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Latest NATO updatequote:Sorties conducted 06 JULY: 140 This confirms the change in tactics by NATO, focusing on the front lines. There also seems to be a pattern Brega where NATO will hit a large number of targets on one day, then have 3 or 4 days where they destroy one or two targets a day, before carrying out another large number of strikes on one day. It's also one of the largest number of strikes I've seen in Zliten and Misrata for quite some time. It's also interesting to note the small number of strikes in Nafusa, and this possibly might be something to do with the fact that the Nafusa rebels deploying a small number of tanks to use against Gaddafi forces in the area. The military storage facility in Waddan has also been bombed for the past 8 days, so it must be pretty massive and important. Waddan is on an intersection of main roads that lead to Brega and Misrata, so I'm guessing that's something to do with it. If it's the main supply depot for Brega, which based on both their locations it well could be, then the combined destruction of refuelling facilities at Brega and of the storage facility at Wadden could mean Brega is very isolated from supply lines at the moment. The question is whether or not all of Gaddafi's defenses are in Brega, and will the fall of Brega result in the fall of everything along the coastal road to Sirte.
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 09:41 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 19:00 |
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The BBC reporting in Misrata is Tweeting a few things. First of all he's saying the rebels have told him they plan to dig in in the N'aimah area, about 5-6km outside the centre of Zliten, then advance through the Suq Al Thulatha (Tuesday Market) area. Other reports suggest they are currently fighting in Suq Al Thulatha, and they've are using N'aimah as a staging point for any attacks. Currently they are frustrated by the lack of ammo supplies coming from Benghazi, and want more NATO presence in the air as it stops Gaddafi artillery from firing, even if they aren't actually attacking anything. They've still got about 4km of fairly open terrain to fight across before they reach a built up area, so they'll still be fairly vunerable to artillery. Here's a couple more articles about the progress of the war in Misrata and Nafusa: quote:Libyan Rebels Seek Misrata Breakout as NATO Says ‘Game Over’ for Qaddafi quote:Libyan Rebels Gain Inches Toward Link to Tripoli
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 10:26 |
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Update from UKMilOps:quote:On Tuesday, RAF jets used Paveway guided bombs to mount a precision strike on the large ammunition depot at Waddan in central #Libya
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 13:14 |
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Not much seems to have happened today. CJ Chivers is just Tweeting that the rebels in Nafusa are demining the town they've captured, apparently 100's of AP and AT mines litter the area.
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 16:41 |
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Can I get an update about the situation in Egypt? I lost touch with the issue, but I've heard that the military has been getting rather despotic.
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 18:36 |
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Did anyone else catch Saleh's speech? That dude was seriously messed up- bandaged hands, not moving his body while he spoke, and it looked like his skin was several shades darker than before (bad makeup job covering burns?) He also reported that he had more than eight operations in Saudi Arabia. This is why you limit your exposure to Semtex-lined tanning booths. Holy poo poo. As far as Egypt, the long and short of it is that people are pissed at SCAF for a number of things, including the slow pace of reform, kicking the can of trials for former regime figures and indicted members of the security forces down the road, and questions regarding the legitimacy of the recent constitutional amendments. Yesterday, people rioted in Suez after a bunch of cops who killed people during the uprising got bail, and last week, there were clashes after former Int. Minister Habib al-Adly's trial for killing protesters was postponed. There's going to be huge demonstrations tomorrow, and everyone- the April 6 Movement, National Association for Change (El Baredai's group), the Muslim Brotherhood, Coptic organizations, and even the Salafists (!) will demonstrate. Things could get very out of hand tomorrow- SCAF has really got to step things up on a political and judicial front if it wants to keep things quiet until elections. Steven Cook has a great post explaining all of this here, but an actual poster in Egypt like Ham will probably have their own unique insights.
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 18:43 |
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I've been lurking this thread for a while. I've also bookmarked Caro's poo poo out of morbid fascination and I'll be damned if he hasn't finally put up some interesting videos over the last day or so of him in Libya. http://www.youtube.com/user/orac22#p/u/32/IXMVYIrkP-8 Disclaimer: I work psych so probably I feel some empathy with him - kind of like when one of my patients has caused chaos and destruction during an acute manic phase but still manages to produce some art work worth more than my yearly salary.
