Libya - civil unrest & now NATO involvement

[quimcunx]

Missed it. When AJE switches to something else I switch off then miss bits.

Elbows I know someone who is a activist on international issues in this country. Very savvy. Very switched on. Very knowledgeable. They went back to Egypt before Mubarak fell. On coming back here and after all the yaying I asked but what of the military rule? ''We love the army. The army is our friend. They will sort it out. They are great.'' I shut up. The high, the adrenalin, the chance to be proud, to have taken part in something so amazing, to hold onto that high, the need to believe, that day, that a regime had gone.

He does seem frustrated. Mostly they sound desperate.


What/Who is this, link from tweet.

http://www.livestream.com/libya17feb

 

[dylans]

What/Who is this, link from tweet.

http://www.livestream.com/libya17feb[/QUOTE]

The guy says he is in Benghazi. He's talking to someone from CNN

 

[elbows]

What/Who is this, link from tweet.

http://www.livestream.com/libya17feb

I dont know who it is,or where he is. I stopped watching it because Im afraid for me it summed up much of what is wrong with the info & tone at the moment.

 

[quimcunx]

Im not sure how much it matters as to exactly where in Benghazi this was. As regards "we've taken Benghazi", without further info I've decided to convert such statements into either "people are on the streets at the moment without being attacked", "there is no sign of security forces", or if I give the twitter stuff a more benefit of doubt, "obvious locations associated with security forces have been taken over by protesters".

Yep I think that makes sense. Especially in light of newer tweets.

 

[quimcunx]

The guy says he is in Benghazi. He's talking to someone from CNN

Do CNN say that? Would CNN have any method to confirm where he is?

Elbows has made me all suspicious of everything. I just want to cheer them on.

 

[elbows]

Do CNN say that? Would CNN have any method to confirm where he is?

Elbows has made me all suspicious of everything. I just want to cheer them on.

Please dont blame me, feel free to cheer them on, I am too, I just dont know exactly what I am cheering.

I didnt see his whole livestream but what I did see & hear saddened me further. If he was in Benghazi then it seemed like a wasted opportunity, where the only new info he gave seemed to do with the technical setup for how he was able to broadcast a livestream, which caused multiple people in the text chat to shout at him not to give away such info as the regime can use it to crush such a setup. But like I said I missed some bits of what he said so please let me know if I missed something useful.

 

[elbows]

Al Jazeera English is showing someone else who looks like they were in the same room & using the same setup as the bloke on livestream we've just been talking about. He was a lot better, not an english speaker and AlJazeera English were using a translator.

 

[dylans]

Has anyone posted this. It claims to be video of armed resistance fighters somewhere in Libya (doesn't say which city)

 

[quimcunx]

A woman talking on AJE a short while ago from Benghazi said something about lots of deaths and people going to the Gaddafi house there. Anyone else hear it? More of it?

Chat box on livestream is like reading lamebook.

 

[quimcunx]

http://tvpc.com/Channel.php?ChannelID=50

now it's a bloke talking to him????

 

[elbows]

A woman talking on AJE a short while ago from Benghazi said something about lots of deaths and people going to the Gaddafi house there. Anyone else hear it? More of it?

They were most likely talking about the base that reports earlier suggested had its wall knocked down etc, as Gaddafi stays there if he is visiting the area.

 

[elbows]

http://tvpc.com/Channel.php?ChannelID=50

now it's a bloke talking to him????

Well at least he got on CNN America so some good came of it, even if the quality of the info was, if anything, worse than what we've had on twitter today. Hope they can get some video out of there tomorrow that gives greater sense of whats is happening, and most of all hope they are safe.

 

[elbows]

Chat box on livestream is like reading lamebook.

Yeah it was bad. Some right dodgy opinions flying around from people outside the country.

 

[quimcunx]

Right so we saw him speaking to a researcher then he switched that off for the interview on CNN?

 

[quimcunx]

Al Jazeera English is showing someone else who looks like they were in the same room & using the same setup as the bloke on livestream we've just been talking about. He was a lot better, not an english speaker and AlJazeera English were using a translator.

Just saw him. It does look like the same room. So it's the same room, or it's not the same room (and we're not talking private homes here, but offices, public buildings) and two people have made this communications breakthrough at the same time, using their separate offices... I remember the more techy guy did make some ref to there being more than one techy type working on this. So maybe it's just possible that they are in the same room and working on a couple of different computers with the techy guy going first.

AJE/Anyone. Get us some reporting from on the ground, please. C'mon you know you love entering vicious and brutal regime territory for an exclusive. There's probably an award or two in it.


Hope you're feeling better tomorrow, elbows.

 

[quimcunx]

They were most likely talking about the base that reports earlier suggested had its wall knocked down etc, as Gaddafi stays there if he is visiting the area.

Not AJE after all, CNN.




ALSO MONAELTAHAWY IS NOW TWEETING ON LIBYA. SHE HAS A CONTACT WHO HAS FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN LIBYA SO YOU MAY WISH TO ADD HER TO YOUR LIBYA LIST FELLOW TWEEPS.

