Libyan investment chief: 'Goldman Sachs squandered a nation's wealth, someone has to answer'
Interview: Hassan Bouhadi, the chairman of the Libyan Investment Authority, outlines his role in helping to rebuild the war-torn nation
Hassan Bouhadi, the chairman of Libya’s $67bn (£44bn) national wealth fund, the Libyan Investment Authority, doesn’t want his job to be this interesting.
Ideally, he would be in Libya’s capital Tripoli, quietly stewarding the country’s wealth, smoothing out the public finances of an economy that is 97pc dependent on volatile oil revenues.
Instead, he is sitting in a London hotel, in between missions to Washington and Tunis. After that, he will return to Malta, where the LIA has been forced to move due to the violence in Tripoli.
As well as trying to keep his own struggling government and the international community on side, Mr Bouhadi is facing a leadership challenge from the LIA’s former chair.
And last but not least, he is attempting to drive forward two multi-billion-dollar lawsuits against Goldman Sachs and Société Générale, two of the biggest banks in the world.
If Mr Bouhadi, who last October became the third chairman of the LIA in a matter of months, is finding the job stressful, it doesn’t show.
“After 40 years of dictatorship, we are trying to create a new Libya, where we can see that a democratic process is taking shape,” he says.
“It’s tough, but at the end of the day this is what we’ve been appointed for. It is a very, very challenging time for Libya as a whole, but we’ve decided to do the right thing.” ....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/11641830/Libyan-investment-chief-Goldman-Sachs-squandered-a-nations-wealth-someone-has-to-answer.html
Topic: Western nutjobs destroyed Libya - another of their wrecks. Here are the results - page 7. (Read 9694 times)
June 01, 2015, 06:18:48 PM
May 28, 2015, 05:51:47 PM
May. 28, 2015 | 07:54 PM
Libya on verge of economic collapse: UN
| Reuters
BRUSSELS: Libya is on the verge of economic collapse as rival factions haggle over a political settlement, the United Nations special envoy said on Thursday.
Bernardino Leon, who has been trying for months to broker an agreement on a national unity government for Libya, said the United Nations was preparing a new draft of a possible political agreement which it hoped to give to the feuding parties in the first week of June.
Two governments - one in the east, the other in Tripoli - are fighting for control of the North African state four years after leader Muammar Gaddafi was ousted.
Leon said that in the last round of talks in Morocco, the rival groups had agreed on 80 percent of an accord and negotiators were working on the remaining 20 percent, which was the most difficult part.
Libyans understood that the only solution was a political agreement but it was difficult to say if it was possible within the next three or four weeks, he told a news conference in Brussels.
He warned that Libya was running out of time.
"Libya is on the verge of economic and financial collapse. It is facing huge security threats because of the civil war but also...because of the ISIS threat," he said, referring to militants who have gained a foothold in the oil-rich country.
"Libya's economic collapse is a real possibility. Recently, I met with the governor of the central bank. The situation is very difficult in terms of Libyan finances," Leon said.
Libya is high on the European Union's agenda because thousands of refugees from strife in the Middle East and Africa are using it as a jumping off point for dangerous Mediterranean voyages to try to reach Europe.
European countries are working on a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing a planned EU mission to destroy migrant traffickers' boats off the Libyan coast.
Russia, which wields a Security Council veto, has said that destroying the boats would be too extreme and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also said such action could deprive people of their livelihoods.
"I think we should not dwell on this element of destruction. It is about being effective in fighting these mafias," Leon said. ...... more
https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/May-28/299620-libya-on-verge-of-economic-collapse-un.ashx
Libya on verge of economic collapse: UN
| Reuters
BRUSSELS: Libya is on the verge of economic collapse as rival factions haggle over a political settlement, the United Nations special envoy said on Thursday.
Bernardino Leon, who has been trying for months to broker an agreement on a national unity government for Libya, said the United Nations was preparing a new draft of a possible political agreement which it hoped to give to the feuding parties in the first week of June.
Two governments - one in the east, the other in Tripoli - are fighting for control of the North African state four years after leader Muammar Gaddafi was ousted.
Leon said that in the last round of talks in Morocco, the rival groups had agreed on 80 percent of an accord and negotiators were working on the remaining 20 percent, which was the most difficult part.
Libyans understood that the only solution was a political agreement but it was difficult to say if it was possible within the next three or four weeks, he told a news conference in Brussels.
