Head of London School of Economics resigns for backing Libya in return for $2.5 million

I am again grateful to U.K. seer Benny Peiser, who brings our attention to the fact that heads are rolling at the left-wing London School of Economics in the wake of the Libyan crisis. Today Howard Davies, the head of LSE was forced to resign due to his naive and embarrassing leadership as he directed LSE to embrace the Libyan dictatorship. This included accepting nearly $2.5 million from the Col. Muammar Qaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi. In return, LSE had a love affair with the Libyan autocracy on many levels. That included inviting 400 children of the Libya’s top elite to join LSE.

But there are about to be a slew of other likely casualties, most of them members of Britain’s left wing who have had a torrid love affair for radical Islam and hatred for Israel.  At LSE, they embraced Libya in its entirety and extolled the country as a paradise, with Col. Muammar Qaddafi being named a progressive leader. Capping off their balanced view of things, The London Times reveals that half of board of directors at LSE’s Middle East Centre supported boycott and sanctions against of Israel.

Meanwhile, LSE has treated radical Islamic tyrants as royalty. Typifying this naivete is Lord Giddens, formerly Professor Anthony Giddens of the London School of Economics and director of LSE when he enrolled tyrant’s son into a graduate program.  As the UK Telegraph reported this morning, Lord Giddens had these choice words about Col Qaddafi’s progressive governance in 2007: “As one-party states go, Libya is not especially repressive. Gadafy seems genuinely popular.”

As I mentioned yesterday, LSE’s naivete also extended to Britain’s green movement.  Under the tuteledge of Sir Nicholas Stern, who heads up LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment he proclaimed Libya “the world’s first sustainable region.” In 2007 Sir Stern trooped to Libya and backed with great hoopla among Euro-environmentalists, spelled out visions of an ecotopia on Libya’s northern coast. He called it “one of the most beautiful and little known landscapes on earth.”  With Saif’s at his side, Stern held the feel-good PR exercise extolling the paradise, while completely ignoring that Libyans suffered in poverty, oppression and silence.

But not to worry.  The disgraced Mr. Davies assured the public that LSE is balanced. In defending the LSE academic boycott of Israel he said, “The biggest donor to the School in the past year is George Soros.” He added, “We operate, I believe, a very balanced view.”