"Hatstand" is the key word about Libya's mad "Colonel" Gaddafi. This slang term is often used to describe someone or something that is completely mad and it is clear to anyone that Gaddafi is as mad as the wild west wind on bad day. Like many dictators, he is from a rural area and was teased or taunted when he arrived in the city - much as Manuel Noriega of Panama infamy was as well. Though at least he choose to call himself a general!
Saddam Hussein was a country boy too, as was Idi Amin. Threatened by anyone who challenges them or opposes them in slight ways, they imprison, torture and kill. Leaving a trail of evil in their wake as they destroy the lives of thousands in a systematic, brutal manner. Until recently, the jackboot worked. Kill, rape, imprison, torture or whatever it takes and they will not beat upon your door. The revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and now ongoing in Bahrain, Yemen, Iran and Libya show that these days, finally, are over.
This is because people do have power and conditions in the Middle East mean they have nothing to loose, death is a better option for many than living under the yolk of truly insane dictators like Gaddafi. His assertion that the uprising of the Libyan people against him is all the work of "Al Queda" and that they are being fed "drugs" shows up the remarkable gap between the weird universe that Gaddafi inhabits and daily reality in the rest of the world.
In the remarkable interviews on the BBC and on CNN, he seemed totally out of it himself and he always looks as if he had spent a few nights with Charlie Sheen whenever I had seen him on TV before that and indeed in person at the Non-Aligned Summit in Colombia in the late 1990s.
Robert Mugabe shows many of the same signs and even Nepal's Maoist rebel supremo, Prachanda shows signs of this disconnect from the actual, the real, the truth. China's premier, hides it well, though doubtless is a watered-down version of the same and the Chinese are petrified at the moment by the spectre of a revolution which is launched by a spontaneous event, with no leaders and no apparent foreign interference.
All these dictatorial regimes share the same attributes in terms of their callous disregard for their own citizens, their intolerance of any dissent and the externalisation of their fears. In Tibet and Sinkiang, the Chinese blame "splittist agents". So do the Iranians, Syrians, etc when they face internal dissent.
They are all of course, completely "hatstand" and it is best for all if they were to quietly hang up their hats and get lost. Though they never do. Fear of being had, revenge for their horrible acts conspire to get them to fight it out to the bitter end. In Saddam's case this turned out to be the hangman's noose, as it was for Mussolini in Italy in 1945. For Adolf Hitler, arguably the world's worst dictator ever, it was death by his own hand and having to watch all his nightmares come true. Few despotic regimes have gone quietly, though some did, like the National Party in South Africa, the Politburo of the former Soviet Union to name but a few.
It is the best option though, as often past crimes will be overlooked for the sake of peace, as with happened with Raoul Cedras' exit from Haiti in the mid 1990s. I covered his arrival in Panama City and he was soon happily housed in an apartment in Punta Paitilla and Haiti entered a new, if not perfect phase under Jean Bertrand Aristide.
Revolution of course, often throws up more problems than it actually sloves, though in the case of dictatorships, the benefits outweigh the risks. Sure, Amnesty's human rights reports on Iraq probably still have you reaching for the sick bucket and the government is arguably more corrupt than it was under the psycopathic rule of Saddam Hussein, though there is at least scope for change and you can go to Tahrir Square in Bagdad and at least wave your shoes at the government and their corrupt cohorts and who knows? Perhaps it will change something.
In sum, dictatorships globally are now "on notice". The game is up. It is only a matter of time before the rest of them are overthrown, including that great Asian beast, China. It is unstoppable. I saw it happen myself in Kathmandu during the Kathmandu Spring of 2006.
Demonstrators cannily invited the wives of the soldiers to march at the front of their demos, the police and army did not switch sides, though realised they could not fight it with bullets or beatings or imprisonments, all these served to throw petrol on the fire. Wisely, King Gyanendra stood down on the advice of his generals. Many of the world's dictators would be wise to follow suit.
Though for the belligerents like Mr Gaddafi, their is only two options left, all hope of negotiation having passed, which is a comfy seat at the International War Crimes Tribunal or death. Something of a Hobson's choice that and I suspect, Gaddafi, doubtless equipped with his coat of invisibility, with Harry Potter at his side, will choose the latter.
Image captions and credits
Top: Gaddafi gives a long rambling speech at the 64th UN General Assembly in New York. Picture by Marco Castro | Lightroom Photos | UN; Middle: Saddam Hussein after his capture by US forces in Tikrit. He later said he was still the president of Iraq and asked the soldiers "who was he was negotiating with?". Picture by Lightroom Photos | US Army; Bottom left: Raoul Cedras arrives in Panama City in October 1994 after being ousted by an invasion to oust him launched by the United States. Picture by Jon Mitchell | Lightroom Photos; Bottom right: Anti-Monarchy demonstrators clash with the Nepalese Armed Police Force in New Road during the 2006 Kathmandu Spring. While far from a dictator, the unpopular King Gyanendra stood down and allowed a republic to be established, rather than use force against his subjects. Picture by Jon Mitchell | Lightroom Photos
NB All these images can be found in high resolution on http://www.topfoto.co.uk and on http://www.hollandse-hoogte.nl/
Much guff was written/said in the UK media of late about corona
