Libya: Thriving on Trouble

Gaddafi calmly steers a tempestuous course

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi could not have appeared more at ease last week as he sipped orange soda in an official guest house during a one-hour interview with TIME Diplomatic Correspondent Strobe Talbott in the central Libyan desert city of Sebha. Indeed, the mercurial strongman's imperturbability seemed to be in almost studied contrast to the erratic policies that have increasingly made Libya a focal point of international controversy and contention. Only hours after the interview, Israel charged that Libyan-operated SA9 missiles had been fired at Israeli reconnaissance...

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