Too Risky for Captain Cuckoo-Bananas?

In case you missed it--and since we didn't write about it, you must have missed it (really, you people are far too dependent on us for your news)--check out this tidbit from an article in yesterday's Times. The article described the various sources of Moammar Qaddafi's ill-gotten wealth:

"Libya became so flush with cash [after trade sanctions were lifted] that Bernard L. Madoff, the New York financial manager who stole billions of dollars in a long-running Ponzi scheme, approached officials overseeing the country’s $70 billion sovereign fund a few years ago about an “investment opportunity,” according to a State Department summary of the episode in 2010. 'We did not accept,' a Libyan official reported."

So, let's get this straight: Madoff's scheme was too sketchy for Qaddafi?!?

Madoff apologists will insist that the Libyan refusal to invest simply reflects a general anti-Semitic unwillingness to do business with the Jews. We cannot help but think, however, that, when the "Mad Dog of the Middle East" shied away from investing in a fund that had consistently posted spectacular returns, this should have served as a warning sign to someone.

Solipsistography
"Shady Dealings Helped Qaddafi Build Fortune and Regime"