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Failing Islamic States - 2011

57Chevy said:
authoritarian rule is soon to be extinct.
 

If your considering millennial time spans such as that from the age of dinosaurs up until ours, perhaps your right. If you're talking our lifetimes or even the next, I don't see the likes of China or North Korea changing anytime soon and can't agree with such a broad statement as the one you've made. You'd have to be able to implicitly guarantee almost the exact, near future, time of those types of regimes demise for your statement to hold water.
 
I admit that I should have added "hopefully" to that phrase when I edited out an irrelevancy.  :facepalm:

 
My optimist owes my pessimist 20 dollars, after betting the pessimist that certain governments wouldn't crack down in certain ways....  :o
 
It's about time that these states gave up on their failed experiments with self-rule and gave in to the facts: colonialism was just about they best thing that they ever had going since the death of Sulieman the Magnificent. I'm sure that Colonialism Part II is on the cards in some cases. This could be followed by a more even transition to self-rule.

It would be interesting to see the Italian COA for a sudden collapse of the Ghadaffi regime in Libya, for example. I'm sure they're aware that the UN would likely stand idly by and watch another slaughter of Old Testament proportions take place, much like Rwanda, and are prepared to do something about it...  for a price.
 
1989 vs 2011--Comparing Communist Europe (USSR excluded) with the Arab world. In 1989 those living in European Communist countries had a clear and attractive alternative to their regimes: Western European social democracy of various types, an alternative that from any rational, moral, economic and indeed emotional view (hard-core believing Communists excepted but they no longer dwelled in that part of the world) was obviously superior to present realities.

The wave of popular unrest now moving around the Arab world has, to use the obvious phrase, uncanny similarities in the underlying sameness of repressive conditions being rebelled against. Could Libya be the new Romania?

What is strikingly different is the absence of an obvious alternative model for government, economy and society in Arab countries. Where is the Arab EU model? As for other possibilities...

Anne Applebaum draws another historical comparison:

In the Arab world, it’s 1848 - not 1989
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/21/AR2011022104244.html

Mark
Ottawa
 
Canada's middle east influence--historian takes on a former ambassador at the CDFAI's 3Ds Blog:

B.J. Davis - Historian Gets it Wrong
http://www.cdfai.org/the3dsblog/?p=113

J.L. Granatstein - Response to B.J. Davis - Historian Gets it Wrong
http://www.cdfai.org/the3dsblog/?p=114

Mark
Ottawa
 
MarkOttawa said:
Canada's middle east influence--historian takes on a former ambassador at the CDFAI's 3Ds Blog

Gee, a 'heated agreement'
Granatstein: When Canada speaks, no one listens.

Davis: Granatstein is correct that we don’t wield a big stick in the Middle East. But we used to wield a small one.
Now, we don’t wield one at all.
I guess that's what passes in Canadian diplomacy as a "scathing retort." He should work for the UN  ::)
 
Mercenaries in Libya?  If this is true it seems that Gaddafi is losing support of his armed forces that he is turning to mercenaries to fight. If anyone is curious by the way a good source of viewing what is going on in the streets of these current countries in conflict would be the site, Liveleaks.  It seems to be huge, since news sources and supposedly people in Libya on Twitter are posting it.

Here is the news article source

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/22/gaddafi-mercenary-force-libya
 
The big picture:

http://dailypundit.com/?p=40634

Bill’s Black Swan
February 22nd 2011 Government

    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

    William Butler Yeats

Hats off to Quick. Earlier this year, he predicted that a “black swan” event in 2011 would reshape the global landscape in significant ways, and lookie: what began as a minor revolt in Tunisia has spread, first to Egypt, then to Bahrain and Yemen. These developments, earth-shaking as they seemed, took place in relative calm with only minor bloodshed, until yesterday, when one of the world’s craziest despots began bombing and strafing revolutionaries in Tripoli, after appearing for several seconds on local television leaning out of a car window wearing a funny hat and brandishing an umbrella.

Now dour political analysts with the furrowed brows of the professionally grim murmur grave words about the fall of Saudi Arabia. Frankly, they have probably missed the point. This isn’t about just the Middle East any more.