He warned that Libya was running out of time.
"Libya is on the verge of economic and financial collapse. It is facing huge security threats because of the civil war but also...because of the ISIS threat," he said, referring to militants who have gained a foothold in the oil-rich country.
"Libya's economic collapse is a real possibility. Recently, I met with the governor of the central bank. The situation is very difficult in terms of Libyan finances," Leon said.
Libya is high on the European Union's agenda because thousands of refugees from strife in the Middle East and Africa are using it as a jumping off point for dangerous Mediterranean voyages to try to reach Europe.
European countries are working on a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing a planned EU mission to destroy migrant traffickers' boats off the Libyan coast.
Russia, which wields a Security Council veto, has said that destroying the boats would be too extreme and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also said such action could deprive people of their livelihoods.
"I think we should not dwell on this element of destruction. It is about being effective in fighting these mafias," Leon said. ...... more
https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/May-28/299620-libya-on-verge-of-economic-collapse-un.ashx
May 27, 2015, 11:57:04 AM
The west should not bother with that part of the world unless absolutely necessary. The Middle East is still in the dark ages for a reason and will destroy themselves eventually.
How ironic?
The middle-east was just fine, before the Americans arrived there and began dividing people based upon the Shia-Sunni sectarian division. Almost all the wars fought in the Middle-East, from 1948 had the Americans playing some part in it. I am not just talking about the Arab-Israeli wars, but also about the Iran-Iraq war, 1990 Gulf War.etc.
May 27, 2015, 08:16:20 AM
Libya Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni survives assassination attempt
Abdullah al-Thinni, Libya's internationally recognized prime minister, has survived an assassination attempt unscathed. Armed gunmen reportedly opened fire on al-Thinni's motorcade as it left a session of parliament.
http://www.dw.de/libya-prime-minister-abdullah-al-thinni-survives-assassination-attempt/a-18477700
Abdullah al-Thinni, Libya's internationally recognized prime minister, has survived an assassination attempt unscathed. Armed gunmen reportedly opened fire on al-Thinni's motorcade as it left a session of parliament.
http://www.dw.de/libya-prime-minister-abdullah-al-thinni-survives-assassination-attempt/a-18477700
May 27, 2015, 01:34:21 AM
What has the West wrought in Libya?
In the fullness of the Arab Spring, helping rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi in Libya seemed to Western leaders as a good idea. He was a mercurial thorn in the side to the West and an autocrat in his own country.
France and Britain led the air campaign to destroy Gaddafi's military capability. The United States assisted. President Obama justified it on humanitarian grounds, to keep Gaddafi from slaughtering the rebels and civilians where they were located.
Now Libya is a dangerous wreck, and no Western countries want to take responsibility for restoring its civil order.
The migrant shipwreck that may have left as many as 700 dead in an attempt to flee Libya is triggering reflections about European immigration policies. There are difficult questions, about collective border security and the willingness to accept refugees from Northern Africa, given the large numbers and the growing anti-immigration sentiment in much of Europe.
But that shouldn't be the end of the introspection. Whether Libya is better off today than if the West had allowed the incipient civil war to play itself out is unclear. There's not much room for it to be worse off. And it is impossible to contend that Libya is clearly better off.
The tragic shipwreck should also trigger circumspection about interfering in the affairs of other countries when there is not a direct security threat to your own.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/robertrobb/2015/04/20/what-has-west-wrought-in-libya/26081571/
In the fullness of the Arab Spring, helping rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi in Libya seemed to Western leaders as a good idea. He was a mercurial thorn in the side to the West and an autocrat in his own country.
France and Britain led the air campaign to destroy Gaddafi's military capability. The United States assisted. President Obama justified it on humanitarian grounds, to keep Gaddafi from slaughtering the rebels and civilians where they were located.
Now Libya is a dangerous wreck, and no Western countries want to take responsibility for restoring its civil order.
The migrant shipwreck that may have left as many as 700 dead in an attempt to flee Libya is triggering reflections about European immigration policies. There are difficult questions, about collective border security and the willingness to accept refugees from Northern Africa, given the large numbers and the growing anti-immigration sentiment in much of Europe.
But that shouldn't be the end of the introspection. Whether Libya is better off today than if the West had allowed the incipient civil war to play itself out is unclear. There's not much room for it to be worse off. And it is impossible to contend that Libya is clearly better off.
