Gaddafi on the defensive

Libya is still in flames. A Gaddafi on the defensive tries his maximum to salvage his position. The more the protesters go on the offensive, the more he fights with his back on the wall. But going by the trends, the dictator is poised to taste defeat if not now, within one or two weeks. East Libya already under the occupation of protesters, Benqazi, next important city after Tripoli also under their occupation, their confidence too strong and are determined to fight to the hilt to force the dictator to flee the ‘throne', otherwise to kick him out. The man who well entrenched since 41 years in his saddle with nobody even to question or challenge his authority was drunk with power till recently. Because of that reason itself the first sign of resistance that too massive resistance has shaken him violently, it was something unexpected as far as he was concerned.

But his stubborn attitude of ‘not to say die' approach, his powerful militia and armory have so far helped him to launch a massive suppression - free killing almost 1000 citizens so far. Still he finds the resistance irresistible than he had expected and the thought of giving into the pressure of citizens he finds untenable. A man with king-size ego cannot even imagine in his dreams the thought of even inviting the protesters for a negotiation as he considers himself the Almighty of Libya whom nobody could even touch. It is really a dark wonder that the people of Libya were tolerating such a man, even afraid of this man who could force them dance to his tunes like puppets. But as anywhere a dictator, however powerful and iron-fisted he is will have to do a climb down in the face of massive resistance by citizens who can't any more resist the brutal ways of their ruler. Gradually step by step they group under one umbrella shedding their fears and apprehensions, go on the offensive, sometimes they might taste defeat, still not being taken aback they will group together to fight against the dictatorial menace.

We could read about several such dictatorships crumbling down under the might of collective resistance of citizens power we could witness many dictators fleeing away with their tails tucked in between their legs some even getting salvation even by angry mobs, pointing out each a difficult task as the list is endless, similarly is the fate of Muammar-al-Gaddafi like that of Tunisian dictator Zine-El-Abidine-Ben Ali, Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharaf, Nepal Monarch King Gyanendra etc etc.

With international pressure mounting on Gaddafi, his confidents are defecting one by one, army personnel too joining the protesters thus weakening Gaddafi's strangle-hold on Libya with the passing of each day. There are talks of forming a parallel administration by the defected leaders like Interior Minister and once a close confident of Gaddafi. Arab League has asked Gaddafi to stop the genocide and International Criminal Court is closely watching the situation. One day, if matters are going on like these we could very well see this man booked as a culprit by ICC. Security Council has passed a resolution asking Gaddafi to stop the brutal suppression herewith, US, Britain and France are busy mulling financial and weapons sanctions as also Germany. US President Barack Obama has asked Gaddafi several times to withdraw from the scene or to stop forthwith the killing spree of citizens. International pressure is mounting upon him and the man finds himself in a vicious circle. The thought of vacating the saddle is like conceding defeat for him and that is unimaginable with Libya in the grip of massive rebellion. International crude oil prices have jumped up reaching US $120 per barrel each day which threatens each nation. The price is likely to go up in the event of the conflict turning more bitter and violent.

Non-resident Indians as well as people from other countries in large numbers are stranded there, without finding any way out some even fleeing to other nations.

The matters are in such a fluid situation and nobody is in a position to predict how long this conundrum would last, how long this dictator would stick to his position. Before a determined resistance don't think Gaddafi can hold on to power indefinitely.

The Impossible Democracy In Libya

In those last days, some people started to repeat that a democratic reformation is coming to Libya, and there serious steps will be taking about it; we could hear that there are supervisors coming from EU to supervise the democratic electoral boxes in Libya too.

     After the independence for more than half a century*; the Libyan state had started and couldn’t be a democratic one, and when we review the Libyan political history till now, we find that there is one defect still stand to reach the point that even someone with crazy mind could say, “It’s a democratic state.” 

      We all know there are several kinds of democracy; kingdom and republic,  those can be different in their application to the democratic rule in many ways according to their distinguish conditions, but they share one consideration which is that all the members of community are the same before the law.

      Libya has fallen into ideological dilemma which made its citizen does not know until this day, what democracy really is?

