More Messy Meddling In Libya
by Richard GalustianLet us look at the latest 'comedy of errors' in Libya courtesy of the U.S./UN & UK and their appointed Presidency Council (PC) and Government of National Accord (GNA).
East Libya ordered four billion Libyan dinars to be printed by a Russian factory and first deliveries are starting and will be available through banks from the 1st June. Last week the PC wrote to the US Government saying the four billion was counterfeit. The US issued a formal statement, not from Washington, but on the Facebook page of the US Embassy in Libya stating they agreed, it was counterfeit. But the other day, the PC/GNA and PM designate Fayez Serraj himself made a volte face and said indeed that the currency being printed in Russia is legal. What is this currency confusion? Will the United States retract its statement saying that the democratically elected and internationally recognized Tobruk government is printing counterfeit currencies? Is Serraj trying to make nice with the Kremlin?
Questions abound. But what’s even more sickening is that the Islamic State (IS) in Libya reads all the same social media we do. They know Libya’s political spectrum and troubles like the currency double play works to their advantage.
Let us look at the military reality on the ground. Despite all denials by the UK and U.S. governments, there are certainly British Forces in and around Misrata working with militias to attack Libyan Islamic State. Yet the legitimate Libyan National Army (LNA) is securing strategic positions in the Sirte basin, and, to the west of Tripoli, the Zintanis, who fall under the LNA, pose a direct threat to the IS backers in Tripoli. They are also controlling most of the gas and oil that flows through its territory to the only oil ports to the West of Tripoli. In addition one other militia just outside Tripoli has just declared their allegiance to the LNA.
So the ludicrous decision by the Americans, Brits and Italians in Vienna on Monday the 16 May to arm Islamist militias under 'Libya Dawn', which importantly include the Misratan militias, seems to be proceeding with some help from Western armies but no one is admitting it. Did it not occur to them to arm the legitimate LNA commanded by Gen. Khalifa Hafter who was ratified in his position by the legitimate House of Representatives (HOR) parliament in Tobruk? Hafter understands the situation clearly and is pursuing Tobruk’s interests in going after Libya IS’ home base of Sirte.
The PC/GNA is a mirage; it does not exist. “It” controls only the small territory where sits a naval base, popularly called the bunker where so called PC/ GNA members all selected by the UN/US/UK can meet visiting dignitaries. Most of the time these jokers are outside Libya. Serraj was just in UAE and Saudi Arabia for example. Why go to Saudi and the UAE by the way? Both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are supporting Tobruk. Is Serraj trying to make new friends with promises of future concessions in Libya in exchange of new support even if the Muslim Brotherhood and ex-Libyan Islamic Fighters Group (LIFG, an AQ affiliate) are still ruling Tripoli with Western backing? Another of many mysteries surrounding Western policy in Libya.
Let’s be clear: Serraj's position has effectively been hijacked by Misratan, Abdel Rahman Swehli and members of his family (which include the Deputy designate PM Maetig) where he, Swehli, heads the currently illegal State Council. No diplomat, policymaker, stakeholder, or other see this relationship. Astonishing and naive.
A question I have asked before but must ask again. Why is the international community persisting in this charade? This travesty is going to blow up literally in Western faces.
What’s the remedy to fix this sham? There is only one Libyan politician that can inhabit the international stage as an equal to any foreign counterparts and that is Dr. Mahmoud Jibril. His public persona is unequaled in the Libyan political spectrum. There is no one in Libya that has his stature and credibility. His desire is to secure the Libyan population and not play regional or religious games. He even has an economic plan to save Libya that is favorable and uniting. Why didn't the international community at least have picked him instead of unsuccessful and rather dubious businessmen like Serraj and Maetig. Or if not the sophisticated and urbane Jibril, why didn't the International community pick the Libyan Army and its Commander, Gen.Khalifa Hafter?
The answer is simple unfortunately – America and Britain are blindsided by their love affair with the Muslim Brotherhood and their adherents in Libya’s West and specifically in and around Tripoli. This error in judgement will cost the West and particularly the EU dearly in so many ways.
Posted by b on May 28, 2016 at 6:15 UTC | Permalink
They are doing it on purpose. Nobody can be so consistently wrong about everything. Nobody could be so hopelessly incompetent. Choosing the worst option 100% of the time cannot be a random outcome. The policy is clearly to spread chaos across the world and in the ensuing bedlam, to steal all the valuable stuff.
Posted by: Secretagent | May 28 2016 9:00 utc | 2
b, ' His [Dr. Mahmoud Jibril's] desire is to secure the Libyan population and not play regional or religious games. He even has an economic plan to save Libya that is favorable and uniting. Why didn't the international community at least have picked him instead of unsuccessful and rather dubious businessmen like Serraj and Maetig.'
I think you answered your own question there, b. The US/UN/UK have no interest in the Libyan population; are definitely interested in regional and, if it suits their purposes, religious games; and have their own 'economic plan' to save themselves, not Libya, and it's unfavorable to the Libyans and divisive. And that's why the 'international community' - the "Western" crime family of nations - could not pick him but rather picked unsuccessful and dubious flacks like Serraj and Maetig.
