The Big Gaddafi by Pepe Escobar

[Jefferson23]

It's late night in Tripoli and The Big Gaddafi is sipping a White Russian, smoking some prime Maghreb produce and tuning in to a bank of plasma TVs in his tent at the Bab al-Aziziyah fortress. No luscious Ukrainian nurse could possibly appease his restless soul.

He stares in disbelief at the narrative unrolling in the digital Western alphabet soup known as "news"; they swear Muammar Gaddafi is "besieged", "exhausted", "looking for a way out", "preparing to flee" (to Tunisia) and it's "only a matter of time" before his regime "collapses".

All this because a bunch of barbarian Bedouins backed by North


Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) bombs had decided to pee on his carpet.

The Big Gaddafi: That rug really tied the room together.

He can hardly picture himself as "besieged". After all his box-office appeal in Libya at least doubled in the past few months. And then some White House dude told his guys they would abide by a ceasefire where NATO would rule only some patches of Cyrenaica - yes for Benghazi, no for Misrata - and would make way for a blue helmet UN peacekeeping force.

He looks at his iPhone calendar; the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan will go on until August 29. There are still roughly 10 days for the ceasefire to go into effect. But the Americans - as usual - were greedy. They wanted all the oil and gas concessions they could lay their hands on, and they wanted him to retire. The oil and gas, that's negotiable - for a price. As for the retirement, stuff it.

in full: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MH20Ak01.html