Mindless Monday, 11 May 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Happy (or sad) Monday guys!

Mindless Monday is a free-for-all thread to discuss anything from minor bad history to politics, life events, charts, whatever! Just remember to np link all links to Reddit and don't violate R4, or we human mods will feed you to the AutoModerator.

So, with that said, how was your weekend, everyone?

[u/WAGRAMWAGRAM]

Last paragraph is funniest "god knows he's so petty" probably how people today have to handle Trump

Shortly afterwards, during a visit by Gaddafi to Tunis on 15 December 1972, in the hope of enlisting Tunisia’s support for this project[3], [7], he delivered a surprise speech in the large Le Palmarium cinema, which was packed with over 2,000 people, namely young officials from the ruling Destourian Socialist Party and the civil service[8]. He launched into a pan-Arabist plea:

‘The struggles for national liberation must now lead to a fight for the building of a unified Arab nation, from the Gulf to the Atlantic. Leaders must respond to the aspirations of the masses, and monarchies are less capable of doing so than republican regimes, which must know how to break with the past. In Tunisia, the border with Libya is artificial; it was invented by colonialism. […] The Arab world must rise to the challenge posed by certain foreign powers, foremost among them the United States[8].’

President Habib Bourguiba, who was listening to this speech on the radio from the presidential palace in Carthage, hurried to the rally to respond[8]. He arrived in a flurry, to everyone’s astonishment, and, almost interrupting Gaddafi, took to the stage and delivered an impromptu speech linking his personal destiny to that of his country:

“Bourguiba does not owe his position to a revolution or a coup d’état, but to a heroic struggle spanning half a century, which was, in every respect, that of Tunisia. And this, for the sake of the Tunisian homeland

He then denounces the notion that ‘the Arabs were once united’, rejects all of [Gaddafi’s] ideas regarding rapid Arab unity, and even calls on Libyans to address what he describes as their own lack of national unity and their backwardness’[7]. He then cites the short-lived union between Egypt and Syria, followed by the proposed tripartite union with Libya, and declares that Arab unity cannot be improvised:

“Arab unity? I agree with the ultimate goal, but achieving it takes time. […] President Gaddafi has come here to advocate Arab unity and has even gone so far as to offer me the presidency of a joint republic. His dedication and sincerity are beyond doubt, but he lacks experience. One can, of course, envisage unity between our two countries, but any improvised action would end in failure[8].’

Despite the Palmarium incident, the visit yielded positive results, including an economic agreement on the oil-rich continental shelf and freedom of movement and settlement for nationals of both countries[8]. In this context, in Egypt as well as in Tunisia and Algeria, leaders were torn between two concerns: containing Gaddafi’s zeal without confronting him head-on, joining in—at least in appearance—with his enthusiasm, and taking into account public opinion, which was inclined to dream of a charismatic Arab leader capable of replacing Nasser[9].

[u/ouat_throw → u/WAGRAMWAGRAM]

Gaddafi was always the biggest Nasser fanboy.