      The ideological dilemma is that old Libyan thinking, which made the king ( Idris al-Sanousi ) and his family’s members and all those who pleased them, are not ordinary people like the rest members of the Libyan community, and so during the short life of Libyan kingdom, democratic ideology could not grow in Libya.

       Then came ( Alfateh ) revolution and Libya became republic which later becomes ( Jamahiriya ), and authority, army and wealth as they claim now in people’s hand; so the Libyans become very glad that its leadership is from common people not from that holly Libyan families.

        However, what really happen after the revolution and bringing down the holly royal system, itself becomes holly-revolutionary system, so colonel ( Gaddafi ), and members of his family and all the members of his tribe are holly ones not ordinary people like the others in Libyan community.

         The Libyan becomes able to criticize Allah, but not able even to dream that he wants simply to criticize ( Gaddafi ), or a member of his family or his tribe.

          So how my friends we could be able to dream that in the coming period there is a slight possibility of democratic regime in Libya, unless all the Libyan community’s members are equal before the law, and we all know, that it is impossible for ( Gaddafi) , and his family to become an ordinary people again not as now holly ones.

           Therefore, please believe that there is no democratic system in Libya and will not be any, until the disappearance of those holly Libyan characters who make the Libyan similar to idol worshiper, although he knows it does neither harm nor use.

Abdulrazig Almansori

Tobruk – Libya

November 9 , 2004

 *     1- The Libyan kingdom from December 24 , 1951 to August 31 , 1969 .

       2- The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from September 1 , until now  .

 Note : April 14, 2008 : This article first published in Arabic at ( akhbar-libya.com ) website , and this is the first translation to English by Miss ( Zahra Ali ) .

Top 10 - Proven Oil Reserve Countries

This is a list of countries with proven reachable oil reserves in billions of barrels, and is a rough estimate based on the ability to recover the oil by current technological and economical means.

Saudi Arabia - 262

Saudi Arabia is the largest exporter of petroleum in the world, and plays a leading role in OPEC, which stands for The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries; an international organization made up of eleven oil producing nations.

Canada - 180

Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands Project is what puts Canada on the map in this list. Current surface mining techniques and in-situ methods to extract bitumen from the oil sands make for an overwhelmingly positive future for Canada's oil industry.

Iran - 126

Iran's economy relies heavily on oil export revenues, and as oil prices rise, Iran's economy improves. Iran is in the process of diversifying by investing some of it's oil reserves into other areas, such as petrochemicals; and is in the process of creating more favorable climates for foreign investment.

Iraq - 115

According to oil industry experts, new exploration may raise Iraq's reserves up to 300 billion barrels. This has created global foreign interest to re-establish within the country. The US, UK, France, China, Russia, and Japan all vie for major concessions complicated by unrest in the post-Saddam Hussein era.

Kuwait - 102

Though the loss has been estimated at 2% of total oil reserves, Kuwait has recovered fully from the invasion of Iraq. The KPC, or Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, has grown to become one of the ten largest oil companies in the world.

U.A.E. - 98

At one time an underdeveloped region, by 1985 the UAE had the highest per capita income in the world. The largest areas of petroleum production occur in two of the seven constituent parts of the UAE; these being Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi qualifies as a oil state in the same sense as Kuwait.

Venezuela - 77

Venezuela is the fifth largest oil exporter in the world, and a founding member of OPEC. Oil output has been hampered at times due to protest and controversy, but the country remains an active contributor to the world supply of oil.

Russia - 60

Russia has the world's largest natural gas reserves, the second largest coal reserves, and the eighth largest oil reserves. The country is the world's largest exporter of natural gas and the second largest oil exporter. Reorganization of the Russian Energy Sector has shown improvements in the industry over the last few years.

Libya - 39

Though sanctions against Libya had been removed by United States President Bush and also by The United Nations, some Libyan authorities caution foreign optimism about prospects in the country's socialist driven economy. Nonetheless, the removal of sanctions allows Libya to drive forward.

Nigeria - 35

Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa, and is a major oil supplier to both the United States and Western Europe. Proven oil reserves are expected to be expanded to 40 billion barrels by the year 2010 Retrieved from "http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/top-10-proven-oil-reserve-countries-1287.html"

(ArticlesBase SC #1287)