Blame for the renewed Libyan crisis has been laid at the doors of some of Britain’s closest allies in the Gulf, highlighting again how the UK’s commercial interests so often trump its political priorities in the Middle East.

Espersen has studied Australia’s Pacific solution in detail, so I pushed him: where would your Nauru be? “Morocco is a very good example of a country that would possibly do it for an amount of money,” he claims. And Danish staff could run the camps. “We would run the things ourselves and pay the Moroccan authority a fee. We would also make it possible for their local grocers or butchers to come and deliver goods … There will be excellent service, I can assure you.” In the Danish right’s offshore paradise, there would be education, too. Nobody will be “living in ratholes”, he promises. [...] As with Australia and its offshore centres, what happens in Libya stays in Libya while Europe washes its hands of responsibility. If the flow of migrants surges again during the next war or climate crisis, the clamour for offshoring will only grow louder. And if the Australian model is adopted more fully in Europe, then there will be no hope for legitimate refugees to claim asylum through legal channels, and more of them will seek illegal paths to Europe.

Im Januar veröffentlichte die Welt Zitate aus einem Drahtbericht der deutschen Botschaft in Niger zum Zustand von Flüchtlingslagern in Libyen. Die Diplomaten berichteten darin von „allerschwersten, systematischen Menschenrechtsverletzungen in Libyen“. Interviews mit Flüchtlingen sowie „authentische Handyfotos und -videos“ belegten nach Aussage von Botschaftsmitarbeitern „die KZ-ähnlichen Verhältnisse in den sogenannten Privatgefängnissen“.

keeping in a permanent state of alarmingness/ "permanent war footing" / readiness preparedness: China South Sea (China) w Japan as Allie. // vs Russia. // Middle East. // Kovalik's new book is "The Plot to Scapegoat Russia: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Russia." --- MANUFACTURING CONSENT - PERCEPTION MANAGEMENT HYPERNORMALISATION

Mit einem Kurzbesuch in Libyen wollen Außenminister Steinmeier und sein französischer Kollege Ayrault die neue Einheitsregierung unterstützen. Das kommt der faktischen Anerkennung der neuen Machtinhaber gleich. //&! bit.ly/1SlTrWz - David Cameron under pressure to come clean over plans to send British troops to Libya. As EU ministers meet to find way forward for war-torn state, MPs demand truth about reports of UK deployments.

// contingency plans and local insiders //

We are accustomed to thinking about policy in binary terms - domestic politics on the one hand, foreign affairs on the other.
But as the tragic events in Brussels demonstrate once again, home and away are not so easily separated.
Indeed, in a fundamental sense, the problems of a fragmenting Middle East are fast-becoming Europe's problems too.

[ ursachen ]

A new poll indicates that support in Britain for taking in more refugees may be sliding. [...] bc people can't personalise the facts and figures. talk is only about numbers. not individual stories! the voices of refugees are not heard proportionately to what is written about "the crisis." ... rather than a task to do because the west has meddled in the middle east since WW1 in its own interest. the west supported the fall of lybian leader gaddafi, the west supported a regime change in egypt. the west looked away in Syria.

Syria conflict: Jordan facing refugee dilemma. - Jordan is facing pressure to help more refugees, despite the possible risk to its security. King Abdullah says his country is at "boiling point" because of an influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrian - bbc.in/1KqNPqp //&! bbc.in/1nHq6I7 - Cuts to food aid 'forcing refugees to flee Jordan' (Sep 2015) - As European governments struggle with the migrant crisis, the World Food Programme is being forced to cut aid to vulnerable Syrian refugees in the Middle East. Some say they will now have to try to reach Europe. //&! Can Syrian refugees live on $13.50 a month? - bbc.in/1QGIoCT //&! Syrian businesses operate out of Jordan's largest refugee camp. Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan is home to more than 120,000 - bbc.in/1JYTunt

However, despite claims by Hague last week that the UK had not repeated the mistakes made after the Iraq war, Maiteeg said that, following the initial military intervention, the “help did not continue”.

Wie steht es um Europa? Schlimm, wenn man der Stimmung beim Weltwirtschaftsforum in Davos glaubt. In den Augen vieler droht der Kontinent auseinanderzudriften. Die letzte Hoffnung ruht auf Angela Merkel. [...] Schäubles Andeutung wird zum "Marshall-Plan" Wie groß die Erwartungen sind, die auf Deutschland ruhen, zeigen auch die Reaktionen auf den Vorstoß von Finanzminister Schäuble, "viele Milliarden Euro" in die Nachbarländer Syriens zu investieren, um diese zu stabilisieren und zu verhindern, dass die Flüchtlinge weiter nach Europa drängen. So vage Schäubles Worte waren, so begehrlich wurden sie aufgenommen. Von einem "neuen Marshallplan" war gleich die Rede. "Ich bin begeistert von dieser Idee", jubelte sogar Milliardär Soros - ansonsten nicht unbedingt ein Freund Schäubles.

Before the French Revolution and its Reign of Terror, Louis XV predicted, “After me, the Deluge.” Before being overthrown, Libya’s secular dictator tried to warn the West of a new Reign of Terror, essentially foretelling, “After me, the Jihad.” This was disclosed with the recent release of phone conversations from early 2011 between Muammar Gaddafi and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

UK-sponsored resolution, expected to be approved on Wednesday, will allow Libya to invite foreign countries in to fight Isis

Jihadis in Libya are seizing control of greater chunks of the fractured nation’s territory and imposing a rule of terror. As another strategic city, Ajdabiya, comes under Isis attack, military planners across Europe are preparing the way for Nato forces to intervene

Muammar Gaddafi

Plötzlich will Amerika in den Syrien-Konflikt eingreifen, aber das Vorhaben wirkt wenig durchdacht: Wie die Strafaktion ablaufen wird und welche Ziele dahinter stehen, bleibt unklar. Das passt zum diffusen Umgang des US-Präsidenten mit den Konflikten in Nahost. + http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soziales/schlag-gegen-assad-wie-ein-angriff-auf-syrien-die-oelversorgung-trifft-a-919133.html

Aug. 28 - Rob Cox and Christopher Swann discuss how hydraulic fracturing in America may alter the country's approach to the Middle East.

More broadly the ambassador's death highlights the continuing instability in Libya as the country struggles to establish security and the rule of law.

The country is awash with weapons and armed militias - some of a salafist or extreme Islamic fundamentalist outlook - hold sway in many areas.

We've come to believe that freedom is the natural human condition, which only tyrants prevent everyone from enjoying - but when a tyrant is toppled, we can't know what will come next, says John Gray.

[...]

For Russell, as for Mill, liberty was one thing, democracy another. It's a deeply unfashionable view, but I think essentially correct.

[...]

We need freedom because our goals and values are highly diverse and often quite different from those of the people around us. Having a voice in collective decisions - the basis of democracy - is a fine thing, but it won't protect your freedom if the majority is hostile to the way you choose to live.

[...] threats to freedom [can come from many different angles.]

[...] we've forgotten our own history and neglect the dangers we currently face. [...] liberty is a fragile achievement.

Hamburg - Jetzt greift auch noch Joschka Fischer (Grüne) Außenminister Guido Westerwelle (FDP) scharf an. "Das Verhalten der Bundesregierung im Libyen-Konflikt mit der Enthaltung im Uno-Sicherheitsrat ist ein einziges Debakel", sagte Fischer im Gespräch mit dem SPIEGEL. "Vielleicht das größte außenpolitische Debakel seit Gründung der Bundesrepublik."

Berlin - Das umstrittene Engagement der Bundesbank bei einem Ölgeschäft zwischen Iran und Indien hat womöglich eine größere politische Brisanz als bisher bekannt. Wie es in Regierungskreisen in Berlin heißt, soll der Deal im Zusammenhang mit der Freilassung zweier Reporter der "Bild am Sonntag" aus iranischer Haft im Februar dieses Jahres stehen. Demnach soll die Bundesregierung die Hilfe der deutschen Zentralbank bei der iranisch-indischen Transaktion im Gegenzug für die Freilassung der beiden Deutschen gebilligt haben.

President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.
Obama signed the order, known as a presidential "finding", within the last two or three weeks, according to four U.S. government sources familiar with the matter.
Such findings are a principal form of presidential directive used to authorize secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA and the White House declined immediate comment.

Welcome to America in the second decade of the 21st century. An army of long-term unemployed workers is spread across the land, the human fallout from the Great Recession and long years of misguided economic policies. Optimism is in short supply. The few jobs now being created too often pay a pittance, not nearly enough to pry open the doors to a middle-class standard of living.

The U.S. has not just misplaced its priorities. When the most powerful country ever to inhabit the earth finds it so easy to plunge into the horror of warfare but almost impossible to find adequate work for its people or to properly educate its young, it has lost its way entirely.

The current maldistribution of wealth is also scandalous. In 2009, the richest 5 percent claimed 63.5 percent of the nation’s wealth. The overwhelming majority, the bottom 80 percent, collectively held just 12.8 percent.