Libya — RT

Russia warns of "full-scale military action" following Security Council vote on Libya

Published: 18 March, 2011, 14:18



AFP Photo / Adek Berry

Following a decision by the UN Security Council to take “all necessary measures” against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Russian politicians and experts are warning of further destabilization in the region.

The UN Security Council voted on Thursday to impose a no-fly zone, which includes the possible use of military force, against pro-Gaddafi forces.

Presently, the Libyan strongman's military is successfully beating back a large anti-government uprising, and is in the process of consolidating his forces around Benghazi, a city to the north where the "interim Libyan government" is penned in.

Diplomats said the resolution, which was written in the eleventh hour of the Libyan conflict, allows for a wide range of actions, including strikes on air-defense systems and missile attacks from ships.

Indeed, full-blown military activity could commence “within hours,” they said.

Russia and four other council members – China, Germany, Brazil and India – abstained from the vote.

Will outside interference aggravate situation?

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian Liberal Democratic Party leader and State Duma vice speaker says the Security Council resolution does not bode well for the prospects of peace in the region.

"The consequences will be extremely negative," the LDPR leader said at a press conference at Interfax on Friday, adding that the resolution is "a symptom of preparations for a full-scale military operation.”

The outspoken Russian politician, who is known for his loaded language, drew parallels between yesterday’s Security Council vote and past military actions undertaken on the part of NATO and the United States military.

"We must not forget how NATO and US aircraft bombed Yugoslavia, and that is not the only precedent,” Zhirinovsky warned. “Libya may become the fourth country in 12 years to be threatened with direct military foreign interference after Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iran.”

He said the international community should understand the danger of such interference "on the pretext of protecting peaceful Libyans."

Meanwhile, Russia’s Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said the blame for “humanitarian consequences” following any military action will be on the shoulders of those involved in such operations.

"Responsibility for inevitable humanitarian consequences caused by excessive use of outside force in the Libyan situation would be fully born by those who resorted to such actions,” Churkin told reporters following the Security Council vote.

The Russian ambassador warned that some provisions of the resolution may result in a large-scale use of force.

"They potentially open the door for a large-scale military intervention,” Churkin said. “During our discussion, assurances were voiced about the absence of such intentions. We take them into account."

The ambassador added that no explanations were provided as to how the no-fly zone would be enforced and "what will be the rules and limits of the use of force."

Asserting that Russia did not veto the resolution as it was "guided by the necessity to protect civilians and by general humanitarian values," he remained convinced that "an immediate ceasefire is the shortest way to reliable security of the peaceful population and long-term stabilization in Libya."

With no details as to how the Security Council will organize a military response against Gaddafi, military experts are waiting to hear from NATO, which is convening a meeting in Brussels on Friday to discuss the issue.

A diplomatic source in the Russian mission to NATO told Interfax that the meeting…is the first such meeting since the adoption of the resolution and "it is better to refrain from making any predictions."

Meanwhile, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Nikolai Makarov has ruled out the possibility of Russia's involvement in a military operation against Libya.

"No, that is out of the question," he told Interfax on Friday.

A "lesson" for would-be proliferators of WMD?

Finally, military involvement on the part of international forces may play into the hands of violators of the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction regime, Alexei Arbatov, the head of the International Security Center of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with Interfax.

"An attack against Libya would be a gift for all violators of the Non-Proliferation Treaty," Arbatov said. "If Libya becomes an object of a military operation, it will lead some countries to believe that no one would think of threatening Gaddhafi with a military operation now if he had not voluntarily given up his nuclear program several years ago.”

"The imposition of a no-fly zone is a military operation,” he said. “It envisions attacks on aerodromes and air defense systems, not just a ban of flying.”

Arbatov predicted that any military action taken against Libya will be watched carefully by certain states that are now borderline pariah states, at least as far as the United States, and some other governments, is concerned

"This will lead Iran, Syria, and some other countries violating the non-proliferation regime to make a new powerful step towards obtaining nuclear weapons," the expert said.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi officially halted the development of weapons of mass destruction programs in December 2003, a move that temporarily restored his reputation in the eyes of the global community.

Robert Bridge, RT

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Gaddafi has said he intends to wrap things up today. Slaughter a plenty. Will the new coalition force be able to get its shit together to stop more death?

Was it the Arabs or the Chinese who invented Chess?

"Libya has declared an immediate halt to all military operations to protect civilians, says the foreign minister."

Libya Live: UN Security Council approves no-fly zone - Telegraph

"Full transcript of the Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa's "ceasefire" statement a few minutes ago:

Libya, after having seen the resolution, would like to explain the following.
As the country will try to deal with this resolution. Libya now has knowledge of this resolution, and according to article 25 of the UN charter, and taking into consideration that Libya is a full member of the UN, we accept that it is obliged to accept the security council resolution.

Therefore, Libya has decided an immediate ceasefire, and the stoppage of all military operations.

