Sta.sh
Forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi punched hard into the last line of defence protecting the rebel capital of Benghazi Tuesday, putting the shrinking revolution at risk of collapse as hope for international intervention wanes.
As another day of UN deliberations ended in discord, the Libyan regime ringed the strategic city of Ajdabiya from two sides, launching volleys of rocket fire from air and ground-based artillery and triggering an exodus or fighters and civilians north on the 200-kilometre highway to Benghazi. All impartial evidence points to Gadhafi’s forces continuing the push eastward deep into rebel territory, at the expense of the severely outgunned rebel army.
Supporters of a no-fly zone introduced a UN resolution Tuesday aimed at stopping Gadhafi’s planes from bombing civilians, but Russia and Germany expressing misgivings. At a G8 meeting earlier in the day, France and Britain failed to win support for a no-fly zone.
With no significant progress on grinding foreign diplomacy aimed at stemming the Gadhafi surge, the rebel leadership is now grappling with the prospects that any outside help will amount to too little, too late.
“It’s unbelievable what is happening at the international level,” Iman Boughaigis, spokeswoman for the nascent Libyan Transitional Council, told the Toronto Star, “We mounted this fight to live under the values of the West — freedom, human rights and human dignity. And now we are alone."
“But we will stand here in Benghazi to the end. We will live in dignity or we will die.”
For days, as the poorly armed rebel fighters retreated hundreds of kilometres in the face of the regime’s overwhelming air and groundfire, the hard kernel of the revolt in Benghazi vowed a fight to the death rather than cede their newfound freedom to Gadhafi.
The fate of these people, many thousands of whom have gone public, sharing for the first time the deprivations of the past 42 years, appears dangerously near to being left to the mercy of a regime that routinely describes them as “rats and vermin.”
Some activists wept openly Tuesday at the waterfront courthouse that has served as headquarters of the homegrown revolution. Others described in bitter terms the disappointment of their unanswered pleas for foreign intervention.
“If this was happening to a western country — Italy, Germany or Spain — how long world the world wait to act? One day, one week?” Dr. Abdul Atif Aghwal, chairman of Benghazi’s Jamahiriya Hospital, told the Toronto Star, “Here, we wait one month and nothing happens. Gadhafi is a megalomaniac, his mind has snapped, and he will only kill more until he is stopped.”
Gadhafi promised on Monday he would not kill activists involved in the uprising, should they be trapped and ultimately captured in Benghazi. But a translation of a regime leaflet dropped by air over Ajdabiya suggests retribution may be in the cards.
"It is the hour we face the betrayers. House by house, street by street, one by one, person by person, we will hunt the rats,” the leaflet said. “Huge numbers of armed people are coming to protect you, so join us. Do not hesitate to execute the betrayers and the rats.”
Any assault on the well-armed rebels Benghazi itself raises the spectre of urban warfare of a ferocity unseen this past month, with the potential for long weeks of battles and a high civilian death toll.
“The amount of guns in Benghazi, the number of RPGs in private homes, is enormous,” another rebel spokesman, Mustafa Gheriani, said Tuesday night. “If it should come to that, this city will fight with everything it has.”
I know there's a serious crisis in Japan, with so many lives devastated by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami and nuclear crisis. But please, do not forget about Libya. Do not ignore the thousands of innocent lives being lost in Gadhafi's recklessly violent assault, or diminish the determination of the rebels who will fight to the death for their freedom. I don't care about oil prices or the risk of full-scale military involvement; real people are dying to overthrow a despotic regime. They need us.
We, the international community, must not turn out backs on the blood-soaked desert soil of Libya.
As another day of UN deliberations ended in discord, the Libyan regime ringed the strategic city of Ajdabiya from two sides, launching volleys of rocket fire from air and ground-based artillery and triggering an exodus or fighters and civilians north on the 200-kilometre highway to Benghazi. All impartial evidence points to Gadhafi’s forces continuing the push eastward deep into rebel territory, at the expense of the severely outgunned rebel army.
