Apr 2001
In this issue:
The colonel wins again
Back in the news after of the release of convicted – though far from confirmed – Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi,Gadaffi milks the limelight
Issue: Sep, 2009
So, why has he been making waves this time? Well, he made Time magazine’s top ten worst dressed world leaders/dictators – not exactly something that can be considered a triumph. Although it did prompt Vanity Fair to dedicate a special “dictator-chic” style section to “the most unabashed dresser on the world stage”, which is a rather big accomplishment.
Erm, we kind of meant this whole Lockerbie thing... Oh. That. Well, he did manage to stick it to both the British and the American authorities by taking advantage of Scotland’s fiercely independent justice system. Judges decided to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi – the man probably framed for the 1988 Pan Am Flight bombing over a Scottish town – from prison on compassionate grounds, as his cancer was at such an advanced stage that he has been given no more than three months to live. The US are incensed, because revenge is more important than humanity.
Of course, it’s not just the Americans he’s upset... In late July, he also suspended oil deliveries to Switzerland and withdrew up to $7 billion from their banks after their authorities arrested his son, Hannibal, for allegedly assaulting his servant. Perhaps deservedly, Hannibal also recently won third place on Foreign Policy’s world’s worst sons of political leaders. The Swiss president was forced to apologise.
August is clearly the Colonel’s lucky month...Coincidentally, Hannibal is also the name for August in the Libyan calendar – they have their own – and last year he forced Italy to apologise for colonial era damages, then anointed himself “King of Kings of Africa”.
