Europe's Libya intervention: a special report.

• Author: Abrahamson, James L.

Europe's Libya Intervention: A Special Report

By STRATFOR

app.response.stratfor.com/e/es.aspx?s1483&e253656&elq090fe642287e4cf791a68a00faf42154

Reviewed by James L. Abrahamson

Although the American media have given great attention to President Obama's intentions for Libya and the views of his critics, this analysis by STRATFOR, a "global team of intelligence professionals," sketches Europe's role, sparked by France and the UK, in efforts to overturn Gadhafi's government, pass UN Security Council Resolution 1973,* and create the coalition now opposed to Libya.

Two perspectives seem to have shaped European support for the UN's call for the "immediate establishment of a cease fire" between Gadhafi's forces and those of Libya's revolu tion aries and "an end to . . . all attacks against, and abuses of, civilians." Coalition support for Libya's rebels would compensate for Europe's long-standing tolerance of and assistance to the Arab world's despots and its earlier reluctance to support the Arab's pro-democracy protests, which Europe now sees as a genuine "outburst of pro-democratic sentiment in the Western sense."

Despite broad initial support for a no-fly zone and protection of Libya citizens, European unity quickly weakened when it appeared that Gadhafi could not be "dislodged...