Gaddafi fun falls prosaic Richard Adams World headlines

And an additional thing: Gaddafi addressing the UN last year. Photograph: Rick Gershon/Getty Images

The British once had a prolonged and stupid quarrel with Spain in the War of Jenkins" Ear. So prop yourselves for what destiny historians might call the War of Crowley"s Joke.

At the tail of last Friday"s media briefing, the US state department"s orator Philip Crowley was asked, according to the central transcript:

Question: Any thoughtfulness on the – Qadhafi"s stipulation of a jihad opposite Switzerland? I mean, all he was –

Mr Crowley: I saw that inform and it only brought me behind to a day in September, one of the some-more noted sessions of the UN General Assembly that I can stop – lots of difference and lots of writings drifting all over the place, not indispensably a lot of sense.

Of march we recollect Gaddafi"s fascinating UN residence last year, that enclosed such gems as wondering aloud over who unequivocally shot JFK and called for Switzerland to be engrossed in to France and Germany. But Crowley"s acknowledgement set off an bomb greeting in Tripoli, where the US proprietor assign d"affaires was called in and in jeopardy with "negative repercussions" unless America apologises, according to the central headlines agency, Jana.What the "negative repercussions" are, who can say? But the Swiss anathema on mosque minarets is positively big headlines in Libya, and maybe no shouting matter, generally for an American supervision looking to correct the picture in the eyes of the Islamic world. And the Libyans have already shown they are serious, by exclusive European visitors.

The issue is about some-more than minarets. The Libya v Switzerland row originated in 2008 when Gaddafi"s son, Hannibal, was arrested in a Geneva road house for allegedly violence his servants. He was expelled and the charges were after dropped. But Libya afterwards retaliated by detaining dual Swiss businessmen. And at the finish of last month Gaddafi called for a jihad opposite Switzerland, and a protest of Swiss products and services.