Libya: let’s not forget where the weapons came from

What was the role of the international community in this conflict-torn and heavily armed nation? Military intervention in other countries tends to look like the honourable thing to do while atrocities are being committed against civilians. Nevertheless, William Hague’s promise of Nato support as long as civilians are threatened looks far more like a somewhat open-ended threat. Libya is reportedly awash with weapons, which is a danger to civilians in itself. In recent years, huge piles of deadly hardware have been provided by EU countries, mainly Italy, France and Britain. Simple souls tend to believe that it would be helpful if “the international community”, that wise and neutral force for humanitarian intervention, could stick to arming only itself. If only the “international community” could agree on who and what the hell it actually was, and what, strictly speaking, it existed for. If it does. Libya Middle East Africa Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Arms trade Deborah Orr guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 24, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.