Copyright won’t let me post the photo: dark glasses covering ¼ of his face, bright white blazer over black shirt, black handkerchief flowing out the breast pocket, is
Moammar Gadhafi, President of Libya (flag below right). Next to him walks Nicolas Sarkozy, President of F
rance (flag below left). As they shake hands for the camera, neither looks at or turns toward the other, neither smiles, though Sarkozy has something like a sheepish half-grin on his face. And shouldn’t he look sheepish? We don’t negotiate with terrorists, don’t pay ransoms for hostages, but the
EU (and Qatar) paid roughly $500 million to secure not the pardon, not the release, but commutation of 6 d
eath sentences pronounced by Libyan courts to life behind bars. Extradition through regular channels may take up to a year. The 5 Bulgarian nurses and the Bulgaro-Palestinian doctor accompanying them have already spent 8 years in Libyan jails.
Bursts onto the scene the “
rebel wife” of the French president, reported as saying she does not want to be a
potiche (figurehead), and who apparently needs some sort of first-ladyish
good works to do. It was made clear that she had no negotiating authority and well publicized that Mr. Sarkozy stayed up all night, speaking on the phone more than once with Gadhafi and José Manuel Barroso, current president of the European Commission. So
after the conclusion of some undisclosed deal, Mme Sarkozy flies off to Bulgaria with the 6 former hostages (oops, prisoners), where they are immediately pardoned. Libya called the consul of Bulgaria (flag above right) on the carpet for that, but welcomed Mr. Sarkozy to firm up commercial deals with France, including, apparently, the
sale of nuclear technology. As the European deputy I heard on the radio said, we don’t believe Iran’s civil nuclear program will remain civil, so not only is the French diplomatic splash procedurally irregular, its nuclear deal is irresponsible. But nuclear’s not all. Naturally, there’s oil. After 8 years of strained Euro-Libyan relations, the end of the prisoner (hostage) crisis means
“all-out cooperation” to Sarkozy: nuclear tech for Libya, oil and gas for France, normalized trade relations (with Europe as well) that will bring Libya back into the “concert of nations”.
Condoleezza Rice thinks the same way, though she reportedly has no specific program in mind. Maybe if the US can start buying oil in Libya, we can stop killing for it in Iraq?
rance (flag below left). As they shake hands for the camera, neither looks at or turns toward the other, neither smiles, though Sarkozy has something like a sheepish half-grin on his face. And shouldn’t he look sheepish? We don’t negotiate with terrorists, don’t pay ransoms for hostages, but the EU (and Qatar) paid roughly $500 million to secure not the pardon, not the release, but commutation of 6 d
eath sentences pronounced by Libyan courts to life behind bars. Extradition through regular channels may take up to a year. The 5 Bulgarian nurses and the Bulgaro-Palestinian doctor accompanying them have already spent 8 years in Libyan jails. Bursts onto the scene the “rebel wife” of the French president, reported as saying she does not want to be a potiche (figurehead), and who apparently needs some sort of first-ladyish 
good works to do. It was made clear that she had no negotiating authority and well publicized that Mr. Sarkozy stayed up all night, speaking on the phone more than once with Gadhafi and José Manuel Barroso, current president of the European Commission. So after the conclusion of some undisclosed deal, Mme Sarkozy flies off to Bulgaria with the 6 former hostages (oops, prisoners), where they are immediately pardoned. Libya called the consul of Bulgaria (flag above right) on the carpet for that, but welcomed Mr. Sarkozy to firm up commercial deals with France, including, apparently, the sale of nuclear technology. As the European deputy I heard on the radio said, we don’t believe Iran’s civil nuclear program will remain civil, so not only is the French diplomatic splash procedurally irregular, its nuclear deal is irresponsible. But nuclear’s not all. Naturally, there’s oil. After 8 years of strained Euro-Libyan relations, the end of the prisoner (hostage) crisis means “all-out cooperation” to Sarkozy: nuclear tech for Libya, oil and gas for France, normalized trade relations (with Europe as well) that will bring Libya back into the “concert of nations”. Condoleezza Rice thinks the same way, though she reportedly has no specific program in mind. Maybe if the US can start buying oil in Libya, we can stop killing for it in Iraq?
