What can Afghanistan and Bosnia teach us about Libya?

guardian.co.uk
Recently returned from Tripoli, Rory Stewart asks if the key to success is doing less, not more

Rory Stewart

The Guardian, Saturday 8 October 2011

I have spent most of my adult life working on, and in, interventions. I began as a junior diplomat with East Timor, served in the Balkans and in Iraq, then spent a few years in Afghanistan. But none of this made me feel I could predict the future of Libya as I entered Tripoli in August. There were echoes of Baghdad in the masked men holding on to truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns and shouting Allahu Akbar at an angry crowd outside the bank. Was this the prelude to a sudden flurry of looting, then, after a few months, sullen resentment, riots, roadside bombs and rockets falling into the foreign compounds? Would Libya, like the Iraq or Afghan interventions, eventually suck in billions of dollars, thousands of lives, and achieve little more than trauma, corruption and insecurity?...more...
read more: guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/08/libya-intervention-rory-stewart

Balkan mercenaries in Libya risk lives for gain

se times
22/09/2011

Monetary reward -- not ideology or politics – is seen as the main motivator.
By Biljana Pekusic for Southeast European Times in Belgrade -- 22/09/11
He has not chosen to fight for Moammer Gaddafi, or for the Libyan rebels. But Zoran G, a northern Kosovo resident and former soldier of fortune, says he understands why others may have done so.

"I would go to Libya or any other country to fight for a good salary," he told SETimes....more...
read more: se times
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2011/09/22/feature-03

Dead arms trader in our embassy in Libya

blic online
MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF FORMER ARMY ATTACHE

T. M. Subota, B. Vuković, S. Pajić

15. 09. 2011. - 00:02h
Comments 0
Zarko Radunkovic, former Serbian army attache in Libya was killed in Tripoli on Saturday. ‘Blic’ learns. His body is presently in the building of the Embassy of Serbia in that country. Although we were told by diplomatic circles that Radunkovic died of heart attack, the intelligence forwarded to Serbian authorities indicated that he was killed....more....
read more: blic online
http://english.blic.rs/Society/8007/Dead-arms-trader-in-our-embassy-in-Libya

Libya's besieged journalists stir memories of Sarajevo

guardian.co.uk

The journalists holed up in Tripoli's Rixos hotel will be suffering the same frustration and claustrophobia I felt in Bosnia

Janine di Giovanni

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 August 2011 15.13 BST

Sarajevo, winter 1993. The eminent New York Times reporter John Burns and the equally brave Roy Gutman of Newsday have won the Pulitzer prize – the highest award given to journalists – for their work in Bosnia. There is a good deal of gracious camaraderie, cheering and celebrating, as much as wartime allows. But the two can't go the awards ceremony back in America, because they are stuck in the besieged city of Sarajevo. More to the point, they are chained to the hotel where the journalists live: the Holiday Inn, a grim Soviet-style place smack in the middle of Sniper's Alley....more...
read more: guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/24/libya-besieged-journalists

Bulgaria, Croatia recognise Libya's rebel transitional council as legitimate

se times
29/06/2011

Muammar Gaddafi's "era is over", Bulgaria and Croatia said on Tuesday.
(Nova TV, Dnevnik.bg, Mediapool - 29/06/11; Sofia News Agency, The Sofia Echo, Dnevnik.bg, Mediapool, AFP, DPA, Reuters, Middle East Online, Xinhua, Official Web Site of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry - 28/06/11)
Bulgaria and Croatia joined at least 19 other world nations on Tuesday (June 28th) in recognising the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) in Benghazi as the only legitimate representative of the Libyan people....more...
read more: se times
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2011/06/29/feature-01

Serbian mercenaries in Libya?

se times

03/06/2011

To fight his own people, Gaddafi has reportedly enlisted foreign soldiers – and mercenaries from European countries.

(Various sources -- 23/02/11 - 26/05/11)

Since the outbreak of the popular uprising against his more than 40-year-long rule began in mid-February, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has resorted to hiring foreign fighters, mostly from Africa, to quell the challenge to his rule.
According to Michel Koutouzis, a leading criminologist whose French-registered consulting company does research for EU and UN institutions, as many as 500 European mercenaries have also joined the colonel's ranks......more...    


read more: se times
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2011/06/03/feature-03

Remember Srebrenica? The west's intervention in Libya is a no-brainer

guardian.co.uk
Cowardice in Bosnia resulted in a massacre. That's why it's still right to intervene in Libya

Peter Preston
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 29 May 2011 21.59 BST
Across the bottom of one of Tracey Emin's visceral, madcap rugs on display in the Hayward, there's a sentence that carries a jolt. "The past is a heavy place," it reads, which is more or less what the Queen was saying in Dublin when she admitted, with "historical hindsight", that maybe the Black and Tans weren't Britain's best-ever invention. Sorry, so sorry? Not quite. But wince a little as you head on to Benghazi via the Srebrenica ring road....more...
read more: guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/29/srebrenica-libya-intervention-no-brainer

Turkey's Erdogan urges Gaddafi to quit immediately

se times
04/05/2011

Turkey's prime minister says the Libyan leader must cede power for the sake of peace.
(Guardian, World Bulletin - 04/05/11; Zaman, Hurriyet, World Bulletin, VOA, BBC, CNN, AGI, Al Arabiya, Al Jazeera - 03/05/11)
In a strongly-worded statement Tuesday (May 3rd), Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Libya's Muammar Gaddafi to step down right away, signalling a new shift in Ankara's policy towards Tripoli. ...more...
read more: se times
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2011/05/04/feature-01

