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farraday posted:Twitter frequently reminds me of the ABC Cafe from Les Miserables. Let me strongly suggest that they do not build a barricade
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Mar 28, 2011 03:17
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J33uk posted:Let me strongly suggest that they do not build a barricade Don't worry, after some back and forth Enjolras has taken charge. quote:Tripolitanian: Can anyone call someone in Sirte?
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Mar 28, 2011 03:21
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farraday posted:In other news, Ghaddafi's forces are rumored to all be dead and/or imaginary. Djinn and ghosts are the new Giant Spiders, apparently.
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Mar 28, 2011 03:32
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farraday posted:In other news, Ghaddafi's forces are rumored to all be dead and/or imaginary. Also sounds like some vague threats of chemical/biological attacks.
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Mar 28, 2011 03:51
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It's confirmed Sirte has fallen. I repeat Sitre has fallen Link: http://twitter.com/REUTERSFLASH Now here's the question what is going on in the Libyan Army's HQ for them to retreat from key towns? Any takers?
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Mar 28, 2011 03:53
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Slantedfloors posted:I literally cannot imagine a news story or press release that could reek of more desperation or cause more ridicule than this. Look, just because they don't exist doesn't mean they won't help Kadafi. Back to Sirte, reports cited on Twitter from Reuters indicate Sirte has fallen according to a rebel spokesman in Benghazi. I can not confirm this with anything less circuitous.
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Mar 28, 2011 03:54
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Well this came off the reuters twitter feed and jeopfully once he get real confirmation then we can see how real this is. So all we can do is wait.
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Mar 28, 2011 03:57
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hypern posted:Well this came off the reuters twitter feed and jeopfully once he get real confirmation then we can see how real this is. So all we can do is wait. I don't have a twitter account, so for some reason all I get from the Reuters feed is something on Fukushima and then something from 8 hours ago. In any case new sites are starting to pick it up off Reuters, but it's still reliant on the rebel spokesman.
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Mar 28, 2011 04:00
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If Sirte has fallen, Gadaffi's strength must be almost completely collapsed.
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Mar 28, 2011 04:05
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Well once the reporters get there and get a feed then we will see the whole thing. Still I want to pick your mind quickly. Why is the Liyban army pulling all it's forces back to Tripoli and what do you think Kadafi is planning in the next few hours? See you in 2 hours, got to rest. This is keeping me fired up.
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Mar 28, 2011 04:06
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hypern posted:Now here's the question what is going on in the Libyan Army's HQ for them to retreat from key towns? Any takers? Try to turn Tripoli into a deathtrap? That's about it for options, but it does kind of seem like we're reaching a spiral into defeat for Gaddafi after the NATO attacks.
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Mar 28, 2011 04:14
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Spiky Ooze posted:Try to turn Tripoli into a deathtrap? That's about it for options, but it does kind of seem like we're reaching a spiral into defeat for Gaddafi after the NATO attacks. It's not a terrible idea really (albiet pretty evil) to force the rebels to go street by street in Tripoli instead of fighting out in the open where NATO airpower can blow up all your toys.
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Mar 28, 2011 04:16
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hypern posted:Well once the reporters get there and get a feed then we will see the whole thing. Still I want to pick your mind quickly. Why is the Liyban army pulling all it's forces back to Tripoli and what do you think Kadafi is planning in the next few hours? Presuming he still has command over his forces and presuming this news is true enough. The only thing that makes sense is trying to consolidate instead of getting cut apart piecemeal. The problem is that doesn't make sense. Sure maybe, probably even, the coalition will avoid firing on a convoy of civilian vehicles even if they're fairly certain they may belong to Kadafi forces, but to achieve that you kind of have to leave everything heavy behind. Also, if you're going to consolidate in Tripoli why launch renewed attacks on Misrata? I could see an argument for the idea they're already in place so might as well use them, but why doesn't that apply to Sirte? Best guess? If Kadafi's forces bugged out of Sirte it's because the leadership of the pro-Kadafi faction tried to skip town and it turned into a general retreat. Pretty much nothing will kill morale faster than seeing your commanding officers scamper off. Or, and I'm just spitballing here, the Djinn defected to the rebels.
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Mar 28, 2011 04:18
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hypern posted:Why is the Liyban army pulling all it's forces back to Tripoli and what do you think Kadafi is planning in the next few hours? maybe a repeat of what they did a couple of weeks ago, wait for the rebels to over extend them selves move in with armor and artillery and blow them to kingdom come. I felt like this when reading the news today, we've been here before. How many tanks and artillery pieces has the coalition taken out? I think it was less than 20 total. That leaves a lot of armor still unaccounted for.
