Surrender
of Sovereignty to International Bullying
by Steven Shamrak
Nobody can say,
after many years of propagating Zionism and the rights of the Jewish people to
live on their ancestral land, that I am a Qaddafi sympathizer. During decades
of his reign in Libya he has
proven himself as an egomaniac dictator who has skillfully combined, as all
Arab rulers do, brutality with tribal autonomy in order to stay in power. He
used terror and Islamic terrorism, as most of the Muslim despots are guilty of
this ‘cultural behaviour’ and have been sponsoring Islamic terrorism openly or
in stealth, in order to raise his status among Muslim leaders!
But a recent
resolution of the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and the UK
government statement that “Qaddafi is a legitimate target” is highly
suspicious, given current international law must respect sovereignty of all
countries.
Firstly, Libya is
an independent country and the conflict between Qaddafi and rebels, who knows
what is their political agenda, in the East of the country is an internal
matter. It should not be used as an excuse for international involvement and
aggression, regardless of how we feel about the regime.
For example, for
10 years the UN and the ‘willing coalitions’ did not interfere in Sudan. They
watched the killing of tens of thousands of Sudanese citizens and the
displacement of many millions of refugees from the Southern Sudan and Darfur
region.
The UN did nothing
to stop genocide in Rwanda or bring to an end bombings of Grozny in Chechnya by
Russian plans and artillery! Why was this resolution adopted so fast and
implemented even faster without proper debate and planning?
Libya is
experiencing a civil war, which is an internal matter! Why is France the
country, which is usually so reluctant to participate in conflicts like this
such an eager accomplice and even took a leading role? Why are there already
talks about a regime change, rather than just enforcing the no-fly zone? The UN
has not authorised it! And most importantly, why isn’t anybody asking these
questions?
Secondly, some
would say, “it is all about money” – in this case supply of oil to Europe.
Libyan has oil and gas and in my opinion that is the major factor why European
members of the Security Council eagerly supported the resolution. At the same
time Russia did not veto it because it makes a fistful of money each time a
conflict sparks in the Middle East.
In addition, the
UK was holding a big grudge against Qaddafii
over the Lockerbie bombing and the recent
humiliating deal it made with Libya, releasing the perpetrator of the attack
from jail! The United States is always willing to show Saudi Arabia and other
gulf oil producing Arab states that it is still a super power and is able to
inflict pain on any ‘undemocratic’ ruler at any time, regardless of the
international laws. This action against Libya will keep Arab rulers in line and
allow the coalition to continue unchecked control and enforcement of
international policies as it deems fit.
Like I said, I am
not a friend of Qaddafi but international bullying and disregard for the rules
of the international law must be stopped. The rights of any sovereign state
must be respected and protected!