Is the narrative of the Bush Administration about how it has brought Libyan Despot Muammar Qadhafi to heel credible? Furthermore, as the White House claims, is the Libyan model a good one for Iran to follow?
According to Andrei Fedyashin who writes for Russia’s Novosti news service – the answer is an obvious and resounding “no!”
“The Americans have already dubbed all that’s going on in Libya, the “Libyan model,” and never fail to recommend that Libya is a good example for Iran. This is an attempt to demonstrate that Iran can obtain all the benefits that Libya has (the lifting of sanctions, investment, technical assistance, etc.) if it satisfies U.S. demands that that it suspend its nuclear program. … As often happens in diplomacy, particularly American diplomacy, almost all of these claims are misleading. In fact, the reality of the situation is just the opposite. Paradoxical though it may seem, Qaddafi’s miraculous transformation was made possible only as a result of direct talks between the White House and his emissaries. This is precisely the course of action that Washington has refused to follow in the case of Iran.”
And when did these talks begin? And more importantly, why? Fedyashin continues:
“The fact is that Qaddafi’s 2003 decision to denounce terrorism and shut down Libyan development of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons has been portrayed as a sudden conversion, although negotiations with the Americans had begun under President Clinton (1993-2001). And the reason is almost too cynical and embarrassing to tell. By Clinton’s second term, his administration was coming under strong pressure from American oil firms because in defiance of U.N. and E.U. sanctions, Italy’s ENI, France’s Total, and Spain’s Pepsol already had large-scale operations in Libya. … Western experts estimate that the cost of production of high-quality Libyan crude is just $1 per barrel!”
By Andrei Fedyashin
Translated By Igor Medvedev
August 1, 2008
Russia – Novosti – Original Article (Russian)
MOSCOW: It’s something we haven’t seen in a long time – not since the Soviet era practice of exchanging “dissidents” for spies. Arriving for talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow on July 31, Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi brought on his plane Alexander Tsygankov, the head of LUKOIL Overseas Libya, who had been imprisoned in that country eight months ago on charges of industrial espionage. Our Prime Minister [Putin] even tried to “resolve the misunderstanding” during a meeting with Muammar Qaddafi in Tripoli in April, but it’s clear that at least at the time, the Libyan leader was “not in the mood.”
After this “gift,” there was nothing left to do but discuss the details of the largest ever Libyan-Russian cooperation packages – from mining, processing, exporting oil and gas and laying pipelines along the bottom of the Mediterranean sea bed, to selling Tripoli our weapons, to building railroads and nuclear power plants.
Not all the financial details are known, but judging by one contract for a 320 mile railroad that Russian Railways will build in Libya for $2.2 billion, or the shopping list of weapons Libya would like to buy (90 percent of its arsenal is Soviet-made), we are talking about billions and billions of dollars.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of how the world perceives our nation.