Yesterday, another completely whacked wingnut, Robert “Call Me Bob” Mugabe, the creaking chieftain of Zimbabwe, rounded up people and tossed them in jail for watching these events on television, denouncing such gatherings as treasonous. And our old friend of perestroika days, Mikhail Gorbachev, suddenly lashed out at Vlad “The Impaler” Putin and his sidekick Medvedev for arrogantly and carelessly dismissing talk about the upcoming presidential election in Russia by saying “We will decide who is to be the next President.”

Suddenly every despot in the world finds himself in the unwelcome glare of an increasingly hot spotlight. There is a very good possibility that the world as we know it is about to change in very radical ways, as Bill’s black swan cracks through its eggshell and begins to stretch its wings.

My fear is when the walls go tumbling down, the most organized and ruthless will be the ones who end up on top. In the ME; that means the Muslim Brotherhood or perhaps the Iranian proxies of Hamas and Hezbollah. I'm not too sure who is able and willing to take the reigns in Russia, and there was a report a few days ago (refer to the China superthread) that some demonstrations of this type were popping up in China.

If there is an upside to this, fighting for power and consolidating the new regimes may leave little time for mischief and foreign adventures.
 
Thucydides said:
My fear is when the walls go tumbling down, the most organized and ruthless will be the ones who end up on top.
Historically, there is a recurring theme that those who brought about revolution, even with the best of intentions, weren't running the circus at the end of the day -- shame the Mensheviks couldn't say "but...but, the UN is 'deeply concerned!' "

Specifically regarding Egypt, I think the Muslim Brotherhood is getting too many boogy-man points within US media, simply because they sound nefarious. I suspect that there has been a critical mass of western-trained Egyptian military officers who will keep Egypt from the radical Islamist hoards. If it needs to be spelled out  -- "hey, secular western capitalism is awesome....as long as I'm plugged into the cash-cow, and it's now my turn."

Regarding the Islamic Brotherhood, I think they will be a necessary part of whatever solution plays inevitably out. While the 'right' media decry "Islamic Brotherhood infiltration of the military,"  there's an obvious 'military infiltration of the Brotherhood' and, again, military leadership will look favourably upon capitalism.  Personally, I'd be more concerned with the many Hamas who supposedly crossed through the Sinai between the Egyptian police abandoning the borders and Israel OK'ing the Army to move in to the demilitarized zone to resestablish security.

I believe the critical point is......is western political leadership willing to say, "liberal democracy cannot flourish overnight, and this leader (whoever) is somewhat a bastard, but he's the best game in town just now"?

 
Here is  a  video  of  some,  believed to be, mercenaries  that  the Libyan ruler brought in  attempting to start fires to houses

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e0f_1298444189
 
Here is a documentary  About the Role  of the  April 6 Movement  as  well as the Muslim  Brotherhood. The first part might not work for some people on this site due to their location.  The part about the Brotherhood works though.  This second part is vary interesting since the reporter covers the actions taken by the Muslim  Brotherhood. It is obvious to see that they have huge power in the country and are a major player both politically  and socially.  Even though they are a radical Islamic  Group  I  feel  that it is necessary to engage them and involve them in the process of creating a new and better Egypt. If the Muslim Brotherhood is shunned out of talks with the West  then this will only cause problems and destabilize the nation and possibly  elsewhere.  If this happens then, I feel, there would be violent conflict in the streets between Islamists, Liberals and others fighting for control of government. We have  all witnessed when a crisis such as this happens with Lebanon.  The documentary depicts the youth movement of the Muslim Brotherhood and how they are changing the inner workings of the group.  Sometimes it is necessary to dance with the devil if it helps achieve desired results, and that desired result is  a safe, peaceful, strong Egypt.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/revolution-in-cairo/?utm_campaign=viewpage&utm_medium=grid&utm_source=grid
 
sean m said:
  Sometimes it is necessary to dance with the devil if it helps achieve desired results, and that desired result is  a safe, peaceful, strong Egypt.

And history repeats itself.....we said the exact same thing with Khomeini and Iran...................
 
