"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met the opposition Libyan National Council envoy Mahmoud Jebril before the London talks. A senior U.S. official said the two could discuss releasing e33 billion in frozen Libyan assets to the opposition." http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/libya-rebels-pull-back-as-gadhafi-forces-retake-town-near-sirte-1.352574
This would imply that the opposition is already understood by the key Western players to represent the sovereign authority of Libya. Jebril is the current Prime Minister of the "Libyan Republic", the entity that rivals Gaddafi's state, and chief of the Executive Team of the National Transitional Council. So far, his Republic has been recognized by France (10 March) and Qatar (28 March). Support has been expressed by Italy, Portugal, the Arab League, UK, US, Gulf Cooperation Council, and the EC. Thw two snags are that the US-led operation is, in the details, not consistent with international law, and that they cannot easily defeat Gaddafi with amateur soldiers - unless they get a lot of "foreign boots on the ground" or an act of provocation motivates the UN to endorse te overthrow of Gaddafi; but so far there is no UN mandate for the overthrow of Gaddafi's state. At most there is a "selective blockade" of Tripoli, and the Western axis arms and trains the amateur soldiers. Effectively Mr Obama and the Pentagon are forcing the EU and UN to commit to "policing" Libya longterm. It has been a foreign policy scoop for Mrs Clinton and a cunning political strategy, but also a gamble, since, if de facto "anything goes" for the UN-authorised force, then in principle "anything goes" as far as Gaddafi's forces are concerned as well, and then it is much more difficult to reach a position where a ceasefire and negotiations could book any political result. If the UN-authorised force is not perceived to be neutral or bipartisan, it also cannot act in a mediating role. And all those countries which have indicated their support for the National Transitional Council also cannot very well act as mediators in the future. J. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
