Guffawing Gaddafi foreshadows special trouble for Libya

Hey y'all. Instead of discussing the Oscars and how the King's Speech won practically everything even though no one watched (just kidding I'm sure it was great in an unconventional way), I want to blog about the situation in Libya. I found this very interesting article in the Economist and another one in yahoo that summarizes and analyzes Libya's current situation and how it is and will remain the bloodiest of all the recent revolutions in North Africa. A perception that I share.

Libya probably is the most backward country out of all those in North Africa despite having the best natural resources in the region. All its misery is thanks to heavy trauma from Italy in World War 2 that lead to the rise of their crazy autocratic leader Gaddafi, who says that this current uprising is the result of Al-Qaeda, America, and drug addicts. Since he took control of Libya in the late 60s, he completely destroyed its bureaucracy, gave all its industries to his crazy friends, denied his citizens any voice in politics or economics, weakened the military so he could stay as the Center of Libya. Even though most of the nations of N Africa had corrupt autocracies backed by the West and other entities, Libya is well... the most screwed up of them all because of its violent past and Gaddafi's stupidity. Therefore it's no surprise that Libya's people decided enough was enough when Tunisia and Egypt starting protesting against their leaders. Yet Gaddafi still doesn't get the message that his time is up as he laughingly tells Amanpour in a rare interview that his people love him and he holds on to the country.

I have these very mixed and ambivalent feelings about the uprisings, especially in Libya. Don't get me wrong, I think its fantastic and inspiring that ordinary citizens from some of the most repressed societies were able to oust leaders that had kept them under their thumbs for decades. But, the situation in Libya throbs with an explosive amount of violence and hate that was absent in Egypt and less apparent in Tunisia. Both sides of this revolution are pairing with tribal leaders that were previously controlled by Gaddafi. These leaders, now sensing a rare opportunity to get in control, are deserting Gaddafi and militarizing these protesters, which is never good. It's also quite clear that Gaddafi is not leaving without a fight, but he will have to leave eventually. The problem with him leaving is that EVERYTHING centered around him. While the nations of Tunisia and Egypt have bureaucracies and infrastructures that will probably keep the nations stable but in the same direction, Libya has little of the same structures and too many repressed people vying for power. For a nation much more oppressed and impoverished, I think that it is in store for years more of turmoil and unrest that might even spread to more peaceful nations like Egypt. This is all why I think that Libya is the most concerning of all these nations.


So what do you think, do you think I am completely wrong in being worried about Libya and that all the other nations had similar violent uprisings? Do you agree with me that Libya is in for worse when Gaddafi leaves or do you think things will work out? Do you think this generation of North Africans will ever taste true democracy or not? And do you think I should write smaller blogs? :)