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Mar 28, 2011 04:20
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The only thing that makes sense other than a general collapse of command is Gadaffi senses the time has come for a final stand. If his forces do make a final stand in Tripoli, I'm wondering what the odds are that Tripoli itself consumes his forces once the people sense the inevitable.
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Mar 28, 2011 04:28
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XK posted:The only thing that makes sense other than a general collapse of command is Gadaffi senses the time has come for a final stand. If his forces do make a final stand in Tripoli, I'm wondering what the odds are that Tripoli itself consumes his forces once the people sense the inevitable. It'll be like that scene in the extended Lord of the Rings where the orcs retreat into the forest and get demolished.
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Mar 28, 2011 04:35
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I'd be surprised if Gaddafi hasn't been preparing for that by killing and imprisoning people likely to oppose him inside Tripoli.
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Mar 28, 2011 04:43
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stgdz posted:maybe a repeat of what they did a couple of weeks ago, wait for the rebels to over extend them selves move in with armor and artillery and blow them to kingdom come. Ghaddafi has thousands of tanks! Except that number is a massive misunderstanding of how this works. While he probably has close to 2 thousand tanks, many, if not most would have been in storage. The elite security brigade run by his sons would have had the best tanks, of which there are far fewer. More than that, they wouldn't have had every single one of them in one place. The coalition destroying several dozen tanks since Benghazi is a drop in the bucket compared to the theoretical number of tanks available, but it is probably a very large segment of the armor available to the forces in the area. There's an interesting rumor hitting the Syrian twitterati at the moment too. quote:BloggerSeif: rumors and many of my syrian tweeps have been speculating that Maher Assad has take over power, and arrested Bashar. A palace coup replacing the nominally pro reform Bashar with his evil brother, who is coincidentally leader of the Presidential guard. farraday fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Mar 28, 2011 |
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Mar 28, 2011 04:43
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Slantedfloors posted:I literally cannot imagine a news story or press release that could reek of more desperation or cause more ridicule than this. I mean, holy poo poo, he's saying that there are genies in the Libyan army. GENIES. They ain't never had a friend like him.
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Mar 28, 2011 04:56
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BIG HORNY COW posted:Djinn and ghosts are the new Giant Spiders, apparently. Oh snap, Libya's using some Djinn? Watch out, if they use a couple of Venus djinn, they can summon Judgement to deal major damage to all enemies on screen! ...like... in Golden Sun... a video game reference... er, okay. Uh, anyway, in other news, I haven't heard of anything major come out of Bahrain lately. There haven't been any updates on the US Embassy website here in the past few days, and everything seems normal outside, so things seem to be calm in Bahrain at the moment. I'm not really sure if that's good or bad, but that's that.
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Mar 28, 2011 05:03
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HJE-Cobra posted:Oh snap, Libya's using some Djinn? Watch out, if they use a couple of Venus djinn, they can summon Judgement to deal major damage to all enemies on screen! The opposition parties have accepted Kuwait's offer to mediate between them and the government. It is not certain the opposition parties have control over the protesters, nor is immediately clear how neutral a party Kuwait is. So it does appear Sirte has fallen with a whimper instead of a bang. Doorway to the west is open. Also, Kaddafi is probably hoping the Genie will halve the rebel troops.
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Mar 28, 2011 05:17
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As to this whole genie thing, the djinn are mentioned frequently in the Koran and the Hadith. They're seen as sentient creations of the almighty just as humans are who will also face the Heaven/Hell judgement when that time rolls around. That Libyan State TV speech is part Charlie Sheen meltdown, part Patti Smith song intro though. Someone really needs to record themselves reciting a Gadaffi rant or Libyan TV speech in the manner of a Patti Smith stream-of-consciousness freestyle... Zappatista fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Mar 28, 2011 |
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Mar 28, 2011 05:31
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farraday posted:
I don't believe it, but it would be an interesting coincidence. Rifaat was Hafiz's brother and head of the defense companies (like the presidential guard) that were used to put down insurrections.
