I awoke to the news that mad Gaddafi is dead. I would have preferred him to stand trial (a fair trial that is) but I understand why they put the old dog down. I went right off him when cocktails with the captain on board HMS Cumberland were called off at the last minute because the ship was diverted from Bodrum to Libya to evacuate foreign nationals. There was no rum punch or frigging in the rigging for us. It was enough to make me want to topple a dictator. As the Arab spring rolls into winter will Assad be next? I hope so. But, what of the medieval monarchs and mad mullahs in the rest of the Middle East? Their iron grip is likely to hold a while yet.
I wish all Libyans, Tunisians and Eqyptians genuine democracy, pluralism, secularism and respect for individual rights. Will I be holding my breath? Probably not.
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Perking the Pansies 
I agree with your final paragraph totally… Don’t forget the Syrians and the Yemenis. I wrote a blog post about them all. Their struggle is so desperate and hard. And I have to concede… I am glad Gaddafi is dead. I have heard enough horror stories about his rule (from Libyans) to know that he was not only mad, but also (and George W loved this word, so I use it cautiously) – plain evil.
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Nicely stated. I wish all involed either in the Jasmine Revolution or the Arab Sprin a peaceful resolve. One that actually involves rights, equality and fairness to all. I think we’ve seen enough of the iron fist.
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. . don’t get me going this early Jack 😀 we would be better dealing with the medieval monarchs and mad mullahs in Western Imperialist capitals and fundamentalist religious churches. Gaddafi was not a nice chap – just don’t believe most of the crap coming from controlled western media – go check out the facts. Libya was not a popular uprising!
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And what of Syria?
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again, not a nice regime, but a lot better than some of the West’s other allies in the region. It’s value lies not in oil and gas but in location. This, like Libya is not a popular uprising but is contrived. Understanding the stated policies of fragmentation and Balkanising of the Middle East espoused by Washington helps – they actually published their strategy and named the countries that they intended to destabilise – only 2 left to go now!
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I strongly disagree with Alan over Libya.
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I would have liked to have seen a trial, would have wanted to get to the truth about Lockerbie. I think it is too soon to call what the legacy of these uprisings is going to be.
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Frigging in the rigging has me going. Agree with thoughts above. Not much talk in the U.S. about the major Turkish construction industry over in Libya pre “uprising.” A friend’s Istanbul-based ad agency depended largely on $$ from that arena…and has been decimated. No wonder Erdogan was over there so fast. Can’t wait to see how the rest of all of this unfolds re: Turkish-Libyan relations.
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A really insightful comment. I’d forgotten how well Turkey was doing. Will they still be in favour with the new regime?
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A really good question. I presume Erdogan was over there trying to curry favor…so much of the capital from those companies was left in Libya at the start of the ‘uprising’ so I imagine they will want it back…and no time to get lira out of the banks, etc. Who knows! Waiting to see!
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Turkey has difficulties with the Kurds at the moment, though. What’s with that? What is the problem?
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I’ve slightly modified your comment. I hope you don’t mind. We iin Turkey, have to be careful what we say about certain situations. The Kurdish issue is one of them.
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Oh Lord! You are censored, then. Sorry about that!
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Not censored per se. I’m just careful what I publish about the Turkish Government. Sorry!
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