Posts tagged as Libya
Rebels Discover Gaddafi's Stash Of Condoleezza Rice Porn
"Libyan rebels rummaging through Moammar Gadhafi's compound have discovered a photo album with pictures of Condoleezza Rice, who has long fascinated the Libyan leader."
The End of Gaddafi
In case you were in a blackout all weekend, it's say to say that Gaddafi's regime officially toppled over the weekend... probably. (No one's quite ready to say it.) The pictures and video are amazing! Still everyone (everyone being "all the people who are not skirmishing in the streets of Tripoli") keeps hedging, because no one's been sure all night where Gaddafi himself is. (I know where he is: in an extremely long and entirely gold-lined emergency escape tunnel. The other end is surely either in Malta or Crete.) READ MORE
Sarkozy Getting Big "Mission Accomplished" Banner Printed Now
"Nicolas Sarkozy is pressing for success in Libya by coalition forces to be achieved in time for him to declare 'victory' on Bastille Day in Paris." READ MORE
Gaddafi Sachs: When Bad Things Happen to Bad People
It's the feel-good story of the morning: Goldman Sachs took $1.3 billion of Libya's money in 2008 and promptly turned it into no money at all, according to the WSJ: "The $1.3 billion of option investments were hit especially hard. The underlying securities plunged in value and all of the trades lost money, according to an internal Goldman memo reviewed by the Journal. The memo said the investments were worth just $25.1 million as of February 2010—a decline of 98%." That is particularly delightful. And then, the panicked firm offered the foul government a number of chances to make their money back, but nothing ever came of it. On the plus side, they have so much money that they wouldn't really notice the $1.3 billion disappearing into garbage investments—and meanwhile, many of the people mismanaging the money jumped ship for even-more profitable pastures when they saw the writing on the recession wall. Now much of Libya's money, which is essentially stolen from its citizens, is frozen, and Army leaders are defecting while NATO bombs and baloney "truce" talks occur.
Oh Good, We Bombed a Library
Things in Libya are... God, this is depressing. But we've apparently done great damage to Gaddafi's Bab al-Azizya compound! Take that, books and files! Worry not, Lindsey Graham and John McCain are out agitating for us to just assassinate Gaddafi. (I'm pretty sure that's what "cut the head of the snake off" means.) You know: the American way. READ MORE
Bombing Libya: The Anniversary
25 years ago today, the United States was bombing Libya. How things change!
Libyan War, Day 21
This is not confidence-inspiring in the slightest: "Nato refuses to apologise for an air strike that hit anti-Gaddafi forces in Libya, saying it had not been aware rebels had tanks."
Umberto Eco: Libyan War is "Stupid"
Oh, so there is evidence of a long-running intellectual tradition that is against the war-thing in Libya: "This war is stupid and dangerous for all," writes Umberto Eco in a letter to the IHT, what must be his shortest and most-straightforward declaration of all time. (And also an attack on Bernard-Henri Lévy.)
Freedom Fighters! Obama, Reagan, Libya, El Salvador
Late in February, we asked: does the CIA have any idea what's going on in the "Middle East" and "North Africa"? (Or are they, you know, behind everything?) Well! "Small groups of C.I.A. operatives have been working in Libya for several weeks as part of a shadow force of Westerners that the Obama administration hopes can help bleed Colonel Qaddafi’s military." Oh and they are authorized to arm... Libya's... rebels... which, well. Gosh. But it all worked out sort of okay, despite U.S. intervention, in El Salvador... thirty years later. And I'm sure the CIA ops in Pakistan are going to work out just great! (I'm not sure of that.)
