Learning from the past is vital to not letting history repeat itself.

He is impatient. Showing off his boat at a time when US hegemony is still at its zenith. I mean what did he expect? First Saddam was gone, then Ghadaffi etc etc.

That's an odd comparison between literacy rate and add math. Malaysia has a literacy rate of 96% btw.

I had a Libyan university dorm mate. To me, gaddafi basically just sounds like the sultan of brunei. They provided a lot of benefits to the people from oil revenue (including overseas scholarships which my friend was on).

But at the same time, things are not super rosy, as you can expect. Leaders are super rich but not necessarily the people. No comments on harems and torture chambers, but don't imagine that gaddafi and his close family and friends didn't skim a lot of the revenue for themselves.

learn or glorify. take your pick. They end up in different destinations. Coz glorifying and circle jerking is likely to end up repeating the same mistakes coz nobody learns anything about the mistakes coz it makes them look bad lol

The question is whether Libya today is better or worse under Gaddafi?

The problem with Middle East and Africa is they have a lot of tribal groups that constantly clash with each other.

Whether they like it or not, if they want peace and development, they need a strongman to hold everyone together

Look what happened to Iraq, Libya and Syria today after their dictators are disposed

The country falls apart due to infighting

Thing is gaddafi himself wasn't really peaceful. Aside from being anti West, what people kinda ignore was that he also waged war against his neighbours Egypt and Sudan. In terms of development libya there really wasn't much - libya was similar to other Arab kingdoms heavily reliant on oil (libya is actually a bit worse off because they actually nationalised businesses which drove away private businessmen).

The irony is that gaddafi took power because the former king controlled all the oil revenue, and he ended up controlling all the oil revenue himself.

That is basically how all the Arabs dictator's story

Fact is Libya was still better under him than today where various tribes are fighting each other

He's no angel. That's for sure!

He wanted to direct Libya to an agricultural country.

these Middle east countries need a strong dictator to control, else they will just fight with everyone and the different clans....

I don't really agree with a lot of Gaddafi aggressive stance on a lot of matters. That said, pretty funny that NATO supported the rebellion because Gaddafi wanted Africa to switch to his gold standard for oil trade instead of the petrodollar.

He got more oil and money than Norway but his people still fighting to survive.
He launched so many projects yet unifinished.
If his people so educated and civilised, yet is Libya still a failed state.
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Dictator was a pale imitation of Gadaffi.

Lockerbie bombing not exactly the kind of thing a great leader does.

Gaddafi fund MILF/MNLF to invade sabah.

gaddafi wanted to, but libya itself was quite far from being self sufficient in food.

but essentially it remained an oil country. when oil prices were up, it got rich. when oil prices went down, the gdp went down. its basically just a different type of oil sultanate.

its a problem of institutions. they dont have the institutions and traditions that are compatible with democratic forms of government (which isnt to say it cant be learned).

without these institutions, people tend to rely on tribalism, ethnic politics, and patronage (e.g. politicians directly handing out aid instead of a government agency that is supposed to be party-neutral). you can either push for reform and strengthen the institutions, or you fall back to dictatorship and never develop them.

Started out as a decent level minded leader but eventually turned into some weird old dude

this...

if brics introduce its own currency.. surely usa will invade some countries here.