#Libya (Before 2011)

[honeydewcorporation]

Oh this is a fun one!!

House of Stairs - M.C. Escher

I like these little things a lot. They make me happy.

The fisheye perspective really makes the space feel open even though it's chalk full of creatures.

Fun Honeydew Fact: I once sculpted one of them out of clay.

Odile's Low-Health Portrait - InsertDisk5

AKdjghsdgasdlfkjagdlajsdlajsdfk

I'm unbelievably gay about this look!

Any time I saw it in-game I felt my face get really hot.

Winter Bun, A Nightly Stroll, Fancy Hat, Bun Bun, or really any art by Fire-bay (My beloved.)

I love how she draws such extravagant but simple clothes.

And their color choices are absolutely gorgeous!

Honestly they're one of my top art-heroes in terms of "OH STARS I WANNA DRAW LIKE HER SOME DAY"

Aforementioned lesbianism

Flag of Libya (Before 2011)

I think it's really funny that it's just green.

"What do you think's in Libya?" "Probably plants" "Yeah, no reason to expect anything else"

Was my favorite flag for a while (New favorite is the Sapphic Pride flag)

Have at thee!

@felixcloud6288 @spectator-lawful-evil @additional-pylons

Tagged by @kaiserin-erzsebet

rules: post 4 pieces of art you like and make a poll so that people can vote for their favourite, then tag 4 friends to do the same

La ofrenda - Saturnino Herrán

Almond blossom - Vincent Van Gogh

Justicia - Luis Nishizawa (the whole mural but this is a little extract of it)

La marcha de la humanidad - David Alfaro Siqueiros (biggest mural, most pics don’t do justice)

@lemon-bats @snow-kiddo

[starseedpatriot]

🇱🇾 USAID & NGOs were the Hidden Hand Behind Libya’s Destruction

For over four decades, Libya thrived under Gaddafi, but in 2011, the U.S., NATO, and Western-backed NGOs engineered an uprising, leading to his overthrow and Libya’s descent into chaos. USAID and its affiliated organizations played a critical role in financing, legitimizing, and facilitating the regime change operation.

How USAID & NGOs Helped Topple Gaddafi

USAID:

• 2011-2012, USAID funneled $75 million into “civil society” groups, opposition media, and transitional government structures.

• Funded the National Transitional Council (NTC), the de facto government after Gaddafi’s fall.

• Assisted in setting up opposition-run election commissions to ensure Libya remained under Western control post-regime change.

NED:

• Funded exile-run opposition media like Barada TV, which broadcast anti-Gaddafi propaganda from Washington, D.C.

• Provided grants to “civil society” groups that later funneled support to jihadists, including Free Syrian Army (FSA) members who later fought in Libya.

• Trained and promoted exiled opposition leaders who were later installed in Libya’s post-Gaddafi government.

OSF: Soros’s Role in Libya

• Pushed Western narratives on Libya, reinforcing media campaigns to justify NATO intervention.

• Funded opposition movements that aligned with U.S. geopolitical interests.

• Lobbied for mass migration policies in Europe, using Libya’s collapse to drive refugee influxes.

What did Libye lose?

Before 2011:

• Debt-free economy with $150 billion in foreign reserves.

• Free healthcare, education, and subsidized housing.

• One of Africa’s highest literacy rates at 87%.

• The Great Man-Made River Project provided sustainable water to the entire country.

• Oil wealth was distributed among the population.

After NATO & USAID Intervention:

• Libya became a failed state with rival militias battling for control.

• Open-air slave markets appeared, with migrants sold openly.

• Oil production collapsed, foreign corporations took over key sectors.

• ISIS and jihadist groups flourished.

• The country became a hub for weapons trafficking and human smuggling.

Gaddafi's Final Warning Before NATO Bombing in 2011?

“If Libya falls, chaos will take over North Africa, the Mediterranean will burn, and waves of migrants will flood Europe.”

Gaddafi knew what was coming. He was right.

The U.S. and its NGO network didn’t remove Gaddafi for “human rights.” They targeted him because he threatened Western financial dominance and refused to comply.

USAID used Libya as a practice round to hone their skills to be used in future campaigns:

Ukraine (2014): Funded Euromaidan protests → Led to civil war & U.S. economic control.

Syria (2011-2024): USAID financed the opposition → Led to over a decade of war.

