By: Jerry Okungu Finally, the forces bent on toppling the strongman of Libya have entered Tripoli. With two of his sons reportedly captured by rebels, it is only a matter of time before the rebels lay their hands on the strongman himself.
Of all the regimes that have been toppled in Africa in the last three decades, perhaps Gaddafi’s was the most entrenched and most difficult to dislodge. Having ruled with an iron fist for 42 years — which he deftly laced with charisma, arrogance and showmanship, Gaddafi became an unshakable institution unto himself.
Gaddafi was Libya and Libya was Gaddafi. Libyan oil money was his personal wealth.
With oil dollars in his pockets, he dazzled and mesmerized fellow heads of state in Africa making many of them literally eat from his palms. Time and time again, he bankrolled almost every AU summit in various capitals when the host country was cash strapped and could not bear the shame of hosting his peers.
When Gaddafi landed in any African country be it South Africa, Ghana, the Gambia, Uganda or Sudan, the colonel was the man of the hour. His entry was always delayed for maximum effect. He would come in dressed in flowing robes befitting his pet dream of becoming the King of Kings. His entourage, consisting of well trained and armed female body guards was equally ruthless; no one dared stand in the King’s way.
In a way King Gaddafi tried his best to imitate the way American presidents behave when they visit Third World countries. For the American presidential security detail, there is hardly any distinction between an African president and an ordinary public spectator. I saw it in Abuja when Clinton arrived there in 2000 on his first state visit soon after Obasanjo was elected the first civilian president in decades. The American Marines were so arrogant and intimidating such that the equally arrogant Nigerian security drew their guns warning that unless they backed down and played second fiddle in security arrangements then they were ready to call off the visit. The Americans backed down.
While on the same trip; Clinton visited Tanzania and specifically Arusha. Why he did so I cannot remember but it must have been some peace memorandum between either warring Sudanese or belligerent Somalis. When he landed, a number of IGAD presidents had gathered to meet him. Some of them were not even allowed to get closer to him, let alone greet him. It was America’s arrogance or was it their insecurity at its best?
A few years ago, I had the privilege to attend a number of AU meetings in Addis Ababa, Accra and Banjul. While in Banjul in 2006, Gaddafi arrived in a plane load full of white stretch limousines manufactured in America. These Limos were all offloaded in Senegal so that the King of Kings would snake his way in to the Gambian capital in style. As the convoy moved along, he stopped at every village market and dished out petro dollars to poor Africans along the way. Meanwhile his team of bodyguards and publicity handlers had combed the city for security detail as they splashed the entire city with Gaddafi’s life-size portraits. Any tourist visiting Banjul at the time could be forgiven for thinking that Gaddafi was the Gambian head of state or better still, he was running for election in that country.
I remember him making a grand entrance later in the day having missed the opening ceremony during the APRM forum when Rwanda and Kenya were being peer-reviewed. Instead of coming to sit in the hall, his aim was to attract media attention and disrupt the proceedings. No head of state raised a finger as far as I can remember.
During the same summit, he refused occupy one of the villas he had built for visiting heads of state on behalf of the Gambian president. Instead, he chose open ground and pitched tent like the Bedouin that he was. The following year, he threw tantrums at the AU Accra Summit over the seating arrangement. He insisted that he must sit alone in an enclosed area, far away from any other head of state. When John Kufuor of Ghana declined to grant him his request, Gaddafi stormed out and went to address university students at one of Accra’s campuses.
Gaddafi’s arrogance knew no limits. When his dream of forming the United States of Africa with him as the first Head of State failed, he hit the roof. This was despite having bribed many heads of state to vote in his favour. When he realized that fellow heads of state were not with him, he gathered traditional leaders across the continent, made them kings and forced them to declare him King of Kings!
