Breaking a decades-long diplomatic impasse, Condoleezza Rice is meeting with Moammar Gadhafi in Libya.

Why this sudden thaw? For the United States, it’s likely an attempt to normalize relations with a potential oil provider. For Libya? It appears it’s because a certain strongman is smitten with a certain Secretary of State:

In an interview with Al-Jazeera television last year, Gadhafi spoke of Rice in most unusual terms, calling her “Leezza” and suggesting that she actually runs the Arab world with which he has had severe differences in the past.

“I support my darling black African woman,” he said. “I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders. … Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. … I love her very much. I admire her, and I’m proud of her, because she’s a black woman of African origin.”

Watch for Gadhafi to put the moves on Condi in front of the Tripoli sculpture of the giant Libyan fist symbolically crushing an American fighter jet. It just screams “makeout spot” for the smooth-operating military dictator.