Gadhafi in grand UN performance

[samanthajane13]

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer John Heilprin, Associated Press Writer – 3 mins ago

UNITED NATIONS – After 40 years of shunning U.N. appearances, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi evidently had a lot to get off his chest.

So he stepped to the world's stage, armed with a yellow folder of handwritten notes, and basically emptied his mind.

For a mind-boggling 1 hour and 36 minutes on Wednesday, the so-called king of kings was winging it.

The impact of Gadhafi's long, unprecedented and rambling speech was stunning. Half the cavernous chamber, packed for President Barack Obama's first speech to the U.N. General Assembly, emptied out. Delegates' faces seemed angry, quizzical, fatigued.

From a perch inside the chamber, the light-colored robes of some African and Mideast leaders dotted a sea of dark business suits. Polite applause followed the opening remarks of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Ali Treki.

Dressed in his flowing brown and tan Bedouin robes, and a black beret that he self-consciously patted at times, he listened through a translation earpiece in his right ear and fiddled with the cord in his left hand.

He kept glasses, a red handkerchief and a rumpled yellow folder in front of him on the desk. He jotted a note to himself and put it into the yellow folder. He clapped his hands. Then he flipped through the handwritten pages inside the folders, written in rows of large, flowing bold Arabic letters.

A commotion swept through the room as Obama appeared. Gadhafi joined in light applause and listened with the earpiece in his left ear.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also listened to Obama, tieless and not using an earpiece. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Iran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazee each listened with earpieces.

As Obama gestured and read from the TelePrompTer, speaking of the dangers of nuclear proliferation, the Iranians listened intently.

Gadhafi, but not Ahmadinejad, applauded Obama at the end of his speech. Though Gadhafi was to speak next, all the prominent U.S. delegates left the chamber, leaving behind note-taking staff.

Treki introduced Gadhafi as the "king of kings." But Gadhafi remained in his seat for another 15 minutes as an awkward silence and confusion gripped the chamber.

Gadhafi didn't seem to care.

He kept shaking hands and talking to people. Finally he dabbed the red handkerchief to his mouth, smiled broadly and enjoyed the moment — the world waiting to hear from the would-be King of the United States of Africa.

He swept his robes over himself and strode to the stage, using the handrail on his way up. He laid the shabby yellow folder in front of him on the podium, and pressed open some of the handwritten pages. There was scattered applause in the half-empty chamber.

Gadhafi held up a copy of the U.N. Charter in his hands. He sported big, shiny rings on each hand. For a moment, it seemed as if he had utterly lost himself in his thoughts. He stopped and sorted through the pages of his yellow folder.

It was becoming clear he was making this up as he went along, relying on broad strokes of ideas from the pages of his folder. There was no prepared text. He was not reading from the TelePrompTer.

A black emblem in the shape of Africa, with a white outline, was pinned to his robe and reflected light from his right chest. He began railing against the U.N.'s power structure, tilted toward the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

He called the General Assembly "the parliament of the world" that should be dictating decisions to the Security Council. Gadhafi failed to note that his nation now holds a Security Council seat, though not a permanent veto-wielding one.

He slightly ripped the U.N. Charter when he was done with it, drawing a rebuke later.

That prompted British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to respond at the start of his speech: "I stand here to support the U.N. Charter, not to tear it up."

Delegates also began walking out on Gadhafi. There was amazement and disbelief. Others laughed or smiled, perhaps not knowing quite how to respond. Many spoke among themselves. More than half the assembly that Gadhafi called the supreme leader of the world was deserting him. Empty blue and beige seats were replacing the sea of business suits.

"It should not be called the Security Council, it should be called the 'Terror Council,' " Gadhafi said.

At that, another wave of delegates left.

With fellow Libyan Treki chairing the assembly, there was no stopping Gadhafi.

Someone handed him a piece of paper, perhaps to get him to stop. He crumpled it up. He had worn out even the translators — a woman's voice replaced the man who had been speaking. He paid no attention to the red light to the right of the lectern, which had long ago told him the speech should have ended.

Gadhafi seemed to be making up for lost time. And when he finally ended, delegates lightly applauded and no one stood.

