# Does Qhaddafi have any foreign friends/allies left? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 9, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097 "2011-03-09T22:19:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/1 "2011-03-09T22:19:54Z")
Or is everyone just keeping the money and keeping their mouths shut? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/2 "2011-03-09T22:22:21Z")
Urgh urgh. I realize that his name seems like an invitation to freeform spelling, but QH? (QH is bad. KH is bad. QU is bad. G, Q, K are acceptable. D, single or double, with or without an H for the second consonant is acceptable. Final letter can be a y or an i, doesn’t really matter. Al- prefix optional. That is all.) ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/3 "2011-03-09T22:29:20Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > QH is bad. KH is bad. QU is bad. What part of “transliteration” is confusing you? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/4 "2011-03-09T22:30:30Z")
Daniel Ortega, another blast from the past, has spoken up for him. Not sure if anyone not also targeted by the Reagan administration has come forward to defend him. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/5 "2011-03-09T22:30:59Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > What part of “transliteration” is confusing you? The part where the letters do not correspond to either the written or the pronounced version of his name. This shit is not rocket science. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/6 "2011-03-09T22:43:07Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Urgh urgh. I realize that his name seems like an invitation to freeform spelling, but QH? > > (QH is bad. KH is bad. QU is bad. G, Q, K are acceptable. D, single or double, with or without an H for the second consonant is acceptable. Final letter can be a y or an i, doesn’t really matter. Al- prefix optional. That is all.) Wow, how did you know who I was talking about? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/7 "2011-03-09T22:51:09Z")
I seem to recall that Hugo Chavez of Venezuela fame was recently asking us not to pick on the Col. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/8 "2011-03-09T23:01:36Z")
In honor of **Tom Scud** , I will henceforth refer to him as Kernel Mu-ummr Khedahphy. ETA: I assume his actual title is Muqaddam, which is the Arabic equivalent of a colonel. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/9 "2011-03-09T23:05:16Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > The part where the letters do not correspond to either the written or the pronounced version of his name. This shit is not rocket science. Nonsense - Arabic is a bitch to transliterate. Adding an h is fairly common. Here is ABC News listing of the 112 different ways to spell his name: [http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/09/how-many-different-ways-can-you-spell-gaddafi.html](http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/09/how-many-different-ways-can-you-spell-gaddafi.html) Plenty of Kh and Gh variations in there, and this is before we find that letter to the kids in Minneapolis. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/10 "2011-03-09T23:09:07Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > Here is ABC News listing of the 112 different ways to spell his name: > > [http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/09/how-many-different-ways-can-you-spell-gaddafi.html](http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/09/how-many-different-ways-can-you-spell-gaddafi.html) That makes mine #113. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/11 "2011-03-09T23:09:19Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > The part where the letters do not correspond to either the written or the pronounced version of his name. This shit is not rocket science. No, rocket science is far, far more exact and is far less likely to have multiple answers to one question(admittedly it’s been years since I took Physics for Poets). Anyway, lighten up Francis. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/12 "2011-03-09T23:14:37Z")
The simplest solution would be for some newspaper to just courteously ask him how he wished his name to be spelt in Latin alphabet, and run with it. Too late now. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/13 "2011-03-09T23:39:48Z")
Someone did ask him. He said he didn’t give a shit, as long as they spelled it right in Arabic. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/14 "2011-03-09T23:41:35Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > No, rocket science is far, far more exact and is far less likely to have multiple answers to one question(admittedly it’s been years since I took Physics for Poets). It’s also not particle physics. ---
**Author:** ![Agnostic\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Agnostic\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agnostic_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/15 "2011-03-10T01:11:24Z")
Yes, unfortunately Chavez and Ortega have given words of support, and Chavez putting himself forward as a mediator, but I think that is a personal initiative. The Venezuelan government had condemned Gaddafi. A good [article](http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2011/02/25/latin-americas-sudden-silence-gaddafi) on Gaddafi’s relations with Latin America and their current reactions (as of a couple weeks ago). Mugabe also has close ties and well as Lukashenko, who appears to have sent last minute supplies of arms and possibly troops before the embargo was put in place. All he needs is Myanmar and North Korea and I think he gets Yahtzee. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/16 "2011-03-10T01:23:44Z")
For some reason he sent officials to Malta, Egypt, and Portugal. Maybe he thinks he has friends there. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/17 "2011-03-10T01:40:08Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > Nonsense - Arabic is a bitch to transliterate. Adding an h is fairly common. > > Here is ABC News listing of the 112 different ways to spell his name: > > [http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/09/how-many-different-ways-can-you-spell-gaddafi.html](http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/09/how-many-different-ways-can-you-spell-gaddafi.html) > > Plenty of Kh and Gh variations in there, and this is before we find that letter to the kids in Minneapolis. But it has “Qudhafi”. QU! ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/18 "2011-03-10T02:13:48Z")
I have long wondered what makes the concept of a standardized romanization system for Arabic so inconceivable for the world. Especially when other standardized romanizations like Pinyin have been implemented worldwide with nary a hitch. Especially when native Arabic-speaking terrorists have slipped through American security controls several times because of variant romanizations. Most native Arabic speakers I’ve ever worked with or spoken with about it seem perplexed and impatient with the crazy Western idea to standardize romanization. As a librarian, I got in the habit of always using the Library of Congress romanization, which all librarians in the USA (and I think Canada too) use, without exception. This romanization has also formed the basis for the standardized romanization now (supposed to be) used by the US intelligence community (by act of Congress). They took the LC system and simplified it to work with vanilla ASCII, but otherwise apply the LC standards exactly. In LC romanization, the guy’s name is al-Qadhdhāfī. Unfortunately, Cecil had to mock this one in the column he wrote on the subject, even though it encodes all the data needed to accurately reverse transliterate it back into Arabic orthography without any loss of data. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/19 "2011-03-10T02:17:24Z")
Yeah, but dhdh is ugly as hell as English (thus the Qaddhafi compromise, which also doesn’t require going beyond standard keyboard characters), and it also doesn’t give you the information you need to know how the man actually pronounces his name (thus Gaddafi). ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097/20 "2011-03-10T04:56:05Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > The simplest solution would be for some newspaper to just courteously ask him how he wished his name to be spelt in Latin alphabet, and run with it. In 1986, Gaddafi reportedly responded to a Minnesota school’s letter in English using the spelling “Moammar El-Gadhafi”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-qhaddafi-have-any-foreign-friends-allies-left/574097.md?page=2)