Published: 29 Mar 11 13:05 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/32886/20110329/
The Swedish government has given the green light to sending JAS Gripen fighters to Libya following a request from the NATO general secretary, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, for Swedish assistance.
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That's nice. Sweden wants to enjoy membership in the International Community, but they don't want any of the obligations of membership. If all of NATO is attacked, they want the option of opting out and making their own peace. Nice. You're either a partner, or you're not a partner. But if Sweden were attacked, the very first place they would turn would be NATO. But heaven forbid they might be called on to participate in some action. This is like a woman who will come over and cook and clean and sleep with you -- until you lose your job, then she's gone, too.
I don´t think that Gaddafi has any intentions of attacking Sweden or any of the NATO countries any time soon or in the future.
Swedish Air Force was involved in Africa (where else?) some 50 years ago. To what purpose? What did that achieve?
Anyone else care to make a prediction?
It is naive to think that just because an endorsement of the action was wrung out of the UN, it has legitimacy. Legality, legitimacy, desirability are not synonyms. Sweden should not support, much less get actively involved, just because the Soviet Union and China did not have the guts to use their vetoes, or just because nations like South Africa were bullied into voting for a resolution they didn't agree with. True, the Arab League wanted a no-fly zone, or was cajoled into saying so, but as soon as the shooting started, its position became radically less clear.
Many legal experts think the UK and French actions have now gone well beyond what is legal under the UN resolution, so for Sweden to collaborate with this kind of international vandalism would surely be unwise or worse.
SAAB and the Swedish Air Force love it of course as this gives them a chance for PR.
The CIA's Libya Rebels: The Same Terrorists who Killed US, NATO Troops in Iraq
2007 West Point Study Shows Benghazi-Darnah-Tobruk Area was a World Leader in Al Qaeda Suicide Bomber Recruitment
http://tarpley.net/2011/03/24/the-cia%e2%80%99s-libya-rebels-the-same-terrorists-who-killed-us-nato-troops-in-iraq/
shame on all who get entangled in this 'created' war for oil and 'arc of crisis' geo-political turmoil
NATO, the US/UK alliance, and the UN stand by and turn their heads as Bahrain, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, etc (all their puppet dictators) butcher their citizens in the street (not to mention the millions killed in sub-Saharan Africa), then have the audacity to claim humanitarian grounds in oil-rich Libya (Quaddafi and Blair shared an embrace in the desert which should be the definitive image).
Sweden would do well to keep well away from NATO, a quasi-fascist organisation (indeed, fascist Portugal was a founder member, and Greek and Turkish dictatorships were also long-time members) which was involved in collaborating with neofascist organisations in Cold War Italy and elsewhere (Operation Gladio - the EU has demanded details but NATO has yet to provide them afaik).
Now that huge some of money that has to be spent carelessly should be given to the undocumented sick ppl who are being refused full treatmnet living in sweden or better send out as charity to the needy talkless of the poor and sick in that very Africa.
Why should nations be so greedy??????? how many times hv you ppl gone to Somalia,congo,or Rwanda????? SHAME ON YOU BARBARIANS.
Hope they do not make a live round run over here
"The arabs will never sincerely accept the so called western powers as long as the Isreali-Palestanian issue is not resolved. "
Oh, God. Here we go again. Not Turkish-Kurd. Not Iranian-Kurd. Not Lebanese-Druze, not Lebanese-Palestinian. Not Egyptian-Palestinian. Not Turkish-Cypriot. Not Darfur. Not Somali. Not Yemen. Not Saudi invasion into Bahrain. Not Syrian dictatorship.. No no. It is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where Palestinians lost less people that of the hands of Hazbollah or the king Hussein of Jordan. THAT is the reason for non-acceptance of western powers. Because Amara Kamara would like to have 100% dictatorships in that area. Not 90%.
I am not getting it. The islamist squad here was crying and moaning when nobody cared about Kaddafi killing thousands. The west-haters (especially the ones who live on the west) were accusing the west of non-caring, not acting, not assisting because they are racist and do not care about the death of africans.
Now, when the west finally stopped Kaddafi, apparently the west is blood-thirsty baby killer, whose only goal is oil. Apparently Swedens only wish is to murder little innocent girls and the entire Lybia is apparently united against this threat. All of a sudden, the west is united with Al Qaida, the devil and Hitler in their evil attack on peaceful Lybia.
Listening to islamists does not make any sense. They will be moaning in any case and therefore are not relevant.
@mark65 - that's right mark give us a reason to believe Swedish intervention might be a good thing by threatening everyone
This is an excercise in testing equipment in relatively safe conditions with the hope of getting results you can use to sell some jets. Col. K hasn't had any aircraft up in a long time..........
No better advertisement for these jets.
Then, provide some old tanks to Kaddafi and Karl Gustav to the rebels and vice versa.
Islamists and communists will be crying ANYWAYS, whether Sweden joins NATO or not (joins - cold blood murderer, doesn't join - blood thirsty racist), so at least make a good money on this war...
Sweden is so desperate to sell some fighter planes(Gripen).
And for that they must show what can they du actually in real combat!!.
Its hard to sell a Gripen wich has never been seen in a combat zone,right??
That is all about!!!!
Just like Obama said he wanted to Liyba to accept "Humanitarian Aid" Humanitorian aid means " Ground Forces". What kind of AID have we seen? Bombing.
Why did no government help the Bahraini Civilians or the Yemen Civilians? when they were in the same situation. One word they don't have "OIL".
BP has Billions of dollars invested in Liyba and the west is going there to protect their investments.
Its ironic that the US and UK killed over 1 million Iraqis since the invasion of Iraq, yet they are now going to save the Libyans, yeh right.
If you want to sell fighter jets, get them into comabat to show of there capabilities.
That way sales will be easier as Sweden will be able to refer to combat sucess.
It's becoming more and more obvious that what's going on in Libya, is not a popular uprising as in Egypt, but Western propaganda has made it look so. We surely don't have to follow the USA on the road to hell.
Perfectly stated. You are forgetting that you are talking to a group of people whos only moral compass is whether the US is involved or not. Regardless of the fact that the rebels were pleading for Western intervention, this group sees US involvement and by default the action is wrong. We should have let France and the UK take care of this one. Most of the opinions on this forum would most likely be 180 degrees from what they are.
Note France and the UK were the ones screaming for intervention, and now note who is doing most of the dirty work, as usual.
Democracy should go over without a hitch. These are the same people that had a massive party when a convicted terrorist was released. If there is one constant in history it is that the only people Muslims hate more than their ruthless dictators that massacre them, it is the Western nations that send them humanitarian aid, and help them defeat said dictator.
Precisely. Sarkozy and Brown were at the throats of everybody in the UN to get into there. Qatar and Emirates were dying to cover Lybia with F-16's. That is why Brazil, Russia and South Africa agreed for invasion in the first place.
However when the decision was taken and the rebels had only 2 cities left, all of a sudden, France had an important issue to attend, GB was tying it's shoes and Qatar and Emirates were about to finish packing their bags... Who is left standing when sh%t is flying around and everyone is ducking? USA of course...
And now, it does not matter that it is out. It does not matter that it's first wave of attack was the one that paralysed crazy dictator's troops and saved the rebels from mass graves... It does not matter that now it is France that bombs wrong buildings... Nothing matters. It is the FAULT of USA. How FREAKING convenient. Next time a muslim dictator is killing thousands, US should take a principal stance of non-intervention.
Let's see the "precise weapons" of Russians or "purity of weapons" of Chinese, or "humanitarian force" of African Union dealing with this crap.