Venezuela (2002-Present): Funded opposition coup attempts → Economic collapse under U.S. sanctions.

Georgia (2003/2023): Engineered “color revolutions” → Destabilized the country.

Libya, once Africa’s most prosperous nation, is now a shattered warzone. A direct result of U.S.-backed regime change funded directly by USAID.

🔴 @DDGeopolitics | Socials | Donate | Advertising

[ptseti]

HOW THE WEST BETRAYED GADDAFI

While the West vilifies him now, it once welcomed Libya’s revolutionary leader Muammar Gaddafi - as he relates in this 2011 ABC News interview, just weeks before the fateful NATO

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Joshua Keating at Vox:

The early days of the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime — which came to a stunning end this weekend after 13 long years of civil war as rebel forces entered the capital of Damascus and Assad fled into exile — were defined by two famous pieces of graffiti. The first was written by a group of teenage boys on a school wall in early 2011 in the city of Daraa. Inspired by the Arab Spring protests then seemingly sweeping away the old order in longtime dictatorships like Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, they wrote, “You are next, doctor,” referring to Assad, who had trained and worked as an ophthalmologist in London in his early years before returning to take over the family business of ruling Syria with an iron fist. The boys were then arrested and tortured by the regime’s security forces, an event credited by many with sparking the mass protest movement against Assad.

The message proved to be overly optimistic: Assad didn’t flee and he didn’t compromise, instead opting to crush the uprising by force, leading to a civil war that would kill as many as half a million people and displace millions more. The second graffiti message was a slogan scrawled by pro-regime militias throughout the country in the early days of the uprising: “Assad or we burn the country.” The phrase signaled the regime’s complete unwillingness to compromise with its enemies and the lengths it would go to stay in power. Over the past week, even as the rebels took the ancient city of Aleppo on November 30 and began streaming down the highway south toward Damascus, it still seemed far-fetched that the Syrian regime would fall — that a family that had been in power since Bashar’s father Hafez al-Assad carried out a coup 54 years ago and was willing to go so far as to use chemical weapons on its own people and reduce its own cities to rubble to preserve that power would simply crumble in a matter of days.

But that’s exactly what happened: As the rebels advanced, there were numerous reports of government forces simply abandoning their positions and discarding their uniforms. The Russian government says it has offered Assad and his family asylum. US officials say they have not confirmed that Assad is in Russia, but have no reason to doubt it.

[...]

The new rulers

Attention will now turn to Syria’s new rulers and how they will govern. Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the HTS leader, has said all the right things, calling on its supporters to avoid vengeance against regime supporters. For now, he is leaving Assad-appointed Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali in place until a transitional government is formed. On Saturday, a few hours before Assad’s overthrow, Vox asked Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the US-based Syrian Emergency Task Force, what a transitional government could look like. He suggested that UN Resolution 2254, adopted back in 2015 but never implemented, could provide a road map: It calls for a Syrian-led political process facilitated by the United Nations leading to new elections within 18 months.

In the coming months, we’ll see whether Jolani, the former al-Qaeda fighter with a $10 million price on his head from the US government, is really the pragmatic pluralist he now says he is, and assuming he is, whether he’s capable of keeping together an ethnically and religiously diverse country, one awash with weapons, various armed groups, and traumatized by decades of dictatorship and war. A big question mark is how Damascus’s new rulers will contend with the Kurdish-ruled northeast corner of the country, particularly if the incoming Trump administration follows through on plans from his last term to remove US troops from the region. There have already been concerning reports in recent days of clashes between Kurdish forces and the Turkish-backed SNA. On Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social that the offensive in Syria was “NOT OUR FIGHT” and that America “SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.” Beyond these questions, Assad’s fall should be a reminder of some important facts. One, governments and analysts continue to be extremely bad at assessing the strength of non-state militant groups like HTS, their ability to launch major offensives, and the ability of governments to resist them. [...] Over the past few years, the world had all but decided that Assad had won the civil war. Regional governments that had spent years trying to topple him were welcoming him back into the fold, while the US was moving on to other priorities. If the last few days teach us anything, it’s that governments like Assad’s can often be more brittle than they appear from the outside, and it just takes a strong push to knock them over. For all the very justified concern and caution about what lies ahead for Syria, that should be some cause for optimism.

With the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, what will be next for the nation as it charts a post-Bashar course?