But Gadhafi clasped his hands above him and waved in triumph as he left.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090923/..._us/un_gadhafi

[samanthajane13]

Gadhafi speaks and speaks and speaks at the UN
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer John Heilprin, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 55 mins ago

UNITED NATIONS – Inside the General Assembly's cavernous chamber, as leaders began filling nearly every seat and aisles were standing-room only, the light-colored robes of some African and Mideast leaders dotted a sea of dark business suits. Polite applause followed the opening remarks of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Ali Treki.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in his first U.N. appearance, arrived just in time for Wednesday's leadoff speech by Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Gadhafi sat in a seventh-row aisle seat, off the left side.

Dressed in flowing brown and tan Bedouin robes, and a black beret that he self-consciously patted at times, he listened through a translation earpiece in his right ear and fiddled with the cord in his left hand. Occasionally he looked around the room.

Aides huddled around him; he kept his glasses, a red handkerchief and a rumpled yellow folder in front of him on the desk. Then he removed his earpiece to jot a note to himself and put it into the yellow folder. He joined the applause at one point. Then he flipped through the handwritten pages of flowing rows of bold Arabic characters inside the folders.

___

A commotion swept the room as President Barack Obama appeared. Everyone tried to see him. Gadhafi joined in the light applause that greeted Obama, then listened raptly with the earpiece held to his left ear.

From his fifth-row aisle seat near the chamber's center, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also listened to Obama, but without an earpiece. The Iranian leader seemed relaxed. He was tieless. Ahmadinejad kept regularly checking the watch on his left wrist while peering at Obama. Next to him, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Iran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazee each listened with earpieces.

As Obama gestured and read from the TelePrompTer, speaking of the dangers of nuclear proliferation, the Iranians listened intently. Ahmadinejad leaned to his right and said something to Mottaki.

Ahmadinejad and Gadhafi both refrained from joining applause for Obama's comments on Sudan, the Middle East and other U.S. pledges for peace and world security. But Gadhafi joined in clapping when Obama ended his speech. Ahmadinejad didn't. Obama didn't get a standing ovation, but he got warm applause. Many of the delegates in the room abruptly left moments after Obama spoke.

That included the entire U.S. delegation of prominent figures including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones, Obama adviser Samantha Power and Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs Esther Brimmer. Lower-level U.S. delegation staff remained.

It wasn't clear if this was a protest or if they were merely following Obama from the room.

After Gadhafi was introduced as the "king of kings" by his fellow Libyan, Treki, he remained in his seat for at least five minutes. Gadhafi was supposed to be in a holding area off the stage. He took no notice of protocol.

Gadhafi was surrounded by aides and confusion seemed to take over. Half the seats emptied as delegates wandered the aisles without any direction from Treki or Ban.

Gadhafi kept shaking hands as delegates left. Treki finally tried to gavel the place to order. Gadhafi paid no attention, putting the red handkerchief to his mouth. He leaned back in his chair, seeming to have not a care in the world, and received advice from aides. He smiled broadly, enjoying the moment — the world waiting to hear from him.

___

Finally, Gadhafi rose, swept his robes over him and strode to the stage. He needed the handrail on his way up. He laid the shabby yellow folder on the podium, and pulled out some of the handwritten pages. There was scattered applause.

By then the chamber was half-empty. Gadhafi, in his first speech to the U.N., held up a copy of the U.N. Charter. He wore big, shiny rings on each hand. For a moment, it seemed as if he were lost in thought. He stopped and sorted through the pages of his yellow folder.

It seemed he was winging the speech. Evidently, he had jotted a set of ideas in bold letters which he had before him on the handwritten pages. But there was no prepared text. He was not reading from the TelePrompTer.

As he gestured, a black pin in the shape of Africa, with a white outline, reflected light from his right chest where it was attached to his robe. He began railing against the U.N. power structure, which is tilted toward the five permanent members of the Security Council. He called the General Assembly "the parliament of the world" — a body that should be dictating decisions to the Security Council.

"How can we be happy about the world security if the world is controlled by four or five powers?" he complained. "We are just like a decor." After several minutes of rambling remarks, that last comment won him scattered applause.

At one point he called the General Assembly "the master of the world ... this is democracy and then we put an end to the Security Council ... this is terrorism in itself."

He slightly ripped the U.N. Charter book when he was done with it.

