It took a bit longer, but Libya is going to be liberated by its own people, just like Egypt:
Gadhafi is going down. Al Jazeera has the pictures and the story; in fact it seems to have little else now. You can even watch Al Jazeera’s coverage live over the Internet, which has been a huge part of the Arab Spring in general. The only question now, really, is whether Gadhafi will commit suicide.
The rebels have seized Gaddafi’s compound, but frizz-head is not there. The pro-Gaddafi forces are still fighting, but the momentum shifted long ago and now they’re just the bitter-enders of a defeated regime. I really hope Gaddafi is found and stands trial; if nothing else, his legal defense should be a hoot and a half.
My money is on a “spider hole”.
Those things are all the rage with leaders over there these days.
I’ve had the sneaking suspicion that he’s hiding out in some secret basement (perhaps accessed through a tunnel from elsewhere) under that hotel (Rixos?) where many of the foreign media are staying.
Is it just me, or has Gaddafi looked dead for years? Every time I see his picture, I’m thinking “weekend at Bernies”.
The odds seem good he’s out of the country by now. I know Hugo Chavez has publicly defended him, for one thing.
It surprises me but only two people have Frizz-Head in the Death Pool. I’d thought there were more.
so what do you think is going to happen next?
Maybe MQ is off to Venezuela.
The Odd Couple comes to mind. But who would play the Pigeon Sisters?
Immediately? The last of the pro-Gaddafi fighters stop fighting, one way or another, a hastily-constructed government assumes control to general cheering and international applause, and trials are held for whoever they’ve captured to that point with executions soon after.
In the medium term, I expect the government to announce that elections are going to be held Real Soon Now as the people begin to clean things up again. The military is still in control of Egypt, though, so I don’t actually expect elections to occur in the medium term. Perhaps the medium-long term.
In the long term, [del]we’re dead[/del] I don’t pretend to know. Taking the events of 1989-1991 (collapse of the Soviet Union) as a paradigm, the countries fall into what I like to call Dysfunctional Democracy, where there is honest political dissent and debate but there’s also so much corruption it’s difficult to call the political processes fully open and honest.
Remember too, that tribal affiliation takes precedence over national affiliation. But I know nothing of these dynamics; one hopes that they understand that compromise is crucial for the long-term political stability–otherwise, another Libyan strongman will rise up, ad nauseam
I think people in western countries are projecting their expectations of what will happen based on the liberation of cold war countries from the Soviet Union. These were countries with already established political systems that were subjected to a relatively short period in history to outside forces.
The tribal structure found in the mid-east is quite different and will require a radically different approach if the goal is to restructure to a democratic state. That’s assuming they WANT to create a unified democratic state. I personally can’t begin to guess how this is going to play out.
This dude makes me smile. “We didn’t get him, but by gods, we got his hat! And his golden feathery stick…thing.”
[sub]What is that golden feathery stick thing, anyway?[/sub]
I think it’s for whisking flies away. But with Ghaddhafi, who knows?
Based on the way this year’s deathpool has gone, I expect Gaddafi will turn up in a guest room at Zsa Zsa’s mansion.
I have no idea what that stick thing is. It’s like a feather duster designed by Liberace. Anyway, it is a wonderful video and I always love to see the newly-liberated celebrating their freedom.
The opera ain’t over until the frizzy dictator…hangs…
I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Libya ceased to exist and instead fractured into multiple tribal nations. Of course, that oil under the sand will have a lot to do with what happens.
Isn’t Chavez still in Cuba getting Chemo? Somehow, I doubt that Qadaffy Duck has gone there - I expect it would have been pretty easy to see him leaving the country via aircraft. He may have slipped over the border, but that would require him to admit defeat, and I can’t see him doing that. I will be surprised if he’s found alive.