New allies join Libya offensive to show 'solidarity'
A British Typhoon jet fighter takes off from Gioia del Colle air base near Bari, Southern Italy
A slew of nations have joined global powers France, Britain and the United States in an international campaign to impose a no-fly zone on Libya but with very different motives, analysts say.
Following the United Nations' Security Council Resolution 1973, Norway, Denmark, Canada and Belgium have all sent fighter jets to the Mediterrenean to cripple Muammar Gaddafi's forces which has been attacking Libyan civilians.
Denmark's NATO-enthusiastic, centre-right government wants to take a leading position in supporting the uprisings in the Arab world, they say.
Unlike its past military commitments in Afghanistan and especially in Iraq, its role in Libya has strong domestic public support.
"Denmark has been on the front line ... during all the Arab uprisings and is also there for Libya," Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said last Friday.
"We are a small country, but we have the historic responsibility to live up to our international responsibility," he told reporters shortly before the parliament voted unanimously in favour of the government's proposal to take part in the Libyan mission.
With general elections set to take place before November, the move is allowing Denmark's government to score points with the electorate -- strongly in favour of the mission -- and Washington, said Bjoern Moeller, a specialist of African conflicts at the Danish Institute for International Affairs.
Jan Egeland, the former head of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief at the UN who now heads up the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, agreed.
"For many years now, Denmark has had the immediate reflex to support any mission in which the United States is involved," he said.
Norway -- which beat around the bush much more than its southern neighbour before also sending six F-16 fighter jets -- is basing its participation in Libya much more in its "long tradition of support to the UN," Egeland added.
Yesterday, Norway however said its jets would not take action as long as it was unclear who was commanding the multinational force.
The same day, Belgian fighter jets first took part in the UN-mandated operation "Odyssey Dawn", with Prime Minister Yves Leterme explaining almost simultaneously that his country was acting to "help these people gain freedom."
Canada, headed by a conservative government keen on asserting military power, has meanwhile sent six F-18 planes to a base on the Italian island of Sardinia, thousands of kilometers (miles) from its own territory.
This is fueled by Ottawa's wish to show "solidarity with its US and British allies, and by the desire to enforce the UN resolution," said Houchang Hassan-Yari, a political scientist at Canada's Royal Military College.
More inclined to follow the White House than their Liberal rivals, Stephen Harper's conservatives -- who form a minority government in the House of Commons -- may also not be insensitive to electoral considerations, he added.
"The events in the Arab world gave rise to euphoria in the ethnic communities in Canada," members of which "mostly vote for the centre-left," Hssan-Yari explained.
By acting in Libya, "Harper can try to rake in the political favour of those communities," he said.
The coalition can also count on Spanish, Italian and Qatari jets, which are bringing a precious Arab moral guarantee of sorts to the operation.
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Alfred Falzon
Mar 24th 2011, 15:46
@M.Cachia
You may have conveniently left out, or hopefully inadvertently, the Chechens still being butchered by Putin's Russian military, the Chinese students and intellectuals crushed by the all-mighty Chinese regime, the Burmese uprising, massacred by a ruthless dictatorship with Chinese assistance, Tibet , now an "autonomous region" of China, the list is quite long!
At least, this side of the globe, there are still some who care, may be out of vested interests (a fact that I don't deny), but driven more by their ardour and feelings of solidarity with those who have been deprived of their freedom, dignity and human rights.
Were it not for the US, Britain, France and their allies, including some Muslim states, Gaddafi's sanguinary regime would have wiped out with his fire-power most of those who oppose his tyranny!
Now Gaddafi is squeaking because his regime is tasting some of its own medicine!
Let the true picture of the mass slaughter be shown on the internet, TV and in the world press for all to see and judge who is on the side of righteousness!
Joe Dimech
Mar 22nd 2011, 13:03
When are real men going to stand up against this Evil New World Order. Any Nation that does not bow down and worship this beast is liable to a bombing campaign. Serbia,Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya. It wont be this easy with North Korea and Iran. Get the body bags ready, maybe your son could be among the next sacrificial victims.
Under the false pretext of liberation millions have been killed by this beast.
