The military is abandoning Colonel Gadhafy (how many ways are there to spell this homicidal lunatic’s name, anyway?):
The sources said Gadhafi could no longer rely on his military and much of his police. They said the remaining loyalists were his Presidential Guard and special units comprised of foreign mercenaries, many of whom are from the former Soviet Union.
I’ve never understood why, after decades of dictatorship, he never got around to promoting himself to general. No wonder they don’t respect him.
A lot. There is no standard way to transliterate Arabic to English – it’s all phonetic.
The Wiki says 37 accepted spellings; a 38th, “D E A D”, may be added before the month’s over though.
How about something like [Q|G]ad[d]af[i|y]?
Once his secret police is gone, Libyans will pronounce it “Qaddafi – *spit*” so the spelling will probably add an apostrophe at the end of his name, as if the *spit* was a glottal stop. So “Qaddafi'”
I wonder how many of his “loyal” guards and foreign mercenaries are just hanging with him in hopes that they’ll be nearby when he gets killed, so they can be the first to search his body and personal effects for his Swiss bank account numbers?
I remember a week decades ago when Newsweek, US News and Time were all publishing, he made the cover on all of them the same week and they all three spelled it differently.
There’s probably no standard accepted way of spelling Arabic in English because no method would please an Arabic speaker. That’s because there are about as many Arabic dialects as there are ways to spell Gaddaf– Khaddaf– Gadhaf– Go Daffy, whatever his name is.
Really, find an Arab and try to say “Bin Laden.” The twenty-minute careful correction of your pronounciation will be an experience.
I think the military is bailing because he told them to fire into crowds. Two pilots flew to Malta yesterday because of that too. It’s hard to do that I’m sure, especially when you see thousands of people protesting. It’s not like arresting an ‘enemy of the state’. You might have friends or family in that crowd.
That’s why I don’t think OUR military would follow any strange orders of the current WH if things get weird(er) here.
“…how many ways are there to spell this homicidal lunatic’s name, anyway?”
Fewer than the seeming infinitude of ways reporters have found to pronounce: “Hezbollah.”
Actually, I remain amused that the president still says “Pahkeestahn” for Pakistan, but “Afganistan” for Afghanistan.
Does this include his handpicked female bodyguards?
From 1998:
“Gaddafi surrounds himself with handpicked female bodyguards to foil such attacks. All of them swear an oath that they will give their lives for him. They never leave his side, night or day, & he insists they remain virgins. There is no shortage of volunteers for what is seen as a prestigious job. A special training college puts recruits through a tough program. Girls who don’t drop out emerge as trained killers, experts with firearms & martial arts. Gaddafi makes the final selection &, despite the virginal tag, rumors abound that he demands their sexual favors.”
I’m surprised Bill Clinton hasn’t picked up on this.
Actually, I remain amused that the president still says “Pahkeestahn” for Pakistan, but “Afganistan” for Afghanistan.
Well, he’s been to Pahkeestahn so I guess he knows how it’s pronounced.
“Gaddafi surrounds himself with handpicked female bodyguards to foil such attacks. All of them swear an oath that they will give their lives for him. They never leave his side, night or day, & he insists they remain virgins. There is no shortage of volunteers for what is seen as a prestigious job. A special training college puts recruits through a tough program. Girls who don’t drop out emerge as trained killers, experts with firearms & martial arts. Gaddafi makes the final selection &, despite the virginal tag, rumors abound that he demands their sexual favors.”
Well, knock me over with a feather.
Sounds like he’s watched too many James Bond movies.
We have a winner.
Go Daffy
DUCK SEASON!
…he’s watched too many James Bond movies
I was thinking Elvis movies, he does look a bit like a really ugly Tom Jones.
James Bond doesn’t hire minions to shag. He shags the villain’s girlfriend.
I meant he seems to have been inspired by James Bond villains. I wonder if he has an underground lair, too?
I see some fairly high ranking officials are quitting now. At a glance, what’s going on in the Middle East today seems a lot like the European revolutions of 1848. That started in France and spread to many other European countries. Most of those revolutions fizzled out, but they appear to be an important change in European affairs.
