American - Lawyer | January 24, 1948 -
Moammar Gaddafi, who has called himself the 'Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,' should go down in history with the Emperor Bokassa and Idi Amin as a grotesque reminder of why people have the right to change their government.
Elliott Abrams
ChangeHistoryGreatGovernmentDown
It's time to bury the unreal, failed 'realism' of those who have long thought that dictators brought stability.
TimeThoughtLongStabilityRealism
Enlightened despots are mythical creatures; real despots seem more interested in stealing money or installing their sons after them.
MoneyMoreRealStealingSeemSons
For decades, the Arab states have seemed exceptions to the laws of politics and human nature. While liberty expanded in many parts of the globe, these nations were left behind, their 'freedom deficit' signaling the political underdevelopment that accompanied many other economic and social maladies.
NatureFreedomPoliticsPolitical
Obviously, every dictator pays a great deal of attention to who is running the army. There's always a base right outside the capitol to protect the head of government.
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Tunisia was not for the United States an important country in the way, let's say, Algeria was because of its gas, because of its size, because of its struggle against terrorism that sometimes turned bloody.
StruggleCountryImportantSometimes
Tunisia is small - just ten million, no great natural resources.
GreatSmallResourcesNaturalJust
Sari Nusseibeh is a man without a country.
ManCountryWithout
Why are diplomatic cables secret at all?
WhySecretDiplomatic
Huge numbers of embassy cables are labeled 'unclassified' or 'limited official use' and deal with mundane matters.
NumbersMattersMundaneDealUse
In most cases, cables are marked secret not because the U.S. requires it but because those speaking to us - the foreign leaders across the table - do. They are not keeping secrets from us, but from two other groups: their enemies and their subjects.
SecretsTableSecretTwoEnemiesUs
Terrorism exploded after the Camp David talks broke down in 2000 because the Palestinians' leader at the time, Yasser Arafat, supported it.
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