Of all fallen despots of the continent, Gaddafi’s fall must have been the most painful of them all for Gaddafi. His pomp and glory could not be matched by Emperor Bokassa, Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak, Idi Amin, Joseph Mobutu and Sani Abacha before him. He was the mightiest of them all and when his time came, he surely fell from grace to grass. The question to ask is this: Will the King of kings allow his enemies to capture him and try him publicly like his comrade Hosni Mubarak of Egypt or Ben Ali of Tunisia? Or, will he commit suicide like Adolf Hitler? Only time will tell.
MY PERSONAL PLEA TO MEN (ESPECIALLY BLACK MEN) OVER PROSTATE CANCER:
In May, 2011 — I was diagnosed with prostate cancer at an advanced stage. Because this disease comes like a ‘thief in the night,‘ it is imperative that all men get regular medical examinations. The price you pay for failing to go for regular prostate exams — is shock and devastation. — Jerry Okungu.
Gaddafi has always supported revolutionary movements around the world. When the media – in the service of the U.S. – praised the apartheid regime South Africa, young Gaddafi in Libya trained and sent them back with the best weapons to win freedom in South Africa. Gadhafi wrote the Green Book, the Third Universal Theory, which deals with controversial and real issues. He complains, for example, about the falsification of democracy through parliamentary assemblies. In most countries that consider themselves democratic, including the United States of America, political parties are organized criminal gangs to loot the people’s money in legislative assemblies, City Councils, House of Representatives, etc.
By: Antonio Cesar Oliveira
How can you call someone a dictator a leader who overthrew a corrupt monarchy, modernized the country, won the highest HDI in Africa, and applied a direct democracy system of government?
Gaddafi has always supported revolutionary movements around the world. When the media – in the service of the U.S. – praised the apartheid regime South Africa, young Gaddafi in Libya trained and sent them back with the best weapons to win freedom in South Africa.
Suddenly the press began a daily attack on the leader Muammar Gaddafi, to distill hatred, spreading lies, forging videos for what? What does it prove? The crimes of the Libyan government? Apparently this journalistic line was caused by popular uprisings in Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt.
In fact, it is more a question of one more terrorist strategy of the government of the United States of America to recover influence in the Arab world. In Egypt, the government fell in U.S. confidence. Mubarak was merely an agent of U.S. and Israel interests in the region. With the fall of Mubarak, Iranian ships began to circulate in the vicinity of Israel, causing unease and anger in the diplomatic environments subservient to imperialism and Zionism.
After losing Egypt, the U.S. government tries to divide and weaken Libya, and this effort receives support from the supporters of Bin Laden, and thousands of Egyptian refugees that over the years have taken refuge in eastern Libya, fleeing the repression in Egypt. After the Egyptians came Algerians, Tunisians and Somalis, followers of Al Qaeda. They enjoyed the hospitality of the Libyans and then the next thing they stabbed them in the back, triggering a revolt that has left tens of victims, through sabotage, terrorism and destruction of public property.
But who is this Qaddafi that the media suddenly started to attack in all forms, and even in a most cowardly form? Gaddafi led a revolution to overthrow King Idris, a puppet of Italian and American interests in the region. At the time, the largest U.S. military base abroad was in Libya, Qaddafi and his supporters surrounded the base and gave 24 hours for all invading foreigners to leave the country.
In power, Gaddafi did not like the Arab monarchs, did not build palaces with gold, not buy luxury yachts or collections of imported cars. He devoted himself to rebuilding the country, ensuring better living conditions for the people. Today Qaddafi is not president or prime minister of Libya, but the media wants him to resign a post which does not exist.
The lies of the media cannot hide the fact that Gaddafi has supported the struggles of peoples for liberation in Nicaragua, Cuba, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa and many other countries, specifically concretely helping the people who fought for liberation. In practice, Gaddafi has always been a benefactor of mankind, but for the mercenary media, a benefactor is one who creates wars in search of profits for the arms industry or to dominate the world, as were the wars created by the U.S. in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, El Salvador, Nicaragua and many other countries.
