| Top of the Agenda: Qaddafi Forces Mount Counter Attack The battle for Libya's future continued as mercenaries and military forces faithful to the nation's beleaguered leader, Muammar al-Qaddafi, staged counter strikes against several rebel-held cities. According to al-Jazeera, fighter jets are reported to have bombed rebel targets in Ajdabiya and Az Zawiyah. Some opposition leaders dismissed the attacks as acts of desperation (NYT), while others were concerned about Qaddafi's continued possession of powerful weapons. According to the UN, the death toll (CNN) from the political violence has topped a thousand. The United States repositioned navy and air force assets (Guardian) around Libya, and British Prime Minister David Cameron requested contingency planning for a “no-fly” zone. However, according to AP, Russia's foreign minister discarded the notion of such a tactic, and said the UN should focus on the sanctions already approved. The U.S. Treasury says it has frozen $30 billion in Libyan assets (BBC)- the largest amount it has ever seized. The U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, called Qaddafi “delusional” following an interview in which he denied the existence of any protests in Tripoli. Analysis: In this article for Foreign Affairs, Frederic Wehrey writes, for decades, the outsized personality of Muammar al-Qaddafi has obscured the many rivalries among Libya's domestic groups, from the tribes to the military. With the Qaddafi era coming to a likely end, how will these actors now vie for supremacy? In this piece for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Marina and David Ottaway suggest that unlike in Tunisia and Egypt, the departure of Qaddafi from Libya will create a political vacuum that could lead to the complete collapse of the Libyan state. In this op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, CFR's Elliott Abrams discusses the historical context of Washington's relationship with the Qaddafi regime. In this opinion piece for the Financial Times, Gareth Evans argues that a no-fly zone will help stop Qaddafi's carnage. Background: The world's attention has been focused on a handful of countries - Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and Libya - since the first popular protests broke out in December. But nearly a dozen countries in the region have seen political unrest, and the protest movement shows no signs of stopping. Al-Jazeera provides a summary of the demonstrations so far, and links to their coverage. In this article for the Brookings Institution, Daniel Kaufmann writes that for years, the international community and experts got Libya wrong, partly as a result of a Faustian bargain between the West and Qaddafi. Multimedia: In this C-SPAN video, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addresses the UN Human Rights Council on the crisis in Libya and status of its government. | 
