Has NATO helped create another monster?

A recent article in the New York times makes one wonder whether meddling by NATO in Libya has created another “monster” that we will then told “needs to be slayed” in the coming years (along the lines of Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc.)

There are faint and not so faint echoes of it:

  • “The growing influence of Islamists in Libya raises hard questions about the ultimate character of the government and society that will rise in place of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s autocracy….”
  • “The growing influence of the Islamists is reflected in their increased willingness to play a political role..”
  • “Until recently the Islamists have kept a low profile..”
  • “Most Libyans are quick to bristle at suggestions that their own Islamists might one day go the way of Iran…”
  • “Some are concerned that the Islamists are already wielding too much power, particularly in relation to their support in Libyan society…”
  • “Islamist militias in Libya receive weapons and financing directly from foreign benefactors…”

GOP Nomination Race Takes Surprising Turn

The world of partisan politics was turned upside down last night when Muammar Gaddafi announced he would indeed be seeking the GOP nomination for the 2012 election. A Tripoli straw-poll determined that the Libyan native has already bounded far ahead of Michelle Bachman, but a long way remains ahead for the aging dictator before he can overcome the bases of support for the likes of Romney and Perry.

Questions swirled. When asked whether he supported the U.S. constitution, he replied  “What’s that? I’ve been following the discourse for years and haven’t heard too much about it. Aren’t they revising it or something?”  When asked about his view of American history, Gaddafi responded “The U.S. has a long noble history. Besides the flip-flopping over Libya, I can really relate to a lot of it. I look at the noble way America put down the rebels and I think I can learn a lot.”

When asked who his running mate would be, the fearless leader  just stared for a few minutes and said “Who do you think? Miss America.” When questioned further about who “Miss America” was, he grinned and said “Condie”. When questioned as to the meaning of the rebel discovery of a box of photos of Condoleezza Rice at his compound, he just shrugged and said “I wouldn’t want to have any one run beside me besides my darling black African woman”.

We were unable to contact Rice  for comment.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was saddened that Gaddafi didn’t enter British politics. “We could learn a lot from this man.” On the other hand, President Barack Obama said, “You know, it’s a real shame, I could have given him a pretty high appointment. He has a certain flair.”  Both of them wish Gaddafi all the best.

A group of Gaddafi supporters gathered in St. Paul, Minnesota to express their support for their favorite candidate. When asked why they were voting for him, one replied “He’s really the only candidate that doesn’t make us yawn. And he’s undeniably committed to the fight against terrorist rebels.”

Concerns abound about Gaddafi’s ability to gain the sympathy of the base of Republic voters abound.  Some commentators wonder whether his Arabic heritage, his ostentatious non-suit apparel and his hard to spell plurality of names hurt his chances of courting the American voters.  Gaddafi was dismissive of such thoughts, quipping “Do you think Bachman’s supporters can spell her name?”

Unassociated Press, August 26, 2011

The Best Gaddafi Quotes

Muammar al-Gaddafi is always a good source of entertaining, zany, ridiculous quotes. Sometimes it is that he says things that are flat out wrong. Other times, he says things that are glaringly, slap-in-the-face obvious. Other times he restates things and presents them as if they are different aspects of something, when they are really the same thing.

Here are some favorites:

  • “There is no state with a democracy except Libya on the whole planet.”
  • “Democracy means permanent rule”
  • “No representation of the people-representation is a falsehood. The mere existence of parliaments underlies the absence of the people, for democracy can only exist with the presence of the people and not in the presence of representatives of the people.”
  • “A woman has a right to run for election whether she is male or female”
  • “Women, like men, are human beings. Women are different from men in form because they are females, just as all females in the kingdom of plants and animals differ from the male of their species”
  • “I cannot recognise either the Palestinian state or the Israeli state. The Palestinians are idiots and the Israelis are idiots.”
  • “Another grave historical error is for several religions to remain in existence after Muhammad.”
  • “”Labour in return for wages is virtually the same as enslaving a human being.”
  • “All African nations look up to Libya, all the rulers of the world look up to Libya. Protesters are serving the devil.”
  • “I will stay in Libya till I die or death comes to me.”
  • “If a community of people wears white on a mournful occasion and another dresses in black, then one community would like white and dislike black and the other would like black and dislike white. Moreover, this attitude leaves a physical effect on the cells as well as on the genes in the body.”

Interesting Thoughts on Gaddafi

Eric Margolis has some interesting thoughts on Gaddafi and Libya in this post.

“Gaddafi was never the same after Nasser’s untimely death in 1970. He grew eccentric, then very odd. He styled himself a revolutionary leader, not a head of state.”

“However zany and bizarre, Gaddafi was clever as a fox and had more lives than a cat. He survived many attempts on his life mounted by U.S., British, French and Egyptian intelligence.”

“In 2003, in a brilliant ploy, Gaddafi bought a pile of nuclear junk on the black market, then told Washington he was giving up his nuclear weapons program. The Bush administration fell for this ruse and ended its punishing boycott of Libya, thrilled it could claim a nuclear victory after finding no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”

“Gaddafi is a sad example of the maxim about absolute power corrupting absolutely. People like me who relish political theater of the absurd will miss the ‘Leader;’ but most of his people, I suspect, will not.”

Egyptian Thoughts on Egypt in Revolt

Egyptian Revolution - Man Burning Photo of Mubarak

Egyptian actor and ambassador Mahmoud Kabil to UNICEF  in an interview was quite succinct when he described the role of technology in this uprising:

I think if the Internet, Twitter or Facebook did not exist, we would have another 30 years of Mubarak.

In a Huffington Post article, Egyptian-born American Sahar Taman explains her view of the Egyptian revolution in  My Experience With Egypt’s Central Security Forces.

Here are some excerpts:

“The fundamental problem is decades of life without personal freedoms; the lack of freedom of speech, assembly, association, press, and religion. The government enforced that through menacing”

“Although not always obvious to my American friends, Hosni Mubarak has ruled Egypt with an iron hand for 30 years and public frustration has been mounting.”

“Egypt’s 30 year martial law limits all personal freedoms and Egyptians have never had the right to bear arms. The support for the protests from expatriate Egyptians and other Arabs is enormous and there is a fervor on the ‘Net’ as Egyptians call it. Recognizing the power of the ‘Twitter’ revolution, the government has blocked the country’s Internet and mobile communications.”

“So, it is understandable why Egyptian citizens are on the streets today, braving tear gas and rubber bullets, defying curfews and enduring electronic blackouts. Quite simply, they have seen thirty years of suppression and intimidation, and they have had enough….[they] do not know an Egypt without this oppression. But they want something different. Today many of them are on the streets now demanding the government to ‘Go.’”