Rebel Flag , originally uploaded by bill kralovec.
I noticed that the rebels flag was raised this weekend at the Libyan Embassy here in Belgrade. I wonder who put it up? The “rebels” are moving in to the capital Tripoli, Gadhafi’s family is leaving the country, and it sounds like he is making a last stand in his home village. There still may be weeks or months of fighting in Libya, but it does look like there will be a change in government.
It is odd however that the official Libyan flag, which is all green, was taken down and the tri-color rebel flag put up. If Gadhafi approved the Ambassador and staff here, they quickly switched sides. I wonder who decided to raise this flag instead of the official one? Are all Libyan Embassies throughout the world changed the flag already?
Gadhafi was a terrible president for the country. I don’t have much hope for a good government coming from the rebels either however. Libya is cursed with oil reserves and as with most nations with oil, it doesn’t bring prosperity and a democratic society. I hope the rebels after they are done fighting, travel to Norway and see how they managed their oil money. Norway is one of the few countries that has been able to use its fossil fuel income to better its society. It has done so by basically putting most of the income in a trust fund and slowly selling its reserves. Having lived in Venezuela, another OPEC nation, I don’t have much hope for Libya…
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