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

Now if the ICC were to make an inquiry about political rights in China that would be an indication that the world has elevated itself to a new plane, as I believe you may be suggesting. ...

I am reminded of Kissinger's old quip about why disputes involving academic rivalries in Universities such as Harvard are fought with such persistent tenacity... "Because the stakes are so low", he opined.

Which stakes concerning Libya in the UN are so low?

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Now if the ICC were to make an inquiry about political rights in China that would be an indication that the world has elevated itself to a new plane, as I believe you may be suggesting. ...

Well, no, actually I haven't suggested any such thing, George.

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I am reminded of Kissinger's old quip about why disputes involving academic rivalries in Universities such as Harvard are fought with such persistent tenacity... "Because the stakes are so low", he opined.

You'll have to explain the significance of that analogy, George.
Which stakes concerning Libya in the UN are so low?

If the ICC is ever going to mean anything in this world, they should take on a powerful country who is flaunting human rights violations - ie China.

However I am mindful of the millions of human lives wasted and destroyed in the futile and perversely wicked effort to create a new socialist man in the ill-fated Marxist paradises of Russia and China.

I am suggesting that if the ICC were anything at all like what its propagandists sometimes suggest, that would be possible. That it is not possible reminds us just how unserious the ICC really is

I was suggesting that the present sound and fury about the disposal of Ghadaffi through the ICC is an indicator of the fact that he and his exit from power are considered to be inconsequential by the nations with an interest in the situation.

I remember Reagan being a bit unpopular in these parts for helping the resistance there...

The Contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional) Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship. Although the Contra movement included a number of separate groups, with different aims and little ideological unity, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) emerged as by far the largest. In 1987, virtually all Contra organizations were united, at least nominally, into the Nicaraguan Resistance.

From an early stage, the rebels received both overt and covert financial and military support from the United States government through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), initially supplemented by the Argentine dictatorship of the time. At other times the US Congress wished to distance itself from the Contras and withdrew all overt support.

The term "Contra" comes from the Spanish contra, which means against but in this case is short for la contrarrevolucion, in English "the counter-revolution". (Many references use the uncapitalized form, "contra", sometimes italicizing it.) Some rebels disliked being called Contras, feeling that it defined their cause only in negative terms, or implied a desire to restore the old order. Rebel fighters usually referred to themselves as comandos ("commandos"); peasant sympathizers also called the rebels los primos ("the cousins"). From the mid-1980s, as the Reagan administration and the rebels sought to portray the movement as the "democratic resistance," members started describing themselves as la resistencia.

During the war against the Sandinista government, they carried out many violations of human rights. Their supporters in Miami and the White House usually countered that the Sandinista government carried out more such violations, but in retrospect it is clear that they downplayed the severity of the abuses of the contras. In 1989, Human Rights Watch released a report on the situation, which stated: "[The] contras were major and systematic violators of the most basic standards of the laws of armed conflict, including by launching indiscriminate attacks on civilians, selectively murdering non-combatants, and mistreating prisoners." Several other human rights organizations, including the Catholic Institute for International Relations, released similar reports, each coming to roughly the same conclusions.

There is no doubt in almost anyone's mind that Gaddafi has perpetrated crimes against humanity in Libya. But this is not just about Gaddafi.
The question is, why shouldn't those (presently) non-signatory nations support the goals of the ICC in principal & become members? It's OK to pick and choose which human rights violations can be prosecuted when it suits them & ignore others when it doesn't suit them?
That doesn't make sense to me at all, say nothing of being an inconsistent position on human rights violations.
Unlike you, I think supporting the goals of the ICC has less to do with "idealism" & considerably more to do with justice.

I think I will wait until the world makes a bit more progress than it has so far done before I would be willing to turn our reins over to it. You are free to do otherwise, just don't ask me to follow merely because you have lost your way.

EGYPTIAN PEOPLE power scored a fresh victory yesterday when Essam Sharaf was named prime minister by the governing military council and asked to form a new caretaker government.

Dr Sharaf, a professor of engineering, served as transport minister between 2004-2006 but he resigned following a series of deadly train crashes he blamed on government negligence.

A critic of the old regime, he led one of the protests that precipitated the resignation of former president Hosni Mubarak.

Several thousand activists in Tahrir (Liberation) Square greeted the news by dancing and chanting: “The people and the army are one hand.”

Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei called the appointment “a step on the right path” and expressed his “appreciation to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces for meeting the demands of the people”.

Al-Ghad party head and declared presidential candidate Ayman Nour welcomed the move. “Farewell to the bosom friend of Mubarak and welcome to Sharaf.”

Good God, he's said it about three times. Qaddafy has NO FRIENDS. He's mortally wounded

Security forces in the Libyan capitol of Tripoli have fired tear gas on hundreds of protesters who gathered on the streets after Friday prayers.

Loyalists to Moammar Gaddafi, including secret police, have tightened security at strategic area of Tripoli, which remains a pro-regime stronghold.

Worshippers reportedly streamed out of a mosque in the center of Tripoli, chanting "Gaddafi is the enemy of God.”

According to Reuters, one protester said "This is the end for Gaddafi. It's over. Forty years of crimes are over.”

There was also a heavy police presence in the Tripoli district of Tajoura, where Gaddafi’s forces are exerting control to dissuade demonstrations.

"They fired tear gas," a Reuters reporter in Tajoura said. "I heard shooting. People are scattering."
There have been accounts of arrests, detentions, disappearances and killings in Tripoli and elsewhere over the past few days.

Foreign journalists in Tripoli have been hampered by security guards who are blocking their movements around the city. Internet service is also reportedly disrupted in Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi.

Similar demonstrations last Friday after prayers resulted in bloodshed with security forces firing on unarmed protesters.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi’s soldiers have reportedly launched more air strikes on rebel bases in the eastern part of the country. A warplane bombed the Mediterranean port of Ajdabiya, which is controlled by rebels.

"For the people of Ajdabiya, these men are martyrs to their revolution. And the more of their comrades who are killed, the more they are determined to defeat Muammar Gaddafi," reported Jacky Rowland, an Al Jazeera correspondent.

Gaddafi’s pilots carried out a second day of bombing runs on the harbor of Brega, which houses Libya’s second-biggest oil facility and is now in the hands of the opposition, according to the Al Arabiya news network.

"We are people who fight, we don't surrender," said opposition leader Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, and a former government minister, according to Reuters. "Victory or death. We will not stop till we liberate all this country."

Other clashes between rebels and Gaddafi loyalists have been reported in the towns of Ras Lanuf, an eastern oil port, and in Az-Zawiyah, which is west of Tripoli.