Tunesia, Egyt and now Yemen: a domino effect in the Middle East?

And here, for the first, and last time, I will come to the defense of Finn.

He is stupid, monumentally so. The odd time that he appears to show some common sense, that's one of his grandkids helping him out.

But that doesn't mean that he doesn't have the right to flaunt his ignorance far and wide.

I fought and almost died so Finn, specifically Finn, no one else, could have that right.

For someone who likes to jab at Lash for "damned if we do, damned if we don't," you certainly like to validate her sentiments with posts like this.

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He's a Yank Finn. He was in New York being interviewed by satellite. Big chin. I'll be looking through it for Lash this afto.

A must see video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BmlnlXeu38

The item on Newsnight was concerned with contacts with the UK of the Liyan regime before the **** hit the fan. Shots of cuddles with the Colonel.

But the main focus was on Saif and Mr Barber, an American academic we were told, had been one of his advisers and had just jumped ship for reasons most of us will readily understand.

Anyway--it seems that Saif was awarded a PhD from the London School of Economics, a Fabian invention, after this august institution received a "donation" of £1,5 million. Saif was shown two years ago being eulogised by a big-wig, who looked and sounded barmy, despite students protesting outside. The thesis was entitled--don't laugh--" The Role of Civil Society in the Democratisation of Global Government" and it was alleged it was a cut and paste job produced by Saif's clerical staff. Professor Lord Desai, the "examiner" of the thesis, came on to say that everything was above board and there was no funny-business. Which I would have done in his place.

Tony Blair, The Duke of York, Lord Mandleson and a Russian oligarch called Oleg were shown in various poses connected with Saif's "playboy lifestyle" and his house in what we call Billionaire's Row. There was mention of property in Mayfair, the City, Oxford Street and Trafalgar Square.

One of those mentioned above now says "I only met him once" and the LSE had nobody available to come on the programme which is not a common response to invitations from Newsnight.

Then Mr Barber. He was read a State Department statement of 2008 referring to the Libyan Government's human rights record being "poor" with torture, disappearences and arbitrary arrests (rest garbled due to shouting match, such as Bill O'Reily specialises in). Mr Barber said there had been "improvements" since 2008 implying that Saif and himself had brought them about. They were not specified.

Mr Hassan el Amin, an Arab newspaper chief, then had his turn. He said that Mr Barber was bullshitting although he put it diplomatically. Mr Barber denied profiting personally claiming he only got consultancy fees. Then he went into that Saudi Arabian stuff about "every" American university and he also mentioned links with "Big Business" in the US, hinting that they weren't much different than the Gadaffi family except in regard to women's rights.

The next item was about the Irish election and if you think the above surreal you should have seen that.

So Ms Forrest of the "bring evolution and its fans to a school near you" campaign is a beneficiary of that sort of dough which I don't suppose the Christian institutions of the Higher Learning participate in.

And Fabianism was anti-Christian through and through.

Ignoring the bloodshed, which most of us do when not watching the news, it is a pantomime farce. I think rooted in the Suez campaign fiasco of 1956 which was before the US realised it was addicted to oil.

Even a pinhole in the blinkers is an improvement.

To claim that the US is addicted to oil is meaningless; most developed countries with petro using cars, trucks, and other public transportation vehicles are also addicted.

The biggest problem for the US is the low cost of petro; while most users of petro pay over $7/gallon, the US is now barely over $4. It's been this way for decades. Even poorer countries like India pay more than $7/gallon, but their use of vehicles is about as bad as anywhere else.

England is no exception.

It was Mr Bush, in a State of the Union, who officially admitted to the addiction to oil. I knew it a long time ago.

An addiction is when denial of supply causes nervous breakdown. Cutting down rarely works for smokers and drinkers. Patches and nicotine inhalers work for some and they are cheaper than the habit. I don't know that nuclear and wind farms are cheaper than oil.

Our petrol and deisel is over $9.

You missed the whole point of my post. Almost all countries are "addicted to oil." Just because the leader of a country doesn't admit to addiction, it's a given by how much oil they use - and how much they're willing to pay for it.

