Internet Restored In Tripoli As Rebels Take Control 271
angry tapir writes "Internet connectivity was restored in Tripoli late Sunday local time, as rebel forces took control of many parts of the capital city of Libya. A new mobile network set up by the rebels in the east of Libya in April, called Libyana Al Hurra, and a similar network in Misrata, will soon also be linked to the Libyana Mobile Phone network in Tripoli, said Ousama Abushagur, a Libyan telecommunications engineer in the U.A.E, who led the team that set up Libyana Al Hurra."
Who is the new dictator? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Meanwhile, in Damascus... (Score:5, Funny)
Bashar al Assad is thanking Allah that there's no oil under his country.
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"Although Syria is not a major oil exporter by Middle Eastern standards, oil is a major pillar of the economy. According to the International Monetary Fund, oil sales for 2010 were projected to generate $3.2 billion for the Syrian government and account for 25.1% of the state's revenue. Syria is the only significant crude oil producing country in the Eastern Mediterranean region, which includes Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Syria had 2.5 billion bar
Re:Who is the new dictator? (Score:4, Interesting)
There is no guarantee.
But there is hope for change to the better, where there has been none at all for 42 years.
-- An Egyptian ...
Re:Who is the new dictator? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Who is the new dictator? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Also, it was more of an independence movement that a real revolution. Those tend to go a lot better. Getting rid of the British didn't destroy all pre-exisitng political structures and disenfranchise all existing elites. Also they didn't have the tension of fighting hordes of their own people. They weren't eaten away from the paranoia that stems from that. Contrast this with the French Revolution.
There's a fair chance here (Score:2)
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The new dictator will deal with American and friends oil companies, the old one was dealing with Chinese and Russian oil companies. So yes thing will now be much "better" than before.
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Actually no. France, with NATO backing and U.S. participation will be in charge from here on out. The problem with Libya was that it had a stable, successful socialist economy - and was doing too much business with China. That's been fixed now, thanks to an insurgent force recruited, funded, trained, armed and directed by a NATO coalition, operating under active air cover and full spectrum propaganda provided by the aforementioned foreign powers.
Re:Who is the new dictator? (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem with Libya was that it had a stable, successful socialist economy
Doesn't look stable to me. Recall that the rebellion predated the foreign powers.
Where does the fact that Libya was a tyranny fit into your explanation?
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Well, it was stable in the sense that without the help of NATO, Gaddafi would probably have been able to stop the rebellion.
So in other words, not stable.
Well, it already was a tyranny before that. Yet nobody in the west seemed to care too much as long as they got a net benefit.
Guess they changed their mind. Seems to bother them now.
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Typical rubbish. There are no foreign troops (in significe
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Nobody forced democracy onto the Germans. If anything, the Soviets took it away from us in 1949. Germany's democratic desires can be traced back to when Napoleon invaded the Rhineland. That was 200 years ago.
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What does "democracy" even mean these days, though? Most countries I see described as "democratic" afford very little power (if any) to the voter. It's really just describing one method of preventing civil wars while allowing the real overlords (the rich, the powerful, the elite) to continue to govern behind the scenes.
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Both Japan and Germany had established democracies before the WWII.
False in each case. The label "established" indicates stability and some degree of permanence which didn't happen.
But using your meaning, it's worth noting that Iraq had an "established democracy" from 1961-1963 and 1963-1968. Afghanistan has similar brushes with democracy in its past too. That makes them both just as qualified as Japan and Germany.
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Then possibly the same AC modifies that assertion to claim that Germany and Japan had "established democracies" while Iraq and Afghanistan did not. I showed that is also false and further note that Iraq and Afghanist
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Bold assertions. Care to show some sources?
By the way, Lybia had 6,378 million dollars of external debt... at the beginning of this year. Finally, the National Transitional Council is led by Mahmoud Jibril, who as far as I looked wasn't affiliated to those factions.
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Bold assertions. Care to show some sources?
Do you live in Libya? Or did you, at least, live in Libya for some time?
Or just you are another internet wikipedia detective?
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previously free healthcare, free education, free housing/utilities and subsidized products like motor vehicles are handled by the "new" regime.
You sound just like a capitalist. They should be happy because we give them free stuff with only a few strings attached! All I can say is that the spontaneous revolt indicates to me that all wasn't well in Libya. Maybe those freebies weren't as generously distributed as you claim they were? Maybe Gaddifi was bad enough that bribes of free stuff weren't covering it? Maybe someone else is offering more in their local cargo cult?
Re:Who is the new dictator? (Score:4, Interesting)
UN HDI [wikipedia.org] map is one interesting data source. See that huge green blob at the top of Africa, the only one on the continent? That's Libya. For all that can be said about Gaddafi, he really did make a working welfare state, head and shoulders above all his neighbors, and in many aspects on par even with some European countries.
As for spontaneous revolt, well... it may be true, but the fact that rebels - from the get go! - included high-profile people [wsws.org] and organizations [wikipedia.org] strongly affiliated with CIA - excuse me if I find it dubious.
Even if true, that grassroots movement seems to have just as strong radical Islamist component as the liberal one. If Iran is anything to go by, once the dictator is overthrown, the groups will inevitably start to fight between themselves - and Islamists are much more likely to win due to their determination and willingness to sacrifice.
Re:Who is the new dictator? (Score:4, Insightful)
The UN HDI for Libya is biased by their very high GNI per capita (due to being one of the world's largest oil producers). But little of this actually makes it to the population (as noted by the CIA Factbook article on Libya).
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But little of this actually makes it to the population (as noted by the CIA Factbook article on Libya).
CIA has been openly funding Libyan opposition since early 80s; it is hardly an impartial source. Meanwhile, people who have lived in the country, for the most part, beg to differ.
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Course they do, bloody obvious given the events of the last six months isn't it?
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Course they do, bloody obvious given the events of the last six months isn't it?
See, that's the funny part.
Back in Feb/March, all TV talking heads and newspapers were talking about the imminent collapse of Gaddafi's regime because it was supposed to be an uprising of all Libyan people. All he had left, they said, are a bunch of hired mercs. Well, and heavy artillery - but NATO air strikes were supposed to take care of that pronto.
And then what? Instead of a victorious march on the capital, we've seen six months of brutal fighting with towns shifting back and forth. Given NATO backing a
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To see this as simply an East vs West civil war is to ignore the very definite large-scale support the rebels have received in and around Tripoli. The TNC in Benghazi have been adamant that they fight for the freedom of all Libyans, not for secession or to settle old scores -
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While the US, France and the UK now fight over the wealth, the Islamic Brotherhood and the Benghazi Royal Family will no doubt fight over domestic control.
Like all the money coming into those countries from Iraq right now, right?
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Not that I would be surprised (see sig), but... link?
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In 1917 or so a russian king was deposed/abdicated and a republican (small r) government sorta was going but then was quickly executed (along with the king and his entire family) by the bolshi who were better organized which then ruled for a long time.
There's a bit more to it than that. The so-called Provisional Government that came to power after the abdication of Nicholas II was republican in name only - it was not elected by the people. Furthermore, while they had a stated goal of convening a Constituent Assembly (which would then determine the future political system of the country) - hence "provisional" in the name - in practice this kept getting postponed whenever the last promised date came up, so in effect it turned into a dictatorship. Bolshevik
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I am curious what the residents think (Score:5, Interesting)
Not about the retun of internet services, but about the entire affair of their dictator and the uprising against him.
Up until now our reports are essentially the press releases of the rebel faction and quadaffi's, respectively.
Unrestricted internet access would grant a wealth of on the street reports on civilian sentiment about these events.
Re:I am curious what the residents think (Score:5, Insightful)
My guess would be they are glad to see Ghadaffi go, but nervous. The guy is an unmitigated asshole who has ruled with an iron fist and severely curtailed personal liberty, executed political dissidents, and taken most of the country's wealth for him and his family. You can bet he's not real popular, and I'm sure most people that aren't his cronies would love to see him gone.
However I'm sure they are also worried. I mean who knows what kind of government the rebels bring? Maybe things become free and open, maybe they turn out to be even worse. Also war is always worrying because innocents get hurt, no way around it. You can mind your own business, strictly not take sides, and still get killed.
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My guess would be they are glad to see Ghadaffi go, but nervous. The guy is an unmitigated asshole who has ruled with an iron fist and severely curtailed personal liberty, executed political dissidents, and taken most of the country's wealth for him and his family. You can bet he's not real popular, and I'm sure most people that aren't his cronies would love to see him gone.
Well, I guess 'consumers' in Libya will soon find out how it looks like when you have to start paying bills for everything, and when 'democratic' government is not giving out subsidies anymore (but money goes to themselves and their cronies).
Mind you, I really don't like Ghadaffi, but Libya is now going to end up like Iraq.
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but Libya is now going to end up like Iraq.
Which would be terrible if Iraq were doing badly.
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Which would be terrible if Iraq were doing badly.
Yes, things are going very well. [nytimes.com]
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Instead of one socialist state, which, while far from ideal, managed to provide livable conditions to most of its citizens, there are now three wild, impoverished areas with destroyed infrastructure and without social order, simmering in civil war.
Interesting perception there. But if there's a so-called "civil war" shouldn't there be a war first? Instead we see that the war, such as it was, ended in 2008.
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Well, I guess 'consumers' in Libya will soon find out how it looks like when you have to start paying bills for everything, and when 'democratic' government is not giving out subsidies anymore (but money goes to themselves and their cronies).
So, we can put you down as synic, yes?
Damnit man, they're restarting their country with intentions toward freedom, and that's all you can come up with?!?
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You can mind your own business, strictly not take sides, and still get killed.
At the signing of a charter establishing the German Peace Corps in Bonn, West Germany on June 24 1963, John F Kennedy referenced Dante's Inferno when he remarked that, "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in periods of moral crisis, maintained their neutrality." The people of Libya and especially the youth, who with neither training nor experience and at great personal risk, took up arms to liberate themselves from decades of brutal oppression deserve the highest praise for their actions.
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The people of Libya and especially the youth, who with neither training nor experience and at great personal risk, took up arms to liberate themselves from decades of brutal oppression deserve the highest praise for their actions.
Yeah, especially those valiant freedom fighters serving under this guy [telegraph.co.uk].
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Gaddafi's state, for all his Islamic rhetoric in the "Green Book" and elsewhere, was more secular than it was Islamic. Meanwhile, NATO is giving weapons to the very same people who have been fighting them a mere year ago in Afghanistan under the banner of religious fanaticism. And one simple rule of all revolutions is: whoever got the guns, is in charge. Would you bet on it that liberal opposition will end up with more guns than Islamists? and even if so, that they will be ready and willing to use them? Don
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"and I'm sure most people that aren't his cronies would love to see him gone."
What I found quite telling was to see the pro-Gaddaffi rallies, they weren't particularly numerous, and those that were there often seem to be very well dressed, with an impressive amount of expensive looking jewellery on.
I have a feeling the only ones supporting Gaddaffi pretty much are the ones who, like him, are rich through exploiting the people and the country. Those who Gaddaffi has allowed to similarly exploit these resourc
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They are terrorists because they shout "God is Great" (one of the cries of the revolution across the Arab world, and even used by those protesting against the Mullahs in Iran)?
I'd hate to see your reaction if you he
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The reactions are mixed, though it seems like there are a lot more people who disliked Quadaffi. Back before Triploi was taken, a reporter who snuck away from his chaperone managed to get an interview with someone who basically said "when the rebels come, they'll all have our support." And a lot of that happened. However, there were a few pockets of die-hard Quadaffi supporters who still resisted.
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What if the repressed 20% would prefer Sharia law as a constitution, complete with burqas and death penalty for adultery and apostasy - as seen in "liberated" Afghanistan? Isn't that just another kind of tyranny?
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Because *cough*Tea Party*cough*, it looks like you can't even prevent tyranny of the minority.
It has to be tyranny first. The Tea Party also has the virtue of being on the right side of the taxation argument.
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The Tea Party also has the virtue of being on the right side of the taxation argument.
The far, far, far right side, I would say. Personally, I don't consider that a virtue, but then I'm not an American, only a bemused spectator.
Missing the point (Score:3, Insightful)
I think rebel forces finally taking the capital qualifies as "...stuff that matters". Do we really need to search for a tech angle just to talk about it on Slashdot?
As for the rebels, I have been impressed with how they have persisted despite awful organization and very weak help from the West. I am happy to see them finally prevail.
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Do we really need to search for a tech angle just to talk about it on Slashdot?
It's pretty common for Slashdot to highlight the tech angle of world stories, because they are interesting things that get lost in other reports. It gives us a chance to talk about Libya, and see a different side of the situation. Ousama Abushagur is now a hero, at least to fellow geeks.
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Exactly. If we want some armchair general's view on the battle, or a politicians view, we check CNN or BBC or even Wikinews. If we want a comedian's view, we watch Colbert. If we want a moron's view, there's Fox. If we want the tech angle, we've got /. They all start from the same core story, but each specializes in a particular set of details.
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Palin/Bachman 2012
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As for the rebels, I have been impressed with how they have persisted despite awful organization and very weak help from the West. I am happy to see them finally prevail.
Ahahahahaha. Very "weak help from the west"?
Holy crap, that universe of yours is amusing...
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I think rebel forces finally taking the capital qualifies as "...stuff that matters". Do we really need to search for a tech angle just to talk about it on Slashdot?
Yes. Libyan freedom is a good thing. /. is about tech. What's wrong with discussing the intersection of the two? If it's not relevant to both spheres, we waste others' time or abuse their patience.
It's not like we're ignoring the "African Spring" by focussing on its tech. corollaries.
Syria next! Woohoo! :-)
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Yes.
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Thank heavens!! (Score:3, Funny)
Achmed will be able to make his 7pm WoW raid on Ragnaros in the Firelands.
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Dammit, he went afk again!
Premature Celebration (Score:2)
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Gaddafi's son Khamis and a group of 10,000 well-trained troops happened to "just disappear" when the rebels got to Tripoli.
They were mercenaries (or at least, that's the report, which is as reliable as anything out of Libya). They were there because Gaddafi paid them, not out of some misdirected belief in a God that will reward them for brutality, or out of a cause like freedom, or love and desire to protect their families.
They are mercenaries. Money can buy a lot of things, but you will never find someone willing to sacrifice their life for a monetary reward. When things go really bad, the mercenaries leave.
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"Gaddafi's son Khamis and a group of 10,000 well-trained troops happened to "just disappear" when the rebels got to Tripoli"
That's because most of them were friends, and families of the general population in Tripoli and hence supported the rebel cause, and so when the rebels arrived, it became easy to defect without fear of being shot or having reprisals against their families.
This isn't to say there aren't a lot of Gaddaffi troops left, there are, but they're mostly the handful of ultra-loyalists and merce
With our... (Score:2)
...combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy.
Oh thank god, (Score:2)
Ooh! Proposed Constitution Amendment! (Score:2)
You might want to mumble vaguely about presidential term limits, checks and balances, etc, depending on what you guys find valuable. Best of luck, hope you don't find yourself under a new brutal dictator next year.
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Oil revenue profits will be distributed equally to all citizens of Libya on a quarterly basis.
That's essentially what Gaddafi did (after pocketing a fair bit for himself... but still plenty to pass around). Somehow I think the new guys will not want to be seen as "commies".
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I would assume that there is no way to currently pick who is "with or against" the rebels too easily once you take the folks who appeared on the TV either for or against the rebel cause.
I am much more worried about all the tales of atrocities that will now no doubt come to surface as lines of communication are given back to the population.
Not worried that it is getting out, but more of what has been done no doubt.
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Don't say it could never happen here because I didn't think we'd be seeing tent cities and families living in cars like something out of the third world either. The bag of tricks at the Fed is completely empty now and congress can't keep up spending forever without our rating plunging further
Hate to burst your bubble, but the poverty rate is quite low in our country, and the bar for poverty is quite a bit higher in this country the average income for the majority of the world. For example, Cuba's average income is about 8k a year, and our poverty line is about $16k per year.
Thats not to say things are perfect, but there are an incredible number of people who pay no rent or pay no taxes and whose lifestyles are partly or wholly paid for by the government.
I might remark that THAT is a problem wh
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Despite the efforts of Gadhaffi to try to pit one tribe against another, this revolt still happened. There are no tribal lines in the rebellion. It's doctors, teachers, engineers, students, just a cross-section of society. Imagine that, people being sick of a murderous 40-year cleptocracy.
But no, those dumb towel-heads can't handle democracy, right? They need a brutal, oppressive strongman to keep their primitive rage in check, right?
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Why not?
Internationally, the "old regime" has little support. And our news took care that no reports from them would be taken at face value. If anything, it would create an air of "look, they still think they can fool us".
And I doubt that the internet is the communication means of choice for Lybia. It would probably be the only country I'd know of where you use the internet and not TV to reach the masses.
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Internationally, the "old regime" has little support.
The "old regime" had lots of support until few months ago.
But Gadaffi was a tough guy to deal with, so oil and infrastructure companies will have much easier time by simply putting their cronies into new 'democratic' government.
I mean, I've lived in 2 such countries, I still find it amusing to see how ignorant westerners are about these issues - they still believe it's somehow all done because of people and their freedom. Hahaha.
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But Gadaffi was a tough guy to deal with, so oil and infrastructure companies will have much easier time by simply putting their cronies into new 'democratic' government.
I mean, I've lived in 2 such countries, I still find it amusing to see how ignorant westerners are about these issues - they still believe it's somehow all done because of people and their freedom.
So the West gets its oil and Gaddafi gets booted? Sounds good ending to me unless you should ever have a better idea than just sneering at the low-grade hypocrisy.
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So the West gets its oil and Gaddafi gets booted?
The issue is not so much whether Gaddafi gets booted, but rather who comes in his place. Do you seriously believe that Libya will now become a secular democracy? What will happen to their quality of life (which was consistently highest on the continent)?
Contrary to popular opinion, people can get fucked just as well in a democracy. Even worse, an unstable democracy can easily give way to an even more brutal dictatorship - Nazis enjoyed broad electoral support, and Afghanis approved the constitution that co
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The issue is not so much whether Gaddafi gets booted, but rather who comes in his place. Do you seriously believe that Libya will now become a secular democracy? What will happen to their quality of life (which was consistently highest on the continent)?
I don't care whether Libya becomes a democracy or not. I'm interested more in strengthening the precedent of knocking over dictators for any pretext whatsoever. The less secure that job becomes, the easier it'll be to transition these governments to more democratic ones.
Contrary to popular opinion, people can get fucked just as well in a democracy.
Then you should be able to come up with evidence to support your claim. Note that I read what you wrote first. Germany wasn't a democracy when Hitler began fucking people over and the end of that democracy was obvious for quite some time. As
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Germany wasn't a democracy when Hitler began fucking people over
It was a democracy which brought him to power. Of course, the very first thing he did then was remove those same mechanisms to prevent any would-be contenders. Then comes the time for a fuck-up.
As to Afghanistan, one shouldn't get hysterical just because they adopt elements of Sharia. While I consider the whole of Sharia unfit for a system of law and justice, it does have workable parts.
I dunno, do you think the parts where conversion from Islam to another faith is punished by death [wikipedia.org] are "workable"?
Besides a wholesale adoption of Sharia isn't happening in Afghanistan.
Their constitution literally says that the whole of Sharia is the supreme law ("In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam") above everything else,
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It was a democracy which brought him to power. Of course, the very first thing he did then was remove those same mechanisms to prevent any would-be contenders. Then comes the time for a fuck-up.
That is the point. They have to remove the trappings of democracy first.
I guess Afghanistan will have to pick up a new constitution down the road then. Still better than a non-democracy.
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That is the point. They have to remove the trappings of democracy first.
Better yet, never even have them. You can always slap a sticker saying "democracy" on whatever turd there is. All that matters is that the big boys accept it at face value - the same thing can be officially recognized as a sham, as in China or Iran, and then pretended to be meaningful, as in Afghanistan.
I guess Afghanistan will have to pick up a new constitution down the road then. Still better than a non-democracy.
Personally - as an atheist - I'd much prefer a dictatorship that leaves my personal beliefs alone to a democracy that makes them a capital crime. I think I'm not alone in that.
Unstable democracies have a ten
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Germany wasn't a democracy when Hitler began fucking people over and the end of that democracy was obvious for quite some time.
Care to explain?
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Care to explain?
The German military had started planning a new total war from the 20s. Read up on the history of Heinz Guderian. As a planner for the Weimar Republic military, developed a number of battle tactics for the German military (that is, blitzkreig and combined arms) that required vast numbers of troops (far more than the puny 100,000 that Germany was allowed to have by treaty) and used weapons and troops in ways that no potential enemy could do or was planning to do. Within ten years, Hitler was in charge buildin
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It was not a matter of "if", but "who" and "when" for the dissolution of the Weimar Republic and its replacement by an authoritarian government. Hitler just happened to be the one who ended up on top.
That is a far-fetched assertion. Just because there are elements plotting to overthrow a regime doesn't make said overthrow inevitable.