The only other historical analogies I can see are the dissolution of large empires like the rebellion of Spanish territories earlier in the 19th century while Spain was occupied by Napoleon or the “decolonization” period of Great Britain after the Second World War.
There seems to be both good and bad points to these events, which we’ll probably see in the current Middle East as well. My view is that in the long run, this probably will be better for the Middle East and the world as a whole, but there might be some serious “human-caused disasters” (possibly nuclear flavored) in the meantime. For example, many brutal ideologies had their seeds in the 1848 revolutions and those in turn helped lead to the two most lethal wars and the most lethal genocides of the 20th Century as well as an ideological hangover that lasts to this day.
But on the other hand, I think the 1848 revolutions helped move us to the current period of relative peace and prosperity the world has today. Perhaps in the future, we’ll see these revolutions of 2011 as the first move of the Middle East and Africa towards modern democracy and cultures.
For me, the biggest countries have yet to get involved. Pakistan is the biggest unknown in this, but Saudi Arabia is another big one from a western point of view due to its vast influence as largest oil producer and center of the Islamic religion.
Another thing to look for is how contagious this unrest turns out to be. For example, can it extend beyond the borders of traditionally Islamic countries? For example, central Africa has a large Muslim minority as well as the sort of frail, strong man governments that would be susceptible to revolution. The Far East is hard to say, but China does have significant Muslim minorities in the western part of the country. From reading the news, it does appear that Chinese leadership is concerned about this as a threat to their power. Several of the former Soviet republics would be very vulnerable.
I don’t think current democracies such as the developed world, Turkey, or India would be affected. Iraq and Afghanistan are hard to say, but they seem to have responsive partly democratic governments that would be less vulnerable (more likely to survive intact by accommodating the wants and needs of people who otherwise would be revolting) than a aging dictatorship.
My bet is that it will not “spread” much beyond the former Ottoman Empire.
John Donne wrote:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.
Donne died in 1631, well before the rise of human monsters like Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, and Quadaffi. Their deaths didn’t (or won’t, in the case of Quadaffi) deminish me or anyone else. Eliminating mass murders from the human race is a public good.
Larry, don’t forget that there were mass murderers, genocidal leaders, and other forms of human monsters before the 20th century, and before 1631 as well. As for the latter, Donne was aware of plenty of them. I think you can interpret his sentiment as even including them or not, as you wish — either way, such cases are statistically insignificant, even if you include ordinary murderers.
His comment was “any man’s death diminishes me.” Frankly, that’s bull. Some people are evil and their deaths actually benefit humanity by removing them from it.
While the names I mentioned are famous in history, it’s important to keep in mind that they were the ones who ordered the murders. It’s quite likely that none of them did any of the killing themselves. Instead, they got thousands of people to be their willing executioners. I know a Buchenwald survivor. He pointed out to me that Hitler didn’t personally build that camp or any of the others. Those camps were designed by architects and engineers. They were ran by sadistic thugs and supplied by railroad workers who carried millions to misery. It was no different in China or the Soviet Union.
I didn’t shed a tear when Mao or Pol Pot died (Stalin was before my time). Their henchmen and women deserve the same fate and their deaths in no way diminish me.
Actually, I think Quddafi’s been reading a little too much Dale Brown, not watching too many Bond movies (or maybe a combination of both). Most of what’s been going on in Africa lately (not in Middle East Eurasia) is strikingly similar to the events in his book “Wings of Fire”.
Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t match Alan’s “DUCK SEASON!” with an after-the-fact “WABBIT SEASON!” 🙂
If Gadaffi is Daffy, and the restless natives are Elmer Fudd, who is Bugs?
I’ve never understood why, after decades of dictatorship, he never got around to promoting himself to general.
My understanding is that he lead a coup of low ranking level officers against both the government and upper leadership of the military. Identifying himself as a “colonel” I think is a propaganda trick to remind people of his humble beginnings. While if he had become a “general”, then people might be more likely to think the new boss is the same as the old boss.