the backlash against Regime Change being facilitated by outside forces is never going to happen again, if the UN is involved .. the left in Australia are still demanding PM John Howard face War Criminal charges

Sorry, love to help, but in the face of being held up as an international pariah for helping people get rid of a dictator, no one is going to show

I feel sorry for the people of Libya, but when they get done with Ghadafi, at least it will have been done by them alone and it will be their country with no one to compensate .. if they can't get it done, so be it

the liberal elements make it clear that even if they support something now, they will only turn on it in the future, when it suits them

they must be overjoyed to see people being slaughtered by their leader, much like Iraqis were, regularly

let's see if Obama has the courage to step in with more then a stern letter .. where's President George W when you need a strong character eh?

Despite heartfelt televised pleas for help from a population under brutal attack from mercenaries and clear photo and narrative evidence of crimes against humanity, the world is paralysed from taking necessary action by a professional intervention force to end the bloodshed. This obsentity has so much to do with the broken, out-dated structure of the UN's Security Council and General Assembly.

The present structure of the UN is decades overdue for a major overhaul. Russia and China consistently exercise their veto power to protect the world's worst mass murderers. Why so? Lest the precedent of global accountability is strengthened, justifying international intervention being taken against the killers of protesters and dissidents.

How can this problem be fixed? Would a rule change work?

A new Security Council could be composed only from UN representatives that have been directly elected to their positions in UN conducted elections. A Chinese Security Council member could easily have the numbers - but a freely elected member is likely to have a very different outlook to the current appointee from the Peoples Republic.

Clearly undemocratic regimes should not be given veto power over democratic people. If the UN's rules begin to reflect this fundamental principle of good governance, then dictatorships everwhere will be living on borrowed time, not just those in the middle east.

What and replace Gadaffi with another despot called the USA so they can own their oil like Iraq? Bush was going to free Iraqis from the terrible despot Saddham whom they created.

We cannot trust the corporate controlled Govts in the West to save anyone.They are totally corrupt.

Be a good chance for israel to eliminate gidaffe and gain a friend.

579 Israel controls the USA.This will be a frying pan fire scenario for Lybia.

Maybe it is time, as 579 says, for Israel to do its bit. The Israelis have a track record for being quick, efficient and ruthless. Here's an opportunity to flex muscle against a despised enemy from whom even the Muslim community is distancing itself.

That said, if the international community has a responsibility to protect, the Libyans should be taking a number. There are plenty of regimes that have been systematically destroying, suppressing and neglecting their constituents for decades now. If we were serious about our responsibility to act, we would have some very busy military services for some time. But, as Chomsky points out, this could be a form of Western imperialism. Who makes the judgement against a government? Who decides what action should be taken? If we wait for the UN General Assembly or even the Security Council to act, Gadaffi will have died of natural causes before we civilised ones lift a finger.