The Western Desert

[rain_gryphon]

So, this outlandishly-named "Uqayla" just past Brega which the Libyan rebels have just taken is in fact El Agheila. I'd wondered. I deplore the modern habit of changing transliteration systems every few decades.

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Interestingly, we're now saying that it would be impossible to arm the rebels, since the UN edict applies to the country of Libya, rather than the Khaddafi government. I'm guessing this means that we're going to support Khaddafi's overthrow after all. We seem to be bombing Sirte tonight as well.

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Sucks to be one of the guys that lives in Sirte right now. I somehow doubt we're going to be so terribly concerned about civilians getting hurt when it's the rebels doing the hurting.

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There's a certain sense of righteous satisfaction in watching the fires of anarchy consume Libya. There's a delicious irony as well in it being "Resolution 1973" that leads to Khaddafi's doom.

Comments

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

It would seem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muammar_Gaddafi#Name) that you and Xinhua are the only ones holding fast to the "Khaddafi" spelling! (For what it's worth, I've always used "Gaddafi", probably because Gaddafi Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaddafi_Stadium) cricket ground does...)

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Probably so. That's how it used to always be spelled in the 70s, when I first took notice of the guy. It's a transliteration anyway, so it's not like there's a 'correct' version. I'd much rather see continuity in the spellings than trying to get as accurate a pronunciation as possible. "El Agheila" is a case in point. I'm sure that name carries a lot more information about the town's history and strategic importance than does "Al Uqayla", at least for Anglophone readers. My comprehension of the news these past few days would have been improved by use of the older name.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

And oddly enough, I was reading Poe's "Conversation with a Mummy" the other night. He spells it "Lybia".