Posted by: jfl | May 28 2016 9:08 utc | 3
Putin picking off the fallen chess pieces and playing his own game in an adjacent room ...
○ Putin and Tsipras seeking to profit from historic ties
○ Turkey ‘needs to stimulate local tourism to recover losses’
○ Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda party voted to separate its political and religious work
Erdogan's total failure as Turkey wanted to set the example for developments after the Arab Spring and his so-called democratic state ...
from hurriyetdailynews
The movement of the U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen will be officially registered as a terrorist organization, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, stating that the decision was taken in the National Security Council (MGK) meeting on May 26.
“We took a new decision yesterday. We said that it [the Gülen movement] is an illegal terrorist organization,” said Erdoğan at an event in the Central Anatolian province of Kırşehir on May 27.
“We took a recommendation decision regarding the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization. We have sent it to the government and we’re now waiting for the cabinet decision. We will register it as a terrorist organization. It will be tried in the same category as the PYD [Democratic Union Party] and the PKK [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party],” he said, referring to other groups that Turkey formally lists as “terrorist.”
Erdoğan also claimed that the movement had tried to “tear the nation and the ummah apart,” but the Turkish government would “never allow it to do so.”
Posted by: okie farmer | May 28 2016 12:13 utc | 6
Secretagent | May 28, 2016 5:00:33 AM | 2
Your post echoes my own thoughts on the whole M.E. over the last 15 years.
Keep the perpetual chaos under strict U.S. control; leaving no time for thoughtful reflection and solutions. No solutions wanted, thank you very much!
At some point, the Piper will be paid; and no small sum will be extracted...
Posted by: V. Arnold | May 28 2016 12:20 utc | 7
B, you surely don't think the US and UK governments would pick someone like Dr Mahmoud Jibril who would be an intellectual tower compared to those pygmies, do you?
Posted by: Jen | May 28 2016 12:45 utc | 8
Secretagent | May 28, 2016 9:31:11 AM | 9
So it would seem.
But, unfortunately, to little effect; we'll see...
Posted by: V. Arnold | May 28 2016 14:10 utc | 10
I thought Haftar and his force were supported by the West as the legitimate army at one time, and were going to bring peace to Libya. What happened that he is now disapproved of, and the West is now trying to install another competing lot?
Posted by: Laguerre | May 28 2016 14:30 utc | 11
i agree with @2 here.. i can't see any other viable rationale..
ot - @6 okie.. i did read that yesterday.. pot calling kettle black.. he has learned from his usa masters well!
Posted by: james | May 28 2016 16:19 utc | 13
Secretagent has hit the nail right on the thumb with his post at #2. Chaos has always been the main tool in the AmeriKKKan tool box because it has worked so well. It has its' roots in Europe - a place that has always used chaos as a means of control and for looting the 'other.' If you think about instilling chaos as a blunt tool, it becomes apparent in the way people of European extraction have always viewed the world. Sadly, the western outlook has created a need for others to fight fire with fire. Thus we see Russia and China beginning to fight fire with fire. Whether it is too late for them to block the current western hegemons is hard to know. Worse, as they both turn to capitalist expansion in order to fight fire with fire, they may become the next empire.
Capitalism is a scourge. And in some sense the root cause of most of the world's major issues. Imagine a world that would look inward as being self-sufficient for what people need instead of outward and acquisitive for the sake of acquisition. It didn't and won't happen ... sad.
Posted by: rg the lg | May 28 2016 16:51 utc | 14
#14
Yes Amerikas does chaos well and who knows the queen of chaos could become potus. Scary.
Russia is playing chess and Amerikas neo-conns are playing with themselves.
http://theduran.com/strange-story-russias-eurobond-west-building-russias-financial-system/
Russia is having to get ready for something bigger than Syria
http://theduran.com/russia-preparing-wwiii/
Posted by: jo6pac | May 28 2016 21:08 utc | 15
I WONDER what you call it when a country prints a paper currency which in the aggregate can be exchanged only for bonds.
Posted by: Penelope | May 29 2016 0:04 utc | 16
Paveway @ 1, " The Muslim Brotherhood proto-head-choppers are apparently all they have been able to scrounge up for their Libya scheming. You think that at least the U.S. would have learned something after Benghazi."
Actually, a GlobalResearch article has pretty good grounds to think that Benghazi was done by the Gaddafi loyalists. They're called "Green Resistance" cuz of the color of their flag. Turns out it was broadcast the next morning in Libya and over al Jazeera that the Resistance did it. US hushed this up because there isn't supposed to be any Resistance since "There was dancing in the street" when Gaddafi's govt was overthrown.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/libyas-green-resistance-did-it-and-nato-powers-are-covering-up/5305409
Posted by: Penelope | May 29 2016 0:26 utc | 17
I see this place is still full of closet fascists waiting for strong men to scare away the evil Muzzies. Must be the German influence around here; the whole of the Continent is full of Muslim-hating hysteria, these days. So enlightened.
Since the tone of this feeble "analysis" is hire-me-Stratfor advice-giving, let's answer some questions, shall we?
Why do the imperialist states not support Hiftar and his junta? They tried. He is, after all, a CIA asset. And he's been just about to conquer Benghazi for two years now. Like many an imperial puppet, he has proved a failure. They appear to be either discarding him and the Tobruk junta, or just hedging their bets.
