Rattlesnake Ridge 
BFF
“Graffiti and billboards here tell a tale of dashed hopes and an uncertain future in a nation divided between Moammar Kadafi’s tenacious regime in western Libya and the fragile rebel government-in-waiting in the east. The graffiti that proclaimed “Game over” for Kadafi in February and spoke longingly of freedom have faded in the scorching summer sun. Gone are rebel billboards that once blared “No foreign intervention!” Now billboards warn rebel gunmen to stop firing their weapons into the air because ammunition is precious and, as the image of a distressed baby attests, it terrifies families. Frayed posters still thank NATO nations for airstrikes and sea and air embargoes, but the rebel leadership is growing impatient with unfulfilled promises of cash payments and with NATO’s failure to topple Kadafi. The enthusiastic daily rallies that once clogged streets and sent tracer fire into the night skies are gone………..”
The Libyan civil war is at a stalemate, for now. Even with Nato airplanes and advisers, the rebels in Benghazi seem unable to tilt the existing balance. There was another civil war some seventy years ago, when a European country was divided: one side attracted volunteers of democracy advocates, the other side attracted the dark forces of Nazism and Fascism. The Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, helped the fascist Falangist forces under General Franco . Franco won the civil war but was smart or lucky enough to remain ‘neutral’ during World War II.
This is not to compare Nato to the Germans of 1936, but there is some superficial similarities. Many Western volunteers, from Europe and the United States, fought with the democratic (Republican) side in Spain. Of course the Qaddafi side is not exactly democratic, and is led by a nasty dictator and his family.
Cheers
mhg
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