Brown Moses posted:

More evidence that Zawiyah is in rebel hands



Gaddafi's regime was confident enough that Zawiya was under regime control that they sent foreign journalist their with minders to show them Gaddafi was winning, yet it appears the regime didn't know the situation there. Zawiya has been under a lot of attacks from Gaddafi's forces over the past few days, yet it appears not only have those attacks failed, but Gaddafi's regime isn't even aware those attacks are failing.

Maels posted:

Some arabic dialects pronounce "Q" as "Gh", namely Egyptian.

Nenonen posted:

Fun fact: if you transliterate Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi enough times from Arabic to Latin and back, eventually you end up with "Hairloon the Porksnout".

Limbo posted:

I have a feeling that bad news isn't being sent up to the top lately; if anyone is nuts enough to take 'shoot the messenger' literally it's Gaddafi.

quote:

We've just come from a mosque which has been turned into a makeshift first-aid post. It is more or less agreed that 24 people were killed in the fighting. While the town is in rebel hands, the outlying areas are in the hands of the Libyan military and they are not letting villagers in to join the opposition. We saw two young captured Chadian-Libyan soldiers. They are 17, obviously very frightened, but they are being treated very well and word is being sent to their parents to come and fetch them. The rebels have a lot of heavy equipment and if the government troops try and retake the town, it will be quite a bloody confrontation. When I said to our minders that I was baffled that they should take us to a rebel-held town, they said: "We don't want you to think we're hiding anything."

quote:

nti-Gaddafi forces have seized control of Zawiyah, a town 30 miles west of the capital Tripoli. The red, green and black flag of Libya's anti-Gaddafi rebellion is flying from a building in the town centre. Doctors say at least 24 people died in the fighting. Libyan government troops still control outlying areas.

The Foreign Office believes "very few" Britons remain in the capital Tripoli and second city Benghazi - where HMS Cumberland returns today to pick up any more evacuees. But upwards of 300 are thought still to be in remote desert oil areas - with fresh military-based rescue missions thought to be planned.

One or two people thought to be dead in the Omani town of Sohar after police clashed with more than 2,000 protesters demanding reforms in the gulf Arab state.

Egypt's ruling military council plans to hold a snap referendum next month on constitutional amendments, says a lawyer who helped draft them.

The UN security council unanimously imposed travel and asset sanctions on Gaddafi and close aides. It also adopted an arms embargo and called for the possible prosecution of anyone responsible for killing civilians.

quote:

Earlier, state TV said banks would begin distributing 500 dinar (£250:$400) to every family. It is now reporting that the money is "the beginning of the redistribution of oil wealth to Libyans".

Times posted:

There are big areas of the country controlled by anti-government street gangs of youths, where the police basically dare not go near, for example.

quote:

AP has been in Zawiyah as well. It reports that anti-government forces appear to be bracing themselves for an expected offensive by Gaddafi troops.

quote:

An Associated Press reporter who reached Zawiyah, 30 miles west of Tripoli, confirmed the anti-government rebels are in control of the centre of the city of 200,000. They have army tanks and anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks deployed. But on the outskirts, they are surrounded by pro-Gaddafi forces.

There were at least six checkpoints controlled by troops loyal to Gaddafi on the road from Tripoli to Zawiyah. Each checkpoint was reinforced by at least one tank, and the troops concealed their faces with scarves.

Zawiyah, a key city close to an oil port and refineries, is the nearest population centre to Tripoli to fall into the opposition hands. Police stations and government offices inside the city have been torched and anti-Gaddafi graffiti was everywhere. Many buildings are pockmarked by bullets.

The charred skeletons of many cars littered the city and most streets were blocked by palm tree trunks or metal barricades. "Free, Free Libya," chanted members of the anti-government forces at the city centre.

Gadaffi loyalists remain in control of nearby Tripoli, which was reported to be quiet early Sunday, with most stores closed and long lines outside the few banks open for business. Traffic in the city was close to its normal levels.

Uncertain Frog posted:

Where is everyone getting these old flags from? I would have though CQ would have had them all burnt or something.

Brown Moses posted:

Sounds like the rebels are going to be hard to shift, and Gaddafi's regime probably doesn't have the time to seige the city, or spare resources to focus on taking back one city.

Lascivious Sloth posted:

A NK revolution will not happen. If anything, a coup may take place if the situations presents itself. But their leader is basically a God to the people, and there are 1.2m of the 24 million serving active duty in the army. Saudi Arabia and China would fall before NK would.

Brown Moses posted:

There was talk of Benghazi putting together an army to march on Tripoli, the below picture is a rebel army officer training local people form Benghazi on the operation of AK47's in preperation for that:

farraday posted:

The problem with that idea is that between Beghazi and Tripoli is Sirte. Looking at the road network I do not think it would be easy to bypass if the pro Qaddafi forces there were willing to fight. If the East wants to help the west step one is taking Qaddafi's hometown.

quote:

A small group of 22 rebels and soldiers who set out from Benghazi on Friday encountered pro-regime forces near Gaddafi's home town of Sirte and were executed, Gatrani said, in just one illustration of the hazards that any such army would encounter in attempting to traverse 600 miles of territory, pockets of which remain under government control.

