With The Downed Aircraft In Ukraine And The News From Gaza….

[naomi24]

Has anyone else noticed what’s happening in Libya?

//Hundreds of families were forced to flee neighbourhoods around Tripoli airport as militias fighting for control of the area engaged in their fiercest battles since the 2011 revolution in Libya.... The fighting is part of a wider struggle between a loose coalition of Islamist-led militias and an equally loose coalition of nationalists.....On Thursday, the foreign minister, Mohamed Abdulaziz, travelled to New York to ask the UN security council for military advisers, warning that without intervention Libya risks spiralling "out of control".//

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/20/libyan-militas-battle-tripoli-hundreds-families-flee-fight

[Hypognosis]

I've been looking at the Aviation Safety Network website frequently for purposes of recent threads and it hasn't escaped my attention that most of the Libyan Arab Airlines and Afriqiyah fleets have been totalled by RPGs and machine gun crossfire. One plane - with bullet holes - made it to Malta at low altitude.

Presumably these planes have been sat on the ground ever since the administration collapsed.

[douglas9401]

We should all probably be more careful what we wish for in life.

The cycle of 'freedom' then chaos is getting very wearying. Maybe it's time to let others sort their own mess out while we deal with less footnote in history but equally important domestic issues.

[Gromit]

The Arab Spring quickly turned into a dark winter in many countries.

The Obama policy of encouraging 'democracy' in a few selected countries as proven just as destructive and counter to US interests, as Dubya's all out wars.

Between the two Presidents, we have see a handful of small cells of terrorists on the fringes, grow into armies taking over entire countries. One cannot think of a worse possible outcome. US foreign policy has not just failed, it has failed spectacularly, making the world a less safe place for us all.

[ichkeria]

"Between the two Presidents, we have see a handful of small cells of terrorists on the fringes, grow into armies taking over entire countries. "

Which of course is not really the case, despite what you think of "Arab Springs" or US Presidents etc.
Libya for example, was already governed b a terrorist, ever bit as malign and deadly as anyone or anything currently at large in that country. Same with Syria.
I can't off the top of my head think of a country where "a handful of small cells of terrorists on the fringes" has taken over a country. A lot of tribal strife certainly.
However perhaps the preferred option for the US would have been to have supported Mubarak, Gaddafi, Ben Ali, Assad etc.
In which case a lot of people would now be rightly condemning them for propping up murderous dictators.
And the consequences of doing nothing? Would Libya without NATO intervention today be at peace? Almost certainly it would be even worse than it is now. Syria, for example ...

[Gromit]

// However perhaps the preferred option for the US would have been to have supported Mubarak //

Do you mean the Mubarak who was one of the United States best allies in the region and was part of the coalition that liberated Kuwait in the Gulf War. The Mubarak whose country was barred from the Arab League because he maintained the peace treaty with Israel that Sadat signed.

[Hypognosis]

Airport fuel storage tank on fire. These things will burn for weeks, provided they don't soften, warp and spill unburnt contents.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/libya-asks-for-overseas-help-to-battle-oil-depot-fire-near-tripoli-airport-9634046.html

Reminds me of an incident which routinely gets edited out of any accounts of the Blitz, unless you're a local or related to a casualty.

http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/showthread.php?13221-Pembroke-Dock-Llanreath-Oil-Depot-Attack-and-Memorial