EQUIPO NIZKOR |
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02may11
Libya operation going evil
Russia accuses the NATO-led coalition ranged against Muammar Gaddafi of overstepping its mandate in Libya. It also calls attention to the fact that Security Council Resolution 1973 that established a no-fly zone over that North African country tells the coalition to protect, not kill Libyans, and does not empower it to target Libyan leaders.
A Foreign Ministry statement about this Sunday came a few hours after a NATO air raid on a government compound in Tripoli killed one of Gaddafi’s sons and three grandchildren. Reports also spoke about significant civilian casualties outside the compound.
Gaddafi supporters responded to the attacks by ransacking the Tripoli office of the United Nations and the Embassies of Great Britain and Italy. Unlike in instances of civilian Libyan deaths, which are routinely hushed up, the coalition reacted to these attacks with exemplary promptness and energy. The Libyan Ambassador in London, for instance, got Foreign Office orders to pack up and leave.
Muammar Gaddafi apparently remains a target, and a ground operation in Libya is a growing possibility. According to this country’s NATO Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin, in European Union alone, 15 hundred troops are already on standby for a ground invasion under the pretext of averting mass human suffering in Libya.
Dr Gumer Isayev of the Political Sciences Department of St Petersburg State University agrees with senior Russian diplomats that any such invasion would result in a catastrophe:
"An invasion to protect civilians would inevitably result in a mass slaughter of them. Once in the thousands, the civilian deaths would become everyday statistics of what NATO terms ‘collateral casualties’. If NATO powers do invade, they will have to go the whole hog, igniting yet another big war in a sensitive area. Leaders like Nicolas Sarkozy will soon step down, leaving their soldiers on North African soil to suffer and die."
The coalition discusses the Libyan crisis at conferences on Libya. The first such conference sat in London in March, and the second one is gathering in Rome today. The delegates are expected to continue insisting that Gaddafi go.
[Source: The Voice of Russia, Moscow, 02May11]
 | This document has been published on 12May11 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |