The plane crash in Turkey caught my eye a few days ago- The Libyan government (UN recognized official government of Libya) & Turkish government relationship is frowned up on by Israel, Greece, Cyprus, UK and the US. There is some way back reporting at my former site on this subject, if time permits it will be moved here. Haftar is allied to the US and Israel. Let’s say the US made him the man he is today. If you’ve been paying attention to Trump’s rhetoric regarding Somalia- He was trash talking for a reason- just not the reason most think.

We’ll go with the plane crash first- It’s unsurprising that a good chunk of the officially recognized government went down in the crash- By the way this recent plane crash reminds me so very much of the plane crash about 15 years ago that dead headed the Polish government- The one that was wanting friendlier relations with Russia? I did bring those reports here from my former site. Check em out via the search!

Warning…..we’re going long!

Euronews

General Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, military chief of Libya’s UN-recognised government in Tripoli, died with seven others when the plane crashed near the Turkish capital Ankara.

The Falcon 50 business jet crashed in the Haymana district some 70 kilometres south of Ankara shortly after takeoff from Esenboga International Airport, killing all eight people on board.

Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, who leads the Government of National Unity based in Tripoli, confirmed the deaths in a statement on Facebook on Tuesday evening.

“It is with deep sadness and great sorrow that we learnt of the death of the Libyan army’s chief of general staff, Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Haddad,” Dbeibah said, calling the incident a “tragic accident”.

Key military officials died in the crash as well

Four other senior Libyan military officials died in the crash alongside al-Haddad, including General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, head of Libya’s ground forces, Brigadier General Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, director of the Military Manufacturing Authority, an advisor to the chief of staff and a military photographer.

Something happened with that plane- I’m leaning towards sabotage myself. Wildly speculative, but it makes so much sense when you understand the back ground and the likely geo political ramifications of that crash & those deaths.

Three crew members also died in the crash. Turkish officials said the jet was registered in Malta and had been leased. The identities of the crew members were not immediately released.

Libya has announced it will send a team to Ankara to work with Turkish authorities on investigating the crash. Walid Ellafi, state minister of political affairs and communication for the Government of National Unity, told Libyan broadcaster Libya Alahrar that it was not clear when a crash report would be ready.

The country is split between the UN-recognised Government of National Unity in Tripoli, led by Dbeibah, and a rival administration in eastern Libya led by military commander Khalifa Haftar.

Turkey has been allied with Libya’s government in the west, providing economic and military support, though Ankara has recently taken steps to improve ties with the eastern-based government as well.

General Khalifa Haftar, who controls eastern Libya, issued a statement expressing his “deep sorrow over this tragic loss” and extended condolences for the deaths of al-Haddad and Ghraibil.

Haftar is a snake in the grass

Pro-Haftar Libyan official opposes 2019 deal with Türkiye (Dec 17/25)

There’s coverage of this deal at my censored site-

In the fall of 2019, Türkiye and Libya signed a deal setting marine jurisdictions, rejecting unilateral and illegal activities by regional countries and international firms, and protecting the rights of both countries. The deal was registered by the U.N. in October 2020.

So a plane crashes… just after a huge arms deal is made Between Haftar’s forces and Pakistan. The arms will surely be used to challenge the unity government

Pakistan said to have reached $4 billion arms deal with Haftar’s forces in Libya

The deal is said to include the purchase of 16 JF-17 fighter jets, a multi-role combat aircraft that has been jointly developed by Pakistan and China.
Pakistan has reportedly reached a deal worth over $4 billion to sell military equipment to the Libyan National Army (LNA), based in the eastern part of the country, despite a UN arms embargo on the fractured North African country.

The deal, one of Pakistan’s largest-ever weapons sales, was finalised after a meeting held last week in Benghazi week between Pakistan military chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Saddam Khalifa Haftar, deputy commander-in-chief of the LNA and son of eastern Libya strongman Khalifa Haftar, Pakistani officials told Reuters.

The officials, all involved in defence matters, declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the deal.

Generally speaking Pakistan has always been heavily allied, subordinated to the US.

Understanding that US backed Israel is looking for trouble with Turkey, as mentioned here. we shouldn’t be surprised to now find out Israel, yes, Israel recognizes Somaliland. Which is Somalia or it was until other interested parties became involved in the separatist aspirations

Israel slights Turkey by recognizing Somaliland

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recognized Somaliland on Friday, making Israel the first country to do so and prompting a strong rebuke from Turkey.

What happened: Netanyahu said Israel and Somaliland signed a “joint and mutual declaration.” Netanyahu and Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi were present at the virtual ceremony, the Israeli premier said on X.

“The State of Israel plans to immediately expand its relations with the Republic of Somaliland through extensive cooperation in the fields of agriculture, health, technology and economy,” said Netanyahu.

In a video posted by his office, Netanyahu said he would inform US President Donald Trump of Somaliland’s desire to join the Abraham Accords.

