As what seem to be the last hours of the 4-decade long Muammar Gaddafi regime in Libya are swiftly running out, it is time to reflect once more about the degree to which Western powers are upholding democracy and international law.

This reflection always runs the risk of being misunderstood as defending one of the worst dictators in recent history, but the NATO-led Libya campaign is plainly a case in which the means have discredited the ends.

When you just ask yourself why the so-called "international community" did not intervene by far as radically in the cases of people's uprisings in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt, the easy answer might be that the democratic regime change there went far more smoothly and that Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak are not as ruthless as Gaddafi.

But when you look at who's the most vocal in the NATO-led bombing campaign on Libya, you will plainly see the duo of France and Italy, followed by the UK, three European countries that have had a history of colonial relations with Libya and continue to have vested interests in the country's production of oil and natural gas.

So - horribile dictu - maybe Gaddafi was at least partially right when at the start of the NATO campaign he dismissed it as being all about oil, about securing the grasp on Libya's natural resources.

The more so that in the 1990s and 2000s the Gaddafi regime experienced a gradual and ever progressing thaw of relations with the West - in particular with Italy and France, who have a strong record of cajoling the Libyan leader.

Now that they have seen the tides in Libya are turning the erstwhile friends of Gaddafi have turned upon him, trying to eliminate him.

The perfidiously perverse aspect of campaigns like this one is that they make undeniable, horrible tyrants look like victims of self-righteous hypocrites who well know when to enforce justice and democracy and when not.

Oh, and by the way, we all know that NATO is operating under the mandate of UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which allows the alliance to enforce a no-fly zone and weapons embargo for the protection of Libyan civilians.

Nowhere is regime change or the liquidation of Muammar Gaddafi and his family mentioned - which is quite sensible, as it would mean the overthrow of a government until recently recognized by the vast majority of the international community.

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