We seem to be involved in firing missiles at Libya

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

Bloody hell.

Because I am dim and seem to have lived under a rock, can someone please give me a synopsis?

I guess it is needed for a no-fly zone. I have no idea where this will lead. While clearly the Libyan government need to go, will this do it? or will it make things a whole lot worse?

I think the world just got a bit more scary.

Can I try and sum it up (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

Libyans have finally got sick of Gadaffi and started protesting a few weeks ago (like Egypt).

Gadaffi is a maniac so won't go and is using the army to butcher everyone into submission. (ie: not like Egypt)

Libya has oil and I assume we are going into to ensure we can still get it .

Am I right?

I'm not totally sure what's going on myself. Are we now at war with Libya? Because...fuck.

it does summarise it pretty well meglet, though I'm not sure whether oil is a concern. Libya isnt a huge oil player and by going in we may be risking our oil interests in bigger players.

Eartquakes,tsunamis,nuclear reactors leaking radiation and firing missiles at Mad Dog Ghaddafi....is the World about to end???????????

Earthquakes

Oh dear.What I mean't was now we are firing missiles at Ghaddafi,not the nuclear reactors firing them,lol.Anyhow its all quite scary and I feel an REM song coming on "It's the end of the world as we know it..." (Decides to break alcohol free weekend and go to buy )

Are we in the air? News 24 said action in the air sea and on the ground. France in the air and us subs firing from the sea so are we on the ground? Is that why Cameron looks so worried? All seems v confused

110 missiles fired according to beeb 24.

Fuck.

It's not the end of the world, don't be silly. How many times have we dropped bombs on another country in the past 100 years? Loads...

For background, you might like to look at these threads:

No fly zone approved

Is military action to help another country ever the right thing to do

Egypt v Libya - is the only difference oil?

The world does seem a crazier place at the moment what with natural disasters and uprising in several countries.
What I don't like is that we always seem to be the more vocal country at these UN things. Can't someone else take the lead on this one!

saw the plane shot out to the sky all over bbcnews this morning

America are in the lead, as always

It's being done to back up the UN resolution on the matter

They've said "no boots on the ground", but air patrols have started (and you have to destroy hostile air defence systems to patrol effectively and safely), and there has also been talk of a naval blockade.

Of course oil is a concern.

If it wasn't we would do nothing - a bit like what we've done with Mugabe and Zimbabwe.

Or is the more applicable comparison Yemen? I saw a report on SKY which said that more civilians have been killed in suppression of demonstrations there than in Libya.

Right, after brief googling:

In late 2010, a guy sets himself on fire, which sparked the Jasmine revolution, whic basically resulted in the stepping down of the President Ali.

Egypt, seeing the success of this, also rose up to get more freedom in its laws and Mubarak was forced out as President and te country was handed over to the army.

Now Libya is trying to do the same? And we recognise Jalil as the leader but there is half the country actually ruled by Gadaffi and he is being very aggressive taking over what the bits he doesnt currently control?

So we are going in to help Jalil protect his country?

Is that right?

But I think that this action might actually jeopardise oil more than us ignoring him. We risk upsetting saudi. If we turn a blind eye then the saudi protestors may lose heart thus stabilising the situation in saudi which is a much bigger oil player than libya. therefore I think for once it isnt about oil.

but middle east politics is def not a strong point of mine so I could be totally wrong!

The effect of current military action is likely to be the freezing of the current demarcation lines between Ghadaffi and rebel held parts of Libya. What happens next is anyone's guess.

Sorry,its just there has been an awful lot of upheaval both manmade and by nature in the last few weeks!