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 18:45 |
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Quick summary of french aerial and naval strikes in Libya this past week : - about 50 military vehicles (tanks, armored vehicles, trucks) destroyed around Zliten, Syrte, Misratah and Brega - about 20 buildings (command posts, communications, checkpoints) destroyed around Zliten and Brega - about 10 artillery elements destroyed around Tripoli, Zliten and Brega. They also replaced the Guépratte and Jean de Vienne frigates by the Georges Leygues. Looking back a month at their previous reports, the numbers seemed to ramp up slowly 6/2 -6/9 : 106 ground attack sorties, 30 buildings, 40 vehicles 6/9 -6/16: 115 ground attack sorties, 20 buildings, 40 vehicles 6/16-6/23: 122 ground attack sorties, 20 buildings, 40 vehicles 6/23-6/30: 132 ground attack sorties, 30 buildings, 60 vehicles, 10 artillery
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 19:53 |
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For those interested, Al Jazeera English has an article about the Yemen president's speech, as well as a before/after picture of him. Yikes. He sort of looks like the lady from There's Something About Mary http://aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/07/201177143420256530.html
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 21:09 |
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He looks like he spent about 30 hours too long in the sun.
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 21:20 |
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Why is his khaffiah tied up like a flying nun's crown? Is he planning on further dashing escapes?
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 21:39 |
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Just been to Tahrir square, it's 11 PM and the mood was pretty jovial, probably about 4000-5000 people packed in already. No soldiers or officers in sight, the military is stepping out of tomorrow's demonstrations. I'll be participating, will take pictures if I can.
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 22:11 |
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Hey Ham! Good to see you're doing well still. Are the demonstrations for a specific reason, or is it just general upset with how the military are performing?
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 22:23 |
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Sivias posted:Hey Ham! Good to see you're doing well still. Are the demonstrations for a specific reason, or is it just general upset with how the military are performing? Not so much upset as it is egging them on really. It's basically an amalgamation of many different ideas/perspectives into one big demonstration, in the end the common points are going to boil down to: Immediate and public trial of Mubarak and his allies, faster trials for police officers and corrupt officials, better police presence, real progress towards democracy, removing government appointed university staff and former NDP governors etc. A couple important but not universally agreed upon points are delaying elections and writing the constitution first, and there's some minor points such as civilian marriage (called for by Egyptian copts who can't get a divorce unless it's sanctioned by the church) and an idiotic idea to set a maximum wage.
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 22:30 |
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Ham posted:delaying elections and writing the constitution first Wouldn't this go against the results of the previous referendum? Have people changed their mind?
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 22:59 |
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Enigmatic Troll posted:I've been lurking this thread for a while. I've also bookmarked Caro's poo poo out of morbid fascination and I'll be damned if he hasn't finally put up some interesting videos over the last day or so of him in Libya. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXMVYIrkP-8&feature=channel_video_title is quite funny. Especially him going on about CIA poo poo with her guide.
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 23:05 |
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I will donate to whoever runs against Kucinich, even if it's a crazy Tea Party candidate. As an American citizen, it's the most I can do for the Syrian people.
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 23:17 |
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Jut posted:Wouldn't this go against the results of the previous referendum? Have people changed their mind? It would go against it yes, and people haven't changed their minds. Remember that 23% voted No It's just that those people still hold the same view. Of course it's also understandable that the military goes with the majority of voters.
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# ? Jul 7, 2011 23:18 |
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Syriaquote:U.S. ambassador in Hama to support Syria protesters
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 03:15 |
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AFP ran that story about Ford going to Hama with an ending sentence to the effect of "A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the ambassador was there to make contact with the opposition." While I'm sure that's the case and think Ford meeting the opposition is a good thing, I'm not so sure that leaking it was smart. The Syrian state media has been running with the narrative that the protests are the work of foreign conspirators (hilariously blaming Salafists, Lebanon, Turkey and the US to some degree.) Now, it's out there that a high-level representative of the US government has met with the people the Assad regime has been calling "armed gangs." While this may not seem like much, recognize that the situation in Syria is pretty opaque, and I don't even think that most Syrians (at least not those in Damascus, Aleppo and other major cities) have a full account of the size and scope of the protest movement. It's not inconceivable that there's some segment of the Syrian population that may buy into the regime's propaganda and deny the opposition their support.
