Libya
Not agreeing about the war
I disagree with my colleagues at The Independent and The Independent on Sunday about the Iraq war, and I disagreed with the front page lead story on Sunday.
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 8 April 2013 at 9:59 am
Syria: Why is the world just watching?
We are sitting around watching the Syrian crisis, while evil is allowed to flourish. Dr. Sima Barmania tells us why this is unacceptable, and has a conversation with one of Assad’s old teachers, Dr. Mousa Al Kurdi.
By Dr Sima Barmania | Notebook, Opinion, iPolitics | Friday, 8 June 2012 at 5:56 pm
In the Sahara, you have a lot of time to live the music
The image of a desert rebel who is as comfortable with an instrument as with a weapon could not be epitomised any more vividly than it is by Tinariwen. In a rare interview, Eyadou Ag Leche, speaks on behalf of the Nomadic band ahead of their London show this Thursday.
By Emma Gritt | Arts, Music | Thursday, 3 May 2012 at 4:00 am
Gaddafi: Questions about his killing
Jubilant celebrations were seen all over Libya last night following the killing of Muammar Gaddafi. It must be noted from the outset, that this blog piece does not seek to defend Gaddafi’s regime. It seeks to pose a series of questions that have arisen since hearing the news of his killing, some of which remain unanswered.
By Fatima Kanji | The Foreign Desk | Friday, 21 October 2011 at 12:31 pm
On Megrahi, again, as before
I hardly have the strength for this, after watching Philip Gould’s affecting interview with Andrew Marr this morning, but thought it worth putting something that William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, told The Times last week, outside the pay wall:
The overall strategy of engaging with Gaddafi to turn him away from a nuclear programme was right, [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Sunday, 18 September 2011 at 8:46 pm
TUC takes leave of the planet
The TUC today carried a motion on the Middle East, which included this paragraph:
Congress believes the attack against Libya has been misjudged and, while holding no brief for the Gadaffi regime, believes military action should be halted immediately and that international efforts should be focused on securing a peaceful political settlement to the conflict.
A brilliant [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 14 September 2011 at 2:48 pm
Libya, a French-led liberation
As a further footnote to my column in The Independent on Sunday, I should supply better particulars for my assertion that Libya has been a French-led operation with American support.
I point out that “in the British media it is Cameron’s war, and he has won it”, but that the figures for the number of combat [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Sunday, 28 August 2011 at 6:29 pm
A victory for patience
When we are forced to choose between a series of difficult options, it is often tempting to rationalize and pretend that there is less uncertainty out there than, in fact, there is. For the sake of our own comfort levels we fool ourselves into believing that a situation is less complicated than the reality. Deluding our way out of caution in order to make a decision easier and feed the impatience to “just do something” often makes the situation worse in the long run. This has frequently been the case in international conflicts in the past, particularly where Western involvement is concerned, where urgent good intentions quickly become mired in the quicksand of reality.
By Dr Russell Razzaque | Eagle Eye | Thursday, 25 August 2011 at 5:24 pm
NATO’s dilemma: if you break it, you own it
Before the Iraq invasion of 2003, the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, famously warned President George Bush that “if you break it, you own it.”
In the case of Libya, the NATO intervention proved decisive in turning the tide in favour of the rebels seeking to end Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year grip on power. The question now [...]
By Anne Penketh | The Foreign Desk | Tuesday, 23 August 2011 at 2:18 am
Liberal interventionism: still on balance a Good Thing
It is a bit early to see Libya as a “triumph” for David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy or the Blair Doctrine. We have not got to the hard part yet.
Faisal Islam’s is therefore number 698 in my series of Questions to Which the Answer is No:
Is this Dave’s Falklands?
But the imminent collapse of Gaddafi’s regime is [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 22 August 2011 at 5:50 pm
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