Professor A. Z. Yegorin, a prominent Russian orientalist, began his book "Muammar Gaddafi" (Moscow, IV RAS, 2009, 464 p.) with a survey conducted by his colleague, pravdist journalist Igor Belyaev. He tried to find out what our compatriots know about the leader of the Libyan revolution, Muammar Gaddafi. It turned out to be almost nothing. And the opinions expressed were banal and superficial. More than two decades have passed since this survey was conducted, but if the situation has changed, it is for the worse. It seems that we know even less about Gaddafi now. Moreover, Western assessments of this outstanding political figure predominate - "Orthodox", "radical"," dictator", patron and supporter of terrorists. Although the personality of this person is much more interesting and multifaceted than these annoying cliches. And in many respects, Gaddafi's fair reproaches for "leftist skulls" should not be obscured from political scientists and historical experts.- page 76 At the very least, I appreciate the desperate bravery of this man who set up a socio-economic experiment on the scale of an entire country - Libya-40 years ago. Professor Yegorin's book is the first fundamental work on Muammar Gaddafi in Russia. By the way, half a dozen other works, also serious and thorough, are written by the same author. He was a witness and sometimes a direct participant in many of the events described, since for six years-from 1974 to 1980-he worked as an adviser to the Soviet Embassy in Libya, and then - until now - as a researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, he repeatedly visited this country. So who is he - the revolutionary autocrat and son of the desert Muammar Gaddafi? The author of the work has tried to give an objective answer to this question, although he does not hide his positive attitude, and sometimes outright admiration for the "hero of his novel". This admiration is based mainly on the assessment of Gaddafi as a person wh ... Read more