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 03:28 |
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I guess he's not going to be in Syria for much longer, even after all that work to get him confirmed.
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 03:34 |
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I think whatever we can do to bring attention to the issues is Syria is something we should be working on. It's not like most people there see Syria as a puppet of the US- the US showing solidarity with the masses will do more good than harm.
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 03:51 |
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Am I correct in understanding that Hama is essentially a freshly independent city that is now surrounded by a ring of tanks and security forces? If that's the case, an American (or any western power) ambassador going to say hi seems awesome. I can only hope that he's daring security forces to mow down unarmed protesters in front of him and his entourage. If he himself is injured... Welp, gonna get real interesting real fast. They can't be stupid enough to crack down with foreign diplomats in the line of fire, can they? Even if it's just a press stunt, it gets Syria's current situation in front of the press, and I'm all for it.
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 04:42 |
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Tiny posted:Am I correct in understanding that Hama is essentially a freshly independent city that is now surrounded by a ring of tanks and security forces? Ambassador visiting town in de facto rebellion against the regime is a bit more than a press stunt. I wonder if this relates at all to Kucinich's recent visiting. After the Syrian press's report that Kuchinich had said, amoung other things, that Assad was highly loved, the Press Release from Kuchinich's office was a thing of beauty. http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=249254 Best line quote:Arab-speaking friends accompanying me have explained that the problem may have come from a mistranslation as well as the degree of appreciation and affection their state-sponsored media has for President Assad. Drowning in a sea of euphemism.
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 04:52 |
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Live Blogs July 8th Guardian Feb17.info AJE Libya AJE Egypt AJE Yemen AJE Syria AJE Freedom Flotilla NATO Update quote:Sorties conducted 07 JULY: 134 There's not been much actual news from the frontlines over the past 24 hours, just rumours of various places being captured, nothing confirmed yet. Here's a couple of article to tide things over: quote:Captured Gaddafi soldiers, including foreign fighters, tell of low morale quote:Nato strikes at Libya’s oil in bid to oust Gaddafi The rumour from Tripoli is that Gaddafi has ordered the mosques to be closed, and for Friday prayers to take place in Green Square, in order to fake a huge rally in his favour. Apparently it's going to be a big day for protests in Egypt, as well as Syria and Yemen today. Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 08:37 on Jul 8, 2011 |
# ? Jul 8, 2011 08:30 |
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Tiny posted:Am I correct in understanding that Hama is essentially a freshly independent city that is now surrounded by a ring of tanks and security forces? Exactly. The presence of the US ambassador will prevent or at least reduce the amount of violence against protesters, and it will give the city more visibility in the press. I see it as a good thing. Hama is planning its largest demo yet today. Protesters have already started gathering in the main city square in thousands. I hope it will be a great day in Hama and Syria in general. Edit: First video from Hama today. Friday prayers will take place in the main city square and protests will follow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN-OvVRQZdk CoderCat fucked around with this message at 11:32 on Jul 8, 2011 |
# ? Jul 8, 2011 11:26 |
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Couple of small but interesting things regarding Misrata. A BBC journalist in Misrata reported yesterday that he's been told by the rebel commanders in Misrata that NATO will be meeting with them to decide a new strategy to support the rebel advance to Zliten in the next few days, and he's now just Tweeted the Head of Military Intelligence has told him 500 special forces will be coming from Benghazi, which strongly implies there will be a very major push to Zliten and beyond very soon. He also said 170 special forces will join the southern front as well, so it might suggest a push in both directions. Maybe there will movement on the Brega front at the same time.
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 11:34 |
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quote:Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told the Associated Press in Tripoli that the government has evidence that the rebels in the east are fighting alongside Colombian mercenaries paid by the United Arab Emirates and Western allies. He said the government would present evidence to support the claim. This poo poo is amazing. It's almost like political fan fiction.