This utterly ridiculous gossip of wealth and strange customs have always been exploited by the media, it was with Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat, Fidel Castro, Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez and etc. It is enough to be a serious ruler that does not seriously kneel down and cower in fear before the United States and is not intimidated to be demonised and disparaged by the mercenary media.
Another fact that the media cannot falsify is the HDI (Human Development Index) measured by UN officials. These data indicate, for example, that Libya had in 1970, a situation a little worse than Brazil (HDI of 0.541, against 0.551 of Brazil.) The Libyan index surpassed the Brazilian years later, and in 2008 was well ahead: 0.810 (ranked 43rd), compared to 0.764 (ranking 59th). All three sub-indices that comprise the HDI is higher in the African country: income, longevity and education.
In the HDI recast the difference remains. Libya is ranked the 53rd (0.755) and Brazil 73rd (.699). Libya is the country with the highest HDI in Africa. Therefore, the best distribution of income, and health and public education are free. And almost 10% of Libyan students receive scholarships to study in foreign countries.
So what kind of dictatorship is this? A dictatorship would never allow this kind of policy for the benefit of the people.
Gadhafi wrote the Green Book, the Third Universal Theory, which deals with controversial and real issues. He complains, for example, about the falsification of democracy through parliamentary assemblies. In most countries that consider themselves democratic, including the United States of America, political parties are organized criminal gangs to loot the people’s money in legislative assemblies, City Councils, House of Representatives, etc.
This observation – and a book in publication – certainly irritate and anger them? The defenders of parliamentary democracy? The Green Book, written by Gaddafi, says that workers should be involved and self-employed, and that the land must be of those who work it and those who live in the house. And power shall be exercised by the people directly, without intermediaries, without politicians, through popular congresses and committees, where the whole population decides the fundamental issues of the district, city and country. These words, which everyone knows are true, revolt and irritate those few who benefit from the falsification of democracy, especially the capitalist regimes.
But the press will keep on on forging the news, boiling hatred by spreading lies, because it is following orders from the U.S. government, very interested in the large oil reserves of Libya.
Major newspapers and television channels in the world use news agencies from the United States, all biased, misleading and deceptive. The lies that the news agencies sell buy public opinion, and most people? By naivete or misinformation they behave like puppets, repeating whatever the U.S. government determines and imposes.
This is not the first nor will it be the last, the Libyan Arab people face powerful foreign powers. Again the Libyan people will win, because they have the leadership of Muammar Qaddafi, an effective, strong and honorable guide.
In a rare interview with Western journalists in January 1986, only months before the U.S. terrorist bombing of Libya, the Leader of the Revolution spoke frankly about his life and how he had been misunderstood by the West. Meeting the journalists in his tent he told of how he admired former US Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and of other world leaders he admires like “Egypt’s late Gamal Abdul Nasser, India’s Mahatma Gandhi, Sun Yat-Sen of China and Italy’s Garibaldi and Mazzini.” (Really, I’m a Nice Guy, Kate Dourian, Tripoli, Libya.)
He spoke of his favourite book The Outsider by British author Colin Wilson and others he likes such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Roots. Throughout this interview the profound thinking and innate humanity of Muammar Qadhafi shone through.
He also stated in another interview: “I see the press as being the messengers between me and the world to tell them the truth.”
The aggression against Libya that began in the late evening on Saturday continues. NATO forces dominated by the Americans, British and French continue rocket and bomb attacks on Libyan territory under the framework of the operation Odyssey Dawn.
This did not come as a surprise to anyone. The West’s plan to overthrow Gaddafi by the opposition has failed, and the countries of the “golden billion” directly started the aggression. They point out that the operation was sanctioned by the UN. Russia and China have abstained, and now the West is trying to use it in their interests. However, it is important to mention that the Security Council imposed a no-fly zone over Libya and did not sanction the bombing of that country.
