New York- I appear in this week’s episode of Real Dictators produced by Bristol-based Noiser Podcasts discussing Colonel Gaddafi’s use of international terrorism as a weapon of an asymmetric foreign policy. The episode also looks into his pivot away from pan-Arabism that largely failed him and his petro dollar-laced embrace of pan-Africanism with which he had far more success. Through the decades, Libya’s uncontested leader constantly adapted in order to stay in power. Despite being unpopular in his deeply repressive mukhabarat state at home, he was still managing to win hearts and minds abroad, particularly in Africa south of the Sahara. Well before Gulf monarchies got involved in building Islamic infrastructure in Africa, the Colonel had been busy for years building grand mosques, modern hotels where outsiders were skittish to invest, and hulking monuments. This decidedly north African murderous eccentric bought himself popularity in poor stretches of post-colonial Africa’s interior.
