180 dead, 800 wounded in Libya

[Rodent + 1,424]

Clashes not over any time soon, folks. Libya's production, which increased to 1.098 million bpd in March, is set to fall again.

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

Libya was much better off under King Idris I.  When his nephew died in 1992, the successor was appointed by Royal Decree, Prince Mohammed El Hassan El Rida El Senussi.  You have to wonder if Libya would be better off today if it was again an effective, orderly Monarchy, with its Constitution and Western alliances, including of course the re-start of that big US air base just outside Tripoli, to kinda sorta keep a damper on the Ghaddafi types that want to do a coup d'etat. 

Who was it that found oil there?  Esso?  Back around 1953?  All that royalty money, all wasted, all gone.  What a shame.

[John Foote + 1,135]

Not sure the European model of monarchy works in a country that was never a normal country, more an area carved out of the collapsed Ottoman Empire and Italian intervention. Never really has managed to overcome tribalism. Gaddafi was probably better at the system than most, Unfortunately for him, he was a Nasser fan. Had he only played in his own sandbox he'd probably be in charge today. 

[El Nikko + 2,145]

I worked in Libya for 1 1/2 years right up to the so called 'revolution' and got out by the skin of my teeth, some of my friends had to be rescued by either special forces or civilian military contractors, after weeks without food and supplies they got escorted via land to Egypt.

When I arrived on my first trip the only cash machine I knew of was at the airport, the sanctions were very evident. By the time I left things were much better with western food in the super markets and cash machines all over the place....a week after I got out (and I saw it coming, had no passport and was extremely worried) the place was up in flames.

I don't see what we did there as a good thing at all. I've got a strong feeling our guard who was from Chad and a very funny guy probably got recruited in to the so called 'mercenaries' that the media used to talk about all the time and is probably dead. They didn't take prisoners.

Not a good look for western 'democracy' at all