February 28, 2011

From the files

A reader pointed out to me in 2004 that Khaddafi, having come in from the cold in 2003, had turned to internet punditry. I blogged in 2004:

Question: Whose website is this really? A reader writes:

The best thing I ever read about Turkey & the EU was an article by none other than..... Mumar Qaddafi. Check his website out:
http://www.algathafi.org/turkey-eng.html
It's statesmen-like in its forbearance. It almost makes me forget he's a crazy dictator. The multiple self-ingratiating posed photos on his website homepage keep me grounded, though.

This is very strange. Here's another not unreasonable op-ed by the old mad bomber on how to solve the Korean problem. Has Khaddafi actually taken up punditry in his old age? (He seems to be about as good at it as, say, Thomas Friedman or Jim Hoagland and better than William Safire or Frank Rich.) Is this some kind of PR offensive by Gadaffi's minions? Or is this a hoax?

Update: My reader writes:

Another thing that points to it being my main man Muammar is that the Africa thing is front and center. He has this obsession with uniting Africa politically (under guess who's rule?) He seems to have swapped pan-Arabism for pan-Africanism. It's been really pissing off his subjects. He's opened up immigration and his principal cities are being more and more subjected to black immigration. They aren't happy about it. 

If you read his silly essay on Africa it goes in for some anti-colonialism red meat and then presents the problem that elections have led to the problem of "power rotation" where perpetual changes in leadership bring "instability" and so no dynamic progress can be made. I see where he's going with this.

Oh dear, with all the power rotation leading to instability who can save us Africans? If only there was a man who could unite us and provide us with stability WITHOUT pesky "power rotations". But WHO?

Commenter Gwern helpfully adds:
The links are broken, but all seem to be old enough that you can get at them via the Internet Archive, for example the first two are http://web.archive.org/web/20041204020447/http://www.algathafi.org/turkey-eng.html & http://web.archive.org/web/20041207005534/http://www.algathafi.org/kurea-issue.htm

Here's Kaddafi's root directory for all his musings. Did he write them himself? I dunno, but I sort of think he did. The notion that he's a bright guy with ADHD seems plausible.

My old articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

12 comments:

  1. Well, he certainly understands what tribes are all about -- and the implications that has for nation-building:

    "however, mr. snappy dresser himself knows what tribes are (pg. 299). in fact, he sounds like he’s been reading a lot of steve sailer!:

    'A tribe is a family which has grown as a result of procreation. It follows that a tribe is a big family….' unfortunately '…tribalism damages nationalism because tribal allegiance weakens national loyalty and flourishes at its expense…. It is damaging to the political structure if it is subjected to the family, tribal, or sectarian social structure and adopts its characteristics.'

    so, he’s not quite as dumb as he looks, eh? not quite."

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  2. The Kadafi links go nowhere. What's up?

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  3. I can't seem to access the essays on the site.

    Also, as of right now, this thread is "Untitled".

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  4. He is no dummy. Libya has had one of the highest standards of living in Africa for years. He has always been crazy yet he managed to keep power. However unpopular he now is, his shoes will hard to fill and may lead to civil war for years.

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  5. That www.algathafi.org site seems to be down...

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  6. The links are broken, but all seem to be old enough that you can get at them via the Internet Archive, for example the first two are http://web.archive.org/web/20041204020447/http://www.algathafi.org/turkey-eng.html & http://web.archive.org/web/20041207005534/http://www.algathafi.org/kurea-issue.htm

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  7. Yes, the Pan-Africanism of Gheddafi was live until about 2007/08, then because the problem created by this wave of immigrants he has changed his mind about.
    Before was possible for africans enter and stay in Libya without permission, this created problems also for Italy because a lot of Somalis were in Libya waiting for a step to Italy.
    In 2009 Gheddafi and Italy signed an economic and anti-immigration agreement: crackdown on the illegals in the libyan ports, an electronic fence along the border with Chad, possibility for Italy to reject the boats of aliens to Libya and a collaboration with italian and libyans marines togheter in the libyan coastguard.
    In 2008 35.000 aliens from Libya arrived in Italy, in 2009 6.000, and in 2010 3.500.
    Now this agreement is in a limbo.
    If you want my prevision, I guess the Libya's final chapter under Gheddafi rule is still to come

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  8. This is an impressive website. There are hundreds of audio excerpts in nearly a dozen languages. Videos too.

    Notice that the first three languages are in order: Arabic, Chinese and then English. I suppose that means something.

    Albertosaurus

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  9. Mick Reactionary2/28/11, 11:33 AM

    "Across Difficult Country noticed in 2000 that Khadaffi, having come in from the cold in 2003,"

    Either Across sees the future or there is problem with the dates.

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  10. I am Lugash.

    Across Difficult Country noticed in 2000 that Khadaffi, having come in from the cold in 2003, had turned to internet punditry:

    ADC has a mighty impressive crystal ball.

    I am Lugash.

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  11. Col. G. may well be a decent proxy for the best Libya can do. According to Lynn and Vanhanen, its national IQ average is 84.

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  12. Notice that the first three languages are in order: Arabic, Chinese and then English. I suppose that means something.

    It most certainly does.  It means they are in alphabetical order.

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