“I’ll communicate to President Trump your willingness and desire to join the Abraham Accords,” said Netanyahu on the US-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and other states in the wider region.

Abdillahi said in a post on X that he affirms Somaliland’s “readiness” to join the accords.

Somaliland is a breakaway state from Somalia that has governed itself since 1991.

The Somaliland presidency said in a post on X that Netanyahu’s decision “affirms Somaliland’s enduring statehood,” adding that Netanyahu invited Abdillahi to visit Israel.

The announcement was made during a virtual meeting and the two leaders spoke by video call, according to images released by Netanyahu’s office. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar held a call of his own with Abdillahi on Friday to discuss bilateral ties, he said on X.

The recognition provoked the ire of Turkey, a country already at odds with Israel. Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli called the recognition a “new example of the Netanyahu government’s unlawful actions aimed at creating instability at both regional and global levels.”

Oh and if you’ve been paying attention Donald Trump was talking non stop about Somalia this past little while- As well as bombing Somalia in escalating attacks.

US dramatically escalates air strikes on Somalia under Trump this year

Trump’s strike total on conflict-ridden East African nation exceeds Bush, Obama and Biden administrations combined

Let’s talk about Bob al Mandeb

Bob al Mandeb is a strategic choke point and definitely has something to do with the Somalia/Somaliland – Israel, Turkey conflagaration

Trump’s relentless diatribes served a purpose. Just not the one most people thought it did!

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=41073

Just the basics

World Politics

Recent clashes between pro-government militias in Tripoli once again threatened to unravel Libya’s tenuous frozen conflict. Yet beyond the headline-grabbing instability, a quieter power struggle is unfolding, one in which Turkey and Russia are emerging as the most consequential actors, with both Ankara and Moscow utilizing the country’s stalemate to entrench their own influence.

Still, the political and military fault lines that divide Libya are increasingly shaped by Turkey and Russia, who have settled into what analysts characterize as a “managed rivalry” or “adversarial collaboration,” as previously seen in other theaters where their interests simultaneously collide and overlap, such as Syria and the South Caucasus

Turkey’s Outreach

Turkey’s military intervention in 2020 decisively shifted the balance in Libya’s civil war, repelling an offensive on Tripoli launched by Haftar in April 2019 and setting the stage for the United Nations-brokered ceasefire that ended the fighting between the Tripoli and Tobruk governments later that year. Since then, Turkey has remained the GNU’s key patron, supplying military equipment such as Turkish-made armored vehicles, drones, air defense systems and artillery.

The Turkish parliament has continued to renew the military mandate for its forces in Libya, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan citing risks to Turkish interests if the GNU were to come under renewed assault. That deep level of support was almost certainly the decisive factor allowing Dbeibah and the GNU to retain the upper hand amid the recent unrest in Tripoli. 

While Turkey’s military intervention had guaranteed it a seat at Libya’s political table, Ankara has also secured oil and gas exploration deals with successive Tripoli-based administrations, beginning with a Memorandum of Understanding signed with the GNA in 2019 and later ratified by Dbeibah’s government in October 2022.

Although the Tripoli Court of Appeal ruled against the deal in February 2024, the GNU ultimately overrode the court’s decision. That underscores how Ankara’s outreach to Tripoli’s powerbrokers has advanced its maritime and energy interests in the Eastern Mediterranean, even as Turkey’s offshore territorial claims sparked tensions with Greece and Egypt, which said they infringed upon their own sovereignty.

Russia’s Ambitions

Russia’s engagement in Libya has also been consequential, but was previously subtler.

Moscow has become more open in its ties to Haftar, particularly following the fall of former dictator Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in Syria. In May, both Khalifa and Saddam Haftar traveled to Moscow for Russia’s World War II Victory Day celebrations, where they met senior officials and discussed expanding military cooperation, for which the elder Haftar expressed his gratitude.

The deepening relationship comes at a time when Moscow is looking to reassert its Mediterranean presence following its loss of influence in Syria, which had guaranteed it an Eastern Mediterranean naval base in Tartus. In February, satellite imagery showed Russia’s development of the Maaten Al Sarra airbase in southern Libya, where it had shipped S-300 and S-400 air defense systems. Around 1,000 Russian military personnel have also relocated to Libya from Syria.

I’ve read that Russia has been looking for option in Libya, but, there are also news reports such as the one below;

Libyan PM resists Russia’s move to reinforce military bases in country

Russia’s move to reinforce its military base in eastern Libya after the toppling of the Assad regime in Syria is facing resistance from the country’s UN-backed government.

The prime minister of the Tripoli-based government, Abdul Hamid Dabaiba, said he rejected any attempt to turn Libya into a centre for major-power conflicts, stressing that the country would not be a platform for settling international scores.

“We have concerns about moving international conflicts to Libya, and that it will become a battlefield between countries,” Dabaiba said.

Libya has been a battlefield between countries for some time now, sadly. Thanks to the US led NATO destruction/destabilization and brutal murder of Gaddafi. And I mean BRUTAL!!

Back to World Politics

Russia’s growing influence with the LNA would likely make approval for building a naval base easier. Haftar’s forces depend on Russia for their logistical networks and reportedly even require Russian approval to use certain military installations, indicating how much leverage Moscow has established over him.

Yet rather than being an unconditional ally, Russia arguably views Haftar as a means to an end, a tool to maintain influence in Libya and extend its reach into Africa. Still, the fact Haftar and his son have engaged with Ankara, too, shows that the family is willing to leverage the competing powers to gain recognition. Thus, Russia and Haftar’s ties can be deemed a “marriage of convenience.”

Indeed, like Turkey, Russia has also looked to the rival camp to hedge its bets. Moscow’s outreach to Tripoli has gained momentum over the past two years, with a delegation traveling to Tripoli to meet with GNU officials—including Dbeibah—as recently as April. Beyond potentially allowing Moscow to use western Libya as a launchpad for power projection deeper into Africa, this balancing act advances Russia’s energy interests, as Russian firms are now in talks with the Tripoli-based Presidential Council, which is aligned with the GNU, for exploration deals.

Russia’s entrenched role serves as a geopolitical bargaining chip, compelling European powers to engage with Moscow and advancing President Vladimir Putin’s stated vision of a multipolar world order. There is also a potential risk of Russia of weaponizing Libya’s energy sector; Haftar has previously blockaded oil facilities to pressure Tripoli, a tactic Moscow could exploit to disrupt or manipulate European energy supplies.

Even short of active sabotage, a future Russian naval base in Libya would almost certainly raise alarm in European capitals. Yet all of this would likely be consolidated within a frozen conflict, one increasingly sustained by competing Russian and Turkish involvement.

Marriage of Convenience aka RealPolitik

Meanwhile, Washington has largely disengaged from Libya’s conflict, aside from recent inflammatory suggestions that it would relocate migrants and even displaced Palestinians from Gaza to Libya. Both proposals were swiftly condemned, in part due to the country’s lack of security and high risk of human trafficking.

With Western involvement waning, any U.N.-backed efforts to unify the rival administrations under a single government, push for domestic reform or hold elections will almost certainly require Turkish buy-in. Persuading Moscow to scale back support for Haftar and relinquish its strategic foothold in the Mediterranean and Africa, will prove far more difficult.

I’m not so sure western involvement has waned- That all said, Libya is definitely a nation to watch.

Haftar is tied into both the US and Israel- we’ll get to that after this latest news, keeping in mind Israel views Libya as the destination of choice for the ethnically cleansed Palestinians.

Libya’s eastern-based government said yesterday it may announce a force majeure on oil fields and ports citing “repeated assaults on the National Oil Corporation (NOC),” Reuters reports.

The government in Benghazi is not internationally recognised, but most oil fields in the major oil producing country are under the control of eastern Libyan military leader Khalifa Haftar.

The government said it may also temporarily relocate the NOC’s headquarters to one of the “safe cities such as Ras Lanuf and Brega, both of which are controlled by the eastern-based government.

The NOC is currently located in Tripoli under the control of the internationally-recognised Government of National Unity (GNU).

The North African country’s crude oil production reached 1.3 million barrels per day in the last 24 hours, according to the NOC.

At my previous site there are many articles about Khalifa Haftar

https://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.com/2020/08/haftar-and-israel-shedding-light-on.html

Back in 2020 there was a link to a piece about Mr Haftar- sadly it’s inaccessible now, but, here’s the quoted info

“There is currently much dispute over which side, in Libya’s ongoing civil war, is a force for good in the region and which side should be treated with the most legitimacy. Many will argue that the LNA (Libyan National Army) forces, commanded by warlord Khalifa Haftar, are indeed what is needed for Libya to see progress and to make its way back to operating as a normal State in the Middle East, however, there are many problems with this argument.

For those who value the independence of Arab peoples - including the people of Northern Africa - Khalifa Haftar is not a figure to revere. His LNA forces have aligned themselves with a number of regional enemies of the Palestinian people and also the people of the wider region, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Israel and France. Using the airpower of both Egypt and the UAE as an integral part to play in Haftar’s plot to control Libya.

Who is Commander Khalifa Haftar?

The now internationally well known leader of the LNA opposition forces in Libya, Khalifa Haftar, is not a new figure unknown to the Libyan people. He first emerged to prominence as a colonel under Muammar Gaddafi’s rule, aiding Gaddaffi in his 1969 military coup which removed King Idris from power.

After enjoying a large public following in Libya, he was eventually arrested as a prisoner of war during the Chadian-Libya war and was disavowed by Muammar Gaddafi. The condemnation coming from Gaddafi due to Haftar’s military operation having violated an agreement brokered between Libya and Chad at the time. Khalifa Haftar feeling he was betrayed by his leader, then went on to form a militia, based in Zaire, which was aimed at overthrowing Gaddafi.”