I, for one, am very thankful to have been born in Canada. To all the people who claim our government is "oppressive", "facist", "useless", or otherwise, I say to you:

Our lawmakers, security forces, and Constitution Act are intended to protect and empower the citizens of this great land, not to render us voiceless.

If we, as a people, want to topple our governmentt, we take to the polls rather than the streets.

If a protest in Canada actually gets broken up, it's done with as little violence as possible by the Police, not through the use of soldiers, warplanes, tanks, helicopters, or mercenaries.

We are free to practice, or not practice, any religion we choose.

If we want to go to school, work hard, and earn a decent living, we can do so.

In our universities, we are taught whatever we want to learn, not what a dictator or imam wants to ram down our throats.

We have popular suffrage, not mass-suffering.

If you live here, either through birth or immigration, you have been given a golden opportunity. If you screw it up, or choose not to participate in your civic duties, it is not the government's fault. It is the person you see in the mirror every morning who is to blame.

My :2c:/rant for the month of February.
 
Egyptians march to protect their victory as Mideast protests continue

CAIRO — One month after their uprising began, tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered Friday in the square where their unexpected journey originated, taking stock of what they have accomplished and affirming what they want next.

Banners, chants and conversations made clear that the crowds in Cairo's Tahrir Square were of a single mind: Freedom has been won but not yet guaranteed. The generals ruling the country remain trusted, but they must replace the prime minister and his cabinet, lift a long-standing emergency law and put the Interior Ministry police under civilian control.

More than anything, the demonstrators seemed proud. Not only had they deposed Hosni Mubarak, their president of 30 years, but the example they provided, along with that of Tunisia, has also inspired their neighbors to pursue their own quests for freedom.

On Friday, that call resounded across the region, in some places at high cost. A "Day of Rage" in Iraq sent tens of thousands rallying nationwide for government reform and an end to corruption. At least 19 people were killed.

In Yemen, rent by recent deadly protests, tens of thousands of people gathered peacefully in the southern city of Taiz to demand that President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down. Many had come from outside Taiz, suggesting that the clamor for Saleh's resignation might be widening.

In the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, anti-government demonstrators and Saleh supporters staged rival rallies under heavy security. Saleh had instructed security forces to protect demonstrators and prevent clashes, after the deaths of at least 19 people nationwide over the past nine days.

The dead include two activists killed Friday in clashes between protesters and security forces in the restive southern city of Aden, where more than 10,000 people took to the streets, according to Reuters.

Seven people have died since Feb. 14 in the Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, home to the U.S. 5th Fleet. On Friday, authorities allowed tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators to converge unimpeded on the capital's Pearl Square, now a raucous encampment. Some Bahrainis seek a greater voice in their government, but elements of the majority Shiite population want the Sunni king and rulers to go.

Bahrain's foreign minister, Khalid bin Ahmad al-Khalifa, sounded a conciliatory note in an interview, describing protesters' grievances as "legitimate." But he said the longer it takes for negotiations to start, the more he worries. "There are hardheaded people on both sides that could do something," he said.

Meanwhile, in Amman, to Egypt's east, about 6,000 Jordanians - the largest turnout yet - pressed their king for political and economic reforms.


But it was the plight of Egypt's Libyan neighbors that resonated most deeply among the demonstrators in Cairo. Scores of young men carrying - or wearing - Egyptian flags coursed through the crowd chanting, "With our blood and with our hearts we are united." Others bore a 40-foot-long banner proclaiming "Libya and Egypt are one." One man held a sign: "Gadhafi is a serial killer."

Describing their Jan. 25 revolution as unfinished, they appeared to have come to Tahrir Square to communicate their intention of seeing it through on their terms. From morning until well into the night, the protest was peaceful, but after midnight the military began ordering demonstrators to leave, resulting in angry scuffles.

"This is a revolution of the people, not the army," said George Ishaq, a founder of the 2005-era Kifaya protest movement. "We trust the army, but we have our demands."

Gray-haired, distinguished in bearing, Ishaq drew an admiring entourage eager to hear his thoughts as he walked among the people. He drew nods of agreement as he called for the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to replace itself with a triumvirate of a judge, a civilian and a general until elections can be held. And those new rulers should dismiss the prime minister and cabinet, mostly appointed by the old regime, and replace them with seasoned managers, he said.

