Libyan revolts turn bloody deadly, but Libya does not fit in the Middle East revolution paradigm.
Spotty news emerging from Libya is painting a horrific picture of poor, downtrodden Libyans getting absolutely massacred by powerful forces loyal to dictator Muammar al-Gadaffi. One news source is citing that over 100 are dead with some Libyan doctors suggesting that Gadaffi brought our sniper units to shoot down individuals.
What is especially interesting, according to SkyNet news some forces of the Libyan army have flat out defected and joined the protesters. As I understand it Libya is a fractured country in the sense that most of the power of the Socialist forces loyal to Gadaffi are concentrated within cities, but the outskirts are home to traditional anti-Gadaffi powers - yet the following suggests that Libya may be on the brink of a civil war.
One of the most difficult aspects of covering and understanding these revolutions is that most Americans know very little of the countries involved. Most Americans had no idea where Tahrir Square was up to a few weeks ago and many more have no clue where Bahrain is located, Libya is especially mystical because relatively speaking to Tunisia, Egypt, etc it is also a Socialist Dictatorship. However a fascinating portrayal of Libya can be found here, a first person account from a free lance writer Michael J. Totten.
Much of descriptions of Michael's observations can be directly applied to other failed Communist vestiges like the old Soviet Union, East Germany and North Korea. A depressed populace, absence of stores or restaurants, filthy dirty streets littered with garbage and most importantly, an inability to travel without appointed bodyguards courtesy of the almighty state.
Now, as I have written earlier and have maintained all along, much of the unrest happening in the Middle East and North Africa stem purely from the nonsense happening here in America. Our central bank's obsession with fighting a mythical deflation has not only failed in restoring any real economic activity here in America, but has resulted in a gigantic ratcheting of commodity prices. This in turn has put immense pressure on countries where the general populace is poor and whose economies can not so easily absorb the rapid rise in food prices. The chart below speaks volumes of what the world is right now experiencing and for those countries whose currency is pegged to the US Dollar the price is that much higher.
The CRB index represents general commodity prices and March 09 was incidentally a low marked by the S&P 500 and a general economic low of the 2008 Housing crisis. Wheat is not far from it's previous high which was fueled by cheap money, inflation and cheap credit.
There are many more examples, sugar especially is interesting marking a 30 year high.
Yet, what is happening in Libya is unclear. For example in Tunisia food prices and in Egypt the exchange rate plus price increases were driving the poor people into a frenzy, what is happening. The exchange rate between the Libyan Dinar and the US Dollar remained largely unchanged over the past two years. As far as I can tell the people protesting are doing so largely because they are sick of a tyrant who has been ruining their lives over the past 40 years and want freedom. One aspect of a socialist state as it offers the people consistency, that is to say, consistently bad standard of living.
One of my primary contentions during the Egyptian riots was that people could potentially put up with a lot of abuse, but they cannot handle starvation. Nothing in any of the reports coming out of Libya suggests that a significant price increase has occurred in the country or that a sudden wave of unemployment has hit. Mind you most of this is highly speculative because reports coming out of Libya are impossible to distinguish between truth and fiction. This would suggest that virtually no country is immune or safe from popular uprisings and bastions of control such as Libyan Socialist Dictatorship are not safe from descending into chaos or civil war.
So this begs the question, if the global standard of living in conjunction with oppressive regimes curtailing freedom, liberty and dignity can plunge entire regions into chaos, who is immune? More importantly, who is next? With food prices continuing to soar, cotton approaching all time highs and desperate regimes getting more desperate to hang on to power - what awaits humanity? Can China be next? Can Europe? What about America? China's internal problems are far greater than most can even imagine and Europe's debt crisis is being systematically postponed by the European Central Bank. America's financial picture is getting scarier by the day and all attempts to reign in spending are met with violent opposition and civil unrest.
We have a golden opportunity in this country to avert the crisis playing out in the emerging world and yet we are doing nothing to stop it, nothing at all! It is amazing to see that a population so heavily dependent on Government handouts, that we are actually preferring to let the harsh realities of life take over instead of biting the bullet and taking our medicine now. So sad and so very scary, we are rapidly running out of time.
