As leader of a rich nation, why didn't Qaddafi simply shrug instead of ordering attacks on rebels?

[Boojatta]

Has Qaddafi been focused too much on the work itself and not enough on negotiating enough employment income for himself? In that case, he might never have accumulated enough financial means to shrug. The moral is that his selfless devotion to his work ultimately backfired on him. He should have ensured that his interactions with others fell into the win-win quadrant, rather than in the quadrant in which others win and he loses.

This message was made possible as a result of enlightenment achieved thanks to the non-profit organization currently known as "the Ayn Rand Institute."

[Countdown_3_2_1]

1. He reacted like all strongman dictators do.

He rose to power with violence and he responds to all perceived threats with violence.
Certainly he's seen two nations fall to peaceful protesters. He was grooming his son to replace him.
His reaction is not really surprising. Force is all he knows.

[leveymg]

2. Actually, the '67 coup that overthrew King Idris was bloodless.

Gadhaffi was the leader of a group of junior officers who had been sent to England's Sandhurst Military College. Gadhaffi and the other "Free Officers" took control without much violence while Idris was visiting London. When Idris tried to recruit British mercenaries to overthrow the junta, the CIA stepped in and quashed the counter-revolution. Gadhaffi was judged a reliable anti-communist and someone whom the west could "do business with", as indeed he proved to be.

When Saudi Arabia and most of the rest of the region's oil-producing states fully nationalized the holdings of the Seven Sisters after the 1973 war, Libya allowed the western oil giants to keep a 30 percent stake. No matter how outrageous Libya's activities in support of terrorists were, Britain, France, Italy and the western oil companies never fully stopped doing business with him.

Gadhaffi has stayed in power all these years because he's essentially been someone who the west could count on to keep producing and to keep his countrymen quietly under his heel.

[Countdown_3_2_1]

5. OK, I stand corrected.

Still he's reacting like any other dictator.

[leveymg]

8. He's smarter than most strongmen, which is why he's survived longer.

Gadhaffi outlived others in the same mold of sometime CIA-sponsored caudillos - Manuel Noriega Saddham Hussein, etc. - he still has some very powerful friends.

[donco]

3. Because that is what sociopaths do. nt

[leveymg]

6. He may appear to like funny clothes, but he's been a "rational" economic player -

Gadhaffi has kicked-back and reinvested billions in various business ventures in Europe and around the world. He's made plenty of westerners very rich.

That's why he survived.

[donco]

9. Hopefully we will see his head on a pike

soon and his money is used to rebuild.

[RKP5637]

4. Ego and might makes right. n/t

[sibelian]

7. He isn't tremendously bright. You don't have to be to be in charge of a country.

All you need is lots of people willing to do what you say.

[Boojatta]

10. Kick because inquiring minds resolve to get assistance in their quest to know.