Libya: Difference between revisions

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[[File:libya-map_246.gif|frame]]

Libya (formerly the ''[[People's Republic of Tyranny|Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya]]'') ([[Overly Long Name|now that's a long name]]) is a North African country located between Egypt and Tunisia and bordered by the Mediterranean Sea.

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One of the most authoritarian of the Arab states for many years, it was ruled from 1969 to 2011 by [[Muammar Gaddafi]] (معمر القذافي), a man who had an [[Amazon Brigade]] of [[Bodyguard Babes]] and had his name [[Spell My Name with an "S"|transliterated at least 30 ways]]<ref>[[Wikipedia]] pronounces it [[Muammar Gaddafi|Muammar al-Gaddafi]], or Colonel Gaddafi for short.</ref>. He was universally considered [[Cloudcuckoolander|a bit...]] [[Ax Crazy|uh, quirky]]. Officially, Libya under Gaddafi was a socialist country ruled by its people through a form of direct democracy, an ideology which Gaddafi characterised as a third way between capitalism and communism and which was laid out in his self-penned "Green Book", with the Colonel himself having [[Just the First Citizen|no official position within the state]] and instead being a "guide of the revolution" who merely oversaw the country. Unofficially, [[People's Republic of Tyranny|you can probably work it out]].

Of particular note is Libya's relationship with the world, especially during the 1980s. Very widely believed to be a state sponsor of [[Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters|terrorism/freedom fighting]], arming the IRA among many others (it was and still is anti-Israel), this naturally did not go down well with the USA. There were two incidents in the (claimed by Libya) Gulf of Sidra, where Libyan jets attacked American F-14s and were duly blown out of the sky. Most notable of all was Operation El Dorado Canyon, a 1986 aerial attack by the US, in response to a terrorist attack, that killed 60 people, including the Libyan leader's adopted daughter (possibly). Two of these inspired works of fiction.

In 2003, Mr. 37 Spellings reconciled with the West somewhat, gave up his WMD programme and got Libya taken off the US "state sponsors of terrorism" list. In 2009, he delivered a 96-minute rant at the UN General Assembly against the [[United Nations]] Security Council, chucking away a copy of the UN Charter and bringing up [[Conspiracy Theories]] galore, and made controversial statements regarding [[Switzerland]]. The fact that Libya chairs the General Assembly at present [[Loophole Abuse|meant he was allowed to do this.]]

Under Gaddafi, Libya also tried to destabilize its African neighbors and profit from the resulting weakness. This didn't work out too well, as Libya proceeded to get its ass kicked by [[wikipedia:Libyan-Egyptian War|Egypt]] and [[wikipedia:Libya-Chad War|Chad]], the latter war actually serving to reinforce Chadian unity as the various factions fighting for control of the country teamed up to fight the Libyans. Helping Uganda's Idi Amin in his [[wikipedia:Uganda-Tanzania War|invasion of Tanzania]] [[Spanner in the Works|also blew up in Libya's face.]] The nation also has an ongoing feud with [[wikipedia:Libyan-Sudanese conflict|Sudan]].

Ethnically Libya is mostly a mix of Berbers and Arabs, although the lines are blurry thanks to (1) intermarriage and (2) the fact that many if not most even relatively unmixed Berbers speak Arabic and only Arabic.

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The Gulf of Sidra incident in 1981 inspired ''Top Gun'', while El Dorado Canyon inspired very directly (including going around France and Spain) an attack on a [[Qurac]] in a novel called ''Eagles''.

Not counting the [[Qurac]] clones:

* ''[[Airwolf]]''- Dr Moffett takes the chopper there after he steals it.

* ''Patriot Games''.

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[[Category:Useful Notes/Africa]]

[[Category:Libya]]

[[Category:Useful Notes]]