[fettesans]

Top, page from Raymond Buckland, Solitary Seance: How You Can Talk with Spirits on Your Own, 2011. Via. Bottom, photograph via NASA, Toroid inflatable station concept during testing, 1961. Via. More.

Using the pendulum is known as radiesthesia—also rhabdomancy, or cleidomancy. One of the best-known uses of the pendulum is in dowsing, in finding where to drill for water. But it is also used for many other things, not least of all for communicating with spirit.

Unlike many other early space station concepts, this design actually made it out of the concept phase and into production, though no models were ever flown. This particular station was 30-feet and expandable. It was designed to be taken to outer space in a small package and then inflate in orbit. The station could, in theory, have been big enough for 1 to 2 people to use for a long period of time. A similar 24 foot station was built by the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation for NASA test use. The concept of space inflatables was revived in the 1990s. Via Wikipedia.

--

‘If an artist who conceived a work says that it is unfinished and should not be exhibited, it isn’t – and shouldn’t be.’ The court felt differently: ‘When an artist makes a decision to begin work on a piece of art and handles the process of creation long-distance via e-mail, using someone else’s property, someone else’s materials, someone else’s money, someone else’s staff, and, to a significant extent, someone else’s suggestions regarding the details of fabrication – with no enforceable written or oral contract defining the parties’ relationship – and that artist becomes unhappy part-way through the project and abandons it,’ wrote the presiding judge, Michael Ponsor, ‘then nothing in the Visual Artists Rights Act or elsewhere in the Copyright Act gives that artist the right to dictate what that “someone else” does with what he has left behind, so long as the remnant is not explicitly labeled as the artist’s work.’ (...)

Essentially a horrific readymade, Barca Nostra sunk in April 2015 between Libya and Lampedusa with an estimated 1,000 migrants onboard, of whom 28 survived. The Italian government recovered the wreck in 2016 and moved it to a base in Sicily before it was placed under the care of the Augusta municipality, a landing site for Operation Mare Nostrum, Italy’s response to the Mediterranean migrant crisis. Mare Nostrum, or ‘Our Sea’, cost the Italian government a reported £7 million per month, and ensured safe passage for over 100,000 people within a year of its launch in October 2013. But after Italy appealed for assistance, EU states criticised the operation for encouraging people to risk the sea crossing, so EU agency Frontex replaced Mare Nostrum with Operation Triton in 2014, with a slashed budget and focus on border security.

Effectively a policy of nonassistance, as Forensic Oceanography concluded in their 2016 report Death by Rescue: The Lethal Effects of Non-Assistance at Sea, Triton created a situation where commercial ships were increasingly called into rescue missions they weren’t suited to conduct – such was the case with the sinking of Barca Nostra in 2015, they found. That year, European Parliament president Martin Schulz called for ‘burden sharing’ based on the fact that five out of 28 EU member states were taking in 50 percent of refugees to Europe at the time. Yet no effective cooperation manifested. Neither in creating humanitarian responses to a global crisis, nor in mediating the ultraright sentiments and movements that rose as a result – as demonstrated in 2018, when Italy’s far-right interior minister, Matteo Salvini, launched a campaign to block search-and-rescue vessels from docking in Italian ports, and drafted a hardline anti-migrant bill adopted by the Italian government.

It was within this desperate context that Barca Nostra was brought to the Venice Biennale – in cooperation with Augusta’s municipal council and Comitato 18 Aprile, which lobbied against government plans to scrap the ship – with Büchel covering transportation costs. Presented with little information – not for the lulz, it seems, but out of contempt for a wilful ignorance – the vessel’s arrival was lambasted as ‘tasteless’ by those at the vernissage, seemingly more concerned with the insult of its presence – and those taking selfies with it, like a Martha Rosler collage come to life – than discussing the exclusionary policies that brought it into being. (Granted, as curator Alexandra Stock wrote in a scathing takedown, ‘The optics [were] bad because Büchel set it up that way’.) While the stunt drew international attention – including responses from Salvini himself, countering the idea that the Venice Biennale is an ineffective stage for protest – it also revealed the limits of internationalism, whether in the artworld or the world at large.

Stephanie Bailey, from Christoph Büchel: Fear and Loathing in Venice, for Art Review, April 14, 2024.

