As Gaddafi forces move out of towns and cities across Libya, the media are moving in. For the first time we are seeing the extent of the regimes apparatus of torture, and it's victims, as this report from Al-Jazeera shows:
Please note that this map is from the Wikipedia article on the Libyan uprising, replacing my map from earlier posts.
Further to our post earlier on the European Court of Justice's flawed decision on equal insurance premiums for male and female drivers, Dizzy has an interesting post here:
http://dizzythinks.net/2011/03/asessing-risk-will-never-be-as-cheap.html
Recent protests in the Kingdom of Morocco have prompted concerns in other Arab kingdoms. So far the extreme protests in the Arab world have taken place in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya - all republics.
There have been small scale protests in countries such as Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia, but these have been contained with, on the most part, little bloodshed.
That Morocco, a country that has seen a decade of reforms, is subject to large scale street protests has damaged the theory that Arab monarchies are not inherently more stable than their republican neighbours.
The demonstrators are unhappy about repression and curbs on civil liberties, and are calling on Morocco to adopt a constitutional monarchy, such as those in the UK and Spain.
With a tip of the hat to the Crisis Monitors on the fantastic Blogs Of War, I have introduced our very own Current Event Trackers.
This page (accessible from the navigation bar at the top of the page) will contain Twitter widgets running searches for major current events, updated in real time.
For now there's only one, following the Arab rebellions and protests, more will follow.
If you have any ideas for other trackers, let me know in the comments below.
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the German Defence minister has resigned after a scandal involving his PhD thesis.
The German aristocrat was found to have copied large sections of text from sources without attribution, including newspapers and a US government website.
After a backlash from the academic community, which led to a wider campaign in Germany, Guttenberg has finally stood down, stating that he was the minister for defence, not self defence.
Guttenberg is not however the only politician to be facing charges of plagiarism. Saif Gaddafi, son of Libya's beguiled leader Colonel Gaddafi and widely seen as his heir and right hand man, is caught up in a similar scandal.
Saif Gaddafi studied at the London School of Economics from 2003 - 2008, earning a masters degree and a doctorate. The LSE is investigating allegations that he plagiarised, or rather his ghost writer plagiarised, large sections of his thesis.
The institution received £300,000 from the Gaddafi regime and is under pressure to give this money to charity, and to revoke Saif Gaddafi's doctorate.
Last week Saif was questioned on whether he and his father would leave Libya. His response was:
"There are three plans, plan A, plan B, and plan C. Plan A is to live and die in Libya. Plan B is to live and die in Libya. Plan C is to live and die in Libya."
I see he hasn't forgotten how to copy and paste.
If you would like to help humiliate Saif Gaddafi, check out the Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi Thesis Wiki, where you can collaborate on finding evidence of plagiarism in the thesis.
Map showing areas controlled by the Gaddafi regime (red) and anti-government protesters (green). If you can help improve this information leave a comment below.
Some commentators have drawn a parallel to Libya of the situation in Bosnia and later Kosovo in the 90's. There are similarities: an autocratic leader slaughtering his own people, use of the armed forces to carry out these atrocities, potential for the crisis to affect other states in the region.
There are however major differences. Firstly the Gaddafi regime doesn't have the kind of popular support that Milosovic enjoyed. Every day that passes sees his power base crumble still further as diplomats defect, the armed services switch to the side of the rebels, and more and more towns and cities become stable under opposition control.
Gaddafi now has a firm hold over only parts of Tripoli. Certainly he still has the support of a substantial part of his military, but as the crisis progresses there will be more defections, which will act as a vicious circle of waning support for the regime.
The deployment of foreign troops onto Libyan soil would likely make the situation worse, vindicating Gaddafi and his statements on the intents of foreign parties. This would without doubt stabilise the tyrants support at least.
Worse still military intervention could force the Gaddafi regime into deploying chemical weapons against his own people, or the peacekeeping troops.
Of course, if he does possess these weapons there is a risk that Gaddafi would use these weapons even without UN intervention - but as we saw with Libyan pilots flying to Malta, or ejecting instead of carrying out bombings against civilians, giving an order does not mean it will be executed. If Gaddafi did order his military to commit genocide I believe it would be the final straw in his own demise.
The UN must prepare and make itself ready, and do so quickly - Gaddafi is nothing if not unpredictable - but for now it must be calm and patient, and give this abominable regime a chance to destroy itself.
Map showing areas controlled by the Gaddafi regime (red) and anti-government protesters (green). If you can help improve this information leave a comment below.
Ed Howker at The Spectator has revealed a staggering conflict of interest in the run up to a UK poll on voting reform.
The publication says that the Electoral Reform Society, a major backer of the Yes to AV campaign, donating over £1.05 million to the campaign, is also a shareholder of Electoral Reform Services Ltd., a private company heavily involved in the implementation of British democracy.
The company, with an annual turnover of £21 million, stands to benefit from a change to polling methods, a change that many critics say could cost over £250 million?
According to the BBC Libyan officials have just released a statement claiming that life in the major cities of Libya is returning to normal, the streets are safe and the government is in control. This is contradicted by footage coming out of the country which shows the protesters clearly in control.
At least 3 soldiers have been killed in clashes with demonstrators in the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan.
The demonstrators are angry at presidential incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, after elections in November last year showed that he lost to Alassane Ouattara.
Meanwhile a delegation of African Union officials have met with Mr Gbagbo in an effort to persuade him to step down.
Market trader Sephora Konate said:
"Since this morning, there has been constant shooting between the military and the people here. Everyone is terrified. Children are crying but there's nothing we can say to comfort them."