Second, Hitler's abuses didn't really start until he had dissolved the Republic. That happened rather quickly once he became Chancellor...
And of course, the timeline of Hitler's rise to power shows that he acted cautiously until the debris of the Republic was swept away.
History doesn't agree with you.
(1) Hitler putshed in Bavaria in 1923 and was convicted to 5 years in prison for it. (He was released after 9 months for "good behavior.") It was in prison where he wrote his seminal work in which he was pretty open about his hatred for any democratic regime and his plan to overthrow it using "democratic" means.
(2) The SA (the early paramilitar
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That is a far-fetched assertion. Just because there are elements plotting to overthrow a regime doesn't make said overthrow inevitable.
As it turned out, it was German military and industry, right there. They weren't just "elements". Second, Hitler did act cautiously. 1923 was not 1932. He learned and cleaned up his act.
The SA (the early paramilitary wing of the NSDAP) had clashed with the communists and social democrats since the 1920s. Nothing cautious about these street battles, either.
Teflon. Hitler wasn't involved in those clashes. His image stayed shiny.
(3) The final nail in the coffin of the Weimar republic was the Enabling Act of 1933. By that time the communist opposition (who got 12% in the election before it) was outlawed and terrorized. The social democrats received a good beating as well.
The real action didn't start till 1934. Stuff like Night of the Long Knives.
(4) Before the "dissolution" of the Weimar republic (which legally never happened), the Prussian state government was overthrown and Prussia was directly administered by the Reich. That wasn't done by Hitler, but it played directly into his hands, because the Prussia would have been in a strong position to defy Hitler.
Yep. Mighty convenient. You might want to look at who did that and how they dealt with Hitler afterwards. I actually see this as confirmation of my original claim. It's one thing
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The electoral support of the Nazis was waning in 1933 and indeed they gained power by terrorizing the opposition. Hitler convinced Hindenburg to outlaw the communist party after blaming the Reichstag fire on them. Their deputies were subsequently arrested in mass. The conservatives somehow believed they could hold Hitler in check and abdicated their parliamentary responsibilities. Only the social democrats stood up to him to the bitter end.
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In Libya, the most oil-rich country in Africa, one of the world's largest oil producers, has the highest GDP to population ratio in Africa, but little of the money actually makes it down to the general population. It's a cleptocracy.
Here, how about this. Picture we've got a bunch of people in other countries telling you, "Oh, Americans are too irresponsible or stupid to handle democracy. America should just have a strongman who brutalizes and robs from his people for decades." What would you think of a
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little of the money actually makes it down to the general population.
Admittedly a lot of it served to line up the pockets of Gaddafi's family, no doubt about that. But I wouldn't call the remainder little, by any measure. They really did have excellent healthcare and education.
Heck, remember that story [nytimes.com] about Libyan students in US in danger of being kicked out because Libyan government accounts were frozen, and it's what paid the tuition fees for all these guys (and also their living expenses)? How much does it cost to study in US for a foreigner, again? Especially ironic con
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If I was a Rebublicon, I'd say "You mean like Obama?"
If I was a Dumbocrat, I'd say "You mean like Bush?"
If I was from any other party it wouldn't matter, nobody would be listening anyway.
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You realise that Gaddafi was there in the first place because it let the west get their oil? It turns out great when we do this, doesn't it.
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You really haven't thought your brilliant plan out, have you...
Re:Do they allow everyone? (Score:5, Insightful)
Long-run, the ISP and the censor have the upper hand, because they touch every packet; but it takes time, money, and expertise to get to the point where you can go from shoving packets down the line as fast as you can and start burning system resources on the task of making service work in some ideologically convenient way...
(More broadly, given that the Libyan government spent some decades showing no intention of going anywhere, and maintaining a fairly tight grip, there is probably a very long list of people whose now-inconvenient history of cooperation with the outgoing regime in no secret at all. If the new chaps are still unsatisfied after they've worked through that backlog, the actual witch-hunting might begin; but there are still loads of active armed remnants and former public officials to deal with first...)
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If the new chaps are still unsatisfied after they've worked through that backlog, the actual witch-hunting might begin
The witch-hunting has been going on since the fighting broke out. Did you miss all the shootings / beheadings / burning alive videos by rebels on YouTube?
Re:So let's start the clock until..... (Score:4, Interesting)
That clock has been started a long time ago [telegraph.co.uk] (also see sig).