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Mar 28, 2011 05:34
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Xandu posted:I don't believe it, but it would be an interesting coincidence. Rifaat was Hafiz's brother and head of the defense companies (like the presidential guard) that were used to put down insurrections. It would be almost an operatic occurrence wouldn't it? I think the rumor has more to do with Bashar's lack of appearance in response to the protests. Rumors breed like bacteria in a revolution and absence is seen as good as evidence. Speaking of which. quote:Liberty4Libya: UNCONFIRMED There is a rumor from one tweep that Gaddafi was shot in the neck, is still alive & others escaped to Chad Via @bellport_phys And 3 minutes later quote:Liberty4Libya: #Gadafi shot story is spiralling out of control. So is the #Chad escape of #Gadadfa Tribe. NOT TRUE, Non Confirmed. #Libya RT Twitter, one part agar, one part game of Telephone. farraday fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Mar 28, 2011 |
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Mar 28, 2011 05:40
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The rumors on Khadafi being shot continue to circulate and change with amazing speed. In less rumor ridden territory. quote:AlArabiya_Eng: Nine powerful explosions shake Sirte, the hometown of Libyan leader Gaddafi, hours after opposition fighters claim to have captured the city Your guess is as good as mine. Coalition friendly fire? Fuel stores sabotaged? Accidentally Genie implosion from wishing for more wishes?
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Mar 28, 2011 05:59
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RussiaToday has the most vile, slanted coverage out there. Every time I see these assholes spinning the news my blood pressure rises.
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Mar 28, 2011 06:52
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Sirte's quick fall was no surprise really, there've been hints of it having a significant rebel population before. I guess it was just the matter of flushing out most of the Gaddafi troops and let the town unfold itself.
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Mar 28, 2011 07:00
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cioxx posted:RussiaToday has the most vile, slanted coverage out there. Every time I see these assholes spinning the news my blood pressure rises. http://rt.com/news/why-west-bombing-libya/ Russia has a wonderful habit of suddenly becoming non-European and anti-west when it takes it's fancy.
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Mar 28, 2011 07:03
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Nilbop posted:http://rt.com/news/why-west-bombing-libya/ Well Russia's government shares a lot with Libya's, so what do you expect.
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Mar 28, 2011 07:07
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http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/4539091-418/libya-woman-claiming-rape-is-free.html edit: This should be the place that separates bullshit from fact re: Iman. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Iman-Al-Obeidi/204101406285342 cioxx fucked around with this message at 07:24 on Mar 28, 2011 |
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Mar 28, 2011 07:08
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cioxx posted:Iman is Free! "the government said'
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Mar 28, 2011 07:11
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Xandu posted:"the government said' Okay, i just rechecked. Family denies it.
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Mar 28, 2011 07:13
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Interesting BBC quote:0717: There are conflicting reports on who is in control in the city of Sirte. A rebel spokesman says the city has fallen into pro-democracy hands but a foreign journalist on the ground on the city, contacted by Reuters, says it is still under government control. If true, it could explain those explosions depending on who has what in Sirte, farraday fucked around with this message at 07:32 on Mar 28, 2011 |
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Mar 28, 2011 07:28
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I wouldn't be surprised if it was still in Gad hands. I don't think that will last very long though. NATO are doing a pretty good job of slowly taking back cities all things considered. People expect way too much in such a short time.
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Mar 28, 2011 07:45
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I'm pretty sure we can consider Twitter to be useless for the most part. The rebels have demonstrated a tendency to vastly overstate their successes and ignore gains made by the government until they can't hide it anymore (and the same goes for the government of course). I wouldn't trust anything the rebels claim about taking Sirte until it appears as confirmed in the news. That said, regarding the speculation about a pullback to Tripoli: I imagine Ghadafi will position his tanks and artillery along the outskirts of the city so they can shell any approaching rebels while they are out in the open, as well as using the influx of soldiers in the city to keep a lid on any sympathetic uprisings.
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Mar 28, 2011 07:49
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Nilbop posted:http://rt.com/news/why-west-bombing-libya/ RT is Russia's pseudo-Fox News. It's a propaganda outlet. If it's right, it's for the wrong reasons.
