In the Land of the Brother Leader
Michael Totten tours Libya.
When you visit another country, it’s hard to get a feel for what it’s actually like until you leave your hotel room, go for a walk, take a look around, and hang out while soaking it in. Not so in Libya. All you have to do there is show up. It will impose itself on you at once.
My Air Afriquiya flight touched down on the runway next to a junkyard of filthy, gutted and broken-down Soviet aircraft in an airport otherwise empty of planes. When I stepped out of the hatch into the jetway, I came face to face with three uniformed military goons who scrutinized me and everyone else from behind reflective oversize sunglasses.
Read the whole thing - right to the last paragraph, where you’ll see why I titled this as I did. And, by the way, he’s another blogger who is doing original reporting from the Middle East. His blog is here.
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Through the Looking Glass
Michael Totten wrote up this long (but very good) piece on what it’s like to visit one of the last socialist paradises left in the world: There were no towels in my room. The bathroom was, however, generously stocked…