It is no accident that secretary general of the Arab League Amr Moussa spoke against Operation Odyssey Dawn. According to him, the West’s actions did not match the originally stated goal of a no-fly zone and protection of the civilians.
The question arises as to why the Western powers that talk about peace for the Libyan people allegedly bombed by Gaddafi are destroying this peace themselves? Currently Tripoli has claimed there were 64 victims of the aggression, most of whom are women and children.
Numerous sources, including health care workers from Russia working in Libya, confirm this information. In particular, they point out that one of the cruise missiles struck the building of a hospital in Tripoli. This is not surprising as NATO high-precision weapons have already shown its effectiveness against civilian targets in Yugoslavia and bomb shelters in Iraq.
As in the case of an attack on Iraq and Yugoslavia, Libya faced several opponents. Western powers do not act one by one, which is not surprising, because the golden billion countries have the same goal – prosperity by robbing all the others and, above all, through obtaining cheap raw materials.
Yet, this time the attack had new elements. The French were the first ones to attack Libya. They are the most zealous of all the other participants of the aggression. In his desire to punish the “dictator oppressing his own people” Sarkozy’ has surpassed even the Americans.
What is going on? We can certainly admit that he was angry over the fact that Gaddafi has recently refused to buy his fighter Rafale, opting for the Russian Sukhoi Su-35. According to various sources, the deal amounted to half a billion dollars. However, this is not the only explanation of the unexpected cooling of Sarkozy towards the colonel who was earlier welcomed by Paris as the dearest guest.
Experts Sergey Demidenko and Sergei Fedorov shared their thoughts in an interview with Pravda.ru.
Sergei Fedorov, a senior research fellow with the Institute of Europe, an expert on France: “It is no accident that Sarkozy has turned against al-Gaddafi. In recent years, the French public opinion has been strongly critical of his policies toward North African regimes. This is happening not only in relation to Gaddafi, whom Sarkozy heavily courted for signing of arms and oil deals, but also Tunis Ben Ali and Mubarak of Egypt. Many in France were greatly interested in things like the reasons of his purchasing a luxurious mansion in Egypt, or why Sarkozy until the last moment has supported Ben Ali and how he and his ministers have benefited from this?
The Tunisian affairs of the current French president had cost him dearly. As a result of the scandal concerning relations of his cabinet with Ben Ali a number of ministers, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, had to resign.
After Tunisia and Egypt, the revolt broke out in Libya. It would have looked bad if Sarkozy was reminded of his bowing before Gaddafi. Therefore, for him a small victorious war was a tool to make the public forget about the past. Fortunately, France has more than two centuries of experience as the champion of “liberty, equality and fraternity.” Sarkozy is now appealing to these values, trying to act as a defender of the Libyan population allegedly subjected to genocide by Gaddafi.
Sergey Demidenko, an expert of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Analysis:
“There are a few reasons that made Sarkozy run ahead of the American democratic “locomotive.” First, it is oil and gas. This is not only that the production of Libyan black gold brings huge profits due to low production costs of the types of this resource highly prized in the West. And not only because at this point only a quarter of the geological map of the country has been researched.
The main reason that made the West try to eliminate Gaddafi is the fact that the latter used “oil weapon” for blackmailing purposes. Many European countries are dependent on the Libyan oil and gas, including France.
A year ago, Gaddafi threatened to deny oil to those countries that have been witnessed to disapprove of Islam. Now the policy under the ongoing crisis conditions is not favored by the West.
We must not forget that the Colonel was a difficult negotiator. He signed only the contracts with foreigners that were beneficial for him. However, the West needed the guarantee of uninterrupted supply of oil and gas on more favorable terms than those dictated by Gaddafi.
A rebellion against him was staged. The population generally supported it. That, however, is not surprising: it is enough to say that many preferred to just draw benefits than work. All this prosperity was provided to the people by Gaddafi. For this reason, in some few days his troops have moved the rebels to Benghazi and their protection was the reason for the intervention.