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Mar 28, 2011 08:15
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Vernii posted:That said, regarding the speculation about a pullback to Tripoli: I imagine Ghadafi will position his tanks and artillery along the outskirts of the city so they can shell any approaching rebels while they are out in the open, as well as using the influx of soldiers in the city to keep a lid on any sympathetic uprisings. The danger with this for Qaddafi is getting all his tanks and artillery in one location turns it into a literal clusterfuck, because coalition forces will mark them as a "target-rich environment" and carpet bomb the whole area. While everyone is expecting Qaddafi's last stand, I'm really thinking the rebels laying siege is a more likely outcome. With the oil-producing regions in rebel hands at this point and oil profits being directed toward the war effort, the rebels can make up whatever insufficiencies they had with weapons, medicine, and food. With time, they can turn their undertrained fledgling army into a reasonably fearsome fighting force. Meanwhile, Qaddafi's forces are already encountering fuel shortages, and desertions, so an encirclement will drive down morale and cause the lower ranks of military to break from Qaddafi. At the same time, the people of Tripoli become more disgruntled and desperate enough to fight against Qaddafi. If a siege comes down, I really think that the NTC needs to bring out a new currency, so Qaddafi-bucks loses value. This would also help bring down the financially-driven support for Qaddafi (why support Qaddafi when the money he's giving you is worthless?) as well as cement the NTC as the new Libya.
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Mar 28, 2011 08:47
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Live Blogs March 28th Guardian BBC AJE LibyaFeb17.com cioxx posted:Here's a curated list of Twitter personalities I'm working on. Some of them from Brown Moses suggestions throughout the thread.
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Mar 28, 2011 09:22
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Guardian Morning Round Upquote:Good morning and welcome to live coverage of events in Libya and the Middle East. First up a round-up of what's been happening over the weekend. Sirte quote:AJE Mansour el Kikhia, the chair of the department of political science at the University of Texas and author of Libya's Gaddafi: The Politics of Contraction, tells Al Jazeera that according to his contacts in Sirte, the opposition forces "moved very fast to secure the southern gate" of the city. quote:Guardian The city of Sirte is a Gaddafi stronghold and was considered to be a difficult target for the rebels. But their advance towards the Libyan leader's home city was aided by the first international air strikes against the city. quote:BBC Libyan opposition radio is celebrating the capture of Sirte. "What was taken by force can only be regained by force. Here is Sirte, whose voice the tyrant has been trying to suppress, but it finally pierced through the silence. Here is Sirte that we have been yearning for. The sun of freedom has risen," presenter Muhammad said, according to the BBC's Monitoring Service. quote:Guardian There appears to be conflicting reports over the situation in Sirte. A Reuters says there is "no indication" that the city is under rebel control. quote:BBC Emma Hurd of Sky News, in Benghazi, says that journalists were taken on a government tour of Sirte from Tripoli just yesterday. She says it may well be that the rebels managed to reach the outskirts but have encountered resistence in the city itself. quote:BBC AFP are reporting that the rebels' advance on the city of Sirte was halted some 85 miles (140km) east of its edge. Ras Lanuf and Brega quote:Guardian The rebels have said they will try to restart stalled oil exports after taking over two key oil ports in Ras Lanouf and Brega. Zintan quote:Guardian Ali Saleh, a spokesman for the rebel forces in Zintan, in western Libya, says the rebels have received aid from both the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia. Jalu quote:AJE Al Jazeera's Sue Turton in Benghazi reports that an unspecified number of pro-Gaddafi forces in the oil town of Jalu, about 200km south of Ajdabiyah, have surrendered to opposition forces. Turton says that the pro-Gaddafi troops were apparently attempting to form a second front to the south of Ajdabiyah, but after the city fell, they gave themselves up. Misarata quote:The World Medical Camp for Libya, a charity set up in the UK on 22 February to provide aid within the country, has put together a very detailed, and very long, list of medical aid needed in Misrata, along with quantities. Tripoli quote:BBC The BBC's John Simpson, in Tripoli, says that food is in shorter supply in the capital and that he has seen long queues for bread in the city. Gaddafi quote:A report in the Financial Times suggests that Gaddafi's attempts to rally diplomatic and military support from sub-Saharan African countries has had little success.
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Mar 28, 2011 09:34
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The situation with Sirte is still a little confusing:quote:8:59am GMT An account from an opposition fighter in Wadi al Ahmar [the Red Valley], 90-100km east of Sirte, indicates that pro-Gaddafi forces are "beyond the hills" of the valley. quote:9:14am GMT AFP are reporting that the rebels' advance on the city of Sirte was halted some 85 miles (140km) east of its edge. quote:10:23am GMT :Al Jazeera is reporting that the Libyan rebels from the east are now about 30 km (19 miles) outside Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte. Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Mar 28, 2011 |
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Mar 28, 2011 10:32
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