SENSATIONAL REPORT OF FRENCH EXPERTS STUDYING LIBYA

Rebellion in Benghazi is the doing of mafia, controlling the traffic of “living stock” to Europe?

Libyan “revolution” that seemingly started within the framework of Arab Spring happened to be a quite different matter. Given all the outward simplicity, Libyan events are different from what happened in Tunisia and Egypt. All of that symbolically matches the context of unique Libyan flag. This is the only one-color flag in the world. It seems to be the utmost simple, which is why it’s the most extraordinary one as well. Situation in Libya is so complicated and unpredictable that a calm autumn doesn’t seem that obvious after a hot Libyan summer.

UNSTABLE DICTATORSHIPS OR A DICTATORSHIP OF INSTABILITY?

News about situation in Arabian countries keeps coming in a terrifying pace. Places where revolutions have already died out still feature the destabilizing processes. The countries where the revolutions are still ripening, however, show the signs of their inevitability. Arabian revolutions cause the distraction even among the so-called political elites — how else can we explain an attempt of Kazakhstan UNESCO representative to hijack the plane travelling from Paris to Rome and send it to Tripoli?

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News about situation in Arabian countries keeps coming in a terrifying pace. Places where revolutions have already died out still feature the destabilizing processes. The countries where the revolutions are still ripening, however, show the signs of their inevitability. Arabian revolutions cause the distraction even among the so-called political elites — how else can we explain an attempt of Kazakhstan UNESCO representative to hijack the plane travelling from Paris to Rome and send it to Tripoli?

Post-Gaddafian Africa. Part II

In the middle of 90s Colonel Gaddafi decided to give up his venturesome-terrorist policy at the African continent and became one of the African Union architects — this Euro-Union-like organization including an entire Africa. On the 9^th of September, 1999 African leaders adopted the declaration on creation of African Union (AU) during the OAU summit in the Libyan city of Sirt. Since the very beginning Gaddafi played the leading role in it. Despite his dubious reputation, he had an unchallenged authority within the AU, having voiced out the general urge of African countries for the equal partnership with the USA, the EU, India and China.

Post-Gaddafian Africa. Part I

Libya has been carrying out utmost active policy in Sahel (part of African continent, lying to the south from Sahara desert) long since. Libyan presence in the region is perceivable in the military, economic, cultural and propagandistic spheres. Numerous countries of this area are closely bound to Libya, while Colonel Gaddafi himself has vast connections at this territory. All the more probable step-down of Libyan Jamahiriya leader would transform the political landscape of Black Continent beyond recognition.

Pragmatic European look upon Libya

Libya is an oriental country from a fairy-tale. In a decade or so one of the poorest African countries and a former pariah of global community has turned into a wealthy state that the top Western powers have been flirting with. While immersing into the revolutionary chaos Libya threatens the European Union, which is afraid of the increased inflow of illegal immigrants.

Arabian revolutions and American democracy

Revolts shattering the foundation of Arabian world have undermined the theoretical grounds of American neoconservatism, which used to be a cornerstone of Bush-Cheney’s foreign-policy. Or should we rather say Cheney-Bush? Dogmatic compliance with that doctrine since 2000 till 2008 resembled the reverent attitude of Soviet leadership to the works of Marx, Engels and Lenin.

In 1979 Jeane Kirkpatrick published her famous essay called “Dictatorships & Double Standards” in Commentary, which editor-in-chief at the moment was Norman Podhoretz — one of the neo-con father-architects. This essay caught an eye of Ronald Reagan, who was impressed by the ideas of 53-year-old “Iron lady” and invited her to his elections staff and afterwards appointed her ambassador to the United Nations. Despite the common opinion, it was Kirkpatrick — not Margaret Thatcher — who was the first woman to be honored with such title. In this essay she denounced U.S. President Jimmy Carter and claimed that he had hustled the Shah of Iran and the leader of Nicaragua — who headed, putting it mildly, not the most democratic regimes ever — out of office. Both Iranian Shah Reza Pahlavi and Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza were far from democratic ideals, yet both were pro-American. The results of their overthrow were disastrous. Friendly authoritarians were gone; true totalitarians were taking over in both places. While authoritarian regimes of the right could mellow over time into democracies, totalitarians ones of the left would not. Anyway, it required "decades, if not centuries," Kirkpatrick observed, for "people to acquire the necessary disciplines and habits" to create a viable democracy.