The Coalition of The Unwilling……
“I’m not convinced we have much of a strategy or goals,” said Jan Techau, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Brussels and former NATO defense analyst, said by telephone. “Our own set-up and lack of a real plan is more worrying than a backlash in the Arab world, which so far isn’t happening.”    Norway said it is keeping its fighters grounded until there is clarity on the chain of command as France, the U.K. and allies including Turkey and the Arab states struggled to agree on whether NATO should guide the operation.    “The biggest obstacle to the Libyan intervention right now isn’t the Arab world but rather differences among France, the U.K. and the U.S. about who’s in charge,” said Techau.

The option of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization taking charge of military operations may hinge in part on the extent of reservations expressed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Dialogue with the Libyan regime must continue, the premier said today in a speech to his party in parliament. Turkey has doubts over whether military intervention is justified, he said.

Turkey has assumed diplomatic functions in Libya on behalf of the U.S., U.K., Italy and Australia at their request, Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal said today.   The Turkish embassy in Tripoli, which played a key role in negotiating the release of foreign journalists held in custody by Libyan forces, agreed to perform consular and diplomatic functions for the four nations after they closed their missions, Unal said in a telephone interview today.

U.S. Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said Spain, Belgium, Denmark and Qatar have joined the coalition. The U.S., the U.K., France, Italy and Canada have at least 25 ships off the coast of Libya, including the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and the Italian carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Obama and other alliance leaders, including U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, have declared that their political objective is to force Qaddafi from power after more than four decades. Ham said it is “possible” the Libyan dictator would remain in power for some time.

China today called for an immediate cease-fire in the North African country. The United Nations resolution authorizing the military action was meant to “protect the safety of civilians,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a briefing in Beijing today.  “The military actions taken by relevant countries are causing civilian casualties,” Jiang said. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday described the allied offensive as a “crusade.”