The military rulers, led by 76-year-old Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, stepped into the void left by Mubarak's Feb. 11 departure displaying neither familiarity with nor affinity for the political arts.

Their preferred medium is the communique, with Communique No. 1 , issued Feb. 10, read by a stone-faced officer who assured the nation the army would "support the legitimate demands of the people."

Gradually, the generals have come to realize that the medium is the message. On Friday they issued Communique No. 19 - "The Egyptian ruling military Council pledged its continued efforts related to the return of Egyptian nationals from Libya" - on their Facebook page.

Last weekend, Tantawi appeared on a talk show on a privately owned television channel, speaking directly to young people in the studio with him. The younger generation loved it, declaring themselves reassured about the army's intentions.

"Now we want podcasts of their meetings," said Noha Wigah, a young activist.

                      (Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)



 
As if the situation wasn't complicated enough:

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=209812

'Israeli intelligence aware of Syrian nuke facilities'
By YAAKOV KATZ 
02/25/2011 06:05

Barak says sites known to IAEA, UN; Ya'alon warns Assad "not to challenge" Israel; uranium conversion reactor said to be located east of Damascus.

Talkbacks (1)
Israeli intelligence agencies are aware of additional Syrian nuclear facilities, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday, amid reports that Syria was harboring a uranium conversion reactor near the town of Marj as-Sultan, about 15 km. east of Damascus.

The German Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Thursday identified the location of the site, which is suspected of containing a small uranium conversion facility that is functionally related to the covert reactor at al-Kibar that the Israel Air Force destroyed in September 2007.

RELATED:
Satellite images reveal 'uranium plant' in Syria
Barak: Iranian ships crossing Suez part of 'wider scheme'

According to the newspaper and a subsequent analysis of satellite footage by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), the facility is reportedly intended for processing uranium yellowcake into uranium tetrafluoride (UF4), and could have been related to making fuel for the reactor destroyed in 2007.

Barak said that Israeli intelligence and the International Atomic Energy Agency were aware of the Syrian facilities and that United Nations inspectors were working to gain access to them.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declined to comment on the reports, but Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon was quoted as warning Syrian President Bashar Assad “not to challenge us.”

Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled told Israel Radio that Israel would not allow hostile countries to obtain nuclear weapons.

“Assad has already proven that he has negative intentions,” Ya’alon said on the sidelines of an IDF memorial service. “We know him as someone who is connected to Iran on one side and Hezbollah on the other.”

In December, The Jerusalem Post reported on a previous ISIS report that named three suspected facilities as being functionally related to the al-Kibar reactor.

Thursday’s report said the Marj as-Sultan facility’s operational status was still unknown, but Damascus was suspected of clearing out the buildings before mid-2008, in an effort to disguise activities carried out there.

Syria has continued to refuse requests by the IAEA to inspect the Marj as-Sultan facility, as well as other sites that may be related to the nuclear reactor project, the report said.

Satellite images of the site near Marj as-Sultan, obtained by the ISIS, reveal that on July 25, 2008, there was considerable activity involving pouring material on the ground, as well as movement by trucks and other vehicles.

The ISIS document said this could have been part of a plan to lay down concrete or asphalt, which could be “an attempt to defeat the environmental sampling that IAEA inspectors would likely carry out to see if uranium was present, in the event of a visit to these suspect sites.”


The document cites the Sueddeutsche Zeitung to the effect that among the equipment kept inside two buildings near the Marj as-Sultan site, there was a scrubber, two cyclone separators, large diameter pipes, a manifold, reaction vessels made from stainless steel, and storage tanks.

This equipment is in line with “what would be expected in a small uranium conversion facility,” the ISIS report said.
 
One can hope:

As Regimes Fall in Arab World, Al Qaeda Sees History Fly By
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/world/middleeast/28qaeda.html?src=twrhp

For nearly two decades, the leaders of Al Qaeda have denounced the Arab world’s dictators as heretics and puppets of the West and called for their downfall. Now, people in country after country have risen to topple their leaders — and Al Qaeda has played absolutely no role.

