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Showing posts with label Libya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Libya. Show all posts

Gaddafi[i-Gaddafi]Who would have thought it that we find ourselves even partially in agreement with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, shown in this Reuters picture gesturing in a characteristic manner.

Gaddafi is attending the EU-Africa Summit with intentions to travel on to France and Spain "after several decades of not being welcome". One wonders whether he really is all that welcome even now.

What a character that man is, to be sure. He used the Summit to attack the UN, insisting that it is a dictatorship and has no right to preach democracy. As a matter of fact, we had not realized that the UN was preaching all that much democracy, spending as it does a great deal of time, pacifying and financing dictators and attacking the West, particularly the United States, and, of course, Israel.
Escorted by muscular female bodyguards dressed in desert-colored khaki and caps, Gaddafi criticized the current United Nations structure in which five countries -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- have veto powers.

He said the U.N. General Assembly, at which virtually all of the world's states are represented, should be the executive body of the global organization, not the smaller Security Council.

"Why are we asking for democracy in countries, when there is dictatorship in the U.N. (and) if we can't establish democracy in the world parliament," he told academics and diplomats.
Well, of course, the UN is not the world parliament though it would like to come close to it. But then how would Colonel Gaddafi know about parliaments?

It is undoubtedly true that it is undemocratic and unaccountable. It does not have as much power as a dictator, such as Colonel Gaddafi does, but whenever it acquires any power it misuses it.

I rather take to this idea of 191 countries in the General Assembly making decisions and creating policies. Nothing will ever be decided on. Excellent. Will it be more democratic? After all, a very large proportion of those countries are not democratic themselves so their legates are not precisely representative of the people and the countries. And that is before we even mention such matters as freedom and human rights.

MoammarGadhafi[i-MoammarGadhafi]Back from Istanbul to find that the plan for the North Domination of the World has been proceeding apace and little has happened in the news or on the forum that is any different from what was happening before I went away.

Istanbul is a glorious city with layers and layers of history. One can walk through centuries in one afternoon and we did. The food remained magnificent and the presence of dogs and cats mysterious. That’s enough of what I did on my hols. Back to business, which will include postings about Turkey at various times.

For the moment, back to the United Nations, which has elected Libya that land of democracy and human rights, to be a non-permanent member of the Security Council for the years 2008/2009. Apparently the country received 178 votes out of the available 192, no doubt many from countries that are always happy to decry Israel or the United States as being oppressive terrorist entities.
The Secretary of the Libyan General People's Committee for External Relations and International Cooperation, Abderrahmane Chalgham, said the election of Libya "with this majority and in the first round", was an obvious sign of the renewed confidence by the international community in the country and pioneering role of its leader Colonel Mouammar Kadhafi for peace and stability issues in the world, Africa and the Mediterranean basin.

Mr Chalgham added that the election also confirmed the importance of the role played by his country in encouraging and activating international dialogue for peace and understanding and also its actions for development of all countries.
Well, there you are. Couldn’t have put it better myself.

Oh by the way, Libya also chairs the UN Human Rights Commission.

COMMENT THREAD

Libya+torture[i-Libya+torture]An update on the story of the Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctors released from Libyan prison in response to European bribery soft power.

It seems that Dr Ashraf Alhajouj is, after all, filing a complaint against Libya before a UN "human rights panel". If that means the Human Rights Council, I do not expect very much will come of that.

Still, Libya responded in the shape of another interview with Colonel Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam (yes, him again). According to an article on Al-Jazeera, which refers back to the interview in Newsweek, Gaddafi Junior cheerfully admitted that torture had been used on the medics but it was not nearly as bad as Dr Alhajouj makes out. Really, the man is such a wimp.
In an interview on Wednesday, Saif al-Islam said: "Yes, they were tortured by electricity and they were threatened that their family members would be targeted. But a lot of what the Palestinian doctor has claimed are merely lies."
He also expressed doubts about Libya being held responsible for that very mild torture and in that he was probably right. I can't imagine who will hold them responsible. The European Union perchance?

Anyway it was all the Europeans' fault.
He said the process was initiated by the Europeans.

Saif al-Islam told Newsweek magazine on Wednesday: "Yeah, it's an immoral game, but they set the rules of the game, the Europeans, and now they are paying the price ... Everyone tries to play with this card to advance his own interest back home."

In the interview to Al Jazeera, Saif al-Islam vouched for the innocence of the medics, but said that conflicting reports implicating them had been submitted to the Libyan courts.

The courts had relied on these documents, he said.
Hard to tell what he really meant or why he is always being pushed out to make statements of this kind.

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