Delegates began walking out at that point. People's faces registered amazement and disbelief. Others laughed or smiled, perhaps in embarrassment or not knowing how to respond. Many spoke among themselves. By now at least half the assembly — that he called the supreme leader of the world — was deserting Gadhafi.


Continued...

[samanthajane13]

And he was simply emptying his mind, without the least self-consciousness, before a gathering of world leaders.

In place of the sea of business suits were dozens of empty blue and beige seats. People kept wandering out as Gadhafi spoke of "feudalism."

"It should not be called the Security Council, it should be called the Terror Council," he said.

At that, another wave of delegates dashed out. Gadhafi failed to note that his nation now held a Security Council seat. "Terror and sanctions — it is used against us only," he said.

And with Treki chairing the assembly, there was no stopping Gadhafi, also the head of the African Union, as he railed against what the U.N. has or hasn't done about 65 wars he said have erupted around the world since the organization was founded in 1945.

Gadhafi then demanded a permanent AU seat on the Security Council. Even Ahmadinejad had left by now.

___

Safe to say that toward the end of his speech, more than half the seats were empty.

"Obama is a glimpse in the dark for the next four or eight years, and I'm afraid we may go back to square one" after he steps down," Gadhafi said. When he suggested Obama stay on as leader indefinitely, there was scattered applause.

He kept holding up the handwritten pages in front of him, at one point reading from it in his diatribe against the U.N. power structure. He also railed against former President George W. Bush's policy of trying to build democracy in Iraq.

Then Gadhafi got more personal. "It is clear that all of you are lacking the energy because of traveling a long way," he said, adding he had woken up at 4 a.m. in New York. It was tantalizingly unclear where he was going with this.

"We should thank America, and we thank America. ... We want to make America secure," he said, talking about whether the U.N. is a terrorist target, and invoking worries of another 9/11. "We want to relieve America from this worry."

But now it seemed Gadhafi was perhaps suggesting that the U.N. and the General Assembly should be relocated to Tripoli, the Libyan capital where he has tried to locate AU headquarters.

"We don't have to come to New York and be subjected to all these measures," he said, referring to the heavy security around the U.N. and issues getting U.S. visas.

He seemed to be referring, but did not directly mention, his struggle to pitch a Bedouin tent, as is his practice when he travels, in the New York area. There also was no mention of his ill will toward Switzerland because of his son's arrest there.

"You will thank me for not having to travel for 20 hours to this place," he added. "America will thank you for alleviating the hardship of America. ... This place is targeted by terrorists."

His litany of injustices then extended to "3 million victims of the Vietnam War" and the U.S. actions in Panama, Grenada and Somalia, among other places and conflicts.

"How this can be done with impunity?" he asked. "Can we trust the Security Council?"

Gadhafi then demanded more investigation into the deaths of Dag Hammarskjold, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and others that he saw as unsolved murders and conspiracies.

"These are crimes. We cannot keep quiet. We cannot keep silent," he intoned, shaking and peering down at the handwritten pages. He also attempted a defense of Somali pirates as ex-fishermen protecting their wealth, and said he had spoken to the pirates.

Gadhafi also made a pitch for his own Web site, with speeches on it for people to read. Someone handed him a piece of paper, perhaps to get him to stop speaking. He crumpled it up.

He had worn out even the translators — a woman's voice replaced the man who had been speaking. He paid no attention to the red light to the right of the lectern, which had long ago told him the speech should be at an end.

Gadhafi seemed to be making up for all his 40 years of missed appearances at the United Nations.

And when he finally ended, after 1 hour and 36 minutes of stream-of-consciousness on the world's stage, delegates lightly applauded, and no one stood. But Gadhafi clasped his hands above him and waved in triumph as he left.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090923/..._assembly_blog

[hOTwIREd]

re above...

If you did not laugh, you would have to cry.

PM: We must back UN principles Gaddafi: It's a terror council
Published Date: 24 September 2009
By CHRIS STEPHEN AND EDDIE BARNES
GORDON Brown distanced himself from Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi last night, mounting a vigorous defence of the United Nations after the Libyan dictator launched a withering attack on the global institution.
Years of trying to bring Libya into the international fold appeared to stall after Col Gaddafi's blistering address accused Britain and the four other permanent members of the UN Security Council of ruling by terror.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/worl...ack.5674871.jp

The West bends over for this country tuime after time (particularly Europe and the United Kingdom...