Officials in New Zealand have confirmed that 55 victims of the earthquake have been identified, and 20 more remain unidentified. Up to 300 more people are missing.
15 survivors have been found in a crushed, six-storey office building in the last hour, after a camera was lowered into the rubble.
Hundreds of rescue workers have been systematically checking the centre of Christchurch for more survivors whilst the armed forces have set up a cordon around the city centre to deter looting.
New Zealand's Prime Minister, John Key has declared a national state of emergency.
The 6.3 magnitude earthquake caused extensive damage largely due to it's shallow depth of only 5km, and the fact that the epicentre coincided with one of the oldest areas of central Christchurch.
24 Hour emergency helpline: 0800 779997
New Zealand Red Cross Person Enquiry Line: 0800 REDCROSS (0800 733 276) - for people in New Zealand concerned about the wellbeing of friends and relatives in Christchurch.
Apple is holding an event on March 2 during which it will likely reveal details of the much anticipated successor to the iPad. Industry analysts expect it to add much requested features such as a front facing camera, FaceTime video calling support, higher quality display, a thinner, lighter form factor and a larger, higher quality speaker. The device is also rumored to support both CDMA and GSM.
A former US special forces soldier arrested in Lahore, Pakistan on January 27 was working for the CIA, according to an unnamed US official.
Allen Davis, 36 was arrested after shooting two men dead, who he claimed were trying to rob him. Three parcels of equipment including a GPS device and two mobile phones have been sent to Pakistan's ISI for investigation.
Hundreds of Pakistanis have been demonstrating over the murders putting pressure on the Pakistani government to put Mr Davis on trial, despite protestations from the US State Department that Davis was an accredited member of the US consular staff - and therefore had diplomatic immunity.
Senator John Kerry has visited Islamabad to meet with Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to try to secure the release of Mr Davis, promising that he would be put on trial in the US.
The US has suggested that it may withhold aid to Pakistan until it releases Mr Davis.
President Obama said last week: "If it starts being fair game on our ambassadors around the world, including in dangerous places where we may have differences with those governments ... that's untenable.
"It means they can't do their job. And that's why we respect these conventions and every country should as well."
Colonel Gaddafi has said that he will not leave Libya, and will die a martyr.
During his defiant, rambling speech he tried to stir Libyans into reacting against the protesters. He used rhetoric about defying and defeating America, Britain and NATO.
He suggested that the young people of Libya were trying to emulate the people of Tunisia and Egypt, which he conceded.
He then went on to say that these young people - which he referred to as "cockroaches" - had been given drink, drugs and arms by unspecified groups and this was the cause of their actions.
He went on to say that if he had been a president he would have resigned, but as he was not he couldn't.
He said that he had already resolved the issue of power in Libya, saying the country was managed by the people via people's committees, which he suggested he may try to reform.
Gaddafi said that from tomorrow security should be restored by the police and the military. He also urged Libyans to "chase away" and "destroy" the protesters.
He continued by saying that if order wasn't restored then America would occupy Libya, and went on to discuss US engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The tone of his speech was defiant and did not sound like a leader that was about to step down.
Reuters are reporting that Gaddafi has lost control of the Eastern regions of Libya, including Benghazi and the border with Egypt, which is now controlled by anti-Gaddafi forces, some of them wearing military uniforms.
Earlier this morning two Iranian warships, a frigate, the Alvand, and a supply vessel, the Kharg, entered the Suez Canal en route to the Mediterranean.
The vessels are heading to Syria for training, marking the first time that Iranian vessels have traversed the strategic waterway since the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
The Alvand is usually armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles, although it is not currently carrying military equipment, nuclear or chemical contents, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Defence, which approved the request for transit earlier this month.
Iranian news agency Fars reported on the plans in January, before protests toppled the Mubarak regime in Egypt.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said "Israel takes a grave view of this Iranian step".
Iranian warships enter Suez Canal amid Israeli concern - BBC News
Iranian Navy Ships Enter Suez Canal - Fars News Agency
Iranian Warships Sail Through Suez Canal - Channel 4 News
Yesterday the Libyan Air Force started to bomb unarmed civilians using Mirage jet-fighters. The entire Libyan delegation to the UN resigned in protest, diplomats in China and India soon followed. Two Air Force Colonels had the courage to defy their orders and fly their planes to Malta, where one has applied for asylum.
The troubling thing is that many of the pilots either did not have a problem with bombing their own defenseless people, or were too afraid of the consequences if they disobeyed. Whereas in Egypt we saw the armed forces actively protecting protesters in Tahrir Square, in Libya they are murdering them.
The White House has said it is "very concerned" about the situation in Libya. Ban Ki-Moon censured the "very disturbing and shocking scenes". Sarkozy has said that it is an "unacceptable use of force" and asks for a political solution. Similarly British Prime Minister David Cameron has voiced his disapproval. China and Russia seem principally concerned about their citizens in Libya - with Russia sending planes in to help evacuate it's people.
The UN Security Council is meeting this morning to decide what course of action to take. Ibrahim al-Dabashi, Libya's Deputy Ambassador to the UN has already asked for a No Fly Zone to be set up over Libya.
This needs to be done today. Assuming the Russians and the Chinese can be persuaded not to veto a resolution (the Russians have after all just agreed a $1.8 billion arms deal with Gadaffi's regime) then the US, France and Britain all have aircraft within an hour of Libya.
It is true that there are other genocides occurring right now, which perhaps deserve as much attention as what is happening in Libya, but the fact that these attacks by the Libyan Air Force are so flagrant, so incontrovertible and potentially so easily stopped means that we really do not have any cause for delay. The UN needs to stand up and perform the job for which it was created.
