The news from Libya

We have entered the next phase in Libya…  since last I wrote on the topic,

– NATO planes bombed a Rebel anti-aircraft gun killing 13 rebels
– Government forces have switched to small groups of soldiers using pickup trucks instead of tanks, making them hard to target from airplanes
– NATO has realized it doesn’t have enough planes to do a no-fly zone
– Rebels are angry that when they call in air strikes, the planes based 1,500 miles away don’t immediately show up
– the U.S. is no longer actively involved in the air, although the CIA may be involved on the ground
– The English are talking about maybe needing to send in troops to train the Rebels – perhaps they want to get there to celebrate Evacuation Day on April 28th

Libya is roughly 800×800 miles square.   Planes from Europe can’t reach the interior without in-flight refueling over Libya.    Pat Lang, the Mission Creep guy who wants the U.S. to try to win Vietnam a second time in Africa dismissed the bases in the interior as “Just old Russian bases that are of no strategic importance”.

The value of Benghazi to Europe is mostly if it controls the Eastern oil fields and the oil exports.   But the oil and gas originate far inland.   Up until this point, the government seems to have mostly left the oil and gas capacity alone, looking forward to the end of the insurrection and not wanting to have to rebuild stuff.

But with the intent of Europe clear and the “Rebels” unwilling to accept any resolution that might leave a Qadaffi running things, he now has nothing to lose in blowing up the Eastern oil fields.   The Rebels don’t have the ability to defend them or repair them.   No Oil = No Money = Nothing to fund the revolution.    No water and no electrcity = mass exodus and refugee flood to Italy and Egypt (if Egypt even lets them in).

He wasn’t kidding about flooding Europe with Black Africans.   Enjoy your multiculral experience!

For a bonus, the recent events are causing Saudi Arabia to look at China as its new strategic global partner.    Totally unrelated, the US Dollar continues its plunge in world markets.   The only good news there is that Japan’s currency is falling faster.