[troythecatfish]

LIBYA: NATO'S FAILED STATE

Eighty-two years ago, late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was born on June 7th, 1942. We look back at a figure who is controversial in the West but respected in many parts of the Global South, particularly in Africa. Putting aside the varying opinions, we objectively examine what Libya looked like before, during and after Nato-backed rebels toppled him in 2011. It brought to an end Gaddafi’s 42-year reign as president.

[kirstythejetblackgoldfish]

Moscow hosts art exhibition by Aisha Gaddafi documenting her family's tragedy

The Russian capital, Moscow, hosted today a rare art exhibition by Aisha Gaddafi, the daughter of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, where she unveiled a collection of paintings that have never been displayed before.

These artworks document the tragedy experienced by the Gaddafi family, especially the death of her father and brother.

Aisha Gaddafi, who attended the exhibition herself, explained that her paintings embody the painful memories her family experienced during the years of conflict in Libya.

She said: “I have previously presented my paintings in previous exhibitions, but today I am presenting these works for the first time. I painted them from the heart and they reflect my vision of life and memory.”

In the context of this artistic event, Aisha Gaddafi was awarded a diploma from the Creative Union of Artists of Russia, and she was also offered to become a member of the Union, which she agreed to.

It is worth noting that Aisha Gaddafi, who has remained out of the spotlight since the overthrow of her father in 2011, has begun to intensify her artistic activity in recent years, using drawing as a means of expressing personal pain and family memories, and her vision of life after the dramatic events she has experienced.

[shadowfoxsilver]

Urgent request Assistance:i need your help and cooperation for a good purpose I want you to keep this top secret between us. My name is James Ramos, I am 53 years old. I am US military currently in Yemen for peacekeeping mission. . During our work routine in Libya in 2011,there was an attacked by Taliban's,

during the process 25 of us was signaled to intervene, and we succeeded in protecting the life and properties of the people of that community. We personally discovered a huge sum of $98,000,000.00 USD and 44,000, karat of Gold hidden by the Taliban's after one week of the mission,the $98,000,000.00 USD and 44,000, karat of Gold was share by all the army General officer and the military doctor's, my own share of the money is 7 million US dollars and 80 kg Karats of Gold ,i kept my own share of the money and the gold in a safe place inside a trunk box with a security code,wish i deposited it in security company in (Accra Ghana)

Urgency information:past 3 days back, i got email from the security company to come over to claim my package within 2 weeks time,before their Government will close down the security company,i have try all the best i could but . we all army General military,no one was allow to live until the mission is over here in Kuwait , ,actually i am already due for retirement ,i will through with my mission here in Kuwait in 2 months time, Pleading: i need your assistance ,please ,i want you to assist me to receive my package to your country until i will hrough with my mission here in Kuwait in 2 months time ,i am agreed to give you 20% of my package ,and 10% will go for any expenses you will make and i will hold 70% ,I will also reward you greatly for this help and your partnership

as soon as my package is deliver to you in your country.... i hope you would not disappoint me on this, this is my life. i will come come over to you for investment arrangements between both of us when i through with my mission here in Kuwait in 2 months time also think of the kind of investment that i can also invest in your area with some part of my money. Then plan our life together immediately. If you are interested, give me your email address or WhatsApp number for more details. This is my email address: genjamesnewyork@gmail.com.

Sorry I bust scams and your one of them. Really trying to pull this nonsense on tumblr huh.

Anyway everyone, report this asker.

[mariacallous]

Russia has been bolstering its military presence in Libya for the past few months, according to a joint investigation from the independent outlet Verstka and the All Eyes on Wagner project. Libya has been mired in civil war since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and Russia has long been accused of meddling in the conflict. Now, the Kremlin appears to be shipping more military equipment to Libya and the surrounding region and redeploying regular troops disguised as mercenaries, along with recruits from Wagner Group’s Africa operations.

‘Tectonic shifts’

In the past three months, Russia has begun actively transferring military personnel and mercenaries to Libya, according to Verstka’s findings. These forces are primarily concentrated in eastern Libya, a region under the control of Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the Libyan National Army and a Kremlin ally. (The western part of the country, including the capital, Tripoli, is governed by the U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord.)

A source within a Libyan security agency reported that at least 1,800 Russian military personnel have arrived in the country in the last two weeks alone. Some were dispatched to Niger, while others remain in Libya awaiting further orders.

