Libya Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Lebanon

[Aidoneus]

Libya Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Lebanon
1 hour, 38 minutes ago
By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Libya has decided to sever diplomatic ties with Lebanon after coming under pressure to reveal the fate of a missing Lebanese Shiite cleric, a Libyan Embassy official said Wednesday.

Hussein al-Sharif, the charge d'affaires at the Office of Arab Fraternity, as the Libyan Embassy is called, said the decision was made after recent statements by Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Berri and Nasrallah, both Shiite Muslims, urged Libya to reveal the whereabouts of Imam Mousa Sadr, the spiritual leader of Lebanon's Shiite Muslim community who disappeared during a visit to Libya in 1978.

"Our decision was taken as a result of recent speeches made by Lebanese officials and some editorials that appeared in the (local) newspapers that contained improper words and style," al-Sharif told The Associated Press.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=6&u=/ap/20030903/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_libya

buy off the Europeans, piss on the "brothers".. funny concept of "Arab Fraternity" they've got there. :shrug:

[Maple]

1. It's one thing

that has always held the Arabs back...there has never been any 'Arab fraternity'

[StandWatie]

2. Gadhafi was always sort of a bitch..

I always thought the beginning of our slide downward was the completely manufactured "crisis" with Libya developed for no other reason than to appease Reagan's militant statist constituancy by killing someone somewhere.

[Aidoneus]

3. don't know as much about him

I get the idea that at one point or another he's tried to be all things to all people, not really good at any of them, now he's trying on his "I Wanna Be A Gulf Sheikh Too" hat, kissing up to the oil lords who used to pay al-Qai'dah to try and kill his ass. Never understood why he would want to "disappear" Mussa Sadr, was it some favour to the Saudis or something?

I guess Reagan just needed somebody to play ball with, all the big demons were already on the payroll and the damn Commies were too weak and complacent to scare a goldfish with anymore. Really love the bit where they passed out the medals for bombing people at night.

[StandWatie]

4. interesting guy..

The Western Press portrays him as crazy, I just heard them say this the other day on NPR where the comentator says "He's a quirky character, he is just as likely to sponser a terrorist group as broker a peace deal" which I thought could be equally applied to the US but the point is supposed to be just how unstable he is.

I swear to god he is the earliest person I can find who called his politics "Third Way", I don't know if the DLC and Blair consciously stole this from him but instead of trying to position himself between left/right economics it was a middle ground on Islamic politics and socialism.

He has some incredible successes in regards to literacy and health care and an abominal human rights record but he is far, far, from crazy and it shows the way he is trying to manuever his way right out of the revolutionary crowd and back in with the rest of the ass lickers.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

5. Kadhafi, the enigmatic leader

Kadhafi marks 34 years in office, insists solutions to world problems can be found in his ‘Green Book’.

TRIPOLI - Libya's Moamer Kadhafi celebrated 34 years in power Monday as the Arab world's longest-serving, but most enigmatic head of state.

Kadhafi, who in recent years has tried to tone down his image as the enfant terrible of world leaders, deposed King Idriss in 1969 at the tender age of 27. He immediately altered the calendar and renamed the months of the year to herald his new era.

Today he maintains that he no longer rules the oil-rich state, whose economy has been crushed by years of crippling sanctions, and insists that all power lies in the hands of the people.

"The ignorant, the superficial and those driven by hate ask how I've stayed in power for 34 years. But I do not govern. It is the people who have ruled since 1977, which is why the United States could not effect regime change in Libya," Kadhafi said Sunday night in a televised speech to mark the anniversary.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=6902

[Feanorcurufinwe]

6. The Green Book

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8744/readgb.htm

Note: I have no opinion about and indeed have not yet read this material. I am supplying this link solely for informative purposes.