For Your Consideration

I can think of two candidates for the next Nobel Peace prize, and they are the heretofore unnamed Libyan Air Force pilots who - when ordered to indiscriminately fire upon their own citizens - opted instead to fly to Malta and defect:

Ali al-Essawi, who stepped down as Libyan ambassador to India, told Al Jazeera TV the situation was desperate.

"People cannot defend themselves against airplane bombings. We need international intervention," he said.

Two senior Libyan Air Force colonels arrived in nearby Malta aboard two fighter jets. They said they had been ordered to bombard protesters from the air but chose instead to defect.

Libya's justice minister also resigned in protest at the "excessive use of violence" against protesters.

Muammar al-Gaddafi is hopefully at the end of his reign. It is a sickenly horrific way to exit, and one hopes he is not allowed to go peacefully, given these atrocities.

May the people of Libya soon know peace and freedom from this unscrupulous dictator.

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EXCLUSIVE: Mubarak's conversation with Obama:

"If I go there will be trouble, If I stay there will be double"



So, go.

Hosni Mubarak, and the world that matters not to him

With time on my hands, I spent the afternoon flipping between Aljazeera English, CNN, CBC Newsworld and CTV Newsnet in between loads of laundry.

At around 4 pm EST, I watched live footage of a pro-Mubarak bus being driven backwards 50 metres or so into a thick throng of helpless non-violent anti-Mubarak demonstrators, all filmed by the CBC from a hotel balcony a few hundred metres away.

The bus rocked up and down, corner to corner as it rolled over the people. I would guess 20 or 30 casualties from that alone. The Egyptian army is standing down. This is a bloody mess:

6:41pm A former general in the Egyptian intelligence services tells Al Jazeera, "I expect the army will act to remove Mubarak from power ... Mubarak is ready to burn the country".
6:37pm Cairo resident tells Al Jazeera that he witnessed police officers trying to bribe porters and security guards in his apartment building. They we...re asked to go and beat up anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square.

Lisa Laflamme sounded scared. A Radio-Canada cameraman got pummelled by the pro-Mubarak thugs. Anderson Cooper and his CNN team, plus Aljazeera English reporters beaten and forced to report from afar. And yet, I was able to tune it out for a couple of hours and get excited at the Habs beating the Panthers. Life in the 21st Century.

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