Thanks, (I should have figured that out!)

A couple of interesting articles have been posted on the J7 forum thread (linked above).

'What’s Really Going On In Libya?' by Alexander Cockburn mentions the Libyan central bank & another article, 'Financial Heist of the Century', mentions Libya's Sovereign Wealth Funds.

Golem, I am sure you are aware of the The Berlin to Baghdad Railway. This appears to have been one of the main reasons for the commencement of the WW1 hostilities – to thwart the completion of the railway.

You can find my email in my profile.

Where can I get your e-mail?

A collection of articles on Libya & Gaddafi is on the J7 forum here.

very interesting article. I am not a Libya expert. But I have been looking at Cote D'Ivorie and feel there is something not kosher about what we are being told there. I'm not usre how far I'll get looking in to it but I'm interested. It seem the scramble for resources distorts everything that gets reported.

Please drop me an email if there are other references you think I should be aware of.

Were the 'black Aficans' murdered in Libya(a story that galvanised the 'war effort'):
a) Pro-Gaddafi oil workers ? or
b) Gaddafi's 'Mercenaries' ?

Answer a) would tend towards your excellent research, Answer b) is the hot-dipped/official line that we were sold.

Gaddafi has many followers from pan-Africa. Gaddafi's philosophy was set out in his 'Green Book', published in 1975 (& foreworded/ghostwritten by the late Pierre Salinger, US journalist & President John F Kennedy's press secretary……)

"These are the Africans who are fighting to defend Qaddafi and the gains of the Libyan revolution to their death if need be. It is not unlike what happened when internationalist battalions came to the aid of the revolutionary forces against Franco’s fascist forces in Spain."

Thanks for a great blog, Golem

But I thought this comment about Eqypt's position was quite illuminating:

"Egypt risks becoming “a pariah of an investment destination,” said Jeff Chowdhry, the London-based head of emerging-market equities at F&C, which oversees about $163 billion worldwide. “If they value foreign investment in their stock market, they should get that market open immediately and take off any restrictions in terms of having too cumbersome administrative requirements.”"

The full report is at http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-06/egypt-gdrs-slide-as-bourse-debacle-threatens-pariah-status.html

didn't know about the two finds you mention Interesting.

Two interesting facts to add to your very well researched article. A large field of very heavy oil has recently been found in North Sea and a potentially huge gas field found in Kurdistan in Iraq. The latter if it is developed quickly would be very significant for European supplies and the current near Russian monopoly.

We're on the brink aren't we? The pendulum is almost at it's highest point and we're entering that instantaneous moment of zero acceleration before it swings back the other way.

The greivances and bloodied noses from today's minor resource scraps will fuel the wars of tomorrow. Wars that will be fought in our name for their benefit.

The need to reassert our own democratic self-determination is more urgent than ever.