One serviceman told journalists that he and several hundred other special forces soldiers were redeployed from Ukraine at the beginning of the year. Several thousand more fighters — both professional soldiers and mercenaries from Wagner Group’s Africa operations — arrived in Libya between February and April. In conversations with journalists, the soldiers themselves acknowledged that their presence in Libya is unofficial. They said that they’re there as part of a private military company, though they didn’t specify which one.

Russian military personnel and equipment have been spotted in at least 10 locations in eastern Libya since the beginning of March. Russian troops are stationed around major military bases, such as Al Jufra Air Base and Ghardabiya Air Base, as well as near smaller ones by Waddan and Marj.

Sources say that some of the newly arrived Russian military personnel are involved in training local soldiers and new recruits from private military companies. Others are carrying out combat missions, such as securing the transport of military equipment.

“There’s never been such a fuss; tectonic shifts are happening here,” one Russian soldier in Libya commented. “I think a big mess is brewing.”

Following the breadcrumbs

Location data from Telegram users show an increase in activity around military sites in Libya. On March 5, a Russian soldier with the username “Andrey” showed up near the Ghardabiya Air Base near Sirte. A few months before, “Andrey” was in Mulino — a city in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region where soldiers are being trained for combat in Ukraine. Nearly two weeks after “Andrey” appeared at Ghardabiya Air Base, the Libyan National Army conducted military exercises there.

Soon after, another group of Russian soldiers was spotted in Marj, Libya. On March 17, photos of them were posted on Libyan social media; Verstka and its investigative partners were able to geolocate these photos by comparing the buildings and structures in them with satellite images.

In early May, geolocation data confirmed the presence of two Russian soldiers in Jufra. One of them was the same “Andrey” who’d been at the Ghardabiya Air Base in March. He stayed there until at least April, then moved to Jufra by May.

The second soldier in Jufra was 26-year-old Pavel Vavilov from Russia’s Vladimir region. It’s likely that Vavilov entered the military recently: leaked data shows he worked as a security guard in 2020, and before that, as a taxi driver. He’s faced various legal issues, including a theft conviction. Another Telegram account linked to Vavilov shows a car with a license plate from the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic” in the profile picture.

In recent weeks, there’s been a notable increase in shipments of Russian weapons and transport vehicles from Syria to Libya. In photos published on March 30 by the Russian pro-war Telegram channel Military Informant, several Russian Tigr armored personnel carriers can be seen being used in Libyan National Army exercises. Judging by the unit insignia on the front doors, they were delivered to the Libyan National Army’s 106th Brigade.

The channel also released video footage of the exercises. After comparing the terrain, buildings, and landmarks seen in the video to satellite images, Verstka and its investigative partners determined that the footage was shot between Al Jufra Air Base and the town of Waddan.

Russia is shipping a large amount of military equipment to Libya by sea. A source told Verstka that he had personally escorted equipment from a “military port” to various “military bases.” In some cases, the equipment comes to Libya via Syria’s Tartus port. For instance, on April 2, two Russian landing ships — the Alexander Otrakovsky and the Ivan Gren — were spotted in Tartus. On April 6, the same ships were off the coast of Crete, and on April 8, they arrived at the Port of Tobruk in Libya. These vessels were transporting vehicles and weaponry; one item in the shipment resembled a Soviet-era 2S12 “Sani” heavy mortar system. According to open-source investigators, this marked the fifth such shipment in the last six weeks. Satellite imagery shows that since then, the ships have continued to make trips back and forth.

Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya expert at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, drew attention to the fact that Russian military personnel are being redeployed to the Brak al-Shati base in Libya. According to him, the number of Russian-speaking personnel at the base has increased by about 25 percent in recent weeks.

Back in March 2024, investigators from the All Eyes on Wagner project didn’t find any Russian Telegram accounts at the base. However, the situation has changed in the last few weeks. For example, in early May, an account registered to a Russian number was discovered near the base. The user, 28-year-old Russian Maxim Kukol, doesn’t appear to have been connected to the military before 2021. But there’s no public record of his employment after this. However, by 2022, his debts had been cleared.

Geolocation data also shows a steady stream of Russian military personnel arriving at the Tartus port in Syria, which has become a kind of redistribution hub for military resources. Among them is 19-year-old Navy serviceman Anton Zaikin, who was stationed in Baltiysk, in Russia’s Kaliningrad region, in early 2024. By early May, he had relocated to Syria.