Why are they supporting the Misratans and other of the Tripolitanian factions? Precisely because their attempt at putting a puppet dictator in place (Hiftar) has been a total failure. Hiftar "advancing" on Sirte now? Well, sure. He knows he's about as useful to his masters now as Manuel Noriega was in '89. If his pathetic performance previously is any indication, expect him to get to Sirte about the time the PRC plants a Chinese flag on the moon.
Why is Serraj visiting the Emirates, and backing off the Russian position? Because schmoozing the other outside forces in Libyan affairs are the new government's only hope of getting out of that bunker. Still unlikely, but they must try.
The Empire's "love affair" with the Ikhwan...please. I know this site is allergic to the hijab or something, but surely this doesn't get a pass from the commentators here! They broke Libya. Now they are playing with the pieces. Ultimately, they'd love to put it back together, under some co-opted and biddable government or other. But Libya just isn't important enough to give a shit. They got what they wanted. Gadhafi dead, and an end to his projects of African and Arab unity, his lip service (and more) to actual revolutionaries, his shaming of the Arab sellouts in Riyadh and Amman for their traitorous ways. The rest is just a big shrug to them, mostly.
Enjoy that wait for a "sophisticated and urbane" dictator, though. Does this blog even pretend it is on the left anymore, or is it just anti-Muslim bigotry and vaguely anti-American posturing?
Posted by: Tangba | May 29 2016 2:23 utc | 18
Anybody see the P C Roberts article in Info Clearing House? This is a Reaganite apologist for goodness sakes. I won't post the url ... you should check that site on your own, if not daily at least, often. I love the masthead quote: "Americans need to pay attention to the fact that “their” government is a collection of crazed stupid fools." More to the point, he makes it clear that our general ignorance is why we've ended up not winning a war in the last couple of centuries.
My advice? Read Smedley Butler. I'll let you find a copy of his 1930's publication ... and leave you with this thought: "Russia and China are not impressed by Washington’s arrogance, hubris, and stupidity. Moreover, these two countries are not the native American Plains Indians, who were starved into submission by the Union Army’s slaughter of the buffalo."
"They are not the tired Spain of 1898 from whom Washington stole Cuba and the Philippines and called the theft a “liberation.”
"They are not small Japan whose limited resources were spread over the vastness of the Pacific and Asia."
"They are not Germany already defeated by the Red Army before Washington came to the war."
"They are not Granada, Panama, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, or the various Latin American countries that General Smedley Butler said the US Marines made safe for “the United Fruit Company” and “some lousy bank investment.”
"An insouciant American population preoccupied with selfies and delusions of military prowess, while its crazed government picks a fight with Russia and China, has no future."
In closing:
HELP MANY ...
HARM NONE ...
BE AMAZED!
Posted by: rg the lg | May 29 2016 2:32 utc | 19
OT sorry, came across this at katehon: RUSSIAN ORTHODOXCHURCH AGAINST LIBERAL GLOBALIZATION, USURY, DOLLAR HEGEMONY, AND NEOCOLONIALISM
Moral society should not increase the gap between rich and poor. Strong does not have the moral right to use their benefits at the expense of the weak, but on the contrary - are obliged to take care of those who are dispossessed. People who are employed should receive decent remuneration.
I don't know if guest77 is still around but I know he'd mentioned reading the pope's encyclical. Thought he might be interested in this, and it would be interesting to hear his comments.
Posted by: Nana2007 | May 29 2016 2:38 utc | 20
I missed the fact that this post is not by b at all, but by Richard Galustian, who has always struck me as being an oblique apologist for the overthrow of the Libyan government and destruction of Libya by the US/UN/UK/FR/IT/DE.
So, not knowing who Jibril was I thought ... 'good enough for b, good enough for me'. But he's good enough for Galusian, not necessarily good enough for b.
'Or if not the sophisticated and urbane Jibril, why didn't the International community pick the Libyan Army and its Commander, Gen.Khalifa Hafter?'
b has noted on at least one occasion that Hafter is the CIA's man and has been for decades.
From 2007 to early 2011, he served in the Gaddafi regime as head of the National Planning Council of Libya and of the National Economic Development Board of Libya (NEDB), ... and promoted privatization and liberalization policies.On 23 March 2011 ... the National Transitional Council officially formed a transitional government and Jibril was appointed to head it. Jibril led meetings and negotiations with French President Nicolas Sarkozy ... that resulted in France officially recognizing the National Transitional Council as the sole representative of the Libyan people. He also met with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and then-U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz, successfully persuading them to publicly back the NTC.
In his capacity as the NTC's top diplomat, Jibril has also been referred to as the council's foreign minister ... a colloquial title. Qatar-based news organization Al Jazeera has also called him "the NTC's chief of staff" on at least one occasion.
The Executive Board was sacked en masse by decision of the NTC on 8 August ... Jibril was asked to form a new board subject to the council's approval. ...
In September, Jibril "proposed 36 names for a new cabinet, including friends and relatives, and retained the prime minister and foreign minister slots for himself." He later retracted the proposal when NTC members objected, but an anonymous council official said it had "left a bitter taste".
In 2012, Jibril became a member of newly founded political union of National Forces Alliance. On 14 March 2012, he was elected leader of the alliance. Jibril represented his party in the General National Congress election.
In the national elections of September 7, 2012 ... The NFA won the largest number of seats in these elections. ... Jibril ran for a second term as prime minister. ... in the second round of voting Abushagur ultimately defeated Jibril.
The National Forces Alliance (Arabic: تحالف القوى الوطنية, Taḥaalof al-qiwaa al-wataniyya) is a political alliance in Libya. The alliance was created in February 2012. It includes 58 political organizations, 236 NGOs, and more than 280 independents. The alliance is of predominantly liberal tendency. It calls for "moderate Islam" and a "democratic, civil state". On the economy, the NFA favors globalization and attracting foreign investment. It supports privatization in principle ... NFA favors the creation of special economic zones along Libya’s borders.
Penelope@17 - That GR article was posted right after the Benghazi attack, so it's missing a lot of the context that became publicly known (give or take) weeks or months later.
No idea what happened to one of the original authors, Mark Robertson. This was apparently the only article he ever authored on GR, which is strange in an of itself. They also don't list a bio for him, so he's kind of a mystery. A Google search shows nothing in the last few years about Libya from an author or political analyst with that name. A Google search of the email listed, [email protected], only brings back that article or reprints. The only time his name comes up with the other author, Finian Cunningham, is in relation to that article.
Finian Cunningham publishes regularly, but I think his view on the Benghazi perpetrators has changed. In this article,
Another fine mess: NATO’s 'Laurel & Hardy act' in Libya not getting laughs
23 Jan, 2016 15:20
"...Note that this was around the same time that the jihadist proxies had stormed the US consulate in Libya’s Benghazi in September 2012, killing the US ambassador Christopher Stevens..."
The 2012 GR article specifically says Salafists or Islamic extremists were not responsible; it was the Green Resistance. The Green Resistance are not jihadists by any stretch of the imagination. Today, Cunningham seems to have come around to the generally accepted view that some faction(s) of the mish-mash of islamic extremists in Benghazi were responsible. That could mean any of the militia gangs there at the time leaning towards al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood or any other islamic faction. And just like with Syrian head-choppers, the boundaries between those loyalties the militias claim on any given day seem to be somewhat fluid and overlapping - and remain that way today.
I see the potential motives for someone like the Green Resistance, but time has not borne that theory out. The idea of them operating in Benghazi seems a little far-fetched. Let's just say it was a good guess at the time among many. Of course the CIA and State Department tried to cover up the identity of the perpetrators, but it was because the CIA and State Department were supposedly working with those Islamic extremist militias at the time. Just as hair-brained as the current U.N./NATO scheme of imposing their hand-picked puppet government on Libya cobbled together from... wait for it... Islamic extremists and their militias. But these are moderate head-choppers, just like the FSA in Syrian.
I have to say from a purely moral perspective that the Green Resistance seems to have a lot more legitimate claim to represent Libya than UN/NATO puppets. Since they will not bow down to their UN/NATO masters and lean socialist, I'm sure the Green Resistance is painted as horrible terrorists and human rights violators (by the UN/NATO terrorists and human rights violators). I haven't followed Libya much, so I may be wrong about the Green Resistance.
The four-year-plus (and counting) Team Chaos crimes against humanity project in Libya continues. The eventual UN/NATO puppet government is designed to tear the country apart, just like the Team Chaos Iraqi government post-Saddam. Everyone fighting everyone - a Team Chaos specialty. The Libyan people are human garbage to the UN and NATO - always have been and always will be.
Posted by: PavewayIV | May 29 2016 2:50 utc | 23
...
Capitalism is a scourge.
...
Posted by: rg the lg | May 28, 2016 12:51:12 PM | 14
Let's not be too hard on Capitalism per se.
Regulated Capitalism worked OK in the countries which embraced it during the immediate post-WWII world.
It's Totalitarian Capitalism you're complaining about. From (approx) the late 1960s the Capitalists decided to buy Politicians and field their own Candidates in order to make de-regulation of Banks and Banking sound like a good idea.
The degree to which they succeeded is reflected in the fact that, despite all the criminality, deception and duplicity which created the 2008 sub-prime crisis, the authors of that rip-off not only escaped punishment (because they hadn't broken any of the New-ish Laws) but most of them were compensated for their (predictable) losses by the Govts they owned.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 29 2016 3:04 utc | 24
Maybe spreading chaos about the joint is the initial part of a bigger strategy, but eventually fukusi (I is for italy just this once) must have some further ploy to secure oilfields in the east at least. That will create immediate returns but the real gain is going to be from the largely untouched prospects in Libya's south west. If that is what that the greedies really want to get a hold of it will take a lot of heavy lifting. Freezing out the LNA who still voice support for the highly inconvenient Petroleum Law will be a part of realising the long term plan.
Anyone who imagines Libya is some sort of sideshow to Syria simply doesn't know their history. Right from 1940 when Italy came into ww2 British troops began niggling skirmishes with the Italian Army troops who had occupied Libya since around 1911 taking part of it from the collapsing Ottomans. In 1929 Mussolini moved the horror show up a few notches castrating thousands of Libyan men in villages which resisted the fascist invasion, and it was Italy who re-named the formerly diverse provinces into a single state, Libya.
