I thought you might like to meet Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, son of you-know-who. He is the heir apparent, and he is a mini-star at Davos. He's handsome, bald, and fairly smooth (in manner). ... Interestingly, he mounts a partial defense of George W. Bush, saying that the president is both a realist and an idealist. This combination has worked wonders in Afghanistan. And "if you fight pollution in Libya [which is idealistic], you save the shores of Italy [which is a happy pragmatic result]. If you tend to the problems of sub-Saharan Africa, you ease the strain of immigration in Europe." You get the picture. ...
Gaddafi envisions some kind of democratic Libya. Will this include parties? Well, he answers, we can't really have parties; we have tribes instead. Then he says something utterly fascinating: We Arabs have lost all our wars against Israel because Israel is democratic, and we are undemocratic. In other words (Gaddafi continues), in one of our states, the worst general becomes army chief of staff, because he is no threat to carry out a coup d'état. Loyalty to the number one is all that matters. Democracy, on the other hand, is a competitive mechanism — and that's why Israel wins. ... And what has Gaddafi to say about the future of Israel/Palestine? He seizes on a line that is growing popular in the Arab world, and on the Western left: There's no need for two states; Israel/Palestine should be like South Africa — in which blacks and whites live in harmony;
well, not very harmonious harmony, but to continue
Arabs and Jews should live in harmony in the same way. This is the "final solution," says Gaddafi. (Oops.) Of course, if Israel/Palestine becomes like South Africa — that means no more Jewish state. Which, of course, is Gaddafi's point. ...
The president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, is back in Davos, two years after his debut, shortly after his election. He is wildly popular, but he's less popular at the World Social Forum — held in Porto Alegre — from which he has just come. ... Anyway, Lula used to be a darling of the WSF folks, but his name is muddier now, because he has adopted some liberal economic policies. (In America, we would call these conservative, if not right-wing. But then, our terms are eternally screwed up.)... After the president's formal remarks, Klaus Schwab has a question for him: Two years from now, what would he like to have happened? Brazil's admission to the U.N. Security Council? Lula answers, "If all Brazilians can have breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I can die in peace." Huge applause. ...
We meet with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister of Turkey. (There's a fellow with a difficult job — a perennially difficult job.) (Although I stick to the assertion that prime minister of Pakistan and prime minister of Israel are the two hardest jobs in the world. I may be wrong — especially by not putting president of the United States at the top of the list — but that is my feeling.) Asked about a possible U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Erdogan says that it is "too early" to talk about. Interesting that he does not dismiss the idea out of hand. ... After the speech, a woman in the crowd asks an excellent question: "You were elected, from a Muslim party, without bashing the U.S. or Israel. How can you explain to Arab Muslim leaders how to do this?" As the translation is being spoken to him, he breaks into a slow smile. It is a wonderful sight.