Libya’s Grim Civil War Escalates
The civil war in Libya between the militias from the east and fighters from the west is escalating and keeps on drawing in foreign powers. One commander has been fighting for eight years — and sees no end in sight.
Author: M Barbu
Libya’s biggest oilfield shut, NOC declares force majeure
Libya’s Sharara oilfield, the country’s largest, was forced to shut down after a valve on the pipeline linking it to the Zawiya oil terminal was closed late Tuesday evening, state-owned National Oil Corp (NOC) said on Wednesday.
Libya to close ‘inhuman’ migrant detention centres after outcry
Libya plans to shut down three of its biggest migration detention centres, the country’s Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha has announced.
Putin and the Mullahs
For several reasons, the “nuke deal” did not provoke the popular explosion in Iran that some analysts expected. To start with, no one had signed that deal, which meant it was neither a treaty nor a binding international agreement but a wish list.
Germany’s Pro-Iran, Anti-Israel Foreign Policy
Germany has, in fact, been decidedly hostile to Israel in recent years… Germany continues to provide millions of euros annually to organizations that promote anti-Israel BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) and “lawfare” campaigns, anti-Zionism, antisemitism, and violence, according to NGO Monitor.
Conspiracy, Death and Jeffrey Epstein
Within minutes of news about his death in a Manhattan jail cell Saturday morning, theories spread with pestilential vigour. Was Jeffrey Epstein murdered? Accepting the premise without qualification, the next question followed: Who did it? MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was not giving anyone time to wonder. “A guy who had information that would have destroyed rich and powerful men’s lives end up dead in his jail cell. How predictably…Russian.”
Hamas, Islamic Jihad: “The Circle of Fire is Expanding”
It seems, then, that for Islamic Jihad and Hamas, the ceasefire understandings, reached under the auspices of Egypt and the UN, are meant to give the Gaza-based groups a chance to continue building their military capabilities without having to worry about Israeli retaliatory measures.
Russia, Turkey, Iran: Adversaries of the West’s NATO Alliance
Germany’s outright rejection of Washington’s request [to support Washington’s proposal for a maritime protection force in the Arabian Gulf to protect shipping from attacks by Iran] is likely to inflame tensions further between Washington and Berlin. U.S. President Donald J. Trump is already at odds with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a range of issues, from Germany’s obstinate refusal to meet its Nato funding commitments to its pursuit of closer energy ties with Russia through the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Assassinations could upset the status quo in Turkey-PKK conflict
Despite the fiery rhetoric, the long-time conflict between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has mostly been a controlled fight following tacit rules. But recent events, including Turkey’s increased efforts to assassinate PKK leaders and the targeted killing of a Turkish consulate official in the Iraqi Kurdish capital on July 17, risk overturning the status quo and ushering in a violent new era. That could have significant consequences not only for Turkey and the Kurds in the region, but also for U.S. policy on Syria, Turkey, and Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
A not so progressive case for withdrawing from Syria
Elizabeth Tsurkov has courageously put forward what she calls a progressive case for staying in Syria. I would regard myself as progressive but I’m not convinced, even if I would have supported many of her arguments in the past.