Ex-police officers to train Libyans

Retired police officers from London and Northern Ireland will travel to Libya next month to provide more training at public expense.
Monday, 21 September 2009

Five officers will give a 12-day training programme to 20 Libyan drug law enforcement officers with money from the official purse.

On Monday night, DUP leader Peter Robinson warned that his party would not tolerate any more officers from Northern Ireland travelling to the north African state.

http://u.tv/News/Ex-police-officers-...8-845076637fd5

Britain's realpolitik relations with Libya
Ian Black
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 September 2009 10.42 BST
...Brown's reluctance to meet the colonel is linked of course to the furore over the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of killing 270 people in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Since the dying Megrahi was freed on compassionate grounds and returned home last month, barely a day has gone by without some new revelation about cosy and lucrative links between London and Tripoli: the NHS has been training Libyan nurses and the SAS their counter-terrorism boys; UK arms sales to Libya are booming; and Seif al-Islam, Gaddafi's son and likely heir, turns out to be a friend of Lord Mandelson.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...lpolitik-libya

Gordon Brown: Colonel Gaddafi’s Little Helper
By Nile Gardiner World Last updated: September 12th, 2009

The sickening revelations in The Daily Telegraph today that British special forces have been ordered to train Libyan troops is just the latest nail in the coffin of Gordon Brown’s already flimsy reputation. While British servicemen and women in Afghanistan are undermanned and under quipped in the vital battle against the Taliban, the Prime Minister is investing scarce military resources in helping train the foot soldiers of a brutal, totalitarian regime that has British blood on its hands.

Not only did the Libyans kill 52 Britons on PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie, but they also played a key role in arming the IRA’s bombing campaigns, providing explosives, semtex and anti-aircraft missiles. The whole affair is a damning indictment of Gordon Brown’s leadership and a complete lack of any moral compass in his dealings with Libya.

As the Telegraph report suggests, there may well be a strong link between this disgraceful decision and the Brown government’s shameful role in the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. In the words of an SAS source quoted by the Telegraph:

“A small SAS training team have been doing it for the last six months as part of this cosy deal with the Libyans. From our perspective we cannot see it as part of anything else other than the Megrahi deal.”

The Libyan training deal is just the latest piece in the huge political scandal unfolding around the release of a mass murdering terrorist, freed with the support of the British government against the suspicious backdrop of lucrative oil deals conducted between London and Tripoli. It further underscores the need for an independent commission of inquiry as well as parliamentary inquiries into the Lockerbie fiasco and the broader relationship between the Labour government and the Gaddafi regime.

Gordon Brown’s actions have seriously damaged Britain’s relationship with the United States, undermined British standing on the world stage, and now threatens to further undercut morale in the armed forces. Brown looks increasingly like the loyal poodle of a vicious third world tyrant who has successfully humiliated a great nation, whose reputation is now being dragged through the mud. No Prime Minister has brought more shame to Great Britain since Neville Chamberlain. It is time for him to go.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/ni...little-helper/

What a world.

[samanthajane13]

Exactly!!!!

The next time the Moslems want to take their Jihad show on the road, let them bomb the UK!!!

Oh-wait-they're FRIENDS!!!!

[samanthajane13]

Exclusive Interview: Gaddafi on Obama, Israel and Chatting with Iran
By MICHAEL ELLIOTT AND ROMESH RATNESAR Michael Elliott And Romesh Ratnesar – 29 mins ago

On Sept. 24, TIME editors Romesh Ratnesar and Michael Elliott met with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

TIME: Given your experience in dealing what the United States offered in return for giving up your [nuclear] program, what advice would you give to a country like Iran? And what advice would you give to the United States in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions?

America has the responsibility to reward and encourage such countries who take such decisions, so that they will be able to use nuclear energy or nuclear power in a peaceful means.

Upon the advice of our American friends, and others, when they told us to maybe get in touch with Pyonyang and Iran, and encourage them and talk to them so that they would not go to the use of nuclear energy for military purposes, divert the potentials of, the capability they have for peaceful means, the actions or the answers from those such countries was what did Libya gain in the trade?

Are you saying that Iranians and North Koreans don't think that Libya got enough benefits for giving up its program?