As part of a CIA-sponsored deal with Kenya, in 1990, Khalifa Haftar was then welcomed into the United States, being given citizenship to the country. Once in the US, Haftar built close connections within the nations’ intelligence services. In fact, when Haftar resided in the US, he chose to live in close proximity to the CIA’s headquarters.

Khalifa Haftar continued then to support a number of attempts to overthrow the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, the most notable case being in the 1996 uprising.

Later, come 2011, Khalifa Haftar became an influential figure in the overthrow of Gaddafi, leading to the bloody chaos we have seen since, in Libya. Keep in mind that this was all possible due to NATO forces having supplied both air support and also weapons to Libya’s opposition militias – who were fighting Gaddafi – leading to their eventual victory. Meaning that the legacy of Khalifa Haftar is one of Western collusion, aiding in the mass murder of Libyan’s, for personal political gain. Leading him towards his current campaign.

The link below is older but fortunately is accessible still- We can understand that Israel is part and parcel of the problem in Libya

Israel provided Haftar Weapons

Commander of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar, has reportedly been supplied with Israeli military aid after secret meetings with Mossad agents that were mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

A high-ranking official in Haftar’s military informed The New Arab that the Libyan commander has been holding secret meetings with Israel over the past two years.

Sniper rifles and night vision equipment were amongst the military aid provided, according to the source.

Haftar and his Libyan National Army stands in opposition to the government in Libya’s western city of Tripoli, the Government of National Accord, which is officially recognised and backed by the United Nations.

In 2014, the military strongman said he would not mind “cooperating with Israel and receiving various forms of support from it.” He justified it by claiming that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

And bringing this up to present time

Resettlement of the Gaza population: Libya as the best option

Including the image of Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, CIA asset, friend to Israel.

Libya is a country with a huge territory and a relatively small (7 million people) population. The population density is about 4 people per square kilometer, with most of it concentrated in the coastal areas. It is one of the least densely populated countries in the world.

But what is more important is that Libya today consists of several quasi-states.

• The officially recognized Government of National Accord or Unity (GNA/GNU) sits in Tripoli in the west of the country. Its authority is limited exclusively to the capital of Libya and its environs.

• In the east, in Tobruk, there is an alternative government subordinate to the House of Representatives, which competes with the GNA/GNU and supports the commander-in-chief of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar. Haftar controls 90% of the country’s territory, including part of the southern province of Fezzan.

When interests converge

Thus, we are dealing with several entities.

All of them (or most of them) are extremely interested in:

• first, the influx of a fresh population capable of successful integration;

• second, investments to develop local industry, agriculture and infrastructure and to strengthen their armed formations;

• third, political dividends and international recognition, which will help them to emerge from isolation into the international arena.

This is especially true for two leading players: the NTC and Khalifa Haftar.

General Haftar, in alliance with the House of Representatives, controls most of Libya with the province of Cyrenaica (whose capital is Benghazi, the second largest city in Libya) and its leading oil and infrastructure facilities, and remains the unrecognized leader of the opposition. He also controls part of the historical territory of Fezzan, which is of strategic importance due to its oil fields and cross-border trade routes.

In turn, in the current situation of the extreme fragmentation of Libya, the United States could easily influence almost each of the parties to the conflict, using the carrot and stick method.

An entity that agrees to accept and accommodate Palestinian Arabs would receive generous financial and political support, including international recognition.

Yeah, it’s long. But to understand the present, we have to look back to the past.

Oh and one last piece of the puzzle.

I’m going to omit the hyperbole- feel free to read entirely at the link above

Biden was injecting himself into one of the most complex hostage negotiations in modern history, a diplomatic frenzy that involved the heads of the Central Intelligence Agency and Israel’s Mossad, Egyptian intelligence officers and Sinwar, an enigmatic leader that Israeli officials say was operating from an underground bunker.

I do not believe Biden is capable of injecting himself into the most complex hostage negotiations in modern history- Flat out, don’t believe it. Reads like election propaganda. Another party most probably filled that role. Most likely Antony Blinken.

The agreement produced from those negotiations on Wednesday morning faced last-minute drama, with quibbling over the fine print delaying it by a day. But by Thursday evening, Qatari negotiators said the deal was back on to free 50 Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza in return for the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners by Israel, starting on Friday.

The agreement also requires daily pauses in Israel’s drone surveillance of Gaza—a key concession that Biden extracted from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. officials said.

The broad outlines of the agreement—an exchange of civilian hostages for Palestinian prisoners and aid—were proposed by negotiators weeks ago, but the talks continued to break down as the conflict flared.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, was coming under heavy pressure at home to break the impasse. The families of hostages held a five-day protest march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and met with members of Israel’s war cabinet, fearing the military campaign was putting the hostages’ lives in more danger.

