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25 Jun 2011 11:10

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World: Gaddafi just lost the soccer-playing contingent of his base

  • 17 Libyan soccer players side with the rebels, not Gaddafi source
  • » Harsh words for the dictator: One of the players to defect, goalie Juma Gtat, put his feelings as such: “I am telling Col Gaddafi to leave us alone and allow us to create a free Libya. In fact I wish he would leave this life altogether.” This is significant for a number of reasons — first, it comes after some notable military defections, and secondly, soccer is particularly huge in North Africa. That means that Gaddafi just lost some pretty significant allies in a public relations war.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jun 2011 16:52

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World: Muammar Gaddafi would rather die than surrender

  • We will not kneel! We will not surrender: we only have one choice – to the end! Death, victory, it does not matter, we are not surrendering!
  • Muammar Gaddafi • More or less affirming the attitude he’s been exemplifying for months. His defiant remarks came during a phone call to Libyan state television, during which the sounds of low-flying aircraft were audible over the line, and he quickly hung up. NATO’s offensive strikes in Libya have intensified recently — perhaps the result of President Obama agreeing with British PM David Cameron that it was time to ‘turn up the heat‘ on Gaddafi and his forces? In any event, this much seems clear: Gaddafi would rather die than relinquish command, and NATO doesn’t intend to leave him in power. Gaddafi might get his wish on this one. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jun 2011 13:52

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World: VIDEO: Cockpit footage of British choppers hitting Libyan targets

  • From the cockpit of a British Apache helicopter: The British Ministry of Defense released a selection of videos of helicopter strikes at various Libyan targets, including the clip above. The Telegraph, where we grabbed the video above, suggests that the footage emphasizes a key point; by knocking out these relatively small targets one-by-one, both the rebels and the forces are slowly wearing away at Gaddafi’s infrastructure. “Helicopters and war planes will take out the check-points from the air; the rebels seize the ground,” writes Richard Spencer, who suggests the coalition has formed an alliance with the rebels on the ground in all but name. If it sounds like this is going to take a freaking long time, that’s because it probably will. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 May 2011 16:48

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World: Defecting Libyan Generals: We’re keeping our troops

  • eight Libyan Generals defected to Italy today, according to the Italian Foreign Ministry
  • 100+ Libyan soldiers accompanied their generals, who met with Italian intelligence agents in Tunisia source
  • » This comes the same day that South African President Jacob Zuma is meeting with Gaddafi to try and negotiate a cease-fire between him and rebels. Will these defections spur a change of heart in Gaddafi, convincing him to finally relinquish power and allow his crumbling regime to die? Probably not, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed just in case.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 May 2011 11:28

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World: Libya: Can South African president Jacob Zuma pull off a deal?

Our boy is reportedly in Libya to try to broker a power-sharing deal between Gaddafi and the rebels. Will the South African president’s presence get Gaddafi (shown) to budge? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 May 2011 13:05

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World: War crimes prosecutor wants to arrest Gaddafi

  • The evidence showed that Gaddafi relied on his inner circle to implement a systematic policy of suppressing any challenge to his authority.
  • Luis Moreno-Ocampo, an international war crimes court’s chief prosecutor • He wants to have Gaddafi arrested for crimes against humanity – namely firing on unarmed civillians. He went on, talking about how Gaddafi killed people in the streets and in their homes, using people in his family to help him enforce his rule. Moreno-Ocampo has been investigating this since the Libyan revolution was only three weeks old. Now a panel of judges will have to approve this request, though it doesn’t mean that Gaddafi’s arrest will come immediately. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 May 2011 11:45

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World: Muammar Gaddafi’s claim to NATO: “You can’t get me”

  • Where in the world is Muammar Gaddafi? Well … according to an audio clip played on state television, he’s in a place where you can’t get him — he lives in the hearts of millions. Whatever that means. The leader, who hasn’t shown his face in public for a few weeks (after members of his family were killed in an airstrike), is rumored to have been wounded in a NATO airstrike earlier this week. For its part, NATO says it’s not going after him. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

13 May 2011 11:59

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World: Was Gaddafi wounded in an airstrike? Depends on who you ask

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini says that “Gaddafi was most probably outside Tripoli and probably even wounded.” However, a Libyan official denies this. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 May 2011 16:14

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World: NATO airstrikes rock Tripoli during the night

  • Witnesses claim Gaddafi’s compound was the target: Some have cried foul over NATO’s increased bombings against Gaddafi territories, saying that the mandate for civilian protection, but the U.N. resolution authorizing the no-fly zone uses a rather vague phrase in defining the mission. It states: “…to take all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack in the country, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory.” A pro-military force type might read that and say, “well, the civilians are in danger as long as Gaddafi is in power.” We’d likely agree with that. It is a bigger and bloodier mission than expected, however, and that may have consequences in public opinion and diplomacy. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 May 2011 20:37

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World: Libyan rebels get Robin Hood-style help from Gaddafi’s coffers

  • request Libyan rebels asked for a funding to help them continue their military campaign to beat Gaddafi’s forces — they wanted cash from the $40 billion frozen from both the country’s and Gaddafi’s accounts.
  • resultsWhile they got a decent chunk of change — in part thanks to the U.S. agreeing to unfreeze some funds — it reportedly wasn’t the $2 to $3 billion they asked for. Will it be enough to topple Gaddafi? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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