Americans are Conditioned to Fear Revolution

from Truthout
Is It Fear of Uprisings or Altruistic Punishment?
Antonia Darder, Truthout: "As the uprisings are spreading around the world and in the United States, there are many who feel fear, reticence and intense skittishness about what is transpiring. Yet, this anxiety, rather than surprising, is well cultivated by the contemporary hegemonic forces that govern our lives. What is most important for us to understand is that we, as a people, are most conditioned to fear when populations reclaim their social agency and collective power and rise up against the unjust policies of the state."
Read the Article

Qaddafi Forces Said to Withdraw From Misrata, but Meaning Is Unclear
Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers: "Forces loyal to Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi began withdrawing from the besieged western city of Misrata on Saturday, Gadhafi officials said, the first shift away from what has been an escalating urban war for control of Libya's third-largest city... Yet rather than celebrate what a rebel spokesman in Misrata called a victory for the rebels, leaders and analysts alike asked what Gadhafi's motives were behind the decision to withdraw. Moreover, several news agencies in Misrata reported that shelling and fighting continued Saturday after the announced withdrawal."
Read the Article

Does Misurata Make Intervention Worthwhile?

I love this Photoshopped image (grabbed from Lion of the Desert?) from this week's Economist. We are entering the "Oh my god what have we signed up for?" stage of of the Libya war, after February and March's hope that Qadhafi was a low-hanging fruit and that he would fall just like Ben Ali and Mubarak did. I am still conflicted, somewhere between Anthony Cordesman (finish the job) and Helena Cobban (never should have gone in the first place). Both come, of course, from a point of view critical of liberal (or neocon) interventionism, although for different reasons. So does Steve Walt. The other question in my mind is about whether early French (followed by other Western) support for the rebels emboldened them to fight a war they couldn't win, relying on help from abroad, and now puts them in a position where they will not negotiate.

The Economist makes the case for more involvement, esp. US, and that Misurata is crucial to the rebels:

Apart from the humanitarian crisis in Misrata, the city—the country’s third largest with a population of more than 500,000 and an important port—is strategically vital. As long as it holds out, it prevents Colonel Qaddafi from imposing a de facto partition between west and east and provides encouragement to the opposition in other western towns, such as Zintan and Zawiya, and even in those parts of Tripoli, the capital, that briefly rose up in the early days of the revolution.

Tough questions all. But I love the way Sarkozy looks on this pic — like Louis de Funes.
The Arabist

Award-Winning War Photographer Dies in Libya

TELEVISION
1. Charlie Sheen's Colleagues Speak Out

For the first time, Charlie Sheen's Two and a Half Men co-workers describe his descent. "Gaunt," "withered," "strung out"—and "in denial." Maria Elena Fernandez reports.

Read it at The Daily Beast

TRAGEDY
2. War Photographer Dies in Libya

Prize-winning photojournalist Tim Hetherington has been killed in Misrata, Libya, Vanity Fair has confirmed. The news was broken on fellow photographer Andre Liohn's Facebook page, and Liohn is reportedly at the hospital. Photographer Chris Hondros was also reportedly injured. Both were decorated and respected practitioners. Hetheringon, 41 and born in Britain, shot both still photos and video, and worked from Liberia, Sudan, and other war zones. In 2010, he made the documentary Restrepo with journalist Sebastian Junger. The film, which chronicled a year in the life of an American infantry platoon stationed deep in the remote, dangerous Korengal Valley, was nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary. Hetherington wrote about the experience for The Daily Beast in 2010. Hondros, 41 and American, is also a war specialist, shooting from conflict zones in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Shooting for Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other leading publications, he is highly decorated. In 2004, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Spot News Photography for his work in Liberia. In 2006, he was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal—named for the famed photographer who was himself killed while working in Vietnam. As recently as Wednesday morning, The Daily Beast used one of Hondros' photos to illustrate a Libya story. (Correction: Earlier, The Daily Beast had reported, per Vanity Fair, that Hondros was also killed; Vanity Fair now says he is in "grave condition.")

Read it at Business Insider

Battles continue in Libya

As Libyan state television broadcast an appearance by leader Muammar Gaddafi before crowds in Tripoli's Green Square, pro-government supporters also rallied in the capital. Meanwhile, pictures have emerged of fighting in the Libyan town of Misurata.

Opposition fighters also say they have repelled an attack by government forces, including tanks and artillery. At least 18 people were killed.

Al Jazeera Charles Stratford reports on the fighting seen across the country.