A New Age for Libya?

[Sayonara]

What does everyone think of Libya's recent attempts to re-enter the international community?

 

Should we meet these efforts with a certain degree of scepticism, or is it time to welcome the country back into the fold with open arms?

 

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi may have a long-established reputation for being a maverick, but a senior British official says the Libyan leader has done everything he promised over the last 18 months.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3474001.stm

[Cheetah]

I really to much about Libyas politics or its near history, but as far as I know there is no reason for not letting them in.

[atinymonkey]

Scepticism, perhaps and perhaps not, caution and trepidation probably. Can't hurt anyone to send in the diplomats, otherwise they just sit around and get drunk.

[jadote]

I think the international community should be skeptical. Gaddafi is still a dictator, and there is no free press in his country. He also sponsored the IRA and PLO. Since Libya is an Islamic country with lots of oil, I doubt the US for one would welcome them back. I have no idea about the European community.

[atinymonkey]

Pah, organisations in the US also sponsored the IRA and PLO. We don't really hold that against the country. Everyone need the oil, and trust me when I say the US will welcome it.

 

I don't think that any country can afford to turn down cordial relations within the Middle East, no matter how dodgy they appear. The US especially needs all the support it can garner in that area. It's not as if we will get punished for exploring the possibility.

 

[jadote]

Point taken, I somehow forgot to remember Saudi Arabia while writing my last post. Mighty similar situation (except they haven't admitted to terrorist links) where US welcomed back an oil-rich nation with a few humans' rights issues.