March 3, 2011 Qaddafi Still Hanging On, Unreality In Israel

Libyan Leader, Muammar Qaddafi is still holding out. With a stalemate still in effect, Qaddafi has been unable to successfully counterattack against those areas of his country in which he has lost control. At the same time, those in control of the rebellion outside of the capitol have been unable to mount an assault on Tripoli. Qadaffi seems to be slowly losing whatever support he had, as more army units are switching sides, and more of the tribes that make up the people of Libya have come out against Qaddafi. It is only a matter of time. I do find it ironic that now, that his fate has almost been sealed, the international court is threatening to charge him with crimes against humanity for ordering attacks on his own people. While he was the “all powerful” leader of an oil exporting nation, no one would dare indict him for the destruction of American civilian airliners. Qaddafi killed many more Americans than Saddam Hussein ever did.

There is a certain air of unreality taking place in Israel at the moment. That fact was brought home to me by a long interview I watched, given by Defense Minister Barak to Israeli Channel 10 today. In the interview, it was clear that while Barak was trying to take a thoughtful approach to the earth shattering events that have taken place in the Middle East over the last two months, he seemed helpless to be able to articulate a path for Israel to react. Worse, he acknowledged that Israel faced and even greater challenge in the coming months, as pressure intensifies on Israel to reach an agreement with the Palestinians. Should they fail to reach an agreement, it will likely result in further delegitimization of the country. Barak believes the only solution was for Israel is to take the initiative to reach an agreement. All fine and well, but then Barak went on to say that to date he has been unable to influence the government to take those actions. He further stated that the present coalition was less than optimal to accomplish that goal. He said there would have been a much better chance of reaching an agreement if the coalition had included Kadima. Of course, Barak failed to mention the fact that he was instrumental in enabling Netanyahu to establish a coalition without Kadima.

It is not clear what impact the events of the last two months have been on Israel. Netanyahu’s approval ratings have been in a constant downward slope for the last 6 months. It is not clear if the Israeli public realizes how hopeless Israeli policies have been, or if they would just prefer Lieberman, instead of "Lieberman-lite".