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!