"We're talking about sand and death"-- Middle East, North Africa (MENA) and other nearby Political Hotspots 2020

As Lebanon hobbles into its fifth month of political and economic meltdown, the countrywide protests continue to include protesters of all religious backgrounds, uniting in scorn for leaders who cannot offer even the basics: 24-hour electricity, a functional economy or trustworthy governance.

But the protests have forced many Lebanese Shiites into a dilemma: How can they square their loyalty to Hezbollah with its support for the status quo? And will Hezbollah keep trying to extinguish the rebellion, or listen to it?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/world/middleeast/lebanon-protests-shiites-hezbollah.html

Lebanon’s foreign debt sank to a record low as speculation mounted that the government may not repay a $1.2 billion Eurobond due in less than a month.

Investors are pondering the possible shape a default might take, with the crisis-ridden nation’s government wrangling over whether to continue servicing its debts. On Wednesday, distressed-debt investor Greylock Capital Management announced it and other bondholders had formed a group to talk to the government about its options.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-12/lebanon-s-bonds-plunge-to-record-lows-as-greylock-forms-group

Meanwhile in Libya --

Fighting has continued on the ground despite a call for a cease-fire by Turkey and Russia starting on Jan. 12 and an international summit on Libya in Berlin on Jan. 19 aimed at putting an end to foreign interference. Last week the Geneva talks under the auspices of the U.N. took place for the first round of talks between eastern Libya based putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar and the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital Tripoli.

"Geneva is the transformation of a truce into a sustainable cease-fire," the ambassador continued. "Although there was no agreement, both sides agreed on the need to expedite the resettlement of IDPs and agreed on an understanding to restore normalcy to conflict-affected areas."

https://www.dailysabah.com/diplomacy/2020/02/12/turkish-algerian-efforts-for-libyan-truce-bear-fruit-as-outlook-seems-promising-algerian-envoy-says

Currently a social media blackout in Turkey as reports of 30+ Turkish soldiers killed in an airstrike in Idlib. Turkey bussing refugees to Greek border to put pressure on Europe to assist?

so time for Israel election number 4?

https://www.thedailybeast.com/right-wing-media-outlets-duped-by-a-middle-east-propaganda-campaign

was Newsmax "duped", or is Newsmax just a north american propaganda campaign?

implication appears to be that newsmax is culpable but not complicit but ymmv

honestly i didn't read the article, sorry.

i missed my effexor dose yesterday so now i'm just replying to everything with "FUCK YOU RIGHT WING RICH COMPLICIT BASTARDS", so look out

What’s going on in Beirut looks crazy.

Don't store your fireworks near a nitrate fertilizer warehouse...

So are the military who took over in Mali going to allow for an election and civilian rule?

https://reportersatlarge.com/2020/08/28/mali-buhari-west-african-leaders-insist-on-democracy/

Haven't the junta said that they will allow for an election after a transitional military government?

My source: https://www.africa-confidential.com/article/id/13063/The_junta_haggles_on_transition

Looks like military wants to drag out transition period for a couple of years.

https://warontherocks.com/2020/10/defund-centcom/

Almost all of what the United States seeks from the Middle East — supplies of oil, limits on the terrorist threat, an Israel capable of defending itself — regional countries need more than the United States does.

Arguing to get out of Israel? The author must be anti-Semitic!

I just learned that Robert Fisk passed away 30 October. Last decade, I'd regularly search for new reporting from him for insight into Afghanistan and Iraq.

Independent: Robert Fisk: The outstanding and truth-telling journalist who ventured into danger

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/01/06/france-seeking-exit-strategy-from-mali-after-eight-years-of-war/

https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/france-drone-mali-macron-civilians

Mistaken attack on wedding party

My own sense is neither Paris nor AFRICOM is actually foolish enough to be believe they can win wars in West Africa. These military maestros need only not to lose, and hopefully avoid excessive embarrassment from too high casualties, or too high civilian "collateral damage" counts. At even that, however, France is increasingly failing – and the US may not be far behind them. Yet all told: survival, not victory, seems the strategy.

These three RS apply in Mali and the Sahel specifically, and bear remarkable resemblance to an infamous 2007 Naval War College briefing – which made the rounds, and caused a scandal, in Africa – listing four common perceptions of the US’s real reasons for AFRICOM: natural resources, democracy deficit, increasing Chinese presence, and terrorism.

Actual Africans never trusted America’s continental motives, and haven’t missed the colonial-imperial parallels – nor should they, when the Pentagon proudly partners with Paris to assert control in FrancophoneWest Africa.

That’s because the continent’s people sensed a salient truth from the start: just as the colonial Federation of French West Africa always more emphasized the "French" element of the name – AFRICOM has always had little to do with Africans
.

https://original.antiwar.com/danny_sjursen/2021/01/13/in-other-news-another-franco-american-forever-war-failing-in-africa-mali-edition/

AFRICOM has now explicitly denied conducting a US military strike in Somalia on January 29th - insisting to Airwars that its last action there was on January 19th - Donald Trump's last full day in office. https://t.co/DUSI9kpndu

— Airwars (@airwars) February 1, 2021

https://www.democracynow.org/2021/2/5/biden_trump_morocco_western_sahara

President Donald Trump broke with decades of U.S. foreign policy in the waning days of his administration and recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a territory the country has occupied since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations and the international community. U.S. recognition came as Morocco agreed to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, becoming the fourth Arab nation to do so in recent months as part of a regional push by the Trump administration to strengthen Israel without addressing the Palestinian conflict. Now the Biden administration must weigh whether to reverse Trump’s decision on Western Sahara

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/15/france-mali-troops/?fbclid=IwAR3EOPLTLYne8aCG6415c_k_ADmS8QSdeVwi54SOvlSV26qEez8GFWHpDcc

France is weighing a total military withdrawal from Mali, blaming soured relations with the West African nation’s military rulers and the arrival of Russian mercenaries, according to the European power’s top diplomat and two Western officials with knowledge of the plan.

“If the conditions are no longer in place so that we can act in Mali — which is clearly the case — then we will continue to fight terrorism next door,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told France 5 late Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron plans to announce the departure from Mali this week during a European Union-African Union summit in Brussels, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly....

Mali’s biggest defense ally — has about 4,000 troops in West Africa, which is grappling with the world’s fastest-growing Islamist insurgencies. That number is set to shrink to 2,500 this year, and the remaining troops are expected to be redeployed elsewhere in the region, the officials said, including Niger and Ivory Coast....

Bad earthquake in Syria and Turkey

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — At least 2,100 people have been killed in Turkey and Syria, where a powerful earthquake on Monday collapsed thousands of buildings and raised the specter of a new humanitarian disaster in a region already wracked by war, a refugee crisis and deep economic troubles.

From NY Times

https://dcist.com/story/23/02/06/turkey-syria-earthquake-how-to-help-dc-organizations-donations/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=DCIST_DAILY_02_06_2023&utm_content=DCist+Daily+-+2/6/2023+16:59:45

Still trying to find people in the rubble