French jets have launched a second day of patrolling the Libyan airspace, as the UK branded their strikes on Gaddafi’s forces a ‘success.’ The strength of the Western collation is now gathering pace, with Spain, Norway and Denmark all agreeing to send in planes to help. Qatar has become the first Arab country to jump aboard the bandwagon. Gaddafi, unsurprisingly, is hopping mad: “We promise you a long drawn-out war with no limits,” he announced today – arguing that the West has no right to be getting involved. His son, Saif, has compared the situation with our sticking our noses into Iraq over our (false) belief that they were hiding weapons of mass destruction. Even the Arab League, who supported the idea of a no-fly zone, are now accusing us of being a little heavy handed in our approach. Our bombs and missiles have already been accused of accidentally killing civilians.
So why are France and the UK leading this involvement with such vigour? Half the people you ask will say Good for Cameron – he should be intervening to stop Gaddafi. The other half will say that it’s ludicrous to get ourselves tangled up in yet another war we can’t afford and have nothing to do with. For the cynics who presume we must have an ulterior motive, that motive is hardly obvious. Libya is a desert nation, which makes up less than 2% of the world’s oil reserves. So it’s not about money, as it so often is. Basically, it looks like we are stepping in to appear honourable and because, frankly, Gaddafi makes such a good villain. Ironically enough, Nelson Mandela (nobel peace winner) once listed him as one of his all time heroes. You can see them looking at each other lovingly in the photo above.
Over in Yemen, President Saleh has fired his entire government, as he struggles to maintain his position of power. Many of his men had turned against him and resigned already, after 45 civilians were shot dead at an anti-government rally. Saleh denies it was his guys that opened fire but no one believes him. He has promised political reforms but has also vowed to defend his regime “with every drop of blood.”
The death toll in Japan is now expected to top 20,000 at least. Survivors are still largely without power or enough food and water, and weather conditions are freezing. The Japanese are being widely praised for their level of enduring dignity and calm. There has been little crime (looting and theft are extremely common follows disasters of this scale) and less general panic that you’d usually expect to find. The situation at the Fukushima plant has seemingly calmed down a bit too, for the time being.
Until tomorrow…
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