Then and Now

In the wake of Sunday's unanimous resolution referring the Libyan government to the International Criminal Court, an act which, given that the ICC prosecutor is guaranteed to bring war crimes charges against the Gaddafi regime, is tantamount to a call for regime change from every member of the UN security council, it's instructive to compare what was said about Libya last year with what is being said now:

China

Then -

"During the meeting, Wu said China and Libyan share a long tradition of friendship. Since they established diplomatic links in 1978, bilateral relations have seen smooth development.

Wu said the two countries respect and treat each other as equals as they continued to deepen mutual trust. He said China and Libya are complementary in economy and their cooperation has produced win-win results.

Wu said the two countries share broad consensus and cooperate with each other on major regional and international issues such as human rights, reform of the United Nations, climate change and the international financial crisis."

Now -

""It is imperative now to stop the violence and avoid further casualties," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

"We hope the international community will play a constructive part in restoring stability in Libya as soon as possible.""

The USA

Then -

"In the last 18 months, the United States and Libya have made great strides regarding military cooperation. The two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on future defense cooperation, and finalized an agreement that sets the stage for a new security cooperation relationship."

Now -

"Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is "delusional" and "unfit to lead", the US ambassador to the UN has said.

Susan Rice was speaking after the embattled Colonel Gaddafi was interviewed by the BBC and others."

The UK

Then (this one from 2003) -

"This courageous decision by Colonel Gaddafi is an historical one. I applaud it,"

(Blair on the Gaddafi's announcement that he was going to scrap all weapons of mass destruction under his control)

Now -

[Andrew Marr (BBC)]: Are you clear that Gaddafi had weapons of mass destruction and then destroyed them?

[William Hague (UK Foreign Secretary)]: I think it was clear that he was developing various programmes and working on various programmes. There, there certainly was a programme of mustard gas creation and creating stocks of that.

AM: [....] was there a verifiable destruction at any point of these stocks?

WH: Some of those stocks do appear to exist although we’re not sure what condition they are in

Yes, time makes fools of us all, but it appears to have worked mighty quick on the relations of various countries with Libya.