The tragic shipwreck should also trigger circumspection about interfering in the affairs of other countries when there is not a direct security threat to your own.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/robertrobb/2015/04/20/what-has-west-wrought-in-libya/26081571/
The west should not bother with that part of the world unless absolutely necessary. The Middle East is still in the dark ages for a reason and will destroy themselves eventually.
May 26, 2015, 08:58:07 AM
"If Europe doesn't cooperate, then after (some) years Europe will be completely black. Europe will change from a white Europe to an African Europe," he said.
That will be the wet-dream of every European liberal.
Right now, Europe is something like "Brown Europe". White Europe existed some 5-6 decades ago, and is now restricted to fringe countries such as Belarus and Estonia.
May 25, 2015, 09:19:30 PM
Unable to halt Europe-bound migrants, Tripoli demands help
TRIPOLI | BY ULF LAESSING
Europe cannot halt the deadly traffic of African migrants across the Mediterranean unless it ends a boycott of forces that have seized power in the Libyan capital and helps authorities there cope, the de facto government in Tripoli said.
Chaos and civil war since NATO warplanes helped topple dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 have turned the North African country into the launching point for human traffickers smuggling tens of thousands of people across the Mediterranean.
Libya's rulers have rounded up thousands of Europe-bound African migrants in makeshift detention centers. But officials say they have no room to hold the migrants, no way of fighting smugglers and no hope of guarding vast desert frontiers to prevent thousands more people trying to reach the sea.
"We tell you: come and talk and cooperate with us, the national salvation government," Mohamed al-Ghirani, foreign minister in the government based in the capital Tripoli, told Reuters in his office overlooking the Mediterranean.
"If Europe doesn't cooperate, then after (some) years Europe will be completely black. Europe will change from a white Europe to an African Europe," he said.
The lack of any unified authority in Libya has prevented virtually all international cooperation to respond to the migration crisis. An EU team helping to train and advise Libyan border guards evacuated the country.
Nearly all European countries have withdrawn their embassies from Tripoli and refuse to recognize Ghirani's government, which took control of the capital in heavy fighting last year. Instead, they recognize a rump government now based in the east.
After 800 migrants drowned in the shipwreck of a fishing boat last month, European leaders agreed at an emergency summit to strengthen naval patrols off the Libyan coast to fight the smugglers.
But Ghirani said such efforts were pointless unless Europe began cooperating with his government's forces on the ground.
"Now we cannot do anything. The state is weak," he said. "We need logistics, intelligence, aircraft."
UNFIT FOR HUMAN BEINGS
Ghirani said Libya had detained more than 16,000 mostly African migrants in overcrowded detention centers. Some were being housed in abandoned schools and other public buildings.
At a detention center in Gharboulli east of Tripoli, almost 100 people shared one cell with a single toilet. Men were segregated from women, some of whom were pregnant, lying on mattresses next to each other on the floor.
Detainees are allowed to leave the crowded cell only briefly to meet visitors.
"This place is not fit for human beings. We don't get fresh air in the cell and many are sick," said 24-year old Eritrean Mussie Tolde who has been held for two months since the Libyan navy stopped the crowded boat on which he tried to reach Italy.
Authorities struggle to provide medical care for detained migrants, many of whom arrive exhausted or undernourished from weeks in overloaded trucks driving across the Sahara, said the center's deputy director, Faraj Abdullah.
"A doctor comes for a day or two, but it's not enough."
Another detention center visited by Reuters in the city of Misrata further east was so full even the floor outside the cells was packed with migrants. Hundreds shared one toilet. Shouting broke out when one person got up to get some air.
TWO GOVERNMENTS
Since an alliance of rebels seized Tripoli last year and the internationally-recognized leadership fled to the east, Libya has had two rival governments, fighting a civil war. Both field "armies" formed mainly of loose coalitions of rebel groups that fought against Gaddafi, funding themselves out of Libya's oil revenue. Some parts of the country are also in the hands of Islamist groups, including fighters who proclaim allegiance to Islamic State, the group that controls much of Syria and Iraq.
The chaos has given free rein to people-smugglers, who have set up a vast trafficking trade, charging thousands of dollars to bring migrants across the desert from sub-Saharan Africa and pack them into unsafe boats for the trip across the sea.
More than 170,000 migrants successfully crossed the Mediterranean from Libya last year, and more than 3,000 drowned at sea. The International Organization for Migration forecasts the number attempting the journey - and the death toll - could both increase by several times this year.
Colonel Mohamed Abu Breeda, assistant director of the illegal migration department at the Tripoli government's interior ministry said he had 8,000 men to cover the vast desert country and lacked vehicles and weapons to guard its desert borders.
"Our possibilities are very, very limited. We cannot do anything without support from the European Union," he said. "The southern borders are open without any monitoring.... The smugglers have weapons, better capabilities."
(Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Edited by Peter Graff)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/24/us-europe-migrants-libya-insight-idUSKBN0O907L20150524
TRIPOLI | BY ULF LAESSING
Europe cannot halt the deadly traffic of African migrants across the Mediterranean unless it ends a boycott of forces that have seized power in the Libyan capital and helps authorities there cope, the de facto government in Tripoli said.
Chaos and civil war since NATO warplanes helped topple dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 have turned the North African country into the launching point for human traffickers smuggling tens of thousands of people across the Mediterranean.
Libya's rulers have rounded up thousands of Europe-bound African migrants in makeshift detention centers. But officials say they have no room to hold the migrants, no way of fighting smugglers and no hope of guarding vast desert frontiers to prevent thousands more people trying to reach the sea.
"We tell you: come and talk and cooperate with us, the national salvation government," Mohamed al-Ghirani, foreign minister in the government based in the capital Tripoli, told Reuters in his office overlooking the Mediterranean.
"If Europe doesn't cooperate, then after (some) years Europe will be completely black. Europe will change from a white Europe to an African Europe," he said.
The lack of any unified authority in Libya has prevented virtually all international cooperation to respond to the migration crisis. An EU team helping to train and advise Libyan border guards evacuated the country.
Nearly all European countries have withdrawn their embassies from Tripoli and refuse to recognize Ghirani's government, which took control of the capital in heavy fighting last year. Instead, they recognize a rump government now based in the east.
After 800 migrants drowned in the shipwreck of a fishing boat last month, European leaders agreed at an emergency summit to strengthen naval patrols off the Libyan coast to fight the smugglers.
But Ghirani said such efforts were pointless unless Europe began cooperating with his government's forces on the ground.
"Now we cannot do anything. The state is weak," he said. "We need logistics, intelligence, aircraft."
UNFIT FOR HUMAN BEINGS
Ghirani said Libya had detained more than 16,000 mostly African migrants in overcrowded detention centers. Some were being housed in abandoned schools and other public buildings.
At a detention center in Gharboulli east of Tripoli, almost 100 people shared one cell with a single toilet. Men were segregated from women, some of whom were pregnant, lying on mattresses next to each other on the floor.
Detainees are allowed to leave the crowded cell only briefly to meet visitors.
"This place is not fit for human beings. We don't get fresh air in the cell and many are sick," said 24-year old Eritrean Mussie Tolde who has been held for two months since the Libyan navy stopped the crowded boat on which he tried to reach Italy.
Authorities struggle to provide medical care for detained migrants, many of whom arrive exhausted or undernourished from weeks in overloaded trucks driving across the Sahara, said the center's deputy director, Faraj Abdullah.
"A doctor comes for a day or two, but it's not enough."
Another detention center visited by Reuters in the city of Misrata further east was so full even the floor outside the cells was packed with migrants. Hundreds shared one toilet. Shouting broke out when one person got up to get some air.
TWO GOVERNMENTS
Since an alliance of rebels seized Tripoli last year and the internationally-recognized leadership fled to the east, Libya has had two rival governments, fighting a civil war. Both field "armies" formed mainly of loose coalitions of rebel groups that fought against Gaddafi, funding themselves out of Libya's oil revenue. Some parts of the country are also in the hands of Islamist groups, including fighters who proclaim allegiance to Islamic State, the group that controls much of Syria and Iraq.
The chaos has given free rein to people-smugglers, who have set up a vast trafficking trade, charging thousands of dollars to bring migrants across the desert from sub-Saharan Africa and pack them into unsafe boats for the trip across the sea.
More than 170,000 migrants successfully crossed the Mediterranean from Libya last year, and more than 3,000 drowned at sea. The International Organization for Migration forecasts the number attempting the journey - and the death toll - could both increase by several times this year.
