Poor fellow, sooner or later he’ll have to flee the country and he’ll end up having to support himself by standing by the side of the road with a “Will Oppress For Food” sign.
Nah, Chavez will probably let him come crash at his place.
Too bad for MG that Big Daddy’s not still around to return the favor.
Apparently, the Jasmine Revolution has gone far…all the way to the People’s Republic of China. Of course, there was the predictable reaction to the possibility that the People might actually be seen daring to express their opinion:
I’m very curious about something now, though. Maybe the OP can help me out on this. If the people cannot be trusted to rule themselves, how, then, is a ruler to be selected? How is that ruler different from people?
Wonderfully (from most of our perspectives) and puzzlingly (from Commissar’s perspective), the United Nations Security Council has referred Qaddafi to the International Criminal Court. That’s the UNSC in which China and Russia have vetoes.
ETA: Aww, shucks, beaten to it in the pit thread.
I wonder if the ICC will take notice of Gaddafi’s fun, fun, fun attack on Egypt some years ago. I mean, what better way to honor national sovereignty than by lobbing some artillery shells on your neighbor simply because the neighboring country’s president had expressed an intent to conclude a treaty with Israel?
Well they, you see, but, and, furthermore…
I hope that clears things up. Long live despotism!
[Beach Boys]And we’ll have fun, fun, fun, 'til the Britons take your DI awaaaaay![/Beach Boys]
“DI” = Diplomatic Immunity
Since the blog keeps scrolling, (as blogs tend to do), I will note that straight man’s reference is to
I’m not sure how well that will help, as he is now cornered with no place to run, (unless he can find a friendly despot that will give him shelter). That might turn him into a Hitler-like “fight to the last man; they don’t deserve me” sort of creep who will burn down his country around himself before he suicides.
Thanks, I didn’t really explain that. As to your worry, it’s a fair point, but I think Qaddafi himself was probably always going to stay to the bitter end. He’s just that kind of dude. What’s more important is, it sends a signal to the less firm of his supporters that Qaddafi is a fast-sinking ship, and it would be best to jump off now while they still are alive.
Turn into? Wasn’t that the whole point of his “reading the lawbook to the masses” exercise a few days ago?
With his oil money, he might be able to hire enough mercenaries and bribe enough tribes to his side to win the civil war.
If his money is not enough to buy sufficient allies, with Diplomatic Immunity he might be persuaded to leave the country before it all self-destructs.
With no hope, he might simply bring down ruin on the whole country.
I have no predictions, just concern.
That doesn’t seem to be forthcoming. The rebellion is almost literally at his doorstep in Tripoli now. Far too much of the country, along with the Libyan military itself, has abandoned the man.
The United Kingdom has stated that they have revoked any diplomatic immunity that Gaddafi or his cohorts (oddly enough, his cohorts are his family–very socialistic there, huh, Commissar?) had in the United Kingdom. I don’t see the rest of Europe falling over themselves to support Gaddafi either.
Well, he’s had plenty of time to do that in the eastern part of the country. More good socialistic behavior of the leader of the revoltion, of course. I mean, what’s the point of being a [del]dictator[/del] good socialist if you can’t divert the nation’s coffers to your own family?
Ditto.
It’s ironic that the OP’s hero has to bribe his (few remaining) people to fight for him and hire mercenaries to defend basically his last bastion…and yet we are supposed to believe that things in Libya are equally split, support wise, between those of goodness and light (a.k.a. the Kaddafi supporters) and those on the side of evil, imperialism and puppets of the west (a.k.a. the majority of the people of Libya)…
-XT
Kadaffy has ordered the banks to give every family 400 dollars. That might be a lot of money to them. Question can he buy loyalty? The answer is yes but enough of them to stay in power? It smacks of desperation but that is a lot of damn money.
I can still get a chuckle out of the whole ‘a brutal dictator who’s slaughtering his people, may be toppled by a popular revolt. Surely in a place like the Dope this angers many of you and you will stand with me in support of the heroic Quadaffi… my friends. Eh? Eh?’ shtick.
If anyone would like to show their support for Gaddafi or Commissar, please head over here: