Submitted by Steve Brown…
When liar, thief, and ex-CIA director Pompeo was announced as an attendee to the proposed Libya ceasefire summit in Berlin all hope for any political settlement died. Besides a photo-op for Merkel, Macron, and various other global miscreants and incompetents, the 19 January Berlin event was most notable as a high-five meet-up for one former CIA asset and his ex-director. But whether Warlord Khalifa and CIA Mike danced together to the Los Guerreros tune We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal is, as yet, unknown. Drinks all around anyway.
Seriously, there was no real hope for any sort of political settlement in Libya among the clowns who call themselves Rulers of the Planet, considering the compromised sorts and circumstances involved. The first bit of bad news for the Libya talks was the Libyan National Army’s oil export blockade enacted on the same day as the talks were held, effectively shutting-off Libya’s oil exports. Since the Libyan National Oil Company (LNOC) provides funding to both sides in the conflict, the blockade news was surprising since the Warlord will thus scupper funds destined for his own LNA coffers as well.
One hope versus the oil blockade is oil-rich Algeria, a Mena player which prefers to act in the background. Algeria was somewhat surprisingly invited to the Berlin summit, represented by weak leader Tebboune who is unresponsive to widespread opposition and constant anti-government protests. Tebboune was effectively sidelined in the Libya talks despite Algeria’s key but somewhat obscure role in the Libyan conflict. Like Warlord Haftar, Tebboune was not pictured in an amusing group photo taken of the conference lackeys.
Other than a pre-meeting phone call to Angela Merkel, major regional player bin Zayed (United Arab Emirates) was not present at the Libya conference sending only his foreign minister Ab, further assuring that no real progress would occur. According to one source, bin Zayed quit funding the Wagner Group in Libya (hint: it’s not the Russians!) and other mercenary forces in Libya… for now. And that was the turning point needed for Moscow to host the first Libyan ceasefire meeting, the meeting Warlord Haftar graced by walking out of.
UAE’s bin Zayed has evidently blinked based on the notoriety his liberal spending on militarist adventures and mercenaries has gained him in the media, and now somewhat ironically says he is a man of peace. Not the first time bin Zayed has claimed that and then went on to fund more conflict. bin Zayed prefers to maintain a low profile with regard to the violence he underwrites via his ample resources. But the media coverage became particularly troublesome for bin Zayed subsequent to the important ceasefire announced on January 12th. Bin Zayed’s phone call in lieu of attendance at the Berlin Libya summit speaks volumes about his lack of veracity on the subject of peace.
Notably absent too in any real functionary sense was LNA Warlord Haftar. Haftar met separately and privately with German chancellor Angela Merkel before the conference, but did not hang around long enough to provide input or appear in the bizarre group photo. Al Sarraj took a more active role meeting leaders and shook hands with Haftar, but met Merkel separately to discuss key topics on Libya.
Present and more active at the conference was Turk leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who met privately with Russian leader Vladimir Putin… Erdogan even appeared in the group photo. Erdogan – along with the Italian minister – essentially protested the loss of Libyan oil shipments to Turkey, and for that matter Italy, due to the LNA blockade. Erdogan was vocal as usual and made himself heard, subject being the oil blockade and alleged LNA aggression.
The only resolution made by conference participants is that all nations must adhere to the UN arms embargo and ceasefire, which CIA buddies Pompeo and the Warlord must have laughed into their beer about. So, the Berlin conference was more of a Bohemian Grove irrelevance based on globalist ritual than a real search for political solutions to the crisis in Libya. Being the crisis that the United States and NATO engineered some nine years ago.
One very serious question now is about how Turkey and Italy will deal with the LNA Libyan oil blockade. Whether the blockade will cause hostilities to resume is unclear, but Libyan oil has been bargain-basement cheap for Turkey and Italy for quite some time now. If the LNA oil blockade persists, that will likely push Turkey closer to Algeria – a goal Turkey has been courting for some time.
Due to its troubled history, a high-profile alliance between Algeria and Turkey is perhaps unlikely. But this government that likes to work in the shadows may export its oil in greater quantities to Turkey and Italy albeit at higher prices than Libya’s — and get that underway very soon. Frequently ignored and under-rated by the west, Algeria is an oil-rich country somewhat outside major geo-political spheres of influence, with a modern high-tech economy and highly developed industries.
Finally, comes the question whether the Libyan ceasefire will hold. With some knowledge about how the Libyan National Army operates — and also considering the volatile oil blockade situation that a volatile leader in Turkey must face – let’s submit that hostilities will resume. There are already some rumblings around Mitiga airport and low-level militia attacks near Tripoli.
If hostilities do resume in Libya, a weak and impotent European Union can certainly be fingered, incapable of confronting the vile influence of the CIA’s liars, thieves, and mad assassins who presently rule the world. Or we can ask why the abomination that is both the EU and United States was ever allowed to destroy Libya in the first place. Just because, they came, they saw.. they killed..?
Steve Brown is the author of “Iraq: the Road to War” (Sourcewatch) editor of “Bush Administration War Crimes in Iraq” (Sourcewatch) “Trump’s Limited Hangout” and “Federal Reserve: Out-sourcing the Monetary System to the Money Trust Oligarchs Since 1913”; Steve is an antiwar activist, a published scholar on the US monetary system, and has appeared as guest contributor to The Duran, Fort Russ News, Lew Rockwell Report, SOTT, and Strategika51. Twitter: @newsypaperz
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