Libya takes great interest in protecting all civilians, and offering them all necessary humanitarian aid, and respecting all human rights, and obliging to the international and humanitarian laws and it is also obliged to protect all of the foreigners in Libya and protecting their assets. In doing so, Libya is in accordance with the resolutions of the security council and the articles of the charter of the United Nations.
We emphasise in the resolution 1973 for the year 2011, we emphasise and agree to the article regarding the protection of civilians and the territorial unity of Libya.
And therefore, building on this, we are opening all dialogue channels with everyone interested in the territorial unity of Libya.

And my country is very serious about continuing the development, economic, political, humanitarian and social development of the Libyan nation.
And we have indeed taken serious steps in continuing this development for the good of the Libyan people. And we believe that this will take the country back to safety and security for all Libyans.
We also express our sadness towards what the resolution has included, of procedures against the Libyan nation, such as the no-fly zone, which includes commercial and civilian flights.This will increase the suffering of the Libyan people, and will have a negative impact on the general life of Libyan people.
The international community should have exempted civilians from the resolution to secure their quality of life.

Also, the total and inclusive freezing of all Libyan assets and investments will have a very negative impact on normal Libyans and also on Libya's ability to fulfill its contracts locally and internationally. Libya also finds that its very strange that the UN allows in its resolution the use of military power and there are signs that this might indeed take place. This goes clearly against the UN Charter, and its a violation of the national sovereignty of Libya. And it's also in violation of Article 4(2) of the UN Charter.

And finally, we insist and emphasise our request for all international governments, NGOs and others to check the facts on the ground by sending fact-finding missions so that they can take the right decision by seeing the facts on the ground.
Thank you."

Which means that the reason for protecting the "civilians" from ongoing harm has been achieved.

Let us see again if the "west" wants war or the protection of "civilians". Let us also see if the "rebels" accept the ceasefire.

Security Council authorizes ‘all necessary measures’ to protect civilians in Libya

"Demanding an immediate ceasefire and a complete end to violence and all attacks against and abuse of civilians, and condemning the “gross and systematic violation of human rights, including arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and summary executions,”

Libya crisis: Egypt shipping arms across border to aid rebels - Telegraph

"Egypt shipping arms across border to aid rebels

Egypt's military has begun shipping arms over the border to Libyan rebels with Washington's knowledge, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday."

"Quoting US and Libyan rebel officials, the newspaper said the shipments were mostly of small arms such as assault rifles and ammunition.
It appeared to be the first case of an outside government arming the rebel fighters. Rebels have been losing ground for days in the face of an advance by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. The rebels have, however, been buoyed by the United Nations Security Council's authorisation of air strikes to curb Col Gaddafi's forces. Egyptian weapons transfers began "a few days ago" and are continuing, a senior US official told the newspaper. "We know the Egyptian military council is helping us, but they can't be so visible," said Hani Souflakis, a Libyan businessman in Cairo who has been acting as a rebel liaison with the Egyptian government since the uprising began. "Weapons are getting through," said Souflakis. "Americans have given the green light to the Egyptians to help. The Americans don't want to be involved in a direct level, but the Egyptians wouldn't do it if they didn't get the green light."

A spokesman for the rebel government in Benghazi said arms shipments had begun arriving to the rebels but declined to specify where they came from."

An merkin proxy has been shipping arms to a neighbours rebel army. The US appears to have knowledge, if not put pressure on the "neighbour", to ship arms supplied by the US to the "Neighbour". Mostly small arms but some ......... has also been shipped.

If an Iranian ship appears in Bahrain with weapons, are they covered by the same type of resolution?

Libya takes great interest in protecting all civilians, and offering them all necessary humanitarian aid, and respecting all human rights, and obliging to the international and humanitarian laws and it is also obliged to protect all of the foreigners in Libya and protecting their assets.

Originally Posted by hazz

I was a little surprised that russian or china did not veto the resolution against gadaffi; I suppose its goes to show just how many people he's managed to piss off. In the case of bahrain, well they have more friends in the right places. But thats the unfortunately the duplicity and hypocrisy of state afars.

The speed of the Libyans repeated, they first proposed it last week, offer of the ceasefire may have been because of discussions with the Russians and the Chinese. Who invented Chess, who has been past masters at the "game"?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Bahrain, is about as "sovereign" as the Isle of Man.

Bahrain changed from being a British protectorate to a sovereign state in 1971.

Now, back to the subject in hand. The No Fly Zone (and then some) is in place, and the Libyan government have declared a ceasefire.

Yet still this morning the battle for Benghazi continues, and it would seem that Gaddafi is trying to race in there and take it over before whatever this coalition is called gets its shit together.

Libya tried to stall by further inviting observers in from the countries that abstained from the UN vote.

Footage this morning shows what appears to be a Libyan air force jet being downed, but its not clear who by or indeed whether or not it might just have broken (most of his planes aren't serviceable by the sound of it).

The UN mandate allows Nato to bomb the shit out of them even if they are only "a threat", they don't actually have to be doing anything.

So I'd expect some action today.

Alright, it's about as sovereign as Andorra, Liechtenstein, or San Marino... a tiny appendage to big ugly one, like angler fish.

He's so predictable... Now would be a good time to play the WMD card at the UN... it wouldn't take much on the scale of things to take out the King of Pop's 2 main armoured brigades, they "debate" it later to appease the nauseating whining of "not in my name" far-left/liberals.