Saudi Arabia: Gaddafi shocked at former allies

PJ: This article is unique in that in Gaddafi's tirade against the West he is not focused on the US. The lack of anti-American rhetoric in regional unrest shows that the world is changing in more ways than we could have imagined just a few years ago.

Arab News

Qaddafi says shocked by former European friends

ROME: Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi said he felt betrayed by former European allies like Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi who have turned against him and said business links with Europe risked lasting damage.

Qaddafi dismissed demands by world powers for a no-fly zone over Libya or the possibility of airstrikes, telling Tuesday’s edition of the Italian daily Il Giornale that: “We will fight and win. A situation of that type will only serve to unite the Libyan people.”

The Libyan leader said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has officially recognized the rebel Libyan National Council and called for targeted airstrikes, had a “mental disorder.”

In the interview, Qaddafi said the criticism of his rule from Europe, culminating in a demand by EU leaders that he leave power, had threatened ties.

“I was really shocked by the attitude of my European friends,” he told the newspaper. “They have damaged and endangered a series of major accords on security that were in their interests and the economic cooperation that we had.”

Asked about his relations with Berlusconi, previously his closest friend in Europe, he said: “I am so shocked, I feel betrayed, I don’t even know what to say to Berlusconi.”

EU leaders have slapped economic sanctions on Tripoli following the outbreak of fighting between rebel forces in the east of the country and troops loyal to Qaddafi and at a summit meeting last week demanded that he step down.

Economic ties

Until the unrest, economic ties had been blossoming. Italy, in particular had developed close links with its former colony, with which it also had agreements to block the flow of clandestine immigration from Africa. However Qaddafi said these were now under threat.

“I think and hope that the Libyan people will reconsider economic and financial ties and also those in the field of security with the west,” he said.

Eni, Italy’s biggest oil and gas company, has extensive operations in Libya, including long-term contracts and says it plans to invest some $25 billion there.

Other Italian companies with significant interests or ties include defense and aerospace group Finmeccanica and Italy’s biggest bank Unicredit.

“When your government is replaced by the opposition and the same thing happens in the rest of Europe, the Libyan people will perhaps take new relations with the West into consideration,” Qaddafi said.

He also repeated that his government had represented a bulwark against Islamic extremism, which could now be unleashed, triggering more serious unrest in the region.

“If instead of a stable government which guarantees security, these bands linked to Bin Laden take control, the Africans will move in a mass toward Europe and the Mediterranean will become a sea of chaos,” he said.

If western forces attacked Libya, he would join forces with the radical Islamists. “We will ally ourselves with Al-Qaeda and declare holy war,” he said.

http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article317836.ece

related:

Qaddafi: Arab League is finished

By REUTERS

Published: Mar 16, 2011 03:47 Updated: Mar 16, 2011 03:47

TRIPOLI: Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi lashed out on Tuesday at backers of a no-fly zone over his country and urged Libyans to take up arms and prepare to confront a possible invasion by Western powers.

In a gathering of supporters at his Bab Al-Azizia fortified compound in central Tripoli, Qaddafi hit out at the Arab League, which has backed a no-fly zone, saying it was “finished,” and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which he said had lost its legitimacy.

“The Arab League is finished. There is no such thing as the Arab league,” he said in a short, emotional speech.

“The Gulf Cooperation Council is finished. It’s actually the ‘Gulf Uncooperative Council’ ... The Arab people (however) remain.”

Aqddaif also taunted France and Britain for pushing for a no-fly zone in Libya.

“France now raises its head and says that it will strike Libya,” he said.

“Strike Libya?” he asked. “We’ll be the one who strikes you! We struck you in Algeria, in Vietnam. You want to strike us? Come and give it a try.”

The speech was carried as world powers wrangled over a draft resolution on imposing a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent Qaddafi’s advancing forces from using their air superiority to take the rebel capital Benghazi in the east.

Qaddafi lashed out at Britain, one of the main proponents of a no-fly zone. “What right do you have? Do we share borders? Are you our tutor?” he asked.

Libyans would fight to the death to defend their country, he said.

http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article318542.ece