Europa / Europe and the EU + EEA

Russia really is going out of their way to make everything shittier huh. What a terrible country.

Project Syndicate reports:

Libyan National Army commander and self-proclaimed “field marshal” Khalifa Haftar is a warlord with no formal or legal authority, yet he wields brutal control over eastern and southern Libya with Russia’s backing. In recent years, the family has ensured that Russian bases are as effective at extracting wealth as they are at importing military assets.

[...]

In many ways, Libya and the Haftar alliance are the linchpin of Putin’s new foreign-policy strategy. Known as the “Karaganov doctrine” after Russian political scientist Sergei Karaganov, this strategy portrays Russia as an anti-colonial liberator intent on democratizing the global order by rallying non-Western countries against the West. The irony, of course, is that Russia’s anti-colonial project is built on war crimes, coups, and the extraction of African wealth to benefit Russian elites.

[...]

In February, members of the Haftar family traveled to Minsk, where they finalized an agreement to develop the port of Tobruk. Landlocked Belarus may seem like an unlikely partner for a port-development project, but the true value of the deal lies in giving Russia effective control over a new Mediterranean harbor and propping up a loyal ally.

While it is hardly surprising that Russia would exploit Libya’s geostrategic position and oil wealth, it is less clear why Europe has allowed the Kremlin to establish a foothold on its doorstep. European governments must act swiftly before the threat becomes even harder to contain.

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