What is especially interesting, according to SkyNet news some forces of the Libyan army have flat out defected and joined the protesters. As I understand it Libya is a fractured country in the sense that most of the power of the Socialist forces loyal to Gadaffi are concentrated within cities, but the outskirts are home to traditional anti-Gadaffi powers - yet the following suggests that Libya may be on the brink of a civil war.
Earlier, members of a Libyan army unit told Benghazi residents they have defected and "liberated" the city from pro-Gaddafi forces.Recently the son of Muammar went on State run television and promised to fight until the "last bullet".
Speaking from the city, a local man named Benali, told Sky News that members of the Libya's armed forces have defected and that anti-regime protesters are now in control of the city.
Libyan leader Moammar's Kadafi's son acknowledged in comments broadcast early Monday, but he vowed that security forces would fight efforts to end his father's four decades in power "to the last bullet."Charming fellow, no doubt.
One of the most difficult aspects of covering and understanding these revolutions is that most Americans know very little of the countries involved. Most Americans had no idea where Tahrir Square was up to a few weeks ago and many more have no clue where Bahrain is located, Libya is especially mystical because relatively speaking to Tunisia, Egypt, etc it is also a Socialist Dictatorship. However a fascinating portrayal of Libya can be found here, a first person account from a free lance writer Michael J. Totten.
Much of descriptions of Michael's observations can be directly applied to other failed Communist vestiges like the old Soviet Union, East Germany and North Korea. A depressed populace, absence of stores or restaurants, filthy dirty streets littered with garbage and most importantly, an inability to travel without appointed bodyguards courtesy of the almighty state.
Now, as I have written earlier and have maintained all along, much of the unrest happening in the Middle East and North Africa stem purely from the nonsense happening here in America. Our central bank's obsession with fighting a mythical deflation has not only failed in restoring any real economic activity here in America, but has resulted in a gigantic ratcheting of commodity prices. This in turn has put immense pressure on countries where the general populace is poor and whose economies can not so easily absorb the rapid rise in food prices. The chart below speaks volumes of what the world is right now experiencing and for those countries whose currency is pegged to the US Dollar the price is that much higher.
There are many more examples, sugar especially is interesting marking a 30 year high.
Yet, what is happening in Libya is unclear. For example in Tunisia food prices and in Egypt the exchange rate plus price increases were driving the poor people into a frenzy, what is happening. The exchange rate between the Libyan Dinar and the US Dollar remained largely unchanged over the past two years. As far as I can tell the people protesting are doing so largely because they are sick of a tyrant who has been ruining their lives over the past 40 years and want freedom. One aspect of a socialist state as it offers the people consistency, that is to say, consistently bad standard of living.
One of my primary contentions during the Egyptian riots was that people could potentially put up with a lot of abuse, but they cannot handle starvation. Nothing in any of the reports coming out of Libya suggests that a significant price increase has occurred in the country or that a sudden wave of unemployment has hit. Mind you most of this is highly speculative because reports coming out of Libya are impossible to distinguish between truth and fiction. This would suggest that virtually no country is immune or safe from popular uprisings and bastions of control such as Libyan Socialist Dictatorship are not safe from descending into chaos or civil war.
So this begs the question, if the global standard of living in conjunction with oppressive regimes curtailing freedom, liberty and dignity can plunge entire regions into chaos, who is immune? More importantly, who is next? With food prices continuing to soar, cotton approaching all time highs and desperate regimes getting more desperate to hang on to power - what awaits humanity? Can China be next? Can Europe? What about America? China's internal problems are far greater than most can even imagine and Europe's debt crisis is being systematically postponed by the European Central Bank. America's financial picture is getting scarier by the day and all attempts to reign in spending are met with violent opposition and civil unrest.
We have a golden opportunity in this country to avert the crisis playing out in the emerging world and yet we are doing nothing to stop it, nothing at all! It is amazing to see that a population so heavily dependent on Government handouts, that we are actually preferring to let the harsh realities of life take over instead of biting the bullet and taking our medicine now. So sad and so very scary, we are rapidly running out of time.
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