Ehhh, he can pay his mercenaries more with the gold he's stockpiled. If we want to motivate a betrayal, we'd need more. Especially as a Libyan Operation Valkyrie would require a combination of efforts if the executers wanted to live to collect their reward, so it needs to be enough to split.
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.I wouldn't worry about a Xanatos Gambit on Gman's part (Dammit Got Me Doing It too )
I have not seen any evidence of him being able to pull off something that elaborate.
edited 1st Apr '11 10:29:54 PM by Thorn14
Man, I missed Insane Troll Logic in action. Last I saw of it in these sort of circumstances was with Baghdad Bob, but the G-man's spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, is right up there with him.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12944905
We need a nickname for Mr. Ibrahim. Tripoli Tim?
edited 1st Apr '11 11:40:08 PM by FFShinra
Anti-Gaddafi man in Tripoli attacked
At least this shows that there are people brave enough to even speak something against Gaddafi's chanters.
EDIT:
In Egypt, Gaddafi's supporters are kicked out of Tahrir Square.
Good show, Egyptians!
FYI: 'Barrah' in Arabic means 'GET OUT'
edited 2nd Apr '11 5:32:07 AM by MayuZane
Anybody want space lobsters?That's a very dramatic way of saying "more pissed off than afraid" and "fuck this, I'd rather die than keep taking this shit". A lot of suffering brought forth that switch flip, and making them quit REGMODE will require lots of suffering too. However, winning in this sort of conflict will have either of these consequences:
- If they aren't broken inside, they'll keep doing their best to undermine you at every opportunity until they can rise against you again.
- If they are broken inside... you've got a lot of broken people. Broken people aren't usually very proactive... or energetic... or hardworking... or even moral... i.e. you'll have an entire demographic made of shit.
Just some more news:
15 revolutionaries were killed when a coalition air strike hit their convoy west of Ajdabiya. The BBC reports that anti-aircraft fire was shot in the air from the convoy, which may have led the coalition planes to strike. BBC and Reuters report that according to some revolutionaries, Gaddafi forces sneaked in among them and fired the weapon to bring about such an attack, but this hasn’t been confirmed.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera's live blog reports that Libyan pro-democracy fighters have taken control of most the Libyan city of Brega after having engaged in clashes with Gaddafi forces.
Also, anti-Gaddafi forces have set up checkpoints preventing any untrained personnel from advancing into the frontlines. It is said that the untrained are too much of a liability, with many young men sent back angry, but obliging and understanding the circumstances of the situation.
It really looks like they are starting to get organized, and sources in Benghazi say that people are discouraged from wasting ammuntion in celebratory gunfire. Last Friday prayer, only one person fired one round in celebration after prayers. About time!
edited 2nd Apr '11 6:40:10 AM by MayuZane
Anybody want space lobsters?Ta for the update Mayu. As others have said, an army needs much more than fighters to operate, so all those angry young volunteers that were sent away will hopefully have plenty of other things to do. No dishonour to say to your kids that during the revolution you transported arms and equipment to the front.
Also from the Al Jazeera blog, a better (though unwieldy) title for the rebels- pro-democracy fighters. Although democracy is such an easily subverted word, there's no denying it's a good thing to put on your banner-and a reminder to pro-Gaddafi citizens of what they don't have and what they are fighting against.
You're welcome, betaalpha.
More from Al-Jazeera, it appears that the rebel troops at the frontline are equipped with radio equipment. According to James Bays, there are now technicals with radio antennas attached to them, presumably to serve as relays.
After weeks of assurances that they would get organized, it is good to see evidence they're actually making an effort.
EDIT:
The New Libyan Satellite Channel was launched a few days ago from the Qatari capital Doha. The channel can be watched via Nilesat on the following settings: 7° West – 11334 H 27500 3/4
Here's the video of their first live broadcast,
and below the translation:
This is a new media window overlooking Libya, we look through it to the conditions of its people and their challenges, we listen to their voices regardless of their number or how dispersed they are and we make them audible to the world which is following their revolution.
The Libyan Satellite channel is run by the hands and minds of Libyans so that it may communicate with the Libyans in a language that is close to them. It does not carry from Libya simply the name, rather it also carries the burden on every Libyan's chest, and carries its aspirations to a better tomorrow where the country is free for everyone and not limited to one individual.
Libya Satellite channel visits you this evening and for the first time from the Qatari capital Doha and promises to convene with you from Tripoli very soon, God-willing. This is your channel, starts its broadcast today. The beginning starts with the news, and the news begin with the headlines.
edited 2nd Apr '11 8:07:35 AM by MayuZane
Anybody want space lobsters?Now that it seems that the revolution's armed forces are finally organising and preparing to make their first move, it's fun to look at the past couple of weeks, how people have declared the battle lost time and time again, calling the UN resolution and the operation failures before the revolution's first organised attempt at making military manoeuvres.