I'm really hating myself for the twitter speak but I can't seem to help myself.


E2A:

read from bottom to top.

Officers came out, said they are with the people. They invited group of demonstrators inside building, closed gates, shot them. #Libya
52 minutes ago

monaeltahawy Mona Eltahawy
After funerals Friday, 5pm, mourners went 2 demonstrate in front Security HQ building, Benghazi, chant "We & security forces are one people"
53 minutes ago
»

monaeltahawy Mona Eltahawy
The following tweets on #Libya are from a #Libyan source I trust. He passed on info he has from inside Libya.

E2A again.

Apologies if the following bits are not new to you.

I know that a version of this has been seen before but I remember the bit I saw being quite fuzzy and I don't think I watched it all. This is a very clear (and graphic) video of the/a dead mercenary. He certainly doesn't look very Libyan. I don't know if there a lot of non arabic africans living there.

http://arabrevolution.posterous.com/benghazi-mercenary-found-dead-graphic-video-v

Are Feb17 voices different from the shabablibya lot? This is from them.

http://audioboo.fm/boos/282959-engl...cial-forces-are-executing-doctors-libya-feb17

This made me laugh, well maybe not laugh...

an isolated country that remains largely off limits to foreign journalists and, as part of the government’s efforts to squelch the protests, has been periodically cut off from the Internet.

from here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/world/middleeast/20mideast-protests.html?_r=1&hp

 

[ernestolynch]

Shabab is a wum or even black ops agent baiting hapless people with the assistance of excitable Western net-nerds.

 

[stuff_it]

Very interesting from Reuters

 

[DownwardDog]

Scargill will have to demonstrate some reciprocal solidarity and despatch an elite squad of pavement dropping ex-miners in order to secure Libya's motorways for the Colonel.

 

[Divisive Cotton]

fuck off wanker

 

[Idris2002]

Malachi O'Doherty - a veteran Northern Irish journalist for those of you who don't know him - has an interview at this link to his blog. with a contact in Benghazi. Jesus Christ it's bad, they've been slapped down hard by MG and his thugs. G-d help them.

E2A:

Malachi's contact (an English expat by the sounds of his voice) says it's not over yet and that the funerals of the thousand people killed so far will be the next point of confrontation between the state and the masses (E2A, Mal's contact says it's at least 300 dead so far, and that it could 'hit a thousand').

It may not get as bad as the Hama massacre, but it's going to get worse than it is now before it's all over.

 

[likesfish]

hope the poor sods "win"
don't see the COL getting to retire anywhere nice he either crushes them or gets killed
I think libya's love in with the west is over

 

[Idris2002]

Do you think that guy in the MO'D link could be ex-HM Forces, fish? I ask 'cause he seems to know his guns and addresses Malachi as 'sir' at one point. Are there many civilan ex-pats in Libya, does anyone know?

 

[likesfish]

think quite a few are knocking about bp signed a huge deal with the COL against the US and the rest of the worlds oil companies.
now Libya's in from the cold their was even talk of selling him arms at one point . that's all gone now any ex pats are hunkering down or planning to get out.
tricky decision although this is nothing to foreigners. Arab militaries are not known for restraint and pissed off mobs are pissed off mobs .
Dave's probably been on the phone to Hereford about trying to extract his ex school chums who went into oil to be greeted by howls of laughter

 

[DrRingDing]

A claim on Al Jazeera that there's a demo making it's way to a Gaddafi compoundin a town just outside of Tripoli.

 

[DrRingDing]

....and protesters now have commandeered tanks and small arms in Benghazi.

Puts us to shame.

 

[stuff_it]

....and protesters now have commandeered tanks and small arms in Benghazi.

Puts us to shame.

Comandeering a riot helmet kind of pales by comparison.

 

[Divisive Cotton]

A claim on Al Jazeera that there's a demo making it's way to a Gaddafi compoundin a town just outside of Tripoli.

god I hope this is true

 

[fiannanahalba]

....and protesters now have commandeered tanks and small arms in Benghazi.

Puts us to shame.

If people want it bad enough its there.

 

[elbows]

Serious deja vu watching twitter today. The barracks in Benghazi are reported to have fallen to the protesters, unfortunately this news was widely reported on twitter in previous days and was either completely untrue or else reinforcements got to the area. Maybe it is actually true this time. Frankly Im not sure why I am even following this stuff so closely for a 3rd day given the unreliability of the info, but I cannot help myself.

Very little is clear, although it is tempting to believe that the regime are in quite some difficulty in a variety of places, especially in the east. There are more rumours of splits within the regime today than I had seen in previous days, but I place no faith in such reports at this stage. The stuff the regime are apparently saying on state tv also suggests that at the very least the uprising is too large for them to pretend it isnt happening at all.

Rumours about the oil infrastructure being affected also seem to have popped up today.

I've yet to see any credible reports of anti-regime protesters in Tripoli.

Such is the lack of quality info and the sheer amount of rumours and misinfo that it would not be too surprising if either the regime fell, or the uprising was completely crushed, without us hearing about it until some time later.