...To the Shores of Tripoli
Mar. 20th, 2011 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
4thofelevenIt’s always strange to be reminded that, when it comes down to it, I am an optimist at heart.
I’ve seen a lot of cynical commentary about the military action in Libya, and to a degree, I sympathise, and understand people’s scepticism about western intervention in yet another Arab country. But this isn’t Iraq 2003; this is, I think, one of the rare situations where military involvement can be justified on humanitarian grounds. The Libyan rebel groups have been requesting international support and if anything’s to be done, it needs to be now… This isn't about the United States and its poor record, and honestly, seeing everything through an anti-American lens is just as much national chauvinism as pro-American jingoism.
If anything, I’m glad that Bush’s adventures haven’t permanently tarnished the idea of this sort of intervention when necessary.
Unfortunately, it seems events aren’t going to turn out so positively in Bahrain – who’d have thought in the twenty-first century, we’d still have absolute monarchies banding together to crush democratic movements in their region?
I’ve seen a lot of cynical commentary about the military action in Libya, and to a degree, I sympathise, and understand people’s scepticism about western intervention in yet another Arab country. But this isn’t Iraq 2003; this is, I think, one of the rare situations where military involvement can be justified on humanitarian grounds. The Libyan rebel groups have been requesting international support and if anything’s to be done, it needs to be now… This isn't about the United States and its poor record, and honestly, seeing everything through an anti-American lens is just as much national chauvinism as pro-American jingoism.
If anything, I’m glad that Bush’s adventures haven’t permanently tarnished the idea of this sort of intervention when necessary.
Unfortunately, it seems events aren’t going to turn out so positively in Bahrain – who’d have thought in the twenty-first century, we’d still have absolute monarchies banding together to crush democratic movements in their region?