Ever since he seemed to outgrow his Dr. Evil aspirations (with the prodding of his more sensible son), Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi has been on a mission to be regarded as, well, a man with a mission. A statesman, not a crazy man. A force for change, instead of a force for crazy. A unifier who aims to unite the continent into the United States of Africa, instead of a tyrant who tolerates no dissent. The man with The Plan for peace in the Middle East — a single-state solution called “Isratine.”

And now, Gadhafi — flanked by seven “traditional kings of Africa” — is chairman of the African Union for the next year. Human-rights groups are understandably dismayed. There was apparently disagreement with the choice (which, as the chairmanship is on a rotating basis, was overdue for a North African leader), but as the meeting was closed-door we won’t know who said what. More:

“Mr. Gadhafi arrived at the summit Sunday with the seven men, one carrying a 4-foot gold staff, and caused a stir when security officials did not admit them because each delegation gets only four floor passes. All seven ‘kings’ were seated behind Mr. Gadhafi when he accepted the chairmanship.


‘I think the coming time will be a time of serious work and a time of action and not words,’ he said.


Diplomats who attended the closed-door meetings in which Mr. Gadhafi was chosen said several countries vigorously opposed him, seeking alternatives from Lesotho and Sierra Leone. …Even in public the reception to his appointment — and the acceptance ceremony in which he invited two of the traditional kings to speak — was measured.


‘I think his time has come,’ Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told The Associated Press. ‘He’s worked for it. I think it’s up to us to make sure it comes out best.’”

Get ready for an entertaining year! One of the strongest indicators of Gadhafi’s desire to be accepted is how he’s built up the content on his English-language Web site, which includes audio and video clips in addition to his odd treatises.

(Photo by Artyom Korotayev/Epsilon/Getty Images)