Category: NATOSource

Learning the right lessons from Libya

By Stephen M. Walt, Foreign Policy

From Stephen M. Walt, Foreign Policy:  The rebel victory in Libya is likely to gladden the hearts of liberal interventionists, who will see the NATO-aided triumph as vindicating the idea that great powers have the right and the responsibility to come to the aid of victims of tyrannical oppression.

The fall of Gaddafi will transform Libya, the Middle East and NATO

By the Economist

From the Economist:  Libya will have an impact on NATO too. The military alliance that faced down the Red Army might have been expected to crush the clumsy forces of Colonel Qaddafi in days. Instead it took five months of fighting and 17,000 air sorties.

Update: NATO activities in Libya on August 29

By NATO

Libya: A Small War With Big Consequences

By François Heisbourg, the International Herald Tribune

From François Heisbourg, the International Herald Tribune:  [T]his small and successful war will have major strategic consequences for both NATO and the European Union, as a result of President Barack Obama’s decision to “lead from behind,” and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refusal to get involved.

NATO’s Teachable Moment

By the Editors of the New York Times

From the Editors of the New York Times:  The Western allies, especially the British and French forces backed up by the United States, can be justly proud.

NATO jets collide in exercise over Lithuania

By Liudas Dapkus, the AP

Libyan opposition leaders rule out major role for foreign peacekeepers

By Colum Lynch, Checkpoint Washington

From Colum Lynch, Checkpoint Washington:  Libya’s opposition leaders have ruled out any major role for foreign peacekeepers in the country after the fall of Moammar Gaddafi, insisting that a new transitional government will take the lead in establishing security, according to top U.N. officials.

Libya: Nicolas Sarkozy’s War

By Nathalie Nougayrède, Le Monde/Worldcrunch

Kagan: NATO ‘saved the people of Libya and kept alive the momentum of the Arab Spring’

By Robert Kagan, the Weekly Standard

From Robert Kagan, the Weekly Standard:  There is much to criticize in the way NATO handled the operations. The Libyan intervention was certainly not the death knell for the alliance, as some have suggested, but neither was it a sign of great strength and vitality.

Libya, Obama and the triumph of realism

By Robert Kaplan, the Financial Times

From Robert Kaplan, the Financial Times:  Realism is dead, clamour the cheerleaders of the Arab spring. The collapse of dictatorships in Tunisia, Egypt, and now Libya heralds a new birth of freedom that supposedly consigns realism to the graveyard.