I'll confess to generally enjoying spendius' posts, but often being unable to figure out just what is his point - other than to object to things generally.

I read his post above carefully, but still fail to grasp any specific points for which he may be arguing.

It's not a jab. It's merely an exposure of a tired old canard. While you and Lash might like to take some refuge in such a post, it only illustrates your inability to face up to the facts, Art.

ok, you made me laugh...

Guardian live blog
9:53pm GMT: USA Today has posted the statement made by Hillary Clinton after Barack Obama said Muammar Gaddafi should relinquish power immediately. Clinton, the US secretary of state, said Gaddafi "has lost the confidence of his people, and should go without further bloodshed and violence".

The full statement is here:

We are moving quickly on a series of steps to hold the Libyan government accountable for its violation of human rights and to mobilise a strong response from the international community.

Last night the United States took action to limit the ability of senior officials of the Gaddafi regime to travel. As secretary of state, I signed an order directing the department to revoke US visas held by these officials, others responsible for human rights violations in Libya, and their immediate family members. As a matter of policy, new visa applications will be denied.

This step followed President Obama's executive order freezing assets and imposing financial sanctions on members of the regime responsible for abuses against their own people and the suspension of the very limited defence trade we have had with Libya, including pending sales of spare military parts and other licences allowing private companies to sell military equipment there.

The United States is also working with our friends and partners to mobilise a strong and unified response from the international community to hold accountable the perpetrators of these unacceptable violations of universal human rights. This afternoon I continued close consultations with our European allies, including EU high representative Catherine Ashton. Negotiations are under way at the United Nations security council on a resolution that would impose new sanctions and restrictions. On Monday, I will meet with a number of counterparts in Geneva and address the UN Human Rights Council, which on Friday recommended suspending Libya's membership. We are also working with partners to determine how to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need. Consistent with the President's guidance, we will continue to look at the full range of options to hold the Libyan government accountable and support the Libyan people.

We have always said that the Gaddafi government's future is a matter for the Libyan people to decide, and they have made themselves clear. When a leader's only means of staying in power is to use mass violence against his own people, he has lost the legitimacy to rule and needs to do what is right for his country by leaving now. Muammar Gaddafi has lost the confidence of his people and he should go without further bloodshed and violence. The Libyan people deserve a government that is responsive to their aspirations and that protects their universally recognized human rights.

9.39pm: President Barack Obama says Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi must leave the country now, AP reports.

Obama made the comments to German chancellor Angela Merkel in a private telephone conversation today. The White House says Obama told Merkel that when a leader's only means of holding power is to use violence against his people, then he has lost the legitimacy to rule and needs to do what's right for his country by "leaving now."

The comments mark the first time that Obama has called on Gaddafi to step down.

But the above post George was only dealing with an aside ci. picked out to avoid facing up to the point of the previous post. It's a species of sneaky Ignore he regularly has recourse to.

The point of the previous post was to fulfill a promise I made to Lash to report more fully on the item on Newsnight about us all being implicated in receiving stolen money taken by force and terror from the Libyan people and now that it has come on top everybody is trying to wash their hands clean. Including Newsnight. And others you have no doubt seen. Which can't be done because we are doing the same things with other regimes of a similar nature and which, in some respects, women's rights for example, are worse than Gadaffi who is only behaving like any respectable rat would do when cornered.

And what's wrong with that seeing as how we and rats have a common ancestor according to the scientists who are never wrong. Here, we behave better simply because we can afford to.

Although some of us, a few these days, think we can afford to because we behaved better. The addiction to oil was like the sprig of rosemary on the roast lamb.

I'm here only to serve, Rocky.

Rule? Did he really say that?

That was Hillary.

Last paragraph of your post. An account of what Obama told Merkel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JonathanToth#p/a/u/1/jA7DXzNs0dw

Ah, I see. The WH said he said it so he probably did. Hillary definitely said it.

News tonight that Cuba has released the husband of a prominent opponent and has exiled a hand full of others to Spain. I repeat again that Fidel and Raul are getting nervous.