This account of the negotiations is based on interviews with more than a dozen officials in the U.S. and across the Middle East that were involved in brokering the breakthrough over the last several weeks. Officials discussed the details of the negotiations, which they frequently described as dramatic, intense, frustrating and tedious, in anticipation of the deal going through. Although the parties have all accepted it, it will be days before all the hostages are actually released. One U.S. official reiterated that the deal isn’t done until the deal is done
n the early days of the crisis, top officials from the U.S., Qatar, Egypt, Israel and Gaza began to hold secret talks as part of a special hostage negotiation cell. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan directed Josh Geltzer, a legal adviser to the National Security Council and White House aide, to help create the cell, according to a senior administration official, and it was established in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Qatari officials were expected to press Hamas’s political leaders. Egypt’s intelligence services had decades of experience dealing with Hamas in Gaza and with Sinwar specifically. The Egyptians had successfully brokered cease-fires in a series of previous wars between Hamas and Israel, and they maintained the only viable channel to Hamas’s military leadership in Gaza, according to officials across the Middle East.

Sinwar himself was no stranger to prisoner exchanges. Israel had freed him and more than 1,000 prisoners in 2011 in exchange for a single Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was held for years by Hamas in Gaza.

Often times freed prisoners are very friendly to their so called captors- At the time of the Mavi Marmara there was a prisoner, Mahdi al Harati, set free by Israel, who appeared in the US backed overthrow of Libya’s legitimate leader and subsequent destruction of that nation- Showing up in Syria too. He became the Mayor of Tripoli. He had also been rewarded with a nice new life in Ireland. Which makes me question Sinwar’s actual role in this entire situation

Developments on the battlefield “impacted the negotiation dramatically,” said Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, the Qatari negotiator. “Any escalation will make our task extremely difficult.”
The talks resumed days later, with Egyptian intelligence officers trying to coax Hamas into supplying a list of 50 names. On Oct. 31, Israel launched an airstrike targeting a Hamas leader in Jabalia in northern Gaza that flattened entire apartment blocks, killing more than 100 Palestinian civilians in the deadliest single airstrike of the war to date. Egypt, Qatar and Hamas all halted the negotiations in protest.

With the talks teetering, Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns and the director of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea, flew to Doha to try to obtain more information about the hostages and see if more pressure could be applied on Hamas. Burns met Barnea and Qatari officials in Doha on Nov. 9 in what regional officials saw as a breakthrough in the talks. Officials wrote a rough draft of the deal.

On the morning of Nov. 12, Hamas finally supplied more names of hostages to be released as Israeli troops surrounded Al-Shifa Hospital.
Hamas leaders in Gaza again cut off contact with negotiators. Sinwar sent a message to Egypt saying Hamas would cancel the negotiations completely if the Israeli military didn’t call off the operation at the hospital.

Qatari officials agreed to prod Hamas and asked Biden for help pressuring Israel to accept the deal. Biden said he had been in frequent contact with Netanyahu about the negotiations.
In the following days, McGurk flew to Doha to hammer out the details of the agreement, now written down in a six-page document, while Burns joined the talks remotely. McGurk also flew to Cairo to meet Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel to go through the same document.

Hamas had agreed to most of the draft document, but sticking points remained. There was disagreement over the ratio for exchanging Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, as part of a second wave of releases. The two sides still differed over the length of the pause in fighting.
Hamas was also demanding Israel stop its drone surveillance of Gaza during the pauses—a measure that would hamstring Israel’s efforts to pursue Hamas leaders in southern Gaza.

Biden held a series of conversations with Netanyahu on the issues. Israel had initially resisted the request to stop drone surveillance, but at Biden’s request, ultimately conceded the point. The U.S., which also conducts surveillance over Gaza, is considering if it will continue its own drone operations and at what scale.
“We are evaluating how the U.S. will adjust its activities in support of these efforts,” one U.S. official said.
Hamas publicly accepted the deal on Nov. 21. Israel’s government approved it early on Wednesday.

But by Wednesday night, Israel’s top national security official, Tzachi Hanegbi, issued a surprise statement saying the deal would be delayed by at least a day. A last-minute issue had come up.

According to negotiators, Hamas asked Israel for a list of the first group of Palestinian prisoners to be released so it could inform their families. When Israel turned down the request, Hamas refused to share the list of hostages it planned to hand over on the first day, negotiators said.
A spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that the lists of hostages and prisoners to be swapped would be exchanged daily.

Brett McGurk- Lawrence of Kurdistan- one of my censored reports..

Amidst the horrific devastation in eastern Libya the Canadian media has largely refused to mention the central role NATO’s war played in the country’s instability.

In a report on the thousands killed by flooding in eastern Libya Global National offered some context to the tragedy that’s thought to have left over 10,000 dead. It noted, “once one of Africa’s most prosperous countries, decades of lawlessness have left Libya fragile.” But the three-minute clip omitted any mention of NATO’s 2011 war in creating that lawlessness. Commanded by Canadian General Charles Bouchard, seven Canadian fighter jets, two naval vessels and special forces participated in NATO’s six-month assault.

