Is the enemy of my Yemeni friend my friend or my enemy?

An Afternoon in Tunisia. 24 x 36 acrylic on canvas.

Tunisia, or not Tunisia? That is the question....... Give me Libya-ty or give me death.......

Well, we've sided now with the Libyan rebels even though we don't quite know who they are. We know that Ghaddafi is an oil rich megalomaniac billionaire thief and tyrant (not completely unlike many of our "friends" in the region) and we are hoping against hope that the rebels who professed to seeking more freedom are doing just that. Time will tell. French and British war planes and US cruise missles are demolishing Libya's air defense infrastructure as a prelude to a "No-fly" zone. The Arab League, having soured on Ghadaffi's ego, has apparently endorsed the actions as long as we do the heavy lifting for them, but will, I am sure, reserve the right to be indignant later. The richer Arab nations are quite accustomed to importing foreign labor.

That we've sided, so far, with the Yemeni and Bahrainian governments against their own citizens' protests clouds the lens through which we view the region. Yemeni and Bahrainian soldiers are killing civilians in significant numbers as well. The view is not so clear now. Is the enemy of our Yemenis our enemy when it is Yemenis who are our Yeminis' enemies? Trying to figure Yemen out is a "Bah-rain" teaser to be sure. I once quipped that when given Yemens, make Yemenade. So, my attempt to clarify US policy regarding these two countries requires that I make bad puns and hope that people smarter than I make good decisions -- and that hasn't happened that often in the Middle East as far back as written records go.

It still irks me that Libyan freedom has to cost me $4.00 a gallon, though, at a time of record domestic supplies of oil and Libyan oil going to China not us. I'm thinking somebody on Wall Street is milking the teats of the petroleum cash cow for every penny, nickel, dime, and quarter they can. To paraphrase P.T. Barnum, "You can fool Allah the people Somalia the time, and Somalia people Allah the time, but you can't fool Allah the people Allah the time."

I still say the only way to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is to stop fighting them.


Later,
Bud C

ps. 3-23-11 update - Headline - President Obama stops possible massacre by lunatic dictator -- nobody happy. Except Ben Ghazi, whoever that is.

PSS. 8-23-11 UPDATE - Libyan rebels enter Tripoli and the end game in the revolution is in sight. We are all hoping this works out well. The U.S. doesn't appear as excited as it did during the Egyptian uprising. It's been a long five months.