Gaddafi prepares for Armageddon

The last few weeks have witnessed changes in the Maghreb that no one could have predicted even at the beginning of the year. The power of the people is beginning to take a unique stride in international politics. An Arab race long lost in slumber is waking up to meet its social responsibility. A sandstorm of change is blowing across the Arab world in all directions and no one can tell its final destination. The power of social media is being wielded in a way that could not have been imagined a few years ago.

The old saying "the pen is mightier than the sword" is being manifested in a strange way that reveals afresh that the characteristic of the pen that holds its power is its communicative strength.

Social media has empowered the people to communicate in a manner that was considered the preserve of only powerful witches. People are called to gather at the wink of an eye. Messages and even graphic images are passed at the speed of sound.

Tyrants can no longer hold sway as their firm grips on power slip out of control. They are left tongue tied and bemused. The natural instinct to resist soon gives way to calm acceptance of the new scheme of things. It is said that calm acceptance soon gives way to DDS (deposed dictator syndrome), the symptoms of which are immediate withdrawal from public view followed closely by coma. Ben Ali of Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt are widely rumoured to be suffering from this condition.

First it was Tunisia, Yemen, and then Egypt and Bahrain and Libya then Jordan, Oman, Algeria and where else, who knows.

If these were put is seismological perspective, it would be 6.0 on the Richter scale in Tunisia, 6.4 in Egypt and a sustained series of after-shocks that left Hosni Mubarak confused and bemused. The biggest one was however still to come in Libya, first a minor rumbling, then the belching and spewing of smoke in ammunition dumps went up in loud bang to herald the beginning of the end for Colonel Gaddafi as the desperate despot attempted to cower a people who in forty long years ensconced in an iron grip have outgrown fear.

The big bang is yet to come as Gaddafi hold out against his "rats" and "dogs". It is dangerous enough to be faced with rabid stray dogs constantly barking at you to leave your own house. It is doubly dangerous when those dogs and even the rats are known to be sniffing drugs and drinking Al Qaeda power potions.

The good old Colonel has drawn his battle lines and the cry is "I will never leave my country. We shall fight to the death." As he prepares for the final showdown, we all wait in awe and great apprehension of the Armageddon, the mother of all battles.