A strategic move

Turkey, the U.S., and other countries have repeatedly accused Russia of interfering in the Libyan conflict, including through the use of Wagner Group mercenaries. Journalistic investigations have confirmed that Russian mercenaries have been present in Libya since at least 2019, and experts say the Kremlin has been supporting Khalifa Haftar since around 2018.

In 2023, Russian officials and Haftar held their first public negotiations since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In August, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov met with him in Libya, and in September, Haftar met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Following this, there were multiple media reports of Kremlin plans to build a Russian naval base in Tobruk, Libya (where Russian military cargo arrives from Syria).

In January 2024, shortly before Russia began sending large numbers of troops to the region, Yevkurov visited Libya again. He met with Haftar in Benghazi; Verstka’s sources say that a new Russian military training base is already operating not far from this city. According to Verstka and All Eyes on Wagner’s sources, the Russian contingent in Libya is controlled by four commanders who were previously in Syria. They, in turn, report to Yevkurov.

“I think the Russians are betting on a war inside Tripoli among the militias, so they’re going to shift gears,” said one military source. Another source suggested that the current influx of Russian equipment and the repositioning of troops are intended to supplant Wagner Group forces in Libya and pave the way for further deployments to other African countries.

RUSI’s Jalel Harchaoui noted that an increased presence in Libya aligns with many of Russia’s strategic regional interests. “Libya offers extremely valuable access to the Mediterranean Sea, acts as a southern flank to exert pressure on NATO and the E.U., and strengthens dialogue with other key Arab countries,” he explained. “Importantly, it also serves as a gateway to Sub-Saharan African countries, offering a strategic route to countries like Sudan, Niger, and beyond.”

According to him, cooperating with the Haftar family allows the Kremlin to achieve these goals while minimizing costs. “Roughly speaking, the Haftar family rewards Moscow materially and financially for doing things that are already in its interest,” Harchaoui believes.

The increased military activity in the region may also have something to do with increased pressure for Libya to hold elections. While there have been several attempts to hold elections, plans have often been delayed or disrupted due to escalations in the military conflict. The U.N. has urgently called for elections to be held to prevent the country from sliding further into war.

[tomorrowusa]

The apologists for Putin's Russia – both Trumpsters and tankies – say that Ukraine must "negotiate" an end of Putin's illegal invasion.

Those folks are either oblivious to Russia's recent history of negotiations or are intentionally ignoring that history for political reasons.

In the years leading up to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, diplomats lost their authority, their role reduced to echoing the Kremlin's aggressive rhetoric. BBC Russian asks former diplomats, as well as ex-Kremlin and White House insiders, how Russian diplomacy broke down.

This was four month's before the invasion.

In October 2021, US Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland went to a meeting at the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow. The man across the table was Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who Ms Nuland had known for decades and always got along with. Mr Rybakov's American counterparts saw him as a practical, calm negotiator - someone they could talk to even as the two countries' relationship frayed. This time, things were different. Mr Ryabkov read Moscow's official position from a piece of paper and resisted Ms Nuland's attempts to start a discussion. Ms Nuland was shocked, according to two people who discussed the incident with her. She described Mr Ryabkov and one of his colleagues as "robots with papers", the people said (the State Department declined to comment on the incident). And outside the negotiating room, Russian diplomats were using increasingly undiplomatic language. "We spit on Western sanctions." "Let me speak. Otherwise, you will really hear what Russian Grad missiles are capable of." "Morons" - preceded by an expletive. These are all quotes from people in positions of authority at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in recent years.

If you are thinking that this doesn't sound like serious negotiating, you are entirely correct.

This attitude didn't begin in 2021, it's been ongoing since at least 2007.

