Re: [Marxism] All quiet in Tripoli -- today's NYT on protests, revolts, and other CIA plots

2011-02-26 Thread johnedmundson 
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> Bang on, Fred!! And don't forget those flags. The official flag of
> Qaddafi's Libya -- all green, for Islam and the Green Book -- is
> nowhere to be seen in the photos of mass demonstrations; instead, they
> are waving the flag of King Idris, of the "Kingdom of Libya"!
> (Monarchists, indeed!) Which just happens, of course, to be the first
> flag of independent Libya, adopted in the early 1950s (in case anyone
> raises this again):
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Libya. ;-)

Actually, as Louis has pointed out, and there's a link in the archives, the red,
black and green flag with the star and crescent is NOT "the flag of King Idris"
at all. It is the flag of Libya, which was then the "Kingdom of Libya", which
the rsistance fought under when resisting the Italian fascists. The "flag of
King Idris" is an all black field with the creascent and star, which are of
course common Islamic images.
Cheers,
John


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Re: [Marxism] All quiet in Tripoli -- today's NYT on protests, revolts, and other CIA plots

2011-02-26 Thread Richard Fidler 
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Bang on, Fred!! And don't forget those flags. The official flag of
Qaddafi's Libya -- all green, for Islam and the Green Book -- is
nowhere to be seen in the photos of mass demonstrations; instead, they
are waving the flag of King Idris, of the "Kingdom of Libya"!
(Monarchists, indeed!) Which just happens, of course, to be the first
flag of independent Libya, adopted in the early 1950s (in case anyone
raises this again):
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Libya. ;-)

Richard

-Original Message-
From:
marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
[mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut
ah.edu] On Behalf Of Fred Feldman

More totally made up CIA propaganda against the revolutionary hero
Gadhafi, who has richly earned - we can all agree - the love and total
devotion that he is receiving from the Libyan people. In fact, there
is no such place as Tripoli.   

 By the way, one of King Idris' descendants-in-exile has endorsed the
revolt, proving that it is all a plot to restore the monarchy!
Of one thing you can be sure. It's definitely not a real popular
revolt if anyone who is not a militant leftist revolutionary endorses
it.

Fred Feldman

February 26, 2011


Long Bread Lines and Open Revolt in Libya's Capital


By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
 


TRIPOLI, Libya - A bold effort by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi
  to prove that he was firmly in
control of Libya appeared to backfire Saturday as foreign journalists
he invited to the capital discovered blocks of the city in open
revolt. 

[clip]



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[Marxism] All quiet in Tripoli -- today's NYT on protests, revolts, and other CIA plots

2011-02-26 Thread Fred Feldman 
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More totally made up CIA propaganda against the revolutionary hero Gadhafi,
who has richly earned - we can all agree - the love and total devotion that
he is receiving from the Libyan people. In fact, there is no such place as
Tripoli.   

 

By the way, one of King Idris' descendants-in-exile has endorsed the revolt,
proving that it is all a plot to restore the monarchy!
Of one thing you can be sure. It's definitely not a real popular revolt if
anyone who is not a militant leftist revolutionary endorses it.

Fred Feldman

February 26, 2011


Long Bread Lines and Open Revolt in Libya's Capital


By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
 


TRIPOLI, Libya - A bold effort by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi
  to prove that he was firmly in control of
Libya appeared to backfire Saturday as foreign journalists he invited to the
capital discovered blocks of the city in open revolt. 

Witnesses described snipers and antiaircraft guns firing at unarmed
civilians, and security forces were removing the dead and wounded from
streets and hospitals, apparently in an effort to hide the mounting toll. 

When government-picked drivers escorted journalists on tours of the city on
Saturday morning, the evidence of the extent of the unrest was unmistakable.
Workers were still hastily painting over graffiti calling Colonel Qaddafi a
"bloodsucker" or demanding his ouster. Just off the tour route were long
bread lines where residents said they were afraid to be seen talking to
journalists. 

And though heavily armed checkpoints dominated some precincts of the city,
in other neighborhoods the streets were blocked by makeshift barricades of
broken televisions, charred tree trunks and cinder blocks left over from
protests and street fights the night before. 

"I have seen more than 68 people killed," said a doctor who gave his name
only as Hussein. "But the people who have died, they don't leave them in the
same place. We have seen them taking them in the Qaddafi cars, and nobody
knows where they are taking the people who have died." He added, "Even the
ones with just a broken hand or something they are taking away." 

In some ways, the mixed results of Colonel Qaddafi's publicity stunt -
opening the curtains to the world with great fanfare, even though the stage
is in near-chaotic disarray - is an apt metaphor for the increasingly
untenable situation in the country. 

On Friday, before the journalists arrived, his forces put down a
demonstration in the capital only after firing on the protesters. There were
reports that an armed rebel force was approaching the city on Saturday, but
Colonel Qaddafi's forces are believed to have blocked the way at the city of
Surt, a stronghold of his tribe. 

He is no longer in full control of the countryside either. Rebels now
control about half the populous Mediterranean coast, including the strategic
towns of Zawiyah and Misurata, not far from the capital and near important
oil facilities. 

But Tripoli is home to a third of Libya's roughly six million people.
Colonel Qaddafi and his special militias have unleashed enough firepower
here that it may enable them to keep a firm grasp on the city for some time
to come, raising vexing questions about just how the standoff might end. 

Until Friday night, Colonel Qaddafi's government had imposed a complete ban
on foreign journalists, had shut down most Internet access, had confiscated
cellphone chips and camera memory cards from those leaving the border, and
had done whatever it could to prevent unauthorized images of the unrest here
from leaving the country. 

But he reversed himself on Thursday when his son Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi
  said Libya would now welcome the
foreign news media and officials began figuring out how to issue visas when
many of its embassies abroad had already defected to the rebels. 

When foreign journalists arrived Friday night, the airport looked like a
refugee camp, with thousands jammed into the halls awaiting flights out of
the country. Many customs and security officials wore hospital masks in fear
of contracting some disease among the hordes. 

In a midnight news conference for journalists assembled in the luxurious
Rixos Hotel, where bread and other food was plentiful, the younger Mr.
Qaddafi, dressed in a dark zip-up sweater, acknowledged for the first time
the extent of the rebellion, confirming reports that rebels had control of
Zawiyah and Misurata despite concerted attempts over the last two days to
dis