IRAQ. AFGHANISTAN. LIBYA.

Is the United States and its western allies present military action in Libya really all about 'humanitarian intervention' and an attempt to defend the Libyan liberation forces?

We have to view this interpretation, presently being uncritically expounded by the mainstream media, with a huge amount of scepticism.

If the United States and its western groupies (like New Zealand) are so concerned about humanitarian matters why has there never been any enthusiasm for 'humanitarian intervention' whenever Israel engages in military action in Lebanon or the Palestinian occupied territories?

So while our own Foreign Minister Murray McCully is fully in support of the military action in Libya he didn't show the same enthusiasm for military action when Israel invaded Gaza in 2009. Indeed he refused to condemn the Israeli invasion. McCully's response to the atrocities of the Israeli military was that New Zealand 'wasn't going to take sides'.

Nor has McCully had anything to say about the Bahrain regime violently crushing the democratic movement , with the assistance of a Saudi invasion force.

Two of the Arab states who support the 'humanitarian intervention' are Qatar and the UAE. They joined Saudi Arabia in crushing the resistance in Bahrain.

McCully would endorse the comments of US republican Senator Lindsey Graham owho said last month 'there are regimes we want to change, and those we don’t'.

But its full steam ahead as far as Gadaffi and Libya are concerned.

Gadaffi, like Mubarak in Egypt, was viewed as friend because his regime provided 'regional stability' and presented no threat to western interests

While British fighter jets are now bombing Libyan military installations it was only last year that the Conservative-Lib Dem Government approved the sale of tear-gas, small arms ammunition and crowd-control equipment to the Gadaffi regime.

In the end this 'humanitarian intervention' is yet another exercise in protecting western interests, specifically taking control of Libya's oil resources. Libya is one of the world's richest oil-producing countries.

Significantly, Libya is the first major oil exporter to be directly affected by the protests sweeping the Middle East. And,as we have already seen, the crisis in Libya has had a significant impact on oil prices and this is happening when there is rising demand for oil from developing countries.

Gadaffi should -must - be removed but, if it is to truly benefit the Libyan people, it must be by the way of the democratic revolutions we have seen in Tunisia, and Egypt.

The present western military 'intervention' can only serve to protect the interests of western capital.