Colonel Gaddafi No Longer An Arab

It is thanks to its leader that Libya is getting more and more estranged from the rest of the Arab world
When we speak about Libya, we immediately remember its leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. In fact, the country draws attention of the world only when Gaddafi suggests some shocking ideas. Over the years of his rule, the colonel has managed to suggest so many ideas of this kind that they are now paid less attention to. Such attitude is certainly insulting for a man who has claimed to the leading role in the Arab world. Finally, Kadhafi gave up mentioning he is an Arab at all.

It is thanks to its leader that Libya is getting more and more estranged from the rest of the Arab world. Recently, Muammar Gaddafi even said he wanted to quit the League of Arab States as he said the organization was ineffective and couldn't defend interests of Arabs. In the end, the colonel changed his mind, and Libya remained a member of the League of Arab States. It is not clear how long it will remain in the organization though.

Now Libyans, once again at the suggestion of their leader, have come to an idea of renaming the state. As is known, the official name of the country is Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Jamahiria means "sovereignty of the people"). It was decided to abbreviate the long name. A new variant of the official name is not published yet; it is said that the word "jamahiria" will be preserved. It is not ruled out that the name will sound quite different.

Some time ago Muammar Gaddafi suggested changing the official name of the country for Libyan African Republic. This is one of the colonel’s oddities; he thinks that this name represents rather African, not Arabian essence of the state. But now when Gaddafi plans to keep the word "jamahiria" in the official name of the state, we can say that he no longer has an intention to demonstrate "the African essence" of the country in its name.

It is difficult to give a logical explanation why ideas of his kind occur to the colonel. Probably, Muammar Gaddafi has given up the idea of becoming a leader of the whole of the Arab world because he thinks the idea has no prospects. And if Gaddafi now wants to defend interests of the whole of the African continent, he is unlikely to be a success with the idea. This is probably just one of his whims, the desire to remind the whole of the world about him. One thing is for sure now: Libya will soon have some different official name.