In fact, the motley opposition movements that have appeared so suddenly and proved so powerful have shunned the two central tenets of the Qaeda credo: murderous violence and religious fanaticism. The demonstrators have used force defensively, treated Islam as an afterthought and embraced democracy, which is anathema to Osama bin Laden and his followers.

So for Al Qaeda — and perhaps no less for the American policies that have been built around the threat it poses — the democratic revolutions that have gripped the world’s attention present a crossroads. Will the terrorist network shrivel slowly to irrelevance? Or will it find a way to exploit the chaos produced by political upheaval and the disappointment that will inevitably follow hopes now raised so high?

For many specialists on terrorism and the Middle East, though not all, the past few weeks have the makings of an epochal disaster for Al Qaeda, making the jihadists look like ineffectual bystanders to history while offering young Muslims an appealing alternative to terrorism.

“So far — and I emphasize so far — the score card looks pretty terrible for Al Qaeda,” said Paul R. Pillar, who studied terrorism and the Middle East for nearly three decades at the C.I.A. and is now at Georgetown University. “Democracy is bad news for terrorists. The more peaceful channels people have to express grievances and pursue their goals, the less likely they are to turn to violence.”

If the terrorists network’s leaders hope to seize the moment, they have been slow off the mark. Mr. bin Laden has been silent. His Egyptian deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, has issued three rambling statements from his presumed hide-out in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region that seemed oddly out of sync with the news, not noting the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, whose government detained and tortured Mr. Zawahri in the 1980s.

“Knocking off Mubarak has been Zawahri’s goal for more than 20 years, and he was unable to achieve it,” said Brian Fishman, a terrorism expert at the New America Foundation. “Now a nonviolent, nonreligious, pro-democracy movement got rid of him in a matter of weeks. It’s a major problem for Al Qaeda.”..

Abu Khaled, a Jordanian jihadist who fought in Iraq with the insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, suggested that Al Qaeda would benefit in the long run from dashed hopes.

“At the end of the day, how much change will there really be in Egypt and other countries?” he asked. “There will be many disappointed demonstrators, and that’s when they will realize what the only alternative is. We are certain that this will all play into our hands.”

Michael Scheuer, author of a new biography of Mr. bin Laden and head of the C.I.A.’s bin Laden unit in the late 1990s, thinks such enthusiasm is more than wishful thinking.

Mr. Scheuer says he believes that Americans, including many experts, have wildly misjudged the uprisings by focusing on the secular, English-speaking, Westernized protesters who are a natural draw for television. Thousands of Islamists have been released from prisons in Egypt alone, and the ouster of Al Qaeda’s enemy, Mr. Mubarak, will help revitalize every stripe of Islamism, including that of Al Qaeda and its allies, he said.

“The talent of an organization is not just leadership, but taking advantage of opportunities,” Mr. Scheuer said. In Al Qaeda and its allies, he said, “We’re looking over all at a more geographically widespread, probably numerically bigger and certainly more influential movement than in 2001.”.. 

Mark
Ottawa
 
On another note, there are rulers/rulers relations that have brought stuff like this on simply because of similiar stupidity as shown in the article below.....

A Princely Collection of Rotting Cars
The air conditioning was off, but the tropical sun was not, so the Ferraris and McLaren F1s sat and cooked
As appeared in:
Sports Car Market—March 2011 issue Sheehan Speaks by Michael Sheehan
Article Link

Imagine seeing hundreds of high-end Ferraris, Lamborghinis and McLarens—many with hardly any miles on the odometer—rotting away in tropical heat and humidity.

While much has been written of the Sultan of Brunei’s car collection—and there are no lack of spy photos of the collection on the Internet—the estimated 2,500 cars are actually not the Sultan’s. They were the property of Prince Jefri, the Sultan’s third brother. As the Minister of Finance for Brunei (until 1997) Prince Jefri controlled the revenue from oil and gas through the BIA or Brunei Investment Authority and a network of companies under the name Amadeo.