Yaos posted:

I see people say that everybody in North Korea thinks Kim-Jong Il is a god but I can't find any sources on this, other than the government of North Korea saying it and then people repeating it.

http://www.life.com/image/ugc1149941/in-gallery/53201#index/5 posted:

While Kontos admits to an unsettling mix of unease and fascination with what he saw of North Korean daily life, he also acknowledges that the North Koreans themselves might very well believe "that their country is paradise on earth. Why not?" he asks. "They have nothing to compare their lives to, except for what they see and hear from the state-run media. Why would they want anything else? There's no way to imagine something that you've never seen."

http://www.life.com/image/ugc1149941/in-gallery/53201#index/6 posted:

Of all the brilliant conceits devised by Kim Il-Sung while imposing his will on generations of North Koreans, the invention of a quasi-mystical ideology perfectly attuned to the national psyche was his master-stroke. "To consolidate power," Newsweek once noted, "Kim created a cult-like ideology of self-reliance called juche, a curdled brew of traditional Korean xenophobia and nationalism, Confucian deference to authority and utopian Marxism-Leninism."

http://www.life.com/image/ugc1149941/in-gallery/53201#index/7 posted:

"You see manual labor everywhere. There were a few trucks and tractors, and they were ancient. I saw people cutting grass with scissors. But in spite of all that, you'd see real pride in the people's faces, as if everyone was saying, 'Look at what we have, how advanced we are. We are a model for the world.'"

http://www.life.com/image/ugc1149941/in-gallery/53201#index/23 posted:

"It's so revealing to talk with North Koreans," Morris notes, "because they really do look at American society and, say, South Korean society as a capitalist wasteland of decadence and immorality and the exploitation of people through corporate greed. And I remember the female minder I had: I let her listen to my iPod playing some popular Western music, which of course is something she's never exposed to. And to her, it was just pollution. I don't want to say it seemed pornographic to her, but it definitely did not sit well with her. She simply had no desire to hear it.

Brown Moses posted:

For monitoring Twitter

SauceNinja posted:

On the right side. Retweets: Don't Show

I can now follow this as a source of information.

Yaos posted:

I see people say that everybody in North Korea thinks Kim-Jong Il is a god but I can't find any sources on this, other than the government of North Korea saying it and then people repeating it.

Yaos posted:

I see people say that everybody in North Korea thinks Kim-Jong Il is a god but I can't find any sources on this, other than the government of North Korea saying it and then people repeating it.

rolleyes posted:

They really are conditioned to believe that their country represents the peak of civilization.

Spiky Ooze posted:

It's kind of irrelevant though, there's people in every culture that will see through the lies.

Nenonen posted:

rolleyes posted:

Think along the lines of what happened to the native Americans when the Europeans rolled up.

quote:

CNN reporter Ben Wedeman tweets: "Food supplies not reaching Benghazi because of unrest. City has two month's reserves. Benghazi businessmen feeding thousands of South Asian, African migrant workers waiting to be evacuated."

quote:

Commenting on the cash the regime is handing out to Libyan people, Libyan Dude tweets: "Love it, my aunt says she went, took the 500LYD [Libyan Dinar], and went to buy medicines and food for all the neighbours.. LOL at Gaddafi's bribe money."

quote:

Libya's former Interior Minster Gen Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi, who defected last week, has told Al-Arabiyah that a "massive" pro-Gaddafi army convoy is heading towards Misrata. The town has no means to defend itself, he says, warning of a "real massacre".

quote:

A tweet from the Libyan Youth Movement, but unconfirmed.

quote:

BREAKING: The Broadcast station in Misrata providing information on behalf of the protesters is under attack from the air

quote:

The Telegraph's Nick Meo has visited some of the alleged mercenaries in a filthy prison in Libya. "Most looked dazed. Some were virtually children," he writes.

quote:

At a press conference, the newly formed National Libyan Council in Benghazi said its aim was to be a "political face" for the revolution. "We will help liberate other Libyan cities, in particular Tripoli through our national army, our armed forces, of which part have announced their support for the people," said spokesman Hafiz Ghoga.

Patter Song posted:

Just a quick point about N. Korea, because I know it's a digression, but it's been talked about a lot here. Whatever respect Kim himself has will not necessarily transfer to his son (and, by all accounts, isn't transferring very well). There's a more than decent chance that the DPRK's military will decide after KJI's death that they don't want to be ruled by a roly-poly, imbecilic fellow in his mid-20s and organize a coup and a military regime. Whether that'd be an improvement is a tough question, but it'd be a hell of a change.

Cjones posted:

Anybody have that video of those libyans in protest singing and swaying?