Supporters of a no-fly zone introduced a UN resolution Tuesday aimed at stopping Gadhafi’s planes from bombing civilians, but Russia and Germany expressing misgivings. At a G8 meeting earlier in the day, France and Britain failed to win support for a no-fly zone.
With no significant progress on grinding foreign diplomacy aimed at stemming the Gadhafi surge, the rebel leadership is now grappling with the prospects that any outside help will amount to too little, too late.
“It’s unbelievable what is happening at the international level,” Iman Boughaigis, spokeswoman for the nascent Libyan Transitional Council, told the Toronto Star, “We mounted this fight to live under the values of the West — freedom, human rights and human dignity. And now we are alone."
“But we will stand here in Benghazi to the end. We will live in dignity or we will die.”
For days, as the poorly armed rebel fighters retreated hundreds of kilometres in the face of the regime’s overwhelming air and groundfire, the hard kernel of the revolt in Benghazi vowed a fight to the death rather than cede their newfound freedom to Gadhafi.
The fate of these people, many thousands of whom have gone public, sharing for the first time the deprivations of the past 42 years, appears dangerously near to being left to the mercy of a regime that routinely describes them as “rats and vermin.”
Some activists wept openly Tuesday at the waterfront courthouse that has served as headquarters of the homegrown revolution. Others described in bitter terms the disappointment of their unanswered pleas for foreign intervention.
“If this was happening to a western country — Italy, Germany or Spain — how long world the world wait to act? One day, one week?” Dr. Abdul Atif Aghwal, chairman of Benghazi’s Jamahiriya Hospital, told the Toronto Star, “Here, we wait one month and nothing happens. Gadhafi is a megalomaniac, his mind has snapped, and he will only kill more until he is stopped.”
Gadhafi promised on Monday he would not kill activists involved in the uprising, should they be trapped and ultimately captured in Benghazi. But a translation of a regime leaflet dropped by air over Ajdabiya suggests retribution may be in the cards.
"It is the hour we face the betrayers. House by house, street by street, one by one, person by person, we will hunt the rats,” the leaflet said. “Huge numbers of armed people are coming to protect you, so join us. Do not hesitate to execute the betrayers and the rats.”
Any assault on the well-armed rebels Benghazi itself raises the spectre of urban warfare of a ferocity unseen this past month, with the potential for long weeks of battles and a high civilian death toll.
“The amount of guns in Benghazi, the number of RPGs in private homes, is enormous,” another rebel spokesman, Mustafa Gheriani, said Tuesday night. “If it should come to that, this city will fight with everything it has.”
Information source: Libyan revolution on the verge of collapse from The Toronto Star
I know there's a serious crisis in Japan, with so many lives devastated by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami and nuclear crisis. But please, do not forget about Libya. Do not ignore the thousands of innocent lives being lost in Gadhafi's recklessly violent assault, or diminish the determination of the rebels who will fight to the death for their freedom. I don't care about oil prices or the risk of full-scale military involvement; real people are dying to overthrow a despotic regime. They need us.
We, the international community, must not turn out backs on the blood-soaked desert soil of Libya.
Rage 
But I realized that next year we'll have reading week together! not to mention taking the bus together on trips to and from university, right? 
OYP needs me. If you didn't know, I was the youngest person ever to be elected to the Executive. And it looks like I'll be elected premier next year. Seriously. Looooong conversations with ~
I'm totally psyched. First of all, I absolutely love laser tag. I've done it once in my life and I totally had a blast. Second of all, I'm with my siblings ~
s or page views. There are two main reasons for this:
I promise I'll post at least once more before Christmas, okay?
I want to maintain my 96% average. I want a future; is that so hard to ask? 
to my friend Brit, !
for me.
Which is good.
It's hard to explain.
oh, I guess I shouldn't bother him. Do not misunderstand me, I love being able to communicate with so many other artists, and the relationships that I've formed and am forming with all of you amazing deviants. Please don't think I'm ignoring you if my reply is two weeks late. I value you. More than you know. 
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