The revolution is clearly winning, even if they never take Sirte militarily. Gaddafi's ranks are thinning all the time and people are so supportive of the revolution and the coalition operation that even two disasters in two days - accidental killing of civilians and rebels - have not caused even the families of the victims to stop supporting the cause.
The pro-Gaddafi rallies in Tripoli, as stated many times before, are mainly composed of relatives and friends of people in high positions in the government, and some demonstrators have even admitted that they're being paid to wave the green flag around. Tripoli is a huge revolution waiting to happen as soon as the grip that the militias have on the city is loosened.
Gaddafi's land forces outnumber the revolution 10-to-1. But popular support for the revolution is at least 10 times as strong as that for Gaddafi, and at the moment, there is no good reason to say that the revolution is likely to fail.
The West does not need to step over the resolution, and the rest of the campaign, assuming that there's no major unexpected change in the direction of these events, can be carried out without the US playing a major role.
edited 2nd Apr '11 9:16:34 AM by BestOf
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.Superior strategy > superior numbers. The CIA is currently working with the TNC's military, it's very likely they are giving advice on how to fight Gaddafi's forces with what they got. Now that Gaddafi's troops on the frontlines are mostly using technicals and other light vehicles instead of tanks (because Gaddafi's forces have figured out that they are sitting ducks against aerial strikes), the rebels should have less need for heavy weapons.
In previous encounters, Gaddafi's forces would almost always launch mortar attacks on advancing rebels. What happens most of the time whenever a mortar lands near a rebel unit is that the untrained groups would panic and then immediately do a U-turn and do a chaotic scramble back. For all their machismo and hyperbole, it must be noted that their morale changes at the drop of a bullet. One encounter had Gaddafi forces commandeering buses moving towards a rebel group and opening fire. Despite the fact that the rebels had an anti-aircraft cannon mounted on a truck, which would have shredded the buses easily, they instead panicked and ran away.
Now that the better-trained personnel are there, I have a feeling that the fact that these troops don't immediately turn and scram when a mortar lands is a nasty surprise for Gaddafi's forces, who may have acquired a perception of the rebels as being a pack of easily-scared youths overly-dependent on airstrikes.
EDIT: With regards to the tragic mistakes of NATO's airstrikes-
Mustafa Gheriani, a Transitional National Council spokesman, told Al Jazeera’s Laurence Lee that the loss of lives is very much regretted.
“However we understand that collateral damage may also take place and we do accept it, because we look at the big picture which saving more lives. So a few people being victims of circumstances or of being at the wrong time or the wrong place it is more or less very bad luck.”
Last Edit and bit of news for today:
Gaddafi oil tank trucks arrived in Tunisia, but were sent away by the Tunisians.
Now all of them are returning to Tripoli empty. Tripoli's fuel shortage has reached critical levels, and it seems Gaddafi's regime is desperate for petrol.
Those poor drivers are going to shit themselves trying to explain why they came back empty-handed.
edited 2nd Apr '11 9:50:03 AM by MayuZane
Anybody want space lobsters?They'd have been better off defecting and staying in Tripoli.
The term "Great Man" is disturbingly interchangeable with "mass murderer" in history books.See, this is why I was not too worried about the Rebels getting thrashed and retreating because I figured it was going to make the rebels get their shit in gear.
Am I the only one finding it kind of eerie that this is having alot of analogies to the American Revolution, only with a few but possibly significant twists?
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You mean Tunis, right?
I don't know the details of the American Revolution besides what I saw in The Patriot and as throwaway comedic references, especially Rushmore Defacement and Dollar Bill Parodies. (Why is it called a "Dollar" anyway?)
edited 2nd Apr '11 11:54:56 AM by Ardiente
"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."The best bit about this report
is that it is my first indication that Egypt's government actively supports the Libyan rebellion and will give aid and succor to it.
The situation in Tripoli has been getting worse and worse. Doesn't matter if Gaddafi managed to have Brega and Ras Lanuf change hands a couple of times, he has only two cities that are managing to actually function, he's unable to make the pay outs to the sub-saharan african countries that make them support him, he's unable to keep a facade up in Tripoli and all his military successes win him are bullet ridden ghost towns.
For all we know, the failures of a zerg rush by folks who nicked a couple of AK's help us all in the long run. If there were al-Qaeda or Hezbollah fighters in those advances, they look kinda stupid now. This is Libya, you don't need to listen to guys who shoot inaccurate RPGs at Israeli semi-detached houses, you need 70 year old books by dead Germans. The important of keeping order in the east is being underlined, the calmer minds in the TNC are promoted in stature, the foreign coalition start to look a little cooler in front of the world "Look, see, we're letting them fuck up" and hopefully they'll stop shooting their weapons into the air like Team America World Police extras, for the love of God, please.

...what would an appropriate bounty on Gadhaffi's head be?
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.