Now seriously. Following suit of Tunisia and Egypt, Libyans are staging mass demonstrations in an attempt to oust leader Gaddafi. Gaddafi seized power in 1969 from King Idris, in a military coup.
Can we expect Libya to follow a similar transition of power as is underway in Egypt? Probably not. Unlike Egypt, Libya has massive oil reserves and a much smaller population (80m vs. 6m). As a result the GDP per capita is double that of Egypt. Literacy and education levels are also higher in Libya compared to Egypt. But unemployment is much higher in Libya... I don't know the implications of all the differences between Libya and Egypt. Read a book about it, if you're really interested...
The only point of the differences is to show that the "arab people's movement" will not play out in the same fashion as it did in Egypt. Gaddafi's response to the protests has been much more violent than that of former Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak. Already, more than 200 civilians have died in the protests, due in part to the government firing live rounds into crowds, and using fighter planes to bomb protesters. Libyan soldiers seem to be much more active in protester suppression than the Egyptian soldiers were. This is interesting because both governments require mandatory military service from civilians.
Two Libyan fighter pilots who refused to bomb protesters made an unscheduled landing in Malta; they are asking for political asylum.
In regards to my drawing above, there have been rumours that Gaddafi has fled to Venezuela. But Venezuela and Libyan officials both deny it...
Gaddafi does a mean Roy Orbison impersonation. Wonder if the buxom Ukrainian nurse went with him?
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