RT- Scott Ritter - read entire oped at link
"Moscow and Ankara are not responsible for starting the conflict which has ravaged Libya, but they may have a decisive role in ending it, as they lead international diplomatic efforts at the Berlin peace conference.
The two countries opposed the US-led NATO intervention to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi nine years ago but, despite Turkey being a NATO member and Russia being on the UN Security Council, neither exercised their veto prerogatives.Both states went on to bitterly regret sitting out, as the increasingly violent and morally muddy Arab Spring swept through the Middle East, dragging both into proxy conflicts.
But being untainted by the calamity of Western intervention serves the two powers well as they attempt to mediate the many-sided Libyan civil war.
#Putin & #Erdogan set stage for #Libya peace talks at #Berlin meetinghttps://t.co/q0Q6JTDszq pic.twitter.com/dcMLumSpcc— RT (@RT_com) January 19, 2020
No peace yet, but moving towards a ceasefire
Last weekend’s conference in the German capital ended with a ceasefire commitment agreed to by the leaders of the two warring parties, Fayez a-Sarraj, from the Government of National Accord (GNA) and Khalifa Haftar, who heads the Libyan National Army (LNA), as well as an agreement among all of the attendees to the conference for an enforceable arms embargo.
I'll have additional information in a second post regarding the conference and more.
The Berlin conference follows on the heels of an earlier meeting in Moscow this month between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, where the foundations of the current ceasefire agreement were negotiated. While the Moscow meeting failed to produce a ceasefire, it did initiate a process of direct talks between the leadership of the GNA and LNA that carried on into the Berlin conference and contributed to a successful outcome.
Jan 14/20- Libya: Russia & Turkey Work for Permanent Ceasefire in Libya- Haftar Refuses To Sign On
Obama’s ‘right thing to do’
Putin and Erdogan are operating on the embers of a landmark Western failure in the region – one that put in doubt the entire rationale of military intervention.This role of the US and its allies has been widely acknowledged as a disaster (Gaddafi was killed by US-supported rebels after his convoy was attacked by NATO aircraft).While President Barack Obama later said that intervening in Libya had been “the right thing to do,” he also called the intervention the “worst mistake” of his presidency, blaming the failure of his administration “to plan for the day after” once Gaddafi was removed from power. The US was guilty of an act of commission by getting NATO to use offensive military power against a sovereign state, but could Turkey and Russia have done more at the time?
What’s in it for Putin & Erdogan?
The motives of both Russia and Turkey in bringing peace and stability to Libya are as complex as they are diverse. For Russia, bringing Libya back into the fold as a client state would provide a boon to Russian arms manufacturers as well as Russian energy companies. Haftar’s LNA controls the bulk of Libya’s oil fields but is prevented from selling oil due to UN economic sanctions. These sanctions won’t be lifted until a political solution to the Libyan crisis is reached.Turkey, for its part, has structured its geo-political position in the eastern Mediterranean Sea around a maritime border recently negotiated with the GNA. This new border gives Turkey considerable leverage when it comes to the establishment of exclusive economic zones in the eastern Mediterranean regarding the ongoing exploration and development of potentially lucrative underwater oil and gas deposits.
Related:
Khalifa Haftar: Friend of Israel, Not A Force for Good In Libya