the Russian have an interesting - and arguably correct take on it
NATO military machine stuck in Libya sand: Voice of Russia
What everyone KNOWS, but no-one is prepared to actually SAY
"NATO military machine stuck in Libya sandBoris Volkhonsky, senior research fellow, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies:
The statement made by top naval officer of Great Britain, Admiral Stanhope, should be looked at in a wider context, because we can see that the United States is really reluctant to go on with the whole operation, with several congressmen filing a lawsuit against President Obama and demanding for total withdrawal from Libya.
What is most striking in the whole situation, and that statement by Admiral Stanhope shows it very obviously, is that the whole military machine of NATO has proved to be unable to topple rather relatively weak regime of a small country like Libya.
I am not speaking about the rebels who make more noise than do anything, but you see that the whole military machine has been launched against Libya for almost three months by now and with little or even no effect except for casualties among the civilians, and no military results, no success is looming.
This shows that NATO without United States or even with limited participation of the United States is capable of doing nothing at all. And whether it will result in total withdrawal of Great Britain from the operation is a big question. As we see political leadership of the country thinks to be determined to go on with the operation, but the military force may be no better."
"