Et la Bulgarie renonça aux corvettes françaises

lemonde.fr
05 mai 2011

Des responsables français en armement ont certainement suivi le départ du Druzki, la frégate un peu vétuste que Sofia vient d’envoyer au larges des côtes libyennes dans le cadre de l’opération alliée contre le régime de Kadhafi. Car le Druzki aurait pu être une corvette de classe Gowind, l’une des quatre que la France comptait vendre à la Bulgarie au prix d’un milliard de dollars US - soit pratiquement le double du budget annuel de la défense dans ce pays. Qu’est-ce qui a fait capoter ce “contrat du siècle” inclus dans l’ambitieux partenariat stratégique entre les deux pays signé par Nicolas Sarkozy à Sofia, le 4 octobre 2007, quelques semaines après l’euphorie de la libération des infirmières bulgares?...more...

read more: le monde.fr
http://balkans.blog.lemonde.fr/2011/05/05/et-la-bulgarie-renonca-aux-corvettes-francaises/

Croatian soldiers to be sent to Libya?

b92.net Region Wednesday 13.04.2011 13:19 Source: FoNet ZAGREB -- Croatian soldiers could join EU ground forces in Libya as a part of the Nordic battalion, Croatian news portal index.hr has reported. ...more... read more: b92.net http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=04&dd=13&nav_id=73785

Polish PM: Why should Croatia suffer because of Gaddafi?

tportal.hr

THE GUARDIAN

11.04.2011 13:06 Author: Radio.net

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper that upon taking over chairmanship of the European Union in the second half of this year, his country would advocate a faster expansion of the EU towards the east, announcing indirectly Poland's support for Croatia....more...

read more: tportal.hr

http://daily.tportal.hr/121754/Polish-PM-speaks-about-EU-s-eastward-expansion.html

SRS holds rally in support of Gaddafi

b92.net Politics Sunday 10.04.2011 12:27

Source: Tanjug BELGRADE -- Opposition Serbian Radical Party (SRS) held a rally in Belgrade Saturday, expressing support for the Libyan people and Muammar Gaddafi.

read more: b92.net

Balkan Countries Mull Libya War's Cost to Trade

balkan insight

07 Apr 2011 / 07:46

Impact on trade of Libya conflict is unlikely to be significant or long term in any former Yugoslav states, leading economist says.

Besar Likmeta, Tirana

As fighting in Libya continues between rebels based in the eastern city of Benghazi and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, thousands of workers from Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia have returned home....more....

read more: balkan insight

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/balkan-trade-could-suffer-if-libyan-conflict-drags-on

Turkey facing hurdles over uprisings in Syria

se times

06/04/2011 Ankara's foreign policy is tested again as unrest in the Middle East spreads to Turkey's neighbour, Syria. By Alina Lehtinen for Southeast European Times in Istanbul -- 06/04/11

Civil unrest has been going on for two weeks in Syria. Last week, the protests spread from Daraa, a town in southwestern Syria, across the country. ...more...

read more: se times

http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2011/04/06/feature-01

Bulgarian medics recall Libya nightmare

se times

4/04/2011 As Libya's Muammar Gaddafi battles his own people, medics framed by his regime remember their ordeal. By Svetla Dimitrova for Southeast European Times in Sofia - 04/04/11

Few would blame Kristiana Vulcheva if she turned a blind eye to current events in Libya. But despite her eight-year ordeal there, the Bulgarian nurse says it grieves her to see what Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is doing to his own people. ...more...

read more: se times

http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2011/04/04/feature-03

Assange: "Arab scenario" could happen in Balkans

b92.net World Friday 1.04.2011 12:55

Source: FoNet SARAJEVO -- Publication of U.S. cables about Bosnia-Herzegovina and other Southeast European countries will cause “Arab scenario” in the Balkans, says Julian Assange. The WikiLeaks founder is convinced that this will happen, pointing out that cables from the U.S. Embassy in Bosnia-Herzegovina from the last six years are going to be released.

read more: b92.net

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/world-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=04&dd=01&nav_id=73560

Bulgaria sends warship to join Libya operation

b92.net Region Thursday 31.03.2011 10:22

Source: Ria novosti SOFIA -- The Bulgarian government has decided to send a frigate to the Libyan coast "to enforce the embargo on arms to forces loyal to dictator Muammar Gaddafi"....more...

read more: b92.net

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=03&dd=31&nav_id=73533

Mesic says was defending principles

tportal.hr

Libya crisis

30.03.2011 20:53 Author: Radio.net

Former Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said in a press release on Wednesday that on no occasion since the outbreak of the crisis in Libya did he assess or defend the Libyan regime and its informal leader, but only principles....more...

read more: tportal.hr

http://daily.tportal.hr/119740/Mesic-says-was-defending-principles.html

Turkey faces challenge in Libya campaign

se times

29/03/2011 The current crisis poses a crucial test for Ankara's "zero problems with neighbours" policy, analysts say. By Justin Vela for Southeast European Times in Istanbul -- 29/03/11

With NATO taking command of the no-fly zone over Libya, experts say Turkey can claim a partial policy success. While acknowledging the need for involvement to prevent further bloodshed, Ankara has expressed reservations about the West playing too strong a role. ...more...

read more: se times

http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2011/03/29/feature-02

Yes, Nato's defence of Kosovo was long and costly, but it was certainly justified

guardian.co.uk

Intervention not only halted ethnic cleansing but laid a path to democracy

Ingrid Burke

The Guardian, Wednesday 30 March 2011

David N Gibbs suggests that Nato's 1999 aerial campaign in Serbia set an abysmal precedent for future humanitarian interventions, including the current intervention in Libya (A template for disaster, 22 March)....more...

read more: guardian.co.uk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/30/kosovo-defence-nato-template-libya