A front-page Globe and Mail story on the deadly flooding reported that the country’s “divided authority delayed flood warnings” and “years of wars and military clashes across Libya have left cities vulnerable.” But, the article spread over two full pages in the middle of the paper failed to mention a war in which NATO dropped 20,000 bombs on almost 6,000 targets.

The media hasn’t always been reticent to discuss Canadian intervention into Libya. The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, National Post and Vancouver Sun all published editorials endorsing the 2011 war. After six-months of fighting the federal government organized an $850,000 nationally televised celebration for Canada’s “military heroes,” which included flyovers from a dozen military aircraft. Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the 300 military personnel brought in from four bases: “We are celebrating a great military success.”

At a ceremony held in the Senate, General Bouchard was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross by the Governor General and PM for leading the NATO mission. Bouchard was also made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

The war celebrations were a cross party affair. After Gaddafi was savagely killed interim Liberal leader Bob Rae commended the Canadian military and NDP leader Nycole Turmel released a statement noting, “the future of Libya now belongs to all Libyans. Our troops have done a wonderful job in Libya over the past few months.”

Yup, Canada did a bang up job in Libya.

I’m not using bang up to mean excellent. I'm using it to mean destroyed, damaged, very, very badly

Here’s one I published in 2014 at my old site- That post had 1000’s of reads- This was before the internet became as heavily censored as it has. Including the taking down of my site- Sadly the url to original source are not working. So, what I can access below is as good as it will get!

https://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.com/2014/04/libya-other-side-of-story.html?zx=504101c8e5339140

The Libyan people were one of the least developed in the world when Gaddafi came to power in September, 1969. Under the Senussi monarchy, Libya was one of the poorest countries in the world with an annual income of less than sixty dollars per capita.

Muammar Gaddafi based his system on Arab socialism and utilised the vast petroleum wealth to remarkably improve the people’s standard of living in the Arab world and Africa. Most Libyan families now own a home and a car. The public health service is free, and is one of the best in the Arab world and so is education, compulsory and widely open to women.

Hospitals and pharmacies in Libya are of international standards and any costs incurred at treatment abroad are paid for by the State.

The country has an impressive urban infrastructure that includes well-built road networks, motorways, telecommunication system, water and electricity and other key amenities.

Can you imagine this? Ghadaffi and his tribal bretheren rid the country of the despotic king and in less then 50 years, less then 50 years builds a thriving modern state for the people of Libya. And it took just a very short time for NATO sorties to destroy it all.

The Great Man Made River Project-

^*What’s so very interesting about this project was the involvement of SNC Lavalin- In my opinion, Canada, attempted to distance itself from this project by portraying SNC Lavalin in a negative light– SNC Lavalin has recently rebranded to AtkinsRéalis in an attempt to forge a new identity

Muammar Gaddafi initiated a unique Libyan project, the “Great Man Made River”, that brought water from under the Sahara Desert in the south of Libya and made it available to coastal cities in the north. The Libyan dictator believed that wars will be fought over access to water throughout the Arab lands in coming years and its control could become even more decisive than petroleum reserves. Hence came his solution to tap the water reserves in various basins of the desert.
Foundation of this colossal project was laid in 1984 with an estimated cost of $5 billion. Massive machines pump water from aquifers in Sahara desert in the southern part of the country. The ‘Great Manmade River’ consists of more than 1,300 wells, most more than 500 m deep, and supplies 6,500,000 cubic metres of fresh water per day transported by reinforced concrete pipelines to the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi, Sirte and elsewhere.
The inauguration was carried out by Col. Gaddafi on 28 August, 1991. According to an Executive Intelligence Review article published in September 1991, the Libyan leader underlined the following in his speech: “After this achievement, American threats against Libya will double…The United States will make excuses, [but] the real reason is to stop this achievement, to keep the people of Libya oppressed.” Gaddafi presented the project to the cheering crowd as a gift to the Third World and called on farmers from neighbouring countries to come to Libya for agriculture.

Gaddafi knew this achievement would guarantee the US & company would show their true face to the globe.
Not the Hollywood face of cool men who always get the botox women.
No it would be the other face. The face of death & destruction. A face that the world has seen so often but for some reason never seems to recall the look of ?

My opinion 2014. Haven’t had any reason to change it

Gaddafi : Developing Africa

The Libyan autocrat enabled Africa to experience a veritable technological revolution by financing the first African communication satellite. Gaddafi invested $300 million in this landmark project that enabled the whole of the continent to establish telephone links, transmission of television and radio stations, introduction of tele­medicine (remote diagnosis), distance learning and education and many other projects of far reaching implications. Before the satellite’s launch in December 2007, African countries paid a fortune to Europe for using their satellites.
Gaddafi also provided 15% of the budget of the African Union at the Inter­African institutional level. This really explains the reluctance of African Union to condemn Gaddafi, in contrast to the Arab League, which abhors him.