Philip Pace
Mar 22nd 2011, 17:06
Solidarty for what?
The more join in the more ineffective it becomes.
These are the same nations that met the 'mad dog' under his tent to do business.
What a load of hypocrits!
Why should we join such a band?
M.Cachia
Mar 22nd 2011, 17:32
Serbia - Genocide & Agression - Guilty
Iraq - Genocide - Guilty
Libya - Genocide - Guilty
Afghanistan - Genocide & Agression - Guilty
Would you rather we all twiddle our thumbs while the devils play just as the west did in 1933-1939?
Peter Korsten
Mar 22nd 2011, 20:03
Serbia's leaders: arrested and stand/stood trial in The Hague:
Afghanistan's leaders: didn't really have a leader, did they?
Iraq's leader: arrested, sentenced and hanged.
Libya's leader: for his sake, he must hope to stand trial in The Hague and not in Libya.
Why are you in favour of regimes with a proven track record of genocide and/or unmentionable human rights violations, instead of doing something about it? Can you please explain that?
And Iran and North Korea, no, they won't be winning any human rights awards any time soon either (unless they come from Gaddafi, of course).
Philip Pace
Mar 22nd 2011, 20:11
M.Cachia, if you see it that way, then that is how you can understand it.
Could it be that devil that you are talking about wore different disguises from 1933 till today?
Was it the same devil re Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, USA, Chile etc.
Are we talking of the same devil who changed colours, changed sides, offered and gave armaments, bought politicians, organised revolutions to topple governments that did not dance to his music?
DVella
Mar 22nd 2011, 12:25
So where are the much vaunted Arab League?? When are THEY going to put their money where their mouth is and stand up to be counted?? Or do they expect the West to do their dirty work for them so that if things go wrong they can slag us off afterwards?? Don't Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Qatar, UAE and all the rest have their own military aircraft? Do they actually have the cheek to expect the western nations to put their personnel at risk whilst they just sit on the fence doing nothing but talking and sipping tea??
Jason Azzopardi
Mar 22nd 2011, 11:46
What a mess they are leaving on our doorsteps. WHen someone stars a job, they should finish. If they are not up to the task, they should not have gotten involved (I mean the allies). We don't want to see uncertainty in our backyard. Let's hope that is what not happens.
Henry Spiteri
Mar 22nd 2011, 14:50
All this mess in Libya because of 42 years of tyranny from Gaddafi & Co! Hope the people of Libya have a decent government soon.
Patrick Mulholland
Mar 22nd 2011, 16:28
@Henry Spiteri
...backed up, supplied and equipped by the same people that are now bombing them to bits! How's that for consistency?
R Micallef
Mar 22nd 2011, 11:46
Once again it fall to Great Britain and France and they allies to liberate Libya from a opressive regime. We did it in 1943 and we will do it in 2011. People can say what they like about the British but when it comes down to the dirty tuff stuff, Our Armed Forces are always on the front line and the 1st to stand up to dictators. Yes Libya may have oil and Britain has interests there, But did Poland have old in 1939, did Malta ? NO. But Britain & France at all costs stood up what they believed in like they are doing today and once again we are the ones who the world point the fingure of guilt and blame at.
Anthony Farrugia
Mar 22nd 2011, 12:11
We...............err "We" are neutral following our comedy of a foreign policy of "No coalition please, we are neutral".
C Cremona
Mar 22nd 2011, 11:29
This could go on for months even years. The British and American no fly zones over Iraq lasted 12 years, This does not bode well for Malta. If it goes on it will have an adverse effect on tourism but I think the disaster that will hit Malta is the thousands of refugees which will be fleeing Libya. If Gadaffi goes Libya will be split in half and we would have tribal wars like Iraq is experiencing now, then the Americans and British will wash their hands and leave, leaving us to deal with the terrible consequences. God help us all we haven't seen anything yet.
J Brincat
Mar 22nd 2011, 11:05
In spite of all this big talk everything points towards a stalemate which will be with us for a long time.
Is this the Mediterranean version of Vietnam and Afghanistan?
M.Degiorgio
Mar 22nd 2011, 11:00
One for all, and all for one...........