Reply #6: Crowds laugh as tyrannical charade ends in Libya

[bemildred]

MUAMMAR "Mad Dog" Gaddafi is not mad. Bad, yes. Brutal, touchy and exhibitionist, undoubtedly. Capricious, overdressed, long-winded and weirdly coiffured, certainly.

But so far from being insane, Libya's ruler of 41 years has clung to power in a way that is consistent, effective and ruthless. Gaddafi's rule, even if it is over by the time you read this, has been one of the longest in modern history, and in many ways has been a textbook dictatorship, surviving by assiduously shoring up the twin pillars of every tyranny: the cult of personality and artificial fear.

Gaddafi took power as the arch-enemy of imperialism, the "Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution", and the bitter legacy of colonialism has always underpinned his popular appeal. "The Libyans do not know everything," he once said. "But they know Italy, and they hate Italy."

On a "visit of reconciliation" to Rome in 2009, the colonel wore a Ruritanian uniform, replete with epaulettes and gold braid. He also wore on his chest a picture of a Libyan resistance leader hanged by Italian colonists in 1931.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/crowds-laugh-as-tyrannical-charade-ends-in-libya/story-e6frg6ux-1226012194916