Good News in Long War: Qatar Steps Up

Long War: Yesterday Gaddafi angrily said Qatari Special Forces soldiers are training the Free Libya Army. Gaddafi sometimes says crazy things, but this statement had a different feel to it than his usual crazy talk. Al Jazeera reported a couple weeks ago that Egyptian and American Special Forces are training the rebels. Al Jazeera is owned by the government of Qatar, so it is likely that the so-called Egyptian Special Forces are really Qatari Special Forces and the Americans are CIA. There is more evidence of Qatar stepping up...

The rebels are suddenly sending boatloads of weapons across the Med from Benghazi to Misrata. Western reporters are looking at the packing crates and noticing they bear the label of the Qatari Defense Ministry. Finally, President Obama is meeting today with the Emir of Qatar.

And there is more good news. The leaders of France, Britain, and America made a joint statement that the Libyan No-Fly Zone will stay in place until Gaddafi is gone, implying that these three powers have finally agreed that regime change is the ultimate goal of the NATO mission in Libya. This is a big step up for Obama and (for now at least) reflects a move away from his effort to save ObamaCare by giving up on the Long War. We are probably seeing Hillary Clinton exerting influence over the President.

The Pentagon has just executed the most demanding test yet of its Aegis anti-missile defense system. The test was a monster success. This system is designed specifically to deter Iranian missiles. So even though Iran has made big gains because of America's recent foreign policy wobbles, these gains can be countered by super-advanced US technology, which Iran can't do anything about. This might strengthen America's allies, who will only step up if they have superpower backing. Raytheon (RTN) is the primary contractor for this technology.

There is plenty of bad news too. North Sudan and South Sudan are mobilizing their armies into position across the rough border between the two in a move that looks a lot like the resumption of the Sudanese Civil War. This is another example of American authority over its allies ebbing away. The power vacuum that results from US authority continuing to slip will be filled by warfare. Or think of it this way: the default position of the planet if the mono-polar world order evaporates is not peace, it is war. If America were to continue to wobble in the Libya War, then N. Sudan and S. Sudan would surely restart their nearly century old war. As I've said many times, this war is what started the Long War, and its resumption would be very bad. Maybe that won't happen if Obama continues to listen to Hillary. Let's hope he does.