Libya | openDemocracy

“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”

- Bertrand Russell

From spring into summer: key peacebuilding actions for Libya

Erwin van Veen 25 September 2011

Libyans face the complex challenge of creating a new order and a new society from the rubble of the old. Lessons learned elsewhere on peacebuilding and statebuilding offer a checklist and an evidence-based framework for action.

Arab Revolutions: double standards all round

Hayder al-Khoei 25 September 2011

Extremist Islamists may only be one small part of a wide cross-section of disenfranchised Libyans who could no longer bear the tyranny of Gadaffi, but they pose the question whether reactions to the Arab Revolutions are ever entirely innocent of double standards.

America’s wars: the logic of escalation

Paul Rogers 22 September 2011

The United States's political-military strategy for drawdown in Afghanistan is in trouble, even as Washington is tempted by increased high-tech military engagement in other theatres of war.

The difficult bit: the Arab spring after Libya

Mark Taylor 16 September 2011

The outcome of the Libyan conflict leaves the Arab world’s wider political momentum to be decided by the interplay between mobilisation and repression, says Mark Taylor.

Every casualty: the human face of war

Paul Rogers 15 September 2011

The idea of recording, identifying and acknowledging each individual victim of armed conflict - and holding to account those responsible - extends the principles underlying the laws of war.

Day long siege of the United States Embassy and Nato command in central Kabul brought to an end

Humayun Saleem 15 September 2011

Afghan forces, aided by ISAF have managed to end the attack on the US embassy, Nato headquarters and police buildings in Kabul. A bomb planted on a military bus in Iraq has killed 15 Iraqi soldiers and wounded 20 others. Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh has authorized his deputy to negotiate a power transfer. Turkey insists its warships will escort aid vessels to Gaza as it also requests US to base predator drones on its territory.

The age of high-tech war: after Libya

Paul Rogers 9 September 2011

There is intense rethinking in the Pentagon about the “war on terror”. The outcome of the Libyan conflict will reinforce its principal trends.

India and Bangladesh boost ties, yet challenges remain

Radu Nikolaus Botez 8 September 2011

Underlining a sea change in their relationship, India and Bangladesh foster ties during prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka. Turkey-Israel relations reach a new low as Ankara suspends defence industry relations. US and Pakistan praise arrest of al-Qaeda operatives in Quetta while Tuareg fighters in Libya are asked to rally with new leaders. All this in today's security briefing...

In Arab Protests, Oil Role Defies Simple Explanations

Jaffar Al-Rikabi 5 September 2011

Oil is perhaps the most commonly cited factor in explaining the course of the various Arab revolutions in train since the Spring, but compared across countries its influence proves less decisive than generally suggested, argues Jaffar Al-Rikabi.

Libya: the revolution-intervention dynamic

Martin Shaw 5 September 2011

The success of Libya’s uprising is welcome - even if both the rebel movement and foreign support for it reflect the inevitable contradictions of politics. The challenge now includes holding account all perpetrators of atrocity, says Martin Shaw.

Libyan rebels encircle Sirte as Gaddafi son presses for resistance

Humayun Saleem 1 September 2011

Libyan rebel forces encircle Sirte, as Saif al-Islam Gaddafi presses for resistance. South Korea appoints Yu Woo lk as its new unification minister. The Sri Lankan government introduces new anti-terrorism rules after emergency laws expire. And Iran plans to continue enriching 20 percent uranium. All this in today’s briefing…

They called us crazy

Dyab Abou Jahjah 31 August 2011

Thoughts on the Arab revolution from an Arab nationalist.

Libya: a time for patience

Vidar Helgesen 29 August 2011

The task of building a democratic and inclusive Libya with working institutions must overcome the international community’s key flaw as well as the Gaddafi regime’s legacy, says Vidar Helgesen.

Criticism of EU-Libya migration policy is too little, too late

Polly Pallister-Wilkins 29 August 2011

An EU-Libya framework agreement signed in 2010 is only the tip of the iceberg of shameful EU extraterritorialised migration-management, argues Polly Pallister-Wilkins

After Gaddafi: tableau

Tjebbe van Tijen 25 August 2011

A picture poem on Gaddafi's fall

This week's editor

Heather McRobie is a regular contributor to 50.50

Europe from the bottom up

European Union stars in Paris. Flickr/notarim. Some rights reserved.

A new Europe can only come from the bottom up
Etienne Balibar

A social Europe must be a political Europe
Bo Stråth

As Europe is provincialized: a reply to Etienne Balibar
Sandro Mezzadra

European debate

A republican call for a basic income
Daniel Raventos and Julie Wark

Nuclear non-proliferation

Women and the Arab Spring

oDRussia at journalismfestival .com

Mali - the plot thickens

Remote control war

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