Colonel Mohamed Abu Breeda, assistant director of the illegal migration department at the Tripoli government's interior ministry said he had 8,000 men to cover the vast desert country and lacked vehicles and weapons to guard its desert borders.
"Our possibilities are very, very limited. We cannot do anything without support from the European Union," he said. "The southern borders are open without any monitoring.... The smugglers have weapons, better capabilities."
(Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Edited by Peter Graff)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/24/us-europe-migrants-libya-insight-idUSKBN0O907L20150524
May 21, 2015, 11:06:11 AM
Gaddafi's home town falls to Islamic State in anarchic Libya
SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Standing guard at his frontline post, Libyan soldier Mohammed Abu Shager can see where Islamic State militants are holed up with their heavy weaponry less than a kilometer away.
The militants have effectively taken over former dictator Muammar Gaddafi's home city of Sirte as they exploit a civil war between two rival governments to expand in North Africa.
"Every night they open fire on us," said Abu Shebar, who with comrades on Sirte's western outskirts holds the last position of troops belonging to one of the two warring Libyan governments, the General National Congress, which controls the capital Tripoli and most of the west of the country.
"They are only active at night," he said, pointing to the militants' position in a house just down the road blocked by sandbags. He sleeps in a shed next to his firing positions where used tank shells litter the ground.
Libya, which has descended into near anarchy since NATO warplanes helped rebels overthrow Gaddafi in a 2011 civil war, is now the third big stronghold for the Sunni Islamist group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which declared a Caliphate to rule over all Muslims from territory it holds in Syria and Iraq. ...
https://news.yahoo.com/gaddafis-home-town-falls-islamic-state-anarchic-libya-094455638.html
SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Standing guard at his frontline post, Libyan soldier Mohammed Abu Shager can see where Islamic State militants are holed up with their heavy weaponry less than a kilometer away.
The militants have effectively taken over former dictator Muammar Gaddafi's home city of Sirte as they exploit a civil war between two rival governments to expand in North Africa.
"Every night they open fire on us," said Abu Shebar, who with comrades on Sirte's western outskirts holds the last position of troops belonging to one of the two warring Libyan governments, the General National Congress, which controls the capital Tripoli and most of the west of the country.
"They are only active at night," he said, pointing to the militants' position in a house just down the road blocked by sandbags. He sleeps in a shed next to his firing positions where used tank shells litter the ground.
Libya, which has descended into near anarchy since NATO warplanes helped rebels overthrow Gaddafi in a 2011 civil war, is now the third big stronghold for the Sunni Islamist group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which declared a Caliphate to rule over all Muslims from territory it holds in Syria and Iraq. ...
https://news.yahoo.com/gaddafis-home-town-falls-islamic-state-anarchic-libya-094455638.html
May 18, 2015, 11:57:46 PM
The fact is that Hillary destroyed this country and let the arms to float up into Syria. She should have never let Gadaffi get wasted so to let ISIS take over and find a nice new way to make a come up. Her and her neocon allies dealt this hand and now the country is ripe for radical Islam to do their thing. Not good.
May 18, 2015, 11:10:28 PM
‘EU not concerned with humanitarian crisis it caused in Africa’
Published on May 18, 2015
The EU has come up with a plan to battle immigration by launching a naval operation targeting people-smugglers in the Mediterranean. For more on this Lode Vanoost - a former deputy speaker of the Belgian Parliament joins RT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvWYjb5KQo0
Published on May 18, 2015
The EU has come up with a plan to battle immigration by launching a naval operation targeting people-smugglers in the Mediterranean. For more on this Lode Vanoost - a former deputy speaker of the Belgian Parliament joins RT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvWYjb5KQo0
May 10, 2015, 08:35:45 PM
Report: Human Rights Abuses in Libya Force Thousands to Flee to Europe
Diddn´t western nutcases make a total basket case out of the country to eradicate human rights abuses ? Like in all the other basket cases they´ve created ?
Diddn´t western nutcases make a total basket case out of the country to eradicate human rights abuses ? Like in all the other basket cases they´ve created ?
May 10, 2015, 01:07:00 AM
EU has failed to get a green light from Libya’s government about its migrant crisis plan, the nation’s envoy to the UN, Ibrahim Dabbashi, told AP. Libya is against the destruction of illegal migrant boats and the union’s ground troops on its territory.
"They never asked anything of us. Why should we send them this letter?" Dabbashi asked, referring to Libya’s approval to the request for EU ground forces to get involved.