By late 1941 when england was facing down its real existential threat from the Nazis, Churchill decided 'bugger that' and diverted the bulk of his resources into North Africa. Why? It made no sense especially when what should have been a cakewalk became a dangerous struggle that killed thousands of troops initially earmarked for the defence of Britain. Germany had decided to back the Italians and sent in Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe along with Irwin Rommel to ensure Libya stayed under fascist control. There were small conflicts between the englanders and the axis all across the globe. Czechoslovakia & Poland given as the reasons the UK got into the blue would have seemed the logical places to defend. Or East Africa or the sub-continent, but no it was Libyans who suffered huge civilian casualties when the whitefellas fell out & who wore the brunt of the violence between 'civilised' nations.
Greedies have been trying to fuck over Libyans for at least 100 years (or the invention of the automobile) thus far the Libyans have held the pricks at bay, but don't imagine they can keep that up indefinitely. We know from previous invasions that these corporate imperialists only have to win once before another spot on the planet gets truly fucked. The Libyans have to win every time. I'll support any effort by Libyans to stay free of these pricks and I don't give a toss what banner they travel under.
The left has been too quick to condemn anti-imperialism if it is tied to Islam. Too often we hear so called lefties toss around racist terms like 'head chopper'. What comes next sand nigger?
If the conflict gets ramped up it will be even more brutal than Italy's 1929 foray. Only one side has a choice about this - the invaders - for the other side this is their homeland they don't get to pick and choose who to fight, they are simply defending themselves and will have to grab whatever means they can find.
Posted by: Debsisdead | May 29 2016 3:14 utc | 25
Hoarsewhisperer @24 ...
You said: "Let's not be too hard on Capitalism per se. Regulated Capitalism worked OK in the countries which embraced it during the immediate post-WWII world."
Regulated Capitalism worked ok? You mean like when the US immersed itself in Iran (1953); or Guatemala; maybe Haiti; The Dominican Republic; Cuba priorto 1959; Venezuela; Paraguay; Argentina; Chile; Mexico ... or NATO; what about places like the Congo; Libya; SW Africa; Mozambique; Rhodesia; Nigeria; Sudan; Egypt? That was capitalism that was regulated by the US.
Americans may have been tossed scraps during the period you mention ... but there were always the 0.0001% working behind the scenes to allow themselves to rape and pillage (perhaps not at will as today). Environmental degradation was a big capitalist venture, and that was during the period you say was 'regulated.' Look at what the oil industry has done, or nuclear waste not being contained; regulation?
I hate to be nasty about it, but deforestation and the drive to rid the country of self-sufficient small farmers, forcing them out of business, was rampant during your 'regulated' capitalism.
I happen to believe that the consumerist 50's 60's and 70's were a period of scraps from the table of the oligarchs. It is an old story. It goes back to the first person who decided they wanted more than sufficient. They wanted more ...
it is why there are no longer commons ... because of simple human greed: the economic theory for greed is capitalism.
As a former librarian I will argue that you are entitled to information, even if it is really little more than misinformation. As a historian I am skeptical of the standard view ... liberal or conservative ... it is based on the premise that greed is good.
I may be wrong ... but regulated capitalism is regulated by the capitalists and for the capitalists.
Posted by: rg the lg | May 29 2016 4:51 utc | 26
"Why do the imperialist states not support Hiftar and his junta? They tried. He is, after all, a CIA asset. And he's been just about to conquer Benghazi for two years now. Like many an imperial puppet, he has proved a failure. They appear to be either discarding him and the Tobruk junta, or just hedging their bets."
If this was the style of thinking, the "West" would abandon hapless Hadi or at least it would be "hedging their bets". At least in the case of Yemen there is a logical chain of "Western reasoning": opponents of Hadi are more hated by the Gulf royals then the supporters, and to such phenomenal extent that they dished out more than 40 billion dollars to western Military-Industrial Complex, even as they have to economize on the account of cheap oil. (About Hadi supporters: Brotherhood-based Islamic party and southern separatists, none dear to Gulfies hearts. But the opponents are dreaded heretics, so there.)
In Libya there seems to be a web of local solidarities and animosities, so once you coopt group A, then you can easily gain group B and surely gain the vehement opposition from group C. Moreover, with exception of some quaint Saharan tribes, Libyan seem to lack martial spirit, and thus no local Napoleon can unite the country by force. (Perhaps from February to November is too hot to induce normally thinking people to run around with some heavy pieces of metal.) In any case, Haider consolidated as much of the east as it is possible in the face of "clan constrains". And Libyan Dawn consolidated a similar majority chunk of the East, so the only thing to do was to unite the two, hence the "imperialist matchmaking plan".
But even if Julia loves Romeo, and Romeo loves Julia, the rest of Montagues and Capulettis does not follow, as members of Guelfs and Ghibellines. How to change their minds? Here the idea is ingenious. The only Libyan institution that was not declared illegal by one reason or another is Central Bank (I am lazy to find the official name). The East controls oil production, but the payments for export must be deposited in that bank that conveniently operates in Malta. (Somewhat less convenient, it is packed by Brotherhood cronies). As Malta is in EU, EU gets instant leverage, the obedient armed groups will get money, and disobedient will not. The bank is "Western", but if the East will get too little, it can stop oil export altogether.