Gaddafi also extended his generosity to South Africa, Liberia, Madagascar, the countries of the Sahel and central Africa where he financed administrative buildings, hotels, restaurants, NGOs, Islamic organisations, a network of petrol distribution, (via the Libyan National Oil Company), shops, entertainment events – like the Malian Festival of the Desert – and charities.
On the other hand, Gaddafi never shied away from supporting rebel movements active in African countries. He extended his support to the Tuaregs in Mali by offering protection and finance during the repression of their movement by Malian government in the 1990’s.
The claims of mercenaries fighting for Gaddafi is hardly surprising as back in 2005, he granted a residency permit to all the Nigerian Tuaregs, Malians and other sub-Saharan Africans and provided them free housing. In 2006, Gaddafi called the tribes of the Sahara, including the Tuaregs, to form a coalition to oppose terrorism and drug trafficking.

NATO’s reign of terror

Soon after the voting on the UNSC Resolution 1973 on 19th March, NATO jets started bombarding the military positions of the Libyan army and systematically decimated anti-aircraft radars, tanks, heavy artillery and armoured carriers. Libyan navy installations were also attacked by NATO despite the fact that they were charged to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.

The Western leaders, initially calling on Gaddafi to step down in exchange for a safe passage, took a U-turn and tacitly gave approval to his assassination. NATO jets bombed one of the houses of Gaddafi family where he was present with his son, Saif Al-Arab. His son and three grandchildren died in the attack. NATO blatantly denied any war crime was committed by targeting a head of state present in a civilian compound.
NATO aircraft spared nothing they suspected of being used by pro-Gaddafi forces. Pipeline factories, communications towers, electricity pylons, water and sewerage pipelines, roads and other civilian infrastructure came under the fire of the Coalition forces on numerous occasions which is also a violation of international laws. US President Barack Obama signed an executive order that directed the killing of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his family.

Oh, Obama the peace president…blah, blah, blah. Canada did this alongside the US, France, Israel and others

This article mentions he had a phone call from then President Trump. However, I’m certain he’s spoke with any number of US leaders from both sides of the aisle.

Haftar, a former general under Moammar Gadhafi's regime, had to seek safety with the CIA after he broke with the late dictator. He lived in exile for 20 years, attaining U.S. citizenship and settling in Virginia. He returned to Libya after Gadhafi was toppled in 2011 by forces backed by NATO airstrikes.

2017

European leaders are embracing a Libyan general who has ordered his soldiers to commit war crimes

Haftar is a dual Libyan-US citizen who was once loyal to Muammar Gaddafi but then rebelled against the dictator. He was provided protection by the CIA around 1990 and was granted US citizenship. He lived in Virginia for two decades, where he reportedly trained in anticipation of a coup against Gaddafi

The Guardian

As Khalifa Haftar’s influence emerges, analysts warn the area could be a battleground for multiple players

The Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar helped to prepare the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a militia now fighting for control of Sudan, for battle in the months before the devastating violence that broke out on 15 April, the Observer has been told by former officials, militia commanders and sources in Sudan and the UK.

The involvement of Haftar, who runs much of the eastern part of Libya, will raise fears of a long-drawn-out conflict in Sudan fuelled by outside interests. Analysts have described a “nightmare scenario” of multiple regional actors and powers fighting a proxy war in the country of more than 45 million people.

A new effort to impose a ceasefire on warring factions in Sudan appeared to be failing on Saturday, with continued fighting, airstrikes and bombardment in Khartoum, the capital. There were also renewed clashes in the Darfur region, in the south-west. More than 400 people are known to have died in the conflict so far, though the true toll is believed to be much higher. The conflict has pitted army units loyal to Sudan’s military ruler, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who is the deputy head of the ruling council. Both believe they can seize unchallenged control of Sudan’s resources and its crumbling, but still powerful, state.

Haftar’s connection with Hemedti goes back to well before the fall of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s veteran authoritarian ruler, after months of popular protests in 2019. However, the relationship has grown warmer in recent years, with Hemedti sending mercenaries to Libya to fight alongside Haftar’s military force, the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), the sources said.

Hemedti and Haftar have also collaborated on a range of highly profitable smuggling operations, with middle-ranking commanders in both their militias forging close links as they manage the transit of valuable illicit cargos between the two countries, experts told the Observer.

What could those “valuable illicit cargos” be? People? Organs? Drugs?

Sudan and Libya sit astride major routes for human trafficking, narcotics and much else.

Yup!

The Guardian article purports that Haftar is supported by Russia. I’m sure they have relations, BUT, not like Haftar and the US have meetings and long, long term ties.

Haftar is a polarising figure, whose enemies accuse him of war crimes during Libya’s 2014-20 civil war. In 2019, a UN report said that a thousand Sudanese troops from the RSF had been deployed to Libya by Hemedti to help the LNA in its battle with the internationally recognised government in Tripoli.

Former and current Libyan officials told the Observer that in recent months Haftar had trained hundreds of RSF fighters, who lack experience of urban warfare, in techniques and tactics they would need in a potential battle for Khartoum and other cities.

