[BRIEF NOTE] On nudge-nudge, wink-wink condemnations of the Libya no-fly zone

[rfmcdonald]

Siberian Light's Andy made the point with his post "Medvedev Rebukes Putin Over Libya".

After Putin’s comments that the UN Security Council resolution was “deficient and flawed… reminiscent of a medieval call for a crusade” I was all set to come back to my desk and write an angry post about how two-faced and cowardly the Russian Government’s response to the crisis in Libya has been.

But then Medvedev, the Russian President and technically Putin’s boss, intervened in spectacular style.

“It is absolutely inexcusable to use expressions that in effect lead to a clash of civilizations – such as ‘crusades,’ and so on – that is unacceptable,” Medvedev said.

“Russia did not exercise [the veto power] for one reason: I do not consider this resolution to be wrong. Moreover, I believe that this resolution generally reflects our understanding of what is going on in Libya.”

[. . .]

The US and European powers have always made clear that the first step in establishing any no-fly zone is to establish air superiority. It doesn’t mean just waiting until a Libyan airplane takes off and trying to shoot it down. It means destroying the Libyan air force’s command and control facility, allowing them to patrol freely over Libya.

And, more, Russia knew that “all necessary measures… to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack” meant bombing Libyan military on the ground, and again, their command and control centres, which would be located in cities.

You can argue all you want about whether the UN resolution is a good one or not. But the fact is, Russia knew that this is what the US, France and UK were going to do. They knew exactly what would happen once the resolution was passed, and they still didn’t vote against the resolution.

In other words, Russia was not opposed to what was about to happen.

The position of the Arab League and its member-states vis-a-vis the no-fly zone--first asking for it, then saying they didn't want that kind of no-fly zone--is somewhat similar, save that it seems understood that the mouthing of concern over the attack on Libya that these states had enabled is all politics and nothing that they've exceptional issues with.