The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis depressed oil prices and triggered a financial crisis in Brunei. The Sultan had Arthur Andersen audit the BIA books, which showed that between 1983 and mid-1998 some $40 billion in “special transfers” were made by the BIA, and that Prince Jefri had personally squandered $14.8 billion. In July 1998, Prince Jefri’s Amadeo investment group collapsed under $10 billion in debt. In 2000, Prince Jefri settled with the government of Brunei and began to return assets—including more than 500 properties in Brunei and abroad, more than 2,000 cars, 100 paintings, five yachts, and nine world-class aircraft. According to court documents, the Prince spent $78 million at Pininfarina SpA for coachbuilt RHD Ferraris, $475 million at Rolls-Royce and $900 million at British jeweler Asprey.
Will fly to buy

In early 2002, I was offered a package of 13 very special Ferraris and McLaren F1s from the collection by a Brunei importer. After the usual negotiations, I agreed to buy two McLarens, a Ferrari F40 LM and a 288 GTO Evoluzione for clients, with an option to buy another 16 McLarens and Ferraris.

In May 2002, I flew to Brunei and stayed at the Empire Hotel. Commissioned by Prince Jefri and built at a cost of $1.1 billion, the Empire Hotel is beyond opulent. The Empire was built to hold over 1,000 guests, but I never saw more than a dozen people anywhere in the hotel at any time. I also visited the Jerudong Park, the largest and most expensive amusement park in Southeast Asia, which was also commissioned by Prince Jefri for a modest $1 billion. Like the Empire hotel, it was empty. A strict Muslim country, Brunei has no alcohol, virtually no nightlife and hence no tourists.
A maximum-security prison for Cars

I was picked up by an ex-New Zealand Special Forces (SAS) officer working as a bodyguard for the Brunei Royal Family. The car collection was a few kilometers down the coast and housed in a large compound surrounded by a high wall topped with razor wire and with a “bomb-proof” front gate. Once inside, we had to turn in our cameras and passports and stay with our guide, as armed Gurkhas with very serious German Shepherds patrolled the compound.

We first went through eight two-story buildings—each about 250 feet long by 60 feet wide—with each level holding about 120 cars. Each level had a semblance of a theme, with the first building filled with Porsches from 959s up to cars from the late 1990s. Another floor held mainly black-on-black 1996-97 Mercedes-Benz 500 sedans. Another building held coachbuilt Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and Aston Martins. Another building held mainly 1990s model Ferraris, including a few dozen 456s and 550s. Several 550s were fitted with experimental XTRAC automatic gearboxes. About a half a dozen were coated in radar-absorbent, matte-black coatings and fitted with infrared cameras for night driving, which is high-tech stuff for the late 1990s.
Ferraris and McLaren F1s cooking into Goo

Another lower floor held rows of RHD Testarossas, 512 TRs and F512 Ms. Another building contained mainly coachbuilt Ferraris with four 456 four-doors, four 456 Venice Cabriolets, more 456 Venice station wagons, five FXs, a pair of Mythos and an incredibly ugly one-off called an F90. The token Enzo-era Ferrari was a RHD 275 GTS, s/n 7795.

Between the eight large buildings was a glass-walled showroom with three McLaren F1s, a 288 GTO Evo, an F50 and an F40 LM. The F40 LM was black with a black leather interior, red piping, air conditioning, and power windows.

As in the other buildings, the air conditioning was off, so the showroom had become a very efficient greenhouse, and the cars were cooking away.

Underneath this building was a windowless theatre filled with rows of RHD F40s, 288 GTOs and other exotics.
A reef’s worth of derelict Mercedes

At the back of the compound were two long, two-story buildings about fifty feet apart. A corrugated tin roof between them offered some protection from the blistering sun—but not from the rain. Under the shade were another 300 or so 1995-97 500 SELs and SLs, all black/black, many with the windows down, all rotting into oblivion. Many were AMG specials with wood or carbon fiber trimmed interiors, big motors, etc. We soon called this group as “the reef” as turning them into an artificial ocean reef was probably their best use. As an example, a 1997ish Rolls-Royce convertible was near the Mercedes-Benz fleet, but it was under a real roof and better protected. The roof notwithstanding, the Rolls had gotten so hot with the windows up that the steering wheel’s foam padding had melted into a puddle on the driver’s seat and the leather wrap hung from the barren steel rim. The entire interior had “gone off” with mold in the heat and humidity and the interior was a fuzzy gray!