Apparently, the East got only half of what they wanted, I do not know if this is because of the ill will of the Bank or because they "objectively" wanted too much. So they decided to make a bank of their own: the East has a Parliament after all, so they can legislate (this parliament was declared illegal by the Supreme Court, allegedly without clear justification). With a bank, the East can intercept more oil proceeds to prop their currency. Even the threat alone can bring concessions from the Central Bank, and apparently this happened.
Recap: the "Western" plan was to forcibly unite Libya using the Central Bank as the controlling tool. This is contrary to what the axis UAE-KSA-Egypt wants, but in line with Qatar and Turkey. The "West" does not have means to change the bank board to a compromise slate, so the plan is partial toward Libyan Dawn in the West Libya. KSA run out of money for new bribes, and/or the "West" views Yemen as their backyard but not Libya (Western backyard). For all high regard for the excellent personages in Tobruk, I suspect that Russia and KSA have some other motivations to help them.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 29 2016 5:18 utc | 27
I don't know it's a week old. I thought it was noteworthy. What's your problem?
Posted by: Nana2007 | May 29 2016 5:38 utc | 28
rg the lg,
Capitalism is a myth created by the centuries old global plutocratic families to cover for their ongoing control of private finance supported by inheritance. Capitalism has never existed and will never exist but it speaks to the wonders of the media brainwashing capability that we talk so much about it and not the effects of private finance and unfettered inheritance.
As to Libya, I have commented before about how its all about the money and not wanting to kowtow to private finance of the West that killed Gaddafi. The West continues to project its R2P strategy toward Libya through its puppet UN gooks.
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 29 2016 5:55 utc | 29
@ Penelope | May 28, 2016 8:04:17 PM | 16
*"I WONDER what you call it when a country prints a paper currency which in the aggregate can be exchanged only for bonds[?]."*
Either ignorant or delusional (or some combination thereof).
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | May 29 2016 7:14 utc | 30
You seem to forget that the on-going wars have been what saved more than once EU economies in the last five years, plus provided some distraction to keep the masses busy waching tv + scared enough.
What is getting critical now is that more and more the masses think this is far too much money spent into wars which are seldom discussed or put to vote, and they turn to the extreme-right to get them out of the EU. Will the bargain function or will the old US/extreme-right contacts make it sure that they will stay in line?
Posted by: Mina | May 29 2016 11:05 utc | 31
… They broke Libya. Now they are playing with the pieces. Ultimately, they'd love to put it back together, under some co-opted and biddable government or other. But Libya just isn't important enough to give a shit. .. Tangba at 18.
I agree with this part. (— Hopefully nobody cares about hijabs.)
Secretagent at 2:
They are doing it on purpose. Nobody can be so consistently wrong about everything. Nobody could be so hopelessly incompetent. Choosing the worst option 100% of the time cannot be a random outcome. The policy is clearly to spread chaos across the world and in the ensuing bedlam, to steal all the valuable stuff.
Always a tempting interpretation: destruction of ‘enemies’ through ‘chaos’. Works at some level. It represents an easy answer to the question of ‘incompetence, stupidity’ vs. having some over-reaching aim or game plan. There must be an aim, so the chaos is the desired result.
However, imho, this deflects thinking about who the ‘enemy’ is and what can be done.
A tiny smidgen of the 1% in the world (not economic, also some kind of distraction, but in power positions) is simply acting like an extravagant, hubris-hyped, ‘Mafia’ - destroy, try to rebuild sorta, all of it resting on wacky, self-congratulatory, personal, ‘corrupt’ cozy relations, discussions, etc.
The results, short or long term, don’t really matter, what counts is control and the wielding of power, influence, the heady mix, the insulation from consequences. (See also the Finance industry, which provides a kinda of blue-print.) So anything goes, and ‘we’ will deal with results or events as they come up! Which leads to acceptance of *any* plans, specially if agressive (as that provides the thrill of domination) plus any/all results.
The spirit is: We are on top so we can manage, deal with it all. See Killary’s e-mails for ex.
Is more elaboration needed? This post is intended as a ‘counterpoint’ not the be-all. Lybia as just an ex.
Posted by: Noirette | May 29 2016 14:54 utc | 32
Gadafi was mocking "The West". The West (ie: Multinational Corps & the MIC) is running Austerity. Gadafi was running Prosperity. This cannot stand. People may find out and get ideas...
Free electricity, free education, free healthcare, free money for newlyweds, free money for newborns...(Canada has some of these, but austerity cometh...)
Libya breaking from The West, uniting African countries for their own benefit and autonomy, defying the west, Gold-backed dinars instead of petrodollar.
This cannot stand. People may get ideas...
Let us this Memorial Day, salute Our Dead Brave Men and Women in Uniform... The US Military and its Military Contractors - Halliburton, The Living Dead Dick Cheney, Henry Kissinger, Brzezinski, DynCorp, Lockheed Martin, XE, Eric Prince...
Posted by: fast freddy | May 29 2016 16:11 utc | 33
...
I may be wrong ... but regulated capitalism is regulated by the capitalists and for the capitalists.
