While Gaddafi's political prisoners have been released, their places have been taken by up to 7,000 new "enemies of the state", "disappeared" in a dysfunctional system, with no recourse to the law.

There are no calls by Egyptian revolutionaries for Western military intervention because they are dying because of it; their enemy is using Western arms, so they are hardly likely to demand more of it.

Libya looks like an excellent investment for the UK: $500 million spent bombing the country for six months could bring British business a return of $300 billion putting it back together again.

The reality is that the world's superpowers did not remove Gaddafi because it was the right thing to do, but because he had outlived his usefulness to them.

The Syrian opposition is calling for a NATO no-fly zone but, says George Galloway, "no-flying" means lots of flying and bombing by us of the people down below.

Corporations from America, Britain and France are leading the gold rush for easy pickings from the ruins caused by 10,000 NATO air strikes that destroyed much of Libya's infrastructure.

Western leaders are breathing a sigh of relief that Gadaffi has been killed, not least Tony Blair and Nicolas Sarkozy whose relationship with the Libyan dictator stinks of corruption.

What the Libyan tragedy has brutally hammered home is that foreign intervention doesn't only strangle national freedom and self-determination – it doesn't protect lives either.

The blatant hypocrisy of "democratic intervention" in Libya, coupled with US support for brutal dictatorships throughout the world, is not considered a legitimate issue for discussion in our political culture.

There's a new sheriff in town, NATO. Those who resist will be publicly humiliated in the most primitive way and then killed. And it's not just leaders who will be punished.

Far from the west conquering all, it is deep in the mire of war. The gloating over Gadaffi should not become an excuse for further interventions that will only spread the carnage further.

Torture, emergency laws, mass arrests, a ban on public protest, curfews and delayed elections: this is what Egypt's generals mean by protecting democracy.

While in the 19th century they justified empire by claiming they were taking up the 'white man's' burden' of 'civilizing' the rest of the world, today they talk the language of human rights and democracy.

John Pilger says US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks disclose the west's panic over Gaddafi's refusal to hand over the greatest source of oil in Africa and his overtures to China and Russia.

For years, Britain's secret services denied any complicity in the rendition operations mounted by the US after 9/11, and the subsequent torture of the victims. They were lying.

When everyone was best pals with Gadaffi, Tony Blair came to Libya with the famous smile and a pocket full of deals, including a communications system which could now be keeping Gadaffi safe.