Not by chance, Sarkozy became the main proponent of the intervention. “Democratic society” vigorously criticized his connection with the North African regimes. It appeared as if France, the champion of “liberty, equality and fraternity,” sold out for the money of the African tyrants.
Of particular interest are the former secret backroom dealings between Gaddafi and Sarkozy. The colonel has threatened to make public the facts of him sponsoring his election campaign. For Sarkozy in the present moment it is very, very unpleasant. At any case, so far he was not able to clarify the situation regarding the origin of the $50 million spent additionally. Whatever the case is, he will not forgive Gaddafi certain things.”
For some reason, nobody rushes to strike at Bahrain and Saudi Arabia who are brutally suppressing Shiites riots on their territories and that really documented numerous civilian casualties. Apparently, France, like the U.S., has its own persons who are forgiven everything because the kings of the Persian Gulf have been playing by the rules that suit the West.
Conservatives: “Obama’s policies are the World Cup,” soccer is “a poor man or poor woman’s sport”
Conservative media has declared war on soccer: As the 2010 World Cup goes on in South Africa, conservative media figures have seized the opportunity to attack the tournament and the sport of soccer. They have also used soccer as a proxy to attack President Obama and progressives. [ READ MORE ]
Mafarana Gogos FC — are the footballing grannies of a remote village in the backwoods of Nkowankowa in Limpopo Province. Coach Sam Zulu says that many of the team members used to walk with sticks before the team started, but have now thrown them away and can run 200 metres without resting.
Notes: Pass laws in South Africa were designed to segregate the population and limit severely the movements of the non-white populace. This legislation was one of the dominant features of the country’s apartheid system. The Black population were required to carry these pass books with them when outside their compounds or designated areas. Failure to produce a pass often resulted in the person being arrested. [ READ MORE ]
S.B. 1070 makes it a misdemeanor to lack proper immigration paperwork in Arizona. It also requires police officers, if they form a ‘reasonable suspicion‘ that someone is an illegal immigrant, to determine the person’s immigration status.
Arizona has become a police state of “Apartheid South Africa magnitude,” where those who “look” undocumented are treated differently than the rest of the population.
Racial profiling is now legal in Arizona — and will spread to other “Republican states” pretty quickly. Not that it is new to America, S.B. 1070 just “fattens” the billy club which the likes of Sheriff Joe Arpaio have been wielding for years against minority populations all over America.
President Barack Obama has called the new law “misguided” and has instructed the Justice Department to examine it to see if it’s legal. He added that the failure to enact immigration reform in Washington left the door open to the “irresponsibility by others.”
Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s office said in a statement Saturday that “the Mexican government condemns the approval of the law” and “the criminalization of migration.” It said the law will serve as an obstacle as Mexico and Arizona try to solve the shared problems along the border.
1.What’s the matter with Arizona? — Arizona is “turning into a punch line,” one of the state’s newspapers reported Friday after surveying the latest global commentary about the state featuring choice phrases such as “wingnut paradise,” “nuttiest legislative body,” “America’s dumbest state,” and “blazing a trail into the fringe.” [ READ MORE ]
2.Numerous Fox Newsers embrace and defend racial profiling aspect of AZ immigration law — In recent days, numerous Fox News personalities have voiced support for Arizona’s new controversial immigration law that requires law enforcement to demand immigration papers of those they suspect to be in the country illegally, which many argue will lead to racial profiling. In doing so, these Fox News figures have embraced and defended the law, including the potential for racial profiling, by arguing, among other things, that “people may have to endure some inconvenience.” [ READ MORE ]
Finally, the forces bent on toppling the strongman of Libya have entered Tripoli. With two of his sons reportedly captured by rebels, it is only a matter of time before the rebels lay their hands on the strongman himself. 
The American Marines were so arrogant and intimidating such that the equally arrogant Nigerian security drew their guns warning that unless they backed down and played second fiddle in security arrangements then they were ready to call off the visit. The Americans backed down.