Jalel Harchaoui, an expert on Libya and associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said support from Haftar and his sponsors would be carefully judged. “They want [Hemedti] to survive, at least … Fuel makes more sense than weapons or ammunition and is the surest thing [Hemedti] could get from Libyan friends,” Harchaoui said.

The fuel shipments are being delivered by truck from the Mediterranean port of Benghazi, the sources said, although others suggested a likely additional origin might be the more southerly Sarir refinery, which has recently been requisitioned by the LNA. Hemedti’s forces are short of fuel because supplies to their main bases in Darfur have been cut by Burhan’s supporters in Khartoum, who still control much of the oil and petrol infrastructure in Sudan.

Most of the Sudanese mercenaries fighting for the LNA are former rivals of Hemedti and this, too, could impose limits on aid offered by Haftar, experts said.

At my big tech censored sites there are numerous reports about Haftar and his involvement with the US and the CIA

Stabilize the Eastern Mediterranean??? Not a chance in hell. Just thinking about what the US did in Libya, makes clear this has nothing to do with stabilizing the region

Birth Pangs…

WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) – The United States and Greece signed an agreement on Thursday renewing their long-standing defence cooperation, a move Secretary of State Antony Blinken said would allow the NATO allies to advance security in the Eastern Mediterranean region and beyond.

And beyond? How far beyond?

The two countries, which have strong political and economic ties, renewed their agreement for five years with an understanding that from then onward, it would remain in place indefinitely unless one of the parties chooses to withdraw.

The United States has several military bases in Greece and the amendment will allow their defense agreement to “remain in force” indefinitely, Blinken said at the signing ceremony alongside Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias.

Dendias said the U.S. commitment to Greece showed that both countries are determined to safeguard and protect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“The two governments expressed the joint desire to assist each other in maintaining strong and capable militaries and increase their modernization and interoperability,” the State Department said.

It also highlighted some of Greece’s recent upgrades of F-16 jets and Sikorsky helicopters, adding that Washington also welcomed Athens’ expression of interest to join the F-35 fighter jet program.

The two countries‘ deepening cooperation comes as U.S. ties with Greece’s neighbor Turkey remain strained. Turkey was removed from the F-35 program after it purchased Russian missile defense systems, which the United States says threatens its stealth jets.

Greece signed a new defense pact with France last month that will allow them to come to each other’s aid in the event of an external threat, but which has stirred further tensions with Turkey.

“A Russian-backed warlord (??) vying for power in Libya has hired a one-time senior aide to President Bill Clinton and a former Republican lawmaker to lead a nearly $1 million effort to lobby the Biden administration for political support, documents show”

Personally speaking I’ve never bought the “russian backed” claim. Nor has there ever been any reason, in my estimation, to believe Haftar is any sort of “friend” of Libya or the Libyan people. I can recall many who claimed that to be the case. Without any substantiation other then some bogus idea that Russia was behind him so he must ‘for Libya’ Such rubbish.

Haftar and the CIA go way back. Haftar and Israel are very chummy too. Israel wants Libya broken apart. Weak. Subordinate. Egypts okay with that too.

Haftar wants to win favour in Washington ahead of December elections, documents show.

He doesn’t really need to woo the political class. The political class has never met a war it didn’t love. He just needs to create this idea of democracy at work.. While greasing palms along the way.

Haftar has made a $40,000 advance payment to retain the services of former special counsel to President Bill Clinton, Lanny Davis and ex-Republican House lawmaker Robert Livingston, according to Foreign Agents Registration Act filings dated September 3.

The total fees Haftar will pay amount to some $960,000 over the course of six months, an engagement letter contained in the Justice Department documents indicates.

Davis and Livingston are to arrange meetings for Haftar between White House, Pentagon and State Department officials, as well as key members of Congress including the leadership in the House of Representatives and Senate, according to the documents.

The duo are also expected to arrange additional meetings with think tanks such as the left-leaning Center for American Progress and the United States Institute of Peace ahead of Libya’s general election in December. (gotta get the “left leaning’ think tanks when a democrat is in the white house, right?)

Haftar intends to travel to the US “to advocate for the December 24, 2021 elections in Libya” during meetings with US officials, the documents say.

Despite Haftar vowing to make peace and join the process, last month he changed his mind and stated that he and his forces would not submit to any authority in Libya.

The strongman is also running for the position of president in the upcoming elections in December this year, which the documents report is one of the primary reasons he has assigned Davis and Livingstone to lobby for him and regain his reputation.

Haftar – a US citizen –

That’s right. Haftar is a US citizen. Residing for many years in Virginia until peace President Obama decided to bomb Libya “into peace’

Related:

Israeli intelligence officials met privately this month with the son of Libya’s top warlord to discuss his 2021 presidential candidacy, a signal that Israel is supporting his bid.

A victory by Haftar could lead to closer relations between Israel and Libya, which doesn’t recognize the Jewish state.

A piece from 2020 published at this blog’s prior incarnation- Haftar and Israel: Shedding light on that alliance- Africom Agenda