Once upon a time a sitting president of the USA uttered these words as if he not only believed them to be true but also expected the rest of the world to believe them.
Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different. Wherever people long to be free, they will find a friend in the United States… Obama’
He went on to say:
For generations, the United States of America has played a unique role as an anchor of global security and as an advocate for human freedom. Mindful of the risks and costs of military action, we are naturally reluctant to use force to solve the world’s many challenges. But when our interests and values are at stake, we have a responsibility to act.
“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.” —G.K. Chesterton
So while this absolute “doublespeak” sinks in let me remind you of what was happening at that time..
The USA was about to use NATO and the World Bank to attack Libya and turn it into a stone age pile of rubble. Apart from the ever-present CIA there were no American troops to spill their blood in that desert turned in to an arable area. But what followed was as savage a beating as any schoolyard bully ever inflicted on a helpless girl.
I am still ashamed that Canada had such a leading role with the avid encouragement from Stephen Harper and John Baird.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/libya-mission-will-include-canada-until-end-pm-vows-1.1018327
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/libya-s-weapons-must-be-safeguarded-baird-says-1.1077850
(from which comes this quote:
“The school year is starting so they’ll have to pay teachers. They’ll have to pay for the electricity, for the water systems, all the other public services that are essential to a stable and free society. So we’re urging them to do it as expeditiously as possible and putting our weight behind others who are making similar calls.”
(Hard to do really as we managed to bomb all the hospitals, schools, water supply and other things except of course the oil refineries. Did we rush to help fix them again? Not a chance. )
From:
https://www.quora.com/Was-Gaddafi-a-good-leader-Why-or-why-not
Kosmas Aitolos
Was Muammar Gaddafia a good leader?
It depends on what is considered good. Jihadists would not call him good as he was against jihadist Islam. A reasonable person would call him good as he gave his people an excellent standard of living , the average Libyan having a better and higher standard of living than the average American.
An intellectual or Progressive Libyan probably thought him bad because of the one party state ,but I bet they now pine for him ,compared to what Nato-America has given them by butchering Gaddafi….
(Based on the UN statistics in 2009 Libya was one of the best countries in human development, education and healthcare.)
After Gaddafi unfortunately most Libyan youths joined militias and many of them were killed in civil wars. Many of the schools which were built in Gaddafi ‘s time became prisons to Libyans. The human rights had the worst records ever. The girls can’t feel safe to go to universities and their families can’t leave them to pursue their studies out of their cities. According to the UN statistics in 2019 Libya scored 115 in education, healthcare and human development compared to 55 in 2009.
All these can show what Gaddafi is in terms of leadership in the national level. All in all the man changed his country from a state needing help to a country who helps and influences other nations such as Africa. When he died Gaddafi was the leader of African union and he was planning to united its currency, army, and economy.
However this was not allowed as appeared in Clinton’s emails recently. The problem with Gaddafi, he was trying to wake up the African sleeping giant which will be very dangerous for America and NATO. They are pretty sure that if Africa stands it will wipe the face of the earth as it has all the resources. Therefore, all the powerful nations want to control it as main resources and market.
This is the main reason behind assassination of Gaddafi and that why he was bad leader.
(or promoted as such).
(He also warned that the African migrants would be a problem if he was taken out and he was right)
So what was Obama actually saying?
“We have and always will interfere with the workings of any nation that asks for help, and if they do not ask we will give them that help anyway as long as they have something worth taking that we want.”
This of course is my interpretation and judging by what the USA (and NATO allies such as Canada) have done since WW2 I would claim that is pretty accurate. In order to be the bully you must first bully the defenseless to gain a reputation.
Since the US economy was tottering another war was needed and so a phony proxy NATO war was launched in 2022 as a growth of the civil one started by the USA in 2014 in Ukraine. (Some will say that the Russians illegally invaded Ukraine, and if that was the case why have they stopped at the edge of the Donbas?) The idea was of course to give masses of out-of-date armaments to the Nazi government there and allow the US industrial military complex to get into high gear to make new weapons. How is that working out? Really well as Ukraine is now attacking Russia almost daily and how long will the Russian patience last, I wonder. That is another thing NATO wants – loss of patience. And was a promise not made that US weapons would not be used against Russia? Of course, but any agreement NATO make with Russia is as invalid as the fake concept of western democracy.
Now of course we have a situation arising in Africa, which almost certainly would not have happened if Gaddafi was still alive, and as usual the US (and Canada) are trying to dictate to these smaller African countries with essential resources what they should do and will be using their favourite first weapon – sanctions anyone?
Meanwhile the countries of the world which are tired of being bullied are gathering to create their own trading and monetary systems. What do we hear about that in Canada? Nothing as the CBC is, it appears, unaware that BRICS even exists.
Gonna be an interesting last half of 2023 me thinks!
Jeremy
“The truth is like a Lion. You don’t have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.” St. Augustine