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1. Given that @Politico had recently removed an op-ed on #Macron for failing to meet editorial standards,
it seems no lessons were learnt on improving accuracy of coverage as this new article suffers from similar trend in sloppiness, particularly on the remarks on #Libya. https://twitter.com/RymMomtaz/status/1329324119259820033
it seems no lessons were learnt on improving accuracy of coverage as this new article suffers from similar trend in sloppiness, particularly on the remarks on #Libya. https://twitter.com/RymMomtaz/status/1329324119259820033
2. The simplistic “strongman” tag used for Field Marshal Haftar is lazy journalism. He was appointed by the only elected institution currently in existence in Libya. Using the tag to prejudice character is gutter journalism: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31698755
3. Fayez al-Sarraj has ruled for 5 years—yet he was unelected, unratified, and whose post expired by 3 years and rules thanks to a consortium of militias, including extremist Islamist ones. Sounds to me that Sarraj (and his MOI Bashagha) fit the “strongman” label much better.
4. One must query too the“UN-recognised” label used for Sarraj's government. It's a reflex term, but if you use terms such as “strongman” for Haftar then why not unpack it the former label too, as journalists must, given the GNA has expired and most Libyans don't recognise it?
5. The strongman vs UN-recognised trope sadly hides crucial detail on political and security dynamics in Libya. After all, the writer failed to describe the horrendous monopoly and unfettered access militias (and extremism Islamist groups) enjoy. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/01/inside-tripoli-chaos-corruption-militas-rule-streets
6. The article is from 2018 but the situation is now worse. Since signing an illegal set of MOUs with the Tripoli govt, Turkey has shipped over 16,000 Syrian mercenaries, many with notorious criminal links with Nusra, ISIS, AQ, and a record of abuses against Kurds and Yazidis.
7. The writer can I am sure appreciate the ridiculous situation of how the tag “UN-recognised” makes little sense when the GNA is party with NATO-member Turkey in ferrying extremists from Syria to Tripoli.
8. One should also note that the Turkey's involvement in Libya is not just a consequence of Macron's actions in Libya. That's too simplistic. Turkey as been collaborating with the Muslim Brotherhood and LIFG and acting as a conduit for arms to Syria since 2011.
9. Furthermore, the arming of Islamist militias in Libya predates the 2019 LNA offensive. Illegal shipment of arms and equipment by Turkey to extremism Islamist groups has been going on for years. It alarmed both European nations and also Libya's neighbours.
10. Is Turkey's position strengthened? We should thank Macron and other countries for having stalled Turkish ambitions in Libya (military, oil, money, reconstruction deals, Islamism, control of refugee movement). By flooding of Libya with extremists, Turkey has made Libya unsafe.
11. Macron sees Islamist and Turkish ambitions in Europe and MENA with clarity. The nature of Islamist and neo-Ottoman collaboration promoted by Erdogan is causing and will cause further political, social and religious instability. Governments cannot have blinkers on the issue.
12. The “gift of the gab” trophy should really go to Obama whose brilliant rhetorical overtures on freedom and democracy unleashed under its cover during the Arab Spring a set of extremist Islamist forces as proxies for political change. MENA is still reeling from the experience.
13. The Politico article was not about Libya per se, but details matter in what is otherwise a shallow take on Macron. Editorial magazines used to be a vanguard for dispassionate analysis, but now its pages have become a refuge for mediocre political grandstanding in real time.
