What’s Next for Libya?

First, this conflict is far from over so we’re almost certain to see more causalities as western ground troops flood into the country at the request of the ITNC (Interim Transitional National Council – the Libyan opposition group representing the rebels fighting Moamer Gaddafi). The news from independent journalists and unreported by BBC and ITN, is that the rebels, comprised mainly of Erik Prince’s (founder of private military company Blackwater, recently renamed Xe) private army of mercenaries, known as Reflex Responses or R2, are already coming under sustained pressure from Gaddafi forces and armed citizens prepared to fight for their country. It’s unlikely that western military planners would wish for a quick victory since protracted civil war is especially profitable for arms manufacturers and dealers in the west and for their allies and conduits in Israel and the gulf states.

bombardamenti_nato-grIn any case, there are some guarantees in terms of what we can expect. As in previous interventions where depleted uranium was extensively used, most notably Fallujah in Iraq, we can expect to see (within 12 months) a crisis in the midwifery profession as incidents of childhood birth defects and cancers soar.

We must thank the ‘Brylcreem Boys’ of Marham in Norfolk, UK for their precision guided, depleted uranium tipped missile strikes. On August 9th 2011, during the height of the riots in the UK, David Cameron ordered a military strike on a cluster of farmhouses and tents near the town of Zlitan, east of Tripoli. A total of 85 innocent civilians were killed including 33 children and 32 women. The BBC report fails to mention the murdered children. Instead it simply echos, without challenge, the false claims of NATO that “the target was a military one, with civilian deaths unlikely”

teddybear304Commenting on the recent attack on Zlitan, a NATO spokesperson said there is “no evidence so far that has reached us that could suggest there have been civilian casualties”. NATO planes involved in this raid were RAF Tornados which flew the 3,000 miles of this mission from RAF Marham in Norfolk supported by VC10 and TriStar aerial refuelling tankers attacking what they describe as a “staging post” in Zlitan. Such attacks will surely continue until Gaddafi is killed or captured.

Financial Terrorism?

Within 6 to 12 months, we’ll begin to see inflation rise steadily as the newly formed, private central bank creates money and loans it to the ITNC to rebuild Libya’s destroyed civilian infrastructure.

According to Alex Newman writing in the New American, “The Gadhafi regime’s central bank – unlike the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is owned by private shareholders – was among the few central banks in the world that was entirely state-owned. At the moment, it is unclear exactly who owns the rebel’s central bank or how it will be governed.”. What is clear is the Libyan Sovereign Wealth Fund and related accounts, which the western mainstream media maintain is ‘Gaddafi’s money’ has been frozen or confiscated by financial terrorists. If history is anything to go by (especially the financial confiscation of sovereign wealth post Iran’s ‘revolution’), these funds will never be returned to the people of Libya.

It should be remembered that Libyan state run oil companies form a wealth distribution program and that revenues from oil are deposited into the accounts of every Libyan citizen. So freezing the oil revenue funds equates to approximately $500 every month that Libyans will have to do without.

The Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF) which together with Wa’atassimou (run by Gaddafi’s children, Siaf al Islam and Aisha respectively) are NGO’s very active in the field of human rights. Both these funds have had their assets frozen. Among many notable achievements, GIDCF signed an agreement to build 1250 homes in Gaza which had been destroyed by Israel during Operation Cast Lead

Another frozen asset is the Economic and Social Development Fund Company (ESDF). This fund was created to help low income families so now the UN has frozen money meant for the poor. Still thinking this was humanitarian intervention?

A very important frozen asset belongs to Libya’s Housing and Infrastructure Board. The Libyan government has launched one the largest and most comprehensive public infrastructure projects in the world. The investment was setup to improve houses, roads, utilities, bridges and public buildings. This fund helped employ tens of thousands of Libyan people, not to mention many thousands of foreign workers. Following the estimated 18,000 NATO bombing sorties, this could be one of the most important funds for rebuilding the country and yet once again, the fund has been frozen and its activities ceased.

The Libyan Broadcasting Company is another victim of NATO war crimes. When LBC continued broadcasting despite its’ assets being frozen, the broadcaster’s transmission equipment and studios were both targeted by British, US and French bombing missions. Three workers were killed in the attacks on the studio facilities.

The Libyan Arab African Investment Company (LAAICO) has also had its assets frozen. The website lists the goals and policies or this organisation – “From humble beginnings in the mid-seventies, LAAICO business interests now span the four corners of the African continent in more than 25 countries and in diverse sectors from hotels & real estate, industry ,agriculture , trade to mining and telecommunications, never wavering in its convention in Africa’s potential for growth and development.”

If US and European leaders deem it necessary (as seems the case), funding for the rebels will be available via loans from the IMF and World Bank. Of course none of these monies will actually leave their country of origin. Historically, what happens in these situations is the reconstruction contracts are awarded, usually on a ‘cost-plus’ basis, to western corporations. In Iraq it was companies like Halliburton but in Libya, any US, UK, French, German or Italian engineering firm may bid. The labourers, designers and engineers are all working for these western corporations so the rebuilding of a nation will benefit only the countries who instigated the invasion. Meanwhile the victims are left to pick up the tab in the form of huge and unnecessary loans, only the interest of which will ever be repaid. The ‘principle’ at work here is clear – this is simply a tried and tested method of driving the local population into debt serfdom for generations.

To service these loans, that is to say pay the interest due, VAT will rise from 0% to 15 – 20% within two years. Income tax will rise from 15% to 25%. Education and health care will cease to be free as the bankers demand their pound of flesh in order to pay the bill for the recent bombardment. Students studying abroad will find themselves indebted for years as their university fees and living expenses are no longer funded by the Libyan government. Food, fuel and car purchase subsidies will be phased out forcing most Libyans to take out a mortgage on their home which they owned outright before the unpopular uprising began.

Government of the people, for the people and by the people?

With regard to national and regional politics, we’ll see the end of popular peoples assemblies or committees and with that the hope of Libyan people ever having real control of their day to day lives and their communities again. We may see elections but not until a long, protracted and ruthless civil war has sapped the Libyan people of their will to fight and centralised the political power into the hands of a few.

Within 5 years and with a national debt that has spiralled from zero to potentially hundreds of billions of dollars, the country will be entirely at the mercy of the private, international banking cartel. All government spending will be subject to the whims of western elite interests and the bankers who do their bidding. External forces like the IMF will be able to impose austerity measures as in most European countries today.

Finally, we’ll see the emergence of a wealthy, political class with ties to big oil companies and international banks, insisting the way forward is to privatise any state run company that they’re able to squeeze some profit out of.

RIP Jamahiriya 1977 – 2011. “RIP Libya. The Rothschilds own you now.”

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