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 13:49 |
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Maybe it's just me being politically ignorant, but why would this hypothetical bunch being Colombian mercenaries be significant in any way?
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 14:25 |
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Very interesting report from the WSJ regarding the rebels preperation for a push on Tripoli in Benghazi:quote:Libyan Rebels Aim for Tripoli
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 14:34 |
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I wrote an article for an alternate news magazine/website in 2004 about how Kucinich and supporters (mostly the latter) were Pretty drat Dumb, all told. It was accepted but never published because the operation went bust. I only mention that because he's finally outed himself as the giant damned hypocrite on the international stage that I always suspected he was but never really bothered to try and prove to myself because he's Dennis Kucinich and already kind of a walking joke.
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 14:51 |
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Pureauthor posted:Maybe it's just me being politically ignorant, but why would this hypothetical bunch being Colombian mercenaries be significant in any way? The only thing I can think of is that it supports the loony ' drugged nescafe' narrative they were pushing. I.e. Colombians = drugs?
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 15:12 |
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The US ambassador in Hama earlier today. Protesters walked around his car and put roses on it while chanting "The people want to bring down the regime" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNIk_bRweH4
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 15:17 |
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Pureauthor posted:Maybe it's just me being politically ignorant, but why would this hypothetical bunch being Colombian mercenaries be significant in any way? I think PMCs like Blackwater and Triple Canopy recruited ex-military types (ex-SOF, etc) from Colombia and El Salvador. There's probably enough unemployed soldiers who are willing to fight for the highest bidder, not to mention Xe (nee Blackwater) is also headquartered in the UAE these days.
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 15:33 |
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Pureauthor posted:Maybe it's just me being politically ignorant, but why would this hypothetical bunch being Colombian mercenaries be significant in any way? quote:The force is intended to conduct special operations missions inside and outside the country, defend oil pipelines and skyscrapers from terrorist attacks and put down internal revolts, the documents show. Such troops could be deployed if the Emirates faced unrest in their crowded labor camps or were challenged by pro-democracy protests like those sweeping the Arab world this year. Seeing as the article's latter third mainly focused on a Columbian recruit and his fellow nationals, I wouldn't be surprised if the Gaddafi deputy FM was just cribbing notes from that article. He's not completely making poo poo up, but it's an oddly specific accusation that has a plausibility problem -- why the hell would the UAE government deploy that force outside of the UAE? -- and thus fishy in light of the Gaddafi regime's existing credibility problems. Chortles fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Jul 8, 2011 |
# ? Jul 8, 2011 16:28 |
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Pureauthor posted:Maybe it's just me being politically ignorant, but why would this hypothetical bunch being Colombian mercenaries be significant in any way? Trying to pander to Hugo Chavez and Venezuela?
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 16:54 |
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:I wrote an article for an alternate news magazine/website in 2004 about how Kucinich and supporters (mostly the latter) were Pretty drat Dumb, all told. It was accepted but never published because the operation went bust. Not to derail or cause a argument but I'm pretty curious to see the article if you still have it, mind posting it?
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 17:04 |
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The BBC reporter in Misrata has just tweeted a couple of pictures front a machine gun post that last week was the rebel frontline in Zliten, but is now 6km behind the frontlines, confirming there's been a significant advance in the last week. Hopefully the reinforcements from Benghazi will mean Zliten is liberated very soon.
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 17:06 |
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:I wrote an article for an alternate news magazine/website in 2004 about how Kucinich and supporters (mostly the latter) were Pretty drat Dumb, all told. It was accepted but never published because the operation went bust. Dumb perhaps, but a hypocrite? Wouldn't he only be a hypocrite if he supported the War in Afghanistan and/or Iraq?
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# ? Jul 8, 2011 20:11 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 19:00 |
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:...I always suspected he was but never really bothered to try and prove to myself because he's Dennis Kucinich and already kind of a walking joke. Spot the funny-man Cable Guy fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Jul 9, 2011 |
# ? Jul 9, 2011 04:56 |