A single-story building held 60 or so truly unique cars, most in a very bright yellow—including a row of four-wheel-drive Bentley Station wagons and a dozen late-model Lamborghinis. A few non-yellow cars, such as a black 456 Venice wagon with mirrored side windows were also in this building. A side room was filled with high-end motorcycles, while another room was filled with hundreds of empty Rolex, Cartier and Patek Philippe watch presentation boxes.

Behind one of the buildings was a row of “lesser” cars, including the collection’s token Corvette—all destroyed by the sun and rain. The mechanics had left in 1998, and nothing was in drivable condition. What had once been the planet’s largest collection of coachbuilt and high-end exotics was now a vast automotive tomb, patrolled only by a few Gurkhas with dogs.
Poster children for a study in deferred maintenance

When I totaled things up, there were less than 100 Ferraris, and only a few hundred cars in total were commercially viable. All had minimal mileage—but all were also poster children for deferred maintenance.

The lesser cars were beyond saving. None had been started in five years. Our offer was cheerfully accepted by the importer who offered the cars, but none of them came with any service records. Even worse, none had titles and getting a bill of sale or export documents was almost impossible, as the mid-level bureaucrats were paralyzed by indecision or the fear of making a political mistake and issuing export paperwork. While my trip to Brunei was an amazing cultural and automotive experience, we were never able to get a car out of the collection. Eight more years in a steamy tropical rain forest has certainly not helped any of these cars.

The local officials have no to plans to save or to sell the collection, and the cost to turn it into a tourist attraction would be staggering. Over the last eight years less than a dozen significant cars have left, most as gifts to well-connected expats. Another few hundred pedestrian Mercedes-Benzes have been given to Brunei locals, but the bulk of the collection is still there and will die there, rotting into oblivion.
end
 
Iran is having its tenticals chopped off by local forces:

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/breaking-iran-has-several-military-bases-in-libya/

Breaking: Iran Has Several Military Bases in Libya

Posted By 'Reza Kahlili' On February 27, 2011 @ 5:14 pm In Iran,Middle East,World News | 13 Comments

In an interview today on the Al Arabyia news network [1], an informed source within the Revolutionary Guards Corps revealed that Iran has several military bases in Libya.

The source, who requested anonymity due to his sensitive position within the Guards, elaborated further that the Iranian military bases are located mostly along Libya’s borders with the African countries of Chad and Niger. From there, he said, the Guards actively smuggle arms and supply logistical assistance to rebellious groups in the African countries.

According to this source, Guards enter Libya under the guise of oil company employees. Most of these companies are under the control of the Revolutionary Guards.

The source, who is a colonel in the Guards, added that Gaddafi and his government are quite aware of these activities and have even signed joint contracts with those Iranian oil companies so that the the Guards can enter Libya without any trouble.

The colonel stated that with the current unrest in Libya, over 500 Guards  have been unable to evacuate and are under orders to destroy all documents.

According to this source, the military collaborations between the Revolutionary Guards and the Gaddafi government date back to 2006.

It is important to note that Nigerian officials recently confiscated an Iranian arms shipment [2] destined for Gambia. The weapons included mortars, rockets, and shells for anti-aircraft guns and were hidden in containers marked building materials. Nigerian officials have accused a suspected member of the Guards and a Nigerian of illegally importing arms and have set the trial for later this year.
————–
Also read: “Endgame in Libya? Gaddafi’s ‘nurse’ to leave Tripoli” [3]

Article printed from Pajamas Media: http://pajamasmedia.com

URL to article: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/breaking-iran-has-several-military-bases-in-libya/

URLs in this post:

[1] Al Arabyia news network: http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/02/27/139473.html

[2] Iranian arms shipment: http://af.reuters.com/article/nigeriaNews/idAFLDE71N1NP20110224

[3] “Endgame in Libya? Gaddafi’s ‘nurse’ to leave Tripoli”: http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/02/27/endgame-in-libya-gaddafis-nurse-to-leave-tripoli/
 
The following story which was posted on CTV.ca is reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions on the Copyright Act.

