Even among the ever-stiffening competition for the world’s most eccentric despot, Col. Muammar el-Gaddafi of Libya still contends for the crown, with his flamboyant sultan-esque wardrobe, his scintillating all-female bodyguard troops, and boasting at least four different ways to spell his name in English. Also, as proved by his recent trek through Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine, he continues to be one of the world’s most unpredictable leaders – it seems as though not even friends, family, or business partners ever seem to know what he might do next.

On the one hand, the Libyan leader’s Moscow homecoming was like a déjà vu of the Cold War days, when the Soviet Union welcomed him during a 1985 visit to strengthen the robust arms trade between the two countries. The 2008 visit has been no exception, and the Kremlin has certainly rolled out the red carpet for the former pariah, allowing him to put up a Bedouin-style tent in the Kremlin courtyard, and providing him with a private concert by the French singer Mireille Mathieu (yes, that photo was taken in Moscow, not Tripoli).

Gaddafi seemed enormously pleased with Vladimir Putin’s flattery, who remarked to him that “‘the fact that you have pitched your tent within the Kremlin walls shows that we are now much closer together.”

But there are other indications that the déjà vu of the Russian-Libyan alliance is just another mirage.

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