“We will not accept any boots on the ground,” he added.
Libya has been largely lawless since the toppling of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi four years ago, with which the EU and US assisted the opposition forces. Since then a wave of migrants fleeing the internal conflict has increased and the EU has been facing a growing wave of criticism for not doing enough to save those fleeing to Europe.
http://rt.com/news/257105-libya-against-eu-plan/
"They never asked anything of us. Why should we send them this letter?" Dabbashi asked, referring to Libya’s approval to the request for EU ground forces to get involved.
“We will not accept any boots on the ground,” he added.
Libya has been largely lawless since the toppling of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi four years ago, with which the EU and US assisted the opposition forces. Since then a wave of migrants fleeing the internal conflict has increased and the EU has been facing a growing wave of criticism for not doing enough to save those fleeing to Europe.
http://rt.com/news/257105-libya-against-eu-plan/
April 30, 2015, 07:45:33 AM
This has western neocons hands all over it. They are the ones that were salivating at the mouth to overthrow Gadaffi and then create the vacuum that ISIS took over so they can use the media to show them murdering more Christians. F them all the way to hell.
The main aim was to take control of the oil and gas resources of Libya. (Libya supplies most of its oil and gas to Southern Europe, especially to Italy). But things didn't went according to the plan. The NATO puppets proved to be extremely inefficient and incompetent. As a result, now we have the ISIS controlling most of Libya.
Incompetence is always the excuse but since nobody is ever fired for being incompetent, only promoted to perpetrate more scams that also fall flat - that excuse doesn´t hold up. This whole garbage heap that ruins country after country with their war scams needs to be arrested and brought before an international court to find out their real motives.
April 30, 2015, 04:51:24 AM
This has western neocons hands all over it. They are the ones that were salivating at the mouth to overthrow Gadaffi and then create the vacuum that ISIS took over so they can use the media to show them murdering more Christians. F them all the way to hell.
The main aim was to take control of the oil and gas resources of Libya. (Libya supplies most of its oil and gas to Southern Europe, especially to Italy). But things didn't went according to the plan. The NATO puppets proved to be extremely inefficient and incompetent. As a result, now we have the ISIS controlling most of Libya.
April 30, 2015, 12:27:43 AM
Yes, the smell is familiar isn´t it. Those cockroaches got well entrenched with Reagan I guess and every administration has been infested by them since - with disastrous results. Remember when Little Bush was being sold ? Yeah, he´s dumb as a rock with not a clue but that´s all right because he´ll be bringing with him all those wonderful and experienced folks that used to work for his daddy. Too bad that most of that crap wasn´t taken out of circulation thirty years ago in the interests of public safety.
April 29, 2015, 11:28:25 PM
Dead Broke Libya Hires Million-Dollar American Lobbyist
Libya’s teetering government has almost no money—and lots of ISIS enemies. So how can it afford to pay its D.C. public-relations firm’s hefty fee?
The fledgling government of Libya has hired a top-flight Washington PR firm to represent its interests in D.C., even though by all accounts Libya is a failed state with no real functioning government.
This has western neocons hands all over it. They are the ones that were salivating at the mouth to overthrow Gadaffi and then create the vacuum that ISIS took over so they can use the media to show them murdering more Christians. F them all the way to hell. Libya’s teetering government has almost no money—and lots of ISIS enemies. So how can it afford to pay its D.C. public-relations firm’s hefty fee?
The fledgling government of Libya has hired a top-flight Washington PR firm to represent its interests in D.C., even though by all accounts Libya is a failed state with no real functioning government.
April 29, 2015, 10:30:20 PM
Dead Broke Libya Hires Million-Dollar American Lobbyist
Libya’s teetering government has almost no money—and lots of ISIS enemies. So how can it afford to pay its D.C. public-relations firm’s hefty fee?
The fledgling government of Libya has hired a top-flight Washington PR firm to represent its interests in D.C., even though by all accounts Libya is a failed state with no real functioning government.
This month, the Libyan embassy in Washington, which maintains a small office in the Watergate office complex, signed a one-year contract worth $1 million with Qorvis MSLGROUP, to “provide strategic advice and assistance on public relations issues,” according to records filed with the Justice Department.
Precisely why the government has decided to spend so heavily on a foreign political campaign when it’s fighting for its life against Islamic radicals, political rivals, and ISIS is unclear. Officials at the embassy didn’t respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment. .........
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/29/dead-broke-libya-hires-million-dollar-american-lobbyist.html
Libya’s teetering government has almost no money—and lots of ISIS enemies. So how can it afford to pay its D.C. public-relations firm’s hefty fee?
The fledgling government of Libya has hired a top-flight Washington PR firm to represent its interests in D.C., even though by all accounts Libya is a failed state with no real functioning government.
This month, the Libyan embassy in Washington, which maintains a small office in the Watergate office complex, signed a one-year contract worth $1 million with Qorvis MSLGROUP, to “provide strategic advice and assistance on public relations issues,” according to records filed with the Justice Department.
Precisely why the government has decided to spend so heavily on a foreign political campaign when it’s fighting for its life against Islamic radicals, political rivals, and ISIS is unclear. Officials at the embassy didn’t respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment. .........
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/29/dead-broke-libya-hires-million-dollar-american-lobbyist.html
April 28, 2015, 09:56:37 AM
^ isn't ISIS the perfect gift for weapons manufacturers and permanent war proponents all over the world? Couldn't have hoped for anything better. Something everyone can hate, mad as hell, and weak enough to not be a threat to the west.
Yes, a new and improved advertising campaign. After bin Laden died for the 14th and apparently final time al CIAduh was out and this ISIS thing in. It fits perfectly into the usual business model: blow countries to smithereens, install puppets in your own image, that is utterly insane and incompetent, thus ensuring constant chaos and lack of any central government. Into these basket cases that you created comes ISIS that you also created "necessitating" more bombing and destruction. Even better they spill into neighboring countries that you need pretexts to attack anyway.
April 28, 2015, 02:25:49 AM
^ isn't ISIS the perfect gift for weapons manufacturers and permanent war proponents all over the world? Couldn't have hoped for anything better. Something everyone can hate, mad as hell, and weak enough to not be a threat to the west.
April 26, 2015, 09:24:26 PM
ISIS In Libya Update: Egypt Reportedly Readying Assault On Islamic State Group Positions
Egypt reportedly is preparing a large-scale ground and air assault along the Libyan border to oust the Islamic State group from eastern Libya. DebkaFile, quoting military and intelligence sources, said naval and marine forces are assembling at Egypt's Mediterranean ports for a possible assault on Derna, the militants' provincial capital.
DebkaFile noted the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, represents an unacceptable threat to Egypt, and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has been warned extremists already have penetrated some Egyptian towns and military units. ISIS fighters are being smuggled through the Sinai Peninsula and Egypt from Syria and Iraq by drug rings, DebkaFile said.
Libya has deteriorated to near-chaos since former strongman Moammar Gadhafi was dragged from a drainage pipe and executed in 2011 following a NATO-led air campaign to oust him. The country has been divided by warring factions -- one led by the legitimate government operating out of Tobruk and the other led by militias operating out of Tripoli. The West has been reluctant to intervene further since terrorists burned the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others in 2012.
ISIS has seized 11 oil fields and is pumping 200,000 barrels a day to fund its operations while Tobruk is running out of money, the Week reported. ..... more
http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-libya-update-egypt-reportedly-readying-assault-islamic-state-group-positions-1897259
Egypt reportedly is preparing a large-scale ground and air assault along the Libyan border to oust the Islamic State group from eastern Libya. DebkaFile, quoting military and intelligence sources, said naval and marine forces are assembling at Egypt's Mediterranean ports for a possible assault on Derna, the militants' provincial capital.
DebkaFile noted the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, represents an unacceptable threat to Egypt, and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has been warned extremists already have penetrated some Egyptian towns and military units. ISIS fighters are being smuggled through the Sinai Peninsula and Egypt from Syria and Iraq by drug rings, DebkaFile said.
Libya has deteriorated to near-chaos since former strongman Moammar Gadhafi was dragged from a drainage pipe and executed in 2011 following a NATO-led air campaign to oust him. The country has been divided by warring factions -- one led by the legitimate government operating out of Tobruk and the other led by militias operating out of Tripoli. The West has been reluctant to intervene further since terrorists burned the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others in 2012.
ISIS has seized 11 oil fields and is pumping 200,000 barrels a day to fund its operations while Tobruk is running out of money, the Week reported. ..... more
http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-libya-update-egypt-reportedly-readying-assault-islamic-state-group-positions-1897259
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