Joseph Green wrote: > It's so nice to know that Castro thinks that one "can agree...or not" with > drowning the LIbyan protestors in blood. What a humanitarian! What a > socialist! > > In fact, the message is a shameful endorsement of Gaddafi personally. > Castro praises him extravagantly throughout the statement. And he has > nothing to say about the present working people of Libya and their > grievances.
I don't see the extravagant praise of Gaddafi that you found. Wrong or right, the fact is that the Cuban government, through its chancellor, has now repeated that it is up to the people of Libya to resolve this dispute internally, preferably in a peaceful manner, without the interference of foreign powers. I think I can agree with that. If the opposition in Libya is overthrowing Gaddafi without NATO support (which, by the way, does not exclude solidarity with the Libyan opposition exercised by individual citizens of NATO countries as such individual citizens or through their civic organizations), then that should be the resolution that Cuba regards as legitimate and consistent with international law. No problem with that. But the issues on the ground appear murkier to me. Compared to Tunisia, Egypt, or Bahrein, there's a very clear double standard in the reaction of NATO governments. I am not confident enough in my own understanding of the local situation to dare a definitive political judgment. But that does not matter. What is at stake is my own peace of mind, with negligible effect on what actually happens there. But, that applies to you and others here as well. In dealing with my own perception of things, all I can say is that I've read a few contradictory reports of what is going on there, and my bs-meter regarding Western mass media and news agencies is telling me to be very cautious about their accounts. I don't have a precise discount factor to apply to those stories. But Libyan oil and gas reserves are known to be substantial. Potential rents are huge. And the private interests that underlie NATO are insatiable when substantial financial gain is involved. So, that incentive, in and by itself, has some explanatory power regarding the curious reaction of NATO governments to Libya. No need to say that this is no defense of Gaddafi policies or government or actions against his people, if in fact the accounts of Western agencies are consistent with the facts on the ground. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