 
Date: Mon. Feb. 28 2011 5:43 PM ET

The Canadian military has sent a reconnaissance team and medics to Malta, as Western countries weigh their options for a possible intervention in Libya, including a ‘no-fly zone' to protect civilians.

The 13-member team landed on Monday along with two new C-130J cargo planes and two C-17 transports. The planes will be used to help get foreign nationals out of the increasingly chaotic North African country.

"A team of Canadian Forces is now on the ground in Malta. We continue to provide assistance to those who need it and we encourage Canadians who need further assistance to contact the Department of Foreign Affairs," Defence Minister Peter MacKay confirmed during question period Monday.

The Canadian Press is reporting that special forces teams are also preparing to deploy.

The United Kingdom have used commandos to escort their transports into Libya and protected them while on the ground.

One British plane was fired on during an evacuation and took minor damage.

Earlier Monday, the federal government issued tough sanctions against Libya on Monday and renewed calls for Col. Moammar Gadhafi to resign, with Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon saying it was "the only acceptable course of action."

Cannon joined the chorus of world leaders urging Gadhafi to heed the call of protesters and step down.

"A tide of change is sweeping the Middle East and North Africa. Leaders who try to defy or repress the tide, like Gadhafi or the leadership in Iran, will eventually be overwhelmed," Cannon told the United Nations in Geneva, Monday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Government House Leader John Baird released more details about sanctions Canada is imposing on Libya and the Gadhafi regime.

He said Ottawa is freezing any Canadian assets belonging to Gadhafi and his regime and placing a ban on financial dealings with Libya, saying the actions will help end "the appalling violence."

Baird said the Harper government hopes the sanctions will help force Gadhafi from power quickly.

Baird refused to go into details about how much money in Canada was linked to the Gadhafi regime, or how long it had been here, citing "operational" concerns.

But he said "there were specific instances brought to our attention."

Speaking to CTV's Power Play, Baird said the assets of Gadhafi, the Libyan government, the Libyan central back and those of 15 "close associates" have been frozen by the Canadian government.

"We don't want that money to be stolen from the Libyan people, we don't want it to be used to spread the appalling violence we've seen in the capital," he said Monday.

The Harper government is also banning any Canadian company operating in Libya from making any transactions with the Libyan government, its agencies or the central bank.

However, companies will not be banned from operating in Libya, Baird said.

"We are hoping the hard line taken by the international community and the even harder line taken by our government against the current Libyan regime will bring about change quickly and the negative impact of these sanctions will be limited and will be very short term," Baird said.

He added that the situation in Libya is "deteriorating rapidly" and since Canadian companies are now evacuating their workers, it's unlikely any organizations would be looking at expanding any time soon, anyway.

However, Baird said he hoped the sanctions would be "short-term" and regime change will occur "very quickly."

The UN Security Council voted unanimously over the weekend to impose an arms embargo and urged member states to freeze the assets of Gadhafi, four of his sons and a daughter.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper then said Canada would add to those restrictions by banning financial transactions with the Libyan government and its agencies.

Canadians continued to flee Libya Monday by any and all means of transportation possible, amid the ongoing political turmoil. A total of 250 Canadians have now been evacuated from the country, Baird said.

Harper's communications director Dimitri Soudas sent out a message on Twitter Monday morning that 33 Canadians were aboard British ship HMS Cumberland that was approaching Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea.

The ship, which was "due to arrive in Malta shortly," was carrying a number of expatriates from other countries as well.

Soudas also wrote on his Twitter feed that a Canadian Forces C17 cargo plane had carried a load of evacuees, including one Canadian, to Malta.

CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported that the C17 flew into Libya's isolated southwest region Monday morning.

"The C17 military cargo plane has just landed in Malta carrying Filipino, Vietnamese, Thais, one German and one Canadian," Fife said, adding that Canada has two C130 Hercules aircraft and two C-17s based in Malta.

 
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