Indeed that's what they said to us. Indeed.

Libya spoke to both the Iranians and the North Koreans on this topic?

Yes, indeed. Of course, I mean we have conveyed to them the wish of the friends that they got in touch with us, mainly in the interest, the wish that they would take the peaceful road.

You're chairman of the African Union at the moment. You referred to President Obama in your speech yesterday as the 'son of Africa'. Do you feel a kinship with President Obama? And what would you like the United States to do in Africa?

Indeed this kinship is there - is existing - this kinship.

Regarding the second part of the question: Africa, I mean there are good intentions, legitimately speaking, particularly with international governing towards Africa, some sort of sympathy.

In the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people you have advocated a one-state solution. Many people criticize that kind of idea as something that would lead to the end of Israel as a Jewish state, a homeland for the Jews. Do you believe that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state?

I am keen and anxious for the safety of both the Jews and the Palestinians.

The position that we are in, the road that the world is going on would lead to the destruction of the Jews. Because generally speaking, Jews as a community are limited, their number is limited, all over the world, we know that they're not that big. Unfortunately, they were persecuted by all nations. They were persecuted by the Romans and King Edward I. And we all know the Holocaust during Hitler's time. Once see the history like that we can only but sympathize with them as Jews. The Arabs actually were the ones who gave them the safe haven and the protection along all these areas when they were persecuted. (See pictures of the rise of Gaddafi.)

As recent as '48 or '49 - I was a little boy at the time but I can still remember - the Jews were there in Libya. There was no animosity, no hatred between us. They were merchants, moving from one place to the other, traders... and they were very much respected and very much sympathized. I mean they do their own prayers and we see them. They spoke Arabic, wearing Libyan uniforms, Libyan clothes.

So that's why I said, the way things are going, in the end they would, it will be the eradication of them, or the extinction of such a community. And I believe that the whole world is plotting against them, against the Jews, they want to get rid of them, the world wants to. And things that happened in the past indicate or give witness to this idea or this notion. It was the Holocaust in Europe, we all know that, this is a fact. (Read TIME's 1981 cover story about Libya.)

So what is the answer?

The answer is as follows: that we have to serve God, or guarantee the safety of the Jews. And this can be done by them accepting the Palestinians, recognizing the Palestinians, accepting that fact that they should live with the Palestinians in one state, together. Unfortunately, the Jews are fighting or struggling against their own friend - the Arabs. The Arabs did not do the Holocaust, and the Arabs are not the Romans who persecuted them or massacred them. The only way open for them is to accept the Arabs and to accept to live with them, to co-exist with them. Because the establishment of a pure Hebrew state is not in their own interest. That would be a target. Their protection comes from being part of the Arab scene. Mixing with the Arabs. I believe that the youth supports me, supports my ideaâ ¦ Investors would prefer this mixing with the Arabs, being with the Arabs, living with the Arabs, co-existing with the Arabs. But they have to accept refugees that were kicked out in 1948. This is a fundamental thing, a basic thing. Otherwise, war will continue, the struggle will continue.

Some Americans still view you and view Libya with some suspicion, despite the normalization of relations. How can that impression be changed and do you think it ever will change?

This is the result of accumulation of so many years of strained relations between our two peoples and our two countries. It was propagandaâ ¦ against us. It was very much exaggerated, this information campaign, this sustained campaign against us. But if I may... over the process of years it will thaw out. I mean, just gradually through contact, through dialogue, through investment.

I know that the Lockerbie case has come to a legal end, but there are people in the United States who would still say, in 2003, Libya accepted responsibility for its officials but it would be wonderful if it was a heartfelt expression of remorse and apology for what happened. That might help thaw the ice.

It was always said that it is not us who did that and they don't accept the fact that they have a responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing. And all the non-aligned nations used to support the Libyan claim. But we go through the resolutions adopted byâ ¦ more than 150 countries, both of the resolutions of the Arab League, all of the resolutions adopted by the Africa Union, all of the organizations â ¦ conflict resolutions.

