“Libya: The Gathering Storm: Turkey, Egypt and the Wrestling Match for Libyan Oil” Tuesday, July 28, 2020, 6-7 pm Mountain States Time. KGNU: Hemispheres, Middle East Dialogues with Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince. Hosted by Jim Nelson.
Turkey and Egypt appear to be lurching towards war in Libya, each one backing an opposing Libyan faction. Supporting the one, the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) is Turkey backed financially by Qatar. On the other side the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army headed by Khalifa Haftar supported by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Russia has intervened to a certain extent in support of the Haftar forces; France, Greece and Cyprus are concerned about expanded Turkish influence in the Eastern Mediterranean. While Washington, which orchestrated the 2011 invasion, overthrow of the Khadaffi government – as well as his gruesome murder, as gruesome as that of Jamal Khashoggi – sits back and let’s the factions fight it out.
All that and more: KGNU, Hemispheres, Middle East Dialogues, this coming Tuesday…