Posted by: rg the lg | May 29, 2016 12:51:48 AM | 26
I didn't say everything was peachy. I was referring (too obliquely perhaps?) to the fact that up until, and beyond, the 1960's people with lots of income paid lots of tax - both income and inheritance tax (death duties). Your History Books will confirm that in the UK disgustingly wealthy people paid 90%+ tax (remember the Beatles?) and in most Western countries people 'lucky' enough to find themselves at the top of the income heap paid more than 50% tax. In Oz back then, for example, income was designated as "earned" and "unearned". Unearned income (dividends, interest) was taxed at the highest marginal rate 67% (from a trivial base of a few hundred dollars per annum to avoid discouraging the thrift of the less-wealthy).
My comment was addressing the fact that in the 1960s the wealthy revolted and bought govts to have the laws, which obliged them to share their good fortune and prevented them from owning everything on the planet, changed.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 30 2016 0:06 utc | 34
from Washingtons blog ...
Memorial Day 2016: Avenge US military war dead in lie-started illegal wars by arresting today’s US ‘leaders’ still lying US military into illegal Wars of Aggression
Posted on May 29, 2016 by Carl Herman
Posted by: ALberto | May 30 2016 4:26 utc | 36
PM of the United Kingdom [for how long?] David Cameron sends a Royal Navy ship for warfare off the Libyan coast and another billion dinars printed in his Kingdom!!!
- "De La Rue, the Basingstoke-based currency printer and a long-term supplier of notes to the Libyan government in Tripoli, sent 70m dinars, worth about $50m, to the country last month and is in the process of delivering a further 1bn dinars before and during Ramadan."
Of course the British dinars can be used to buy British arms ...
How is it possible to refer to the US as KKK when the POTUS is black,many of his cabinet,many are Jews,and the military is also heavily black,at least in proportion to population?
Yes,maybe one could say that in the 60s,but the page has turned,American exceptionalism(exemplified by the crud Obomba)is biracial and bipartisan.
And yeah,the mathematical probability angle of repeated failure sure does invite the thought of purposeful chaos.
And yes, most of the instigators are Trotskyites or their descendants.
McCarthys fickle finger fingered them as commies when they were sleeper Zio agents in reality.
I've always wondered why in the land of the free you weren't free to be a red?:)
)
Posted by: dahoit | May 30 2016 16:43 utc | 38
I guess that's why it was so easy for the phony commies to turncoat and point fingers at fellow travelers,they really were Zionists,which of course is much harder for them to reject.
Posted by: dahoit | May 30 2016 16:45 utc | 39
17;That was my thought also,the day after the event.Khaddafi loyalists.
Posted by: dahoit | May 30 2016 16:48 utc | 40
There is a good chance that Canada may have JTF2 Special Forces operating in Libya. Canada was a heavy lifter there in 2011 and NATO's targeting and bombing campaign was led by RCAF General Charles Bouchard, now CEO of Lockheed Martin Canada. The Libyan campaign was unanimously supported by all parties in Canada's House of Commons. Canada and JTF2 are also in Iraq acting once again as the American devils' little helper, it is reported:
Canadian Special Forces on the Front Lines With Kurds Aiming To Retake Iraqi City From ISIL, US Says
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-special-forces-on-the-front-lines-with-kurdish-forces-aiming-to-retake-iraqi-city-from-isil-u-s-says/
Only "to train and advise the Kurds" of course...
Posted by: John Gilberts | May 30 2016 22:26 utc | 42
@42 JG, 'NATO's targeting and bombing campaign was led by RCAF General Charles Bouchard, now CEO of Lockheed Martin Canada.'
Wouldn't it be edifying and delightful to have a map of the provenance of all the 'captains' of the arms industries?
Admirals and Generals more often than Captains, I imagine. And Congress-men and -women. Why has this project not been undertaken by an 'investigative journalist'? Of course, we know the answer to that one ...
That last is a great point 43 evidence of how corporate espionage and market-gaming brinkmanship have captured both the media and policy domains.
Posted by: Ralph Reed | May 31 2016 0:19 utc | 44
I'm going to make my opinion as short and concise as I can.
Gaddafi was, and did successfully come out of isolation in the 2000's by settling the Lockerbie issue and giving up his puny nuke stuff etc to Washington. He was also making inroads with Italy (Berlusconi)and England (Blair). There was a lot of talks and plans of Libya supplying Europe with cheap gas and high quality oil(low-Sulphur sweet crude). Italy stood to gain much. But there was a problem. There were major designs on the tables in Washington, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Qatar and Riyadh.
The main theme was a pipeline from Qatar-KSA through Iraq, Syria (two branches of the pipeline; one to Israel, the other thru to Turkey and thus Europe). Two obstacles emerged however, Gaddafi and his Italian connection and Bashar who basically said No!, as he favored the 'Friendship Pipeline'; with Iran, Iraq and Syria with complicit support and sponsorship of Russia. Russia was not about to lose a great part of its economy due to plans for the Qatar-Europe pipeline (making the Russia-Ukraine-Europe gas/oil pipeline bypass able and therefore void), thus their intervention in Syria. Please try to keep up with me as I'm not a good writer.