The first signal that a new Cold War was beginning came in 2007 with a speech Mr Putin made to the Munich Security Conference. In a 30-minute diatribe, he accused Western countries of attempting to build a unipolar world. Russia's diplomats followed his lead. A year later, when Russia invaded Georgia, Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reportedly swore at his UK counterpart, David Miliband, asking: "Who are you to lecture me?" Western officials still thought it was worth trying to work with Russia. In 2009, Mr Lavrov and the then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed a giant red "reset button" in relations, and the two countries seemed to be building co-operation - especially on security issues. But it soon became obvious to US officials that their Russian counterparts were simply parroting Mr Putin's growing anti-Western views, says Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor to former US President Barack Obama. Mr Rhodes recalls President Obama having breakfast with Mr Putin in 2009, accompanied by a folk orchestra. He says Mr Putin was more interested in presenting his view of the world than discussing co-operation and that the Russian leader blamed Mr Obama's predecessor, George W Bush, for betraying Russia. As the Arab Spring, the US involvement in Libya, and the Russian street protests unfolded in 2011 and 2012, Mr Putin decided that diplomacy wouldn't get him anywhere, Mr Rhodes says. "On certain issues - Ukraine in particular - I did not get the sense that [diplomats] had much influence at all," says Mr Rhodes.

The arrival of Maria Zakharova as spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry in 2015 signaled another deterioration in diplomacy.

[W]ith Ms Zakharova's arrival, foreign ministry briefings became a spectacle. Ms Zakharova often yelled at reporters who asked her difficult questions and responded to criticism from other countries with insults. Her diplomatic colleagues were going the same way. Mr [Boris] Bondarev, who used to work for Moscow's mission to the UN in Geneva, recalls one meeting where Russia blocked all proposed initiatives, prompting colleagues from Switzerland to complain. "We said to them: 'Well, what's the problem? We are a great power, and you are just Switzerland!' "That's [Russian] diplomacy for you," he says.

Getting back to the eve of the invasion. (emphasis added)

Mr Bondarev recalls a dinner in Geneva in January 2022 when Mr Ryabkov, from the foreign ministry, met US officials. US First Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman hoped to avert the invasion of Ukraine through 11th-hour negotiations. "It was awful," says Mr Bondarev. "The Americans were like, 'Let's negotiate.' And instead Ryabkov starts shouting, 'We need Ukraine! We won't go anywhere without Ukraine! Take all your stuff and go back to the 1997 [Nato] borders!' Sherman is an iron lady, but I think even her jaw dropped at this. "[Ryabkov] was always very polite and really nice to talk to. And now he's banging his fist on the table and talking nonsense."

The war hasn't changed things.

Ukrainian authorities complain that Russia is once again offering ultimatums instead of compromises, such as demanding that Ukraine accepts the annexation of occupied territories. Kyiv has no intention to negotiate under such conditions, and its Western allies publicly support this decision. Russia seems set on relying on its military machine, intelligence services and geo-economic power for influence - rather than diplomacy.

Some people won't like hearing this, but the only way to end this war is militarily.

Judy Dempsey is a nonresident senior fellow at Carnegie Europe and editor in chief of Strategic Europe. At Carnegie Europe she writes:

Negotiations can only begin if Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is in a strong enough position to set the terms. Those terms are not just about restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity. They are about ensuring that Russia does not attack or threaten Kyiv again. An end to the war is about ending Russia’s imperial ambitions in this part of Europe. [ ... ] It is not enough for leaders and defense ministers to say ad nauseam that they will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” or that Ukraine must win. How is that going to happen if the country is not provided with the essential military equipment? And if there are mutterings in some Europeans capitals and in Washington that the Ukrainian offensive has not been quick enough or effective enough, the reason is that Ukraine lacks the military support to achieve it. [ ... ] The war is a test for Europe in particular and the West in general. It is about security, conviction, and trying to uphold values based on the pursuit of democracy. Ultimately, that’s what the Ukrainians are fighting for. A fudged compromise will damage the West and appease—indeed embolden—Russia and its supporters.

Exactly. This is not just an unprovoked war against Ukraine, it's a war against the West and liberal democratic values.

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Wikileaks exposed the following state dept memo written by Hillary Clinton in 2012, around the same time Clinton was giving interviews publicly celebrating the lynching of Muammar Gaddafi at the hands of US funded 'rebels.' The 'rebels' tearing down sovereign Syria today are executing Clinton's plans to a tee, to the delight of the billionaires that she, Biden, Trump, and Netanyahu work for.

Before the US/NATO destruction of Libya, the country had the highest standard of living in Africa, including state subsidized housing and a national health system. More than 7,700 bombs were dropped on Libya in 2011. The country's basic infrastructure was devastated and any nationalized wealth was looted, as is being done with US bombs and mercenary forces in Syria today.