But of course, Americans, Libyans, the whole world express sympathy or regret over such tragedies. No one would be happy over such tragedies, no one would welcome such a tragedy, indeed of course. Do the American people feel happy, are the American people happy over the killing of the Libyan citizens in 1986? And is the world happy about the Gaza massacre? By the same token none of us is happy over the tragedy of Lockerbie. Up to now, if you visit the house that was bombed in the American raid, you will find a picture of my daughter, a picture of the daughter of Jim Swire, in a frame there, and everybody goes there. Our children are all victims. I mean, these pictures, just to say the fact that we are all fathers of victims.

Tell us about your impressions of America.

We didn't see anything because of the security measures.

Is there any place in America that you have always wanted to see?

America is so afraid of terror and terrorism to the point that they don't allow people to move around freely and see what they wish to see. I really wish to see the whole of America, if it is possible.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2009092...08599192612500

[samanthajane13]

Gaddafi's Oddest Idea: Abolish Switzerland
By HELENA BACHMANN / GENEVA Helena Bachmann / Geneva – 38 mins ago

In his rambling diatribe to the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday, Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi criticized the world body for being unfair to small nations. This comment struck a chord with the Swiss, since Gaddafi has been on a self-proclaimed mission to destroy their little country.

A few weeks ago, Gaddafi submitted a proposal to the U.N. to abolish Switzerland and divide it up along linguistic lines, giving parts of the country to Germany, France and Italy. Although the motion was thrown out because it violates the U.N. Charter stating that no member country can threaten the existence of another, some Swiss leaders are still concerned that Libya could use its year-long presidency of the U.N. General Assembly, which began on Sept. 15, to keep up his vitriolic attacks on their country.

Gaddafi's animosity toward Switzerland may seem bizarre - or maybe not, given the Libyan leader's all-female bodyguard squad and penchant for pitching Bedouin tents during state visits to other countries. Relations between Libya and Switzerland soured in July 2008 when Gaddafi's son Hannibal and his wife were arrested by police in Geneva for allegedly beating their two servants at a local hotel. Gaddafi was so enraged by his son's two-day detention, he immediately retaliated by shutting down local subsidiaries of Swiss companies NestlÉ and ABB in Libya, arresting two Swiss businessmen for supposed visa irregularities, canceling most commercial flights between the two countries and withdrawing about $5 billion from his Swiss bank accounts.

Then came Gaddafi's suggestion that Switzerland be carved up like a wheel of Swiss cheese. During the G-8 summit in Italy in July, Gaddafi said Switzerland "is a world mafia and not a state," adding that the Italian-speaking part of the country should be returned to Italy, the German-speaking part given to Germany and the French-speaking part ceded to France. In an attempt to defuse the tensions between the countries, as well as to win the release of the two Swiss nationals being held in Libya, Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz traveled to Tripoli in August to apologize for Hannibal's arrest. The move was highly criticized in Switzerland, with repeated calls for his resignation.

The reaction among the Swiss public to Gaddafi's idea of splitting up the country has been a mix of outrage and incredulity. "Even though Gaddafi is a leader of a country and the current head of the African Union, he loses credibility when he comes up with outrageous comments like that," says Daniel Warner, a political scientist at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. Others see irony in Gaddafi's comments. "It's a paradox that Gaddafi wants to dismantle Switzerland because, as he claims, it is not a homogenous country, while Libya is divided by a desert into two regions that hate each other," says Baptiste Hurni, a Socialist parliamentarian who blogs about Libya.

Despite the fact Gaddafi is still holding two Swiss nationals, many Swiss have found much to laugh about in his statements. The newspapers abound with tongue-in-cheek comments from readers not only questioning Gaddafi's sanity but also wondering how Switzerland would be divided up if the Libyan leader's motion were to be taken seriously. "Who is going to get the Matterthorn?" one reader asks in the Lausanne daily Le Matin. "Linguistically it belongs to Germany but geographically it borders Italy." Another reader in Le Matin said he is "scandalized that Austria is not getting its fair share," while a Geneva resident wrote that he doesn't want his region to be annexed to France and asked about the possibility of linking it to French-speaking Quebec instead.

Most everyone agrees on one point: Libya should not be casting stones. "Is the U.N. going to listen to a longstanding democracy or to a longstanding dictatorship?" 19-year-old Eduard Hediger said in a recent Le Matin podcast. If Gaddafi's long-winded speech to the General Assembly is any indication, the U.N. may not have much of a choice in the matter.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2009092...08599192605300