It aint over till the fat lady sings.

It looked like the battle for Libya may finally be over as the resistance fighters of the Transitional National Council made momentous gains as they advanced into Tripoli.
With scenes of euphoric jubilation in cities across the country and dubious confirmation that Psycho Saif and his brother Saadi  had been captured it looked like game over for Mad Mo.
Ah but this is Libya and every thing may not be as it seems.  To borrow a quote from former U.S Defence secretary Rumsfeld "There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."
The Gadaffi grip on power seems to be crumbling as a televised recording of the Colonel's voice ranting to the tribes to come to his rescue was the only semblance of resistance in the defense of the Capital.
His whereabouts are still unknown  as he called the rebels "traitors" and likened the situation in Libya to Baghdad .
It has become obvious that the T.N.C fighters have had considerable help in the last few months in order to break the stalemate. NATO played the role of the  air force and perhaps the navy. If there were not " boots " on the ground there definitely were sandals present to coordinate such a massive push with a hint of a mercenary if not a professional soldier core.
Have the tribes that supported Mad Mo up until last week just vanished? Have the core fighting forces given up or have they retreated to the South in order to regroup, securing the oil fields there before they fight back or as Saddam did in Kuwait set fire to the fields as a scorched  earth  policy?
Losing Tripoli may not be the end for Mad Mo who has a history for bizarre tactics and coming back from the brink and this is why the T.N.C has to act decisively in consolidating their victory.
So far their rhetoric sounds balanced and fair but after forty two years of totalitarian rule revenge is one of the human frailties that they have to reign in. Building up a pluralistic society , with laws that work will be a challenge .
The west have to learn from the mistakes of Iraq and advise them of the possibility  a long drawn out conflict as guerrilla warfare becomes a norm in the absence of clear leadership and rapid improvement in the life of the average Libyan.
It ain't over till the fat lady sings.  Next stop Damascus.

Facebook rioters

David Cameron has defended the court's decision to jail  two young men for posting on Facebook a page inciting disorder. 
There are two things which must surely cause consternation in the nation's collective conscience . Firstly the interference or perceived interference of the Government in the judiciary. Independence of this branch is needed to guarantee our liberties, and once the politicians start imposing guidelines and  give active encouragement or directives then we are on a slippery road.
Secondly  while the West was enthusiastic about supporting freedom of speech in the Middle East which incited the demonstrations that followed, here the Government was acting in the same manner as the dictatorships they claimed had to reform. No doubt these harsh sentences will be reversed once the "wild panic" in which these were imposed dissipates and rationality and consistency in the fundamental principles of the legal system are maintained.
There are many published authors whose work incite violence , here the postings did not lead to any violence but still the two young men were sentenced to four years. This short sighted reaction could ultimately lead to erosions of our civil liberties and undermine the independence of the criminal justice system.
It is time to take a look at the underlying symptoms that caused this temporary madness instead of knee jerk sentencing on failed recreational Facebook rioters. 

China 's role

As London is gripped in a spate of recreational rioting coming quickly on the heels of the US debt crises and Euro fiasco, Dave Cameron is forced to cut short his summer holiday. The fact that most of the rioters can't afford to go on holiday seems lost on Cameron and his government.
Meanwhile the former Syrian Defence Minister is found dead from multiple shot wounds hours after his removal, in an apparent suicide technique  that is peculiar to the Levant.
Saudi Arabia , Kuwait and Qatar finally make a small gesture to humanity as they recall their ambassadors from Damascus as the butchering of civilians continue. Even Turkish efforts to convince the Syrians to send their soldiers back to barracks fell on deaf ears.
Emboldened by Iran and taking note of the fate of Mubarak and Saddam , the Good Doctor will continue to cause carnage until he can negotiate himself out of crimes against humanity trial in the Hague or secure safe passage for him and his cronies and his money.
With Moscow being hesitant on this one Bashar has a little more leeway unlike Mad Mo in Libya who is now moving dead bodies around to areas that NATO bombed in an effort to embarrass the now largely leaderless organization.
Rumors of a split future Syria being staging point for attacks on a nuclear Iran are wishful and fanciful thinking despite Moscow's envoy to NATOs statement.
As stock markets crumble quantitative easing will not be found in funding further unnecessary conflicts however mass murdering dictatorships have no role in the modern world. These dictators need to be brought to justice and there has to be a more efficient formula for their exit from power.
The Chinese who have remained astutely quiet should stand up to the plate and assume the leadership role they have so craved.

Syria and the Devil.

 So the Holy month has arrived and the ophthalmologist come mass murderer continues the slaughter of his own people in attempt to subdue attempts at dissent. The international community still looks on impotently with  even the normally vocal Turks conspicuously silent as the tanks shell Hama for the second day. It is said that the gates of hell are closed on the first night of Ramadan and all the devils chained. Not so in Syria!
This regime is in its dying throes but one senses that humanity at large should be active in preventing this human cull.
With barely an attempt at outrage the Americans, who have been locked in a partisan fight about increasing the debt ceiling and already feeling war fatigued from years of fighting in the wrong wars, have acknowledged their Middle East failures and limit their interaction to a few soundbites. The Europeans are just as bad letting crass commercialism determine their political morality .
I can only pray that there is a spiritual awakening within the corrupt regime that will internally put a stop to these massacres, and for the sake of closure this despot and his cronies are brought to justice.