Because the independent government of Libya did not bow to dictates of imperialist banks, US/NATO forces turned Libya into a living hell torn apart by warlords, complete with open air slave markets. This is the path that US/NATO forces and their mercenaries are leading Syria down today.

Via Workers Voice Socialist Movement

[sayruq]

What do you think will happen if Palestine takes over Israel? Will there be a mass genocide? Another exodus? I was born in Libya but escaped after the war and we used to pay a Palestine tax to give aid to Palestine, and from my upbringing, I know that Libyans for sure will celebrate if the Israeli get massacred. The likelihood of just Hamas and his forces taking over Israel is impossible but a lot of the Arab nations would want to take part. Even Afghanistan has volunteered to send troops there.

So what’s the solution? I don’t want Israel-Palestine to become another Libya. What will happen to the medical and research centers, what will happen to the industries and farms, what will happen to the historical sites? Libya has become a failed state because of infighting after the 2011 war, and with Israel having a population of around 9.7 million, of which 20% are Palestinian citizens of Israel who work and live there, and Palestine having 5.5 million people, the fighting will never stop.

I don’t hate the concept of Jewish people having their own country, because seeing the hatred my classmates had for anyone who could be Jewish, the Hitler idolization and the desire to take part in a war against Judaism (we were in fifth grade, we never even saw a Jewish person before, and these experiences are probably the reason why I’m sympathetic to them), I believe they do need a place they can feel safe in, because if they remain as minorities in other countries, they will never be safe, because during their history they were forced to convert or treated as second class citizens. During the partition, many of the Jewish populations were expelled from their countries and only then did they move to Israel. So if Palestine is not an option, where will they go? As it is now, I don’t think they can coexist, despite the presence of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

I also want Palestinians to be able to govern themselves, trade internationally, and have the same rights as the Israeli but Hamas demands violence and the hatred between the two factions only continues to grow with each increasing conflict.

I know people are worried but I don't think it will come to genocide or mass exodus. Even if Palestinians were baying for blood and revenge, genocide and expulsion takes a lot of time and resources. The occupation has lasted 78 years but you still have Palestinians living in Occupied Palestine. Gaza has been bombed, blockaded, closed off but there are millions still living there. It's unlikely the settler population would get expelled.

The reality is that all of this conflict ends with the one state solution with apartheid laws being dissolved and the halting of the creation of new settlements. A new government would need to be formed that represents Palestinian Arabs and Iaraeli Jews for long term stability.

In fact, I'd argue that this current war just killed the two state solution which was never really viable.

Right now things are escalating fast, we're looking at a ground war in Gaza and the possibility of regional war (Israel vs Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria, etc). How this war ends will determine what the Palestinian cause looks like the rest of the decade.

[beardedmrbean]

More than 5,300 people are believed to have died after floods in the Libyan city of Derna, a local minister said.

"The sea is constantly dumping dozens of bodies," said Hisham Chkiouat, from Libya's eastern administration.

There have been calls for more humanitarian support as victims lie wrapped in body bags and others have been buried in mass graves.

A tsunami-like river of floodwater swept through Derna on Sunday after a dam burst during Storm Daniel.

Rescue teams are digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the hope of finding survivors.

Officials say at least 10,000 people are feared missing or dead.

Libyan doctor Najib Tarhoni, who has been working in a hospital near Derna, said more support is needed.

"I have friends in the hospital here who have lost most of their families ... they've lost everyone," he told BBC Radio 4's World at One.

"We just need people who understand the situation - logistic help, dogs that can actually smell people and get them from under the ground. We just need the help humanitarian help, people who actually know what they are doing."

The head of the Libyan doctors' union Mohammed al-Ghoush told Turkish media there was an urgent need for specialised forensic and rescue teams and others specialised in recovering bodies.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said an emergency team will arrive in Derna on Thursday "to assess medical needs and donate emergency medical kits to care for the wounded and body bags to the Libyan Red Crescent".

Streets are covered in mud and rubble, and are littered with upturned vehicles.

Mr Chkiouat, a local official, said some areas of Derna have "vanished, completely disappeared".

"So imagine a residential area has been destroyed completely, you cannot see it, it's not existing anymore.

"I've never seen anything like this before. It's by all means a tsunami."

Why the floods were so catastrophic

Johr Ali, a Libyan journalist currently in Istanbul whose family is in the country, said it was like "doomsