
...By
Peace he shall destroy many - Daniel 8 : 25
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...He will honor a god of fortresses -Daniel 11
: 38
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...With deceitful promises, he will make various alliances. He will become
strong despite having only a handful of followers. -Daniel 11 : 23
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..."IF" ever Sarko rises to the top of the head
of the EU Presidency
in the future; this baby is OVER, hands down...-Mario Romano
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((( Update Reminder : Sarko was first
"World Leader" to get
militarily involved in Libya putting his entire
re-election
fate & his destiny on its outcome )))
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..."IF" he is the one to become
the "little horn" then look for all
of his competitors, enemies & rivals to "mysteriously"
be
vanquished."
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Will Sarkozy get a statue in
Libya
?
BBC News Europe 8.24.11
Sometime when the fighting in Libya has subsided, when Col Muammar Gaddafi has been hunted down, when the National
Transitional Council has started running the country, when security and essential services have been restored, there may be
time for reflection.
How was this great uprooting of a dictator achieved? There will be huge pride inside the country that the people
carved out their own destiny, that this rebellion was made in Libya rather than in the think-tanks of Washington. Yes, it
was an Arab uprising, but it could not have succeeded without outside help.
In the final days - as we shall learn - Nato used
drones, bombers, helicopters, electronic interference and special forces on the ground "painting" targets for the
attack aircraft as the rebels closed in on the capital, Tripoli.
But if ever new statues are erected in Tripoli, French President
Nicholas Sarkozy may just find a niche or a plinth. For internationally, this was his war. The French president is never shy
in playing the leading role in any situation. Over Libya, he was roused by the activist-philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
The argument
was simple. The West faced a moment of choice. A moral choice. It could stand by, as it had in Rwanda, and watch a massacre
in Benghazi or it could intervene.
Intervention, however, was out of favour. President Bush and Iraq and the intractable Afghanistan
had dulled appetites to intervene and carve out new democracies. But Europe - believing so strongly in soft power - had failed
utterly in its own backyard at Srebrenica. Mr Sarkozy did not want another failure on his doorstep.
Blank
cheque So the French president, full of righteous certainty,
attended a summit in Brussels determined to get backing for a no-fly zone. He garnered little support apart from UK Prime
Minister David Cameron.
The words "no-fly zone" didn't even make it to the final communique. Europe believed, somehow, that sanctions
and the opprobrium of the international community would sway Col Gaddafi.
Crucially, the Germans were against intervention
and the Americans were decidedly lukewarm.
But Mr Sarkozy and the British worked on a clever UN resolution that got the Americans on-side
and neutralised the opposition of the Chinese and the Russians.
Not only did they win the authorisation to enforce a "no
fly-zone", but also, and crucially, the power to protect civilians.
This loosely drafted resolution enabled Nato to
become, in effect, the air force for the rebels. Attacking Gaddafi's compound could always be justified as protecting civilians.
It may be a long time before nations are given by the UN such a blank cheque again.
During all of this, President Sarkozy did not
play the European leader. He acted as a powerful head of a nation state, free to act in what he saw as his country's interest
and that of the international community.
It exposed the weakness of Europe in international affairs. Brussels was left on the sidelines,
hosting conferences about future trade relationships with North Africa.
So the French president, without consulting his
European partners, broke ranks and recognised the National Transitional Council (NTC).
After the UN resolution had been passed, even
David Cameron was surprised to learn that French planes were already over Benghazi.
US role The French took the lead but, in truth, the American military was needed
in the opening rounds. Only they had the cruise missiles that could take out Col Gaddafi's air defence system. In the later
stages, only the Americans had the drones that pinpointed for the rebels where the Gaddafi forces were.
But US President Barack Obama
did not want American forces involved in another war. He wanted the Europeans to take a lead and so put down a marker for
the future.
Europe would have to be the main actor in its own backyard.
Privately, at first, many European officials moaned
about the French and British action. It was tough getting Nato to assume responsibility for running the operation. There were
tensions. The Germans remained totally unconvinced. At the UN, they had stood with China and Russia and abstained.
In May, I had
attended in Berlin a briefing with one of the most powerful figures in Germany. The military action was wrong and ill-thought
through, he insisted. We did not understand Libya, he went on.
The relationship between tribes was complicated. Col Gaddafi
had support in the country. If Nato's action failed to dislodge the Libyan leader, there would be the temptation to put Western
troops on the ground.
It is of course true that some of those doubts may prove to be well founded. But as Libyans taste the elixir of freedom,
Germany will debate whether it made the right choice.
Enigma The Libyan operation has strengthened the Anglo-French relationship. Sarkozy
and Cameron like each other. Both leaders believe the EU is a long long way from being able to take decisive action as a bloc.
When it comes
to military action, the French and the British are indisputably the key players in Europe. Once the intervention began, the
British along the French shouldered the burden of the operation.
Inside France, there is pride at the outcome. French Foreign
Minister Alain Juppe summed it up on seeing the liberation of Tripoli: "This is a subject of great satisfaction. France
took risks, calculated risks, but the cause was just."
This time, Western intervention was judged to be on the side of the people
of an Arab country and in tune with the West's values of freedom and democracy.
A final thought. It is part of the enigma of Sarkozy.
He can act boldly and independently, even rashly. Yet when it comes to the eurozone, he is prepared to push for economic government
that will weaken France's decision-making over its own economy.
As someone told me in France recently, he backs greater European
unity as long as France - and Germany - remains in the driving seat.
But if the scenes of jubilation in Tripoli have a single
western author, it is Nicolas Sarkozy.