The plan was set in action to sabotage Gaddafi-Libya--Italy-Europe pipeline first. The goal was achieved with the nefarious and violent takedown of Gaddafi's regime and subsequent deliberate chaos that followed and was nursed via Turkey, Qatar, CIA and co.(essentially the same players now mixed up in Syria to get rid of the other obstacle Bashar)In Libya, the UN has played a leading role in ensuring that there will be no Unity Government while Turkey and Wahhabi/Salafi states Qatar and Saudi Arabia made sure that Daesh was thrown in the middle for good measure.
This my dear reader, is why Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey(even poor Jordan-whom was going to benefit as well)and NATO, Western Intelligence Agencies are all foaming at the mouth over the tide having changed in Syria due mainly to Russia's intervention. I personally think it was a masterful stroke of genius by Putin and Russia to intervene.
The 'game' is grand and the stakes cannot be higher. The outcome of this Great Game determines who controls the Worlds most valuable resource for perhaps the next century. The one great nation and major player I haven't mentioned is China. In the last decade, Russia and China have aligned economically and strategically including a half a Trillion dollar energy agreement not long ago at all in addition they are diversifying from the Worlds sole reserve currency-the Dollar. And China's 'One Route-One Road-Silk road high-speed rail(if you will) will transverse the great Asian continent with plans(together with Russia and Iran) through to Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well.
To reverse the old Chinese proverb - May we 'not' live in interesting times. However, I do believe things are about to get very interesting.
Posted by: bored muslim | Jun 8 2016 22:05 utc | 45
Also, Libya stands to circumvent Saudi Arabia and Qatar's plan to supply Europe with natural gas. So they pioneered the 'high jacking 'of Libya by Nato and they, along with Turkey harvested ISIS in central Libya. The plan is to break Libya up into three parts; keep it unstable and under enormous discord and dis-unity.
Serraj is a no name who was brought in to ensure that this nefarious plot succeeds. Shame on the goddamn Gulf Stated and what they sow. I pray the Houthis and the Yemeni army punch through their line of defense and clear the rancid region of scum who have instilled misery in Libya and Syria on behalf of Zionist and Anglo imperial ambitions.
Posted by: bored muslim | Jun 8 2016 22:12 utc | 46
re 45-46. Oil is not the issue today, with the decline in the oil price.
Posted by: Laguerre | Jun 8 2016 22:31 utc | 47
umm, no; oil is the issue everyday. Regardless of price.
Posted by: bored muslim | Jun 9 2016 0:16 utc | 48
@45, bm, 'The outcome of this Great Game determines who controls the Worlds most valuable resource for perhaps the next century'
Right on with your analysis of the way things are ... may things change as regards your forecast though.
Petrocarbons are the world's most ruinous curse, not its most valuable resource, and must be abandoned well before the next century has elapsed. In addition to their contribution to climate change they are, as you point out, the convenient choke-point around which the contest of the hegemons is waged, to no one's benefit but their own ... all 0.01$ of them. I agree that Putin and Russia have done well and done good in Syria, but Russia - marvelous to relate, great exporter of petrocarbons itself - has a grasp of what really needs to be done ...
Ladies and Gentlemen. The issues that affect the futures of all people include the challenge of global climate change. It is in our interest to make the UN Climate Change Conference to be held in December in Paris a success. As part of our national contribution, we plan to reduce by 2030 the greenhouse emmissions to 70-75% of the 1990 level. I suggest, however, we should take a wider view on this issue.Yes, we might defuse the problem for awhile by setting quotas on harmful emissons or by taking other measures, which are nothing but tactical, but we will not solve it that way. We need a completely new approach.
We have to focus on introducing fundamental and new technologies inspired by nature which will not damage the environment but will be in harmony with it. Also they will allow us to restore the balance between the biosphere and technosphere upset by human activities. It is indeed a challenge of planetary scope, but I am confident that humankind has [the] intellectual potential to address it. We need to join our efforts.
I refer first of all to the states that have a solid research basis, and that have made significant advances in fundamental science. We propose convening a special forum under the UN auspices for a comprehensive consideration of the issues related to the depletion of natural resources, the destruction of habitat, and climate change. Russia would be ready to co-sponsor such a forum.
And climate change is not the only monstrous outcome of voluntary petrocarbon slavery. Another way to look at the possession of great petrocarbon resources is as a target drawn on your back. I like Algal Biohydrogen Production From Water as the alternative. Libya is in great position to pursue that track, if the Libyans can just get the US/UN/EU the hell out of their country. Maybe the Russians can help?
bored muslim.. you're preaching to the choir at moa and will find most posters here agree with you... thanks..
Posted by: james | Jun 9 2016 6:34 utc | 51
The comments to this entry are closed.
"...The answer is simple unfortunately – America and Britain are blindsided by their love affair with the Muslim Brotherhood and their adherents in Libya’s West and specifically in and around Tripoli..."
It's just that it's so darn hard to find good, organized U.S./U.K. lackeys anymore. The Muslim Brotherhood proto-head-choppers are apparently all they have been able to scrounge up for their Libya scheming. You think that at least the U.S. would have learned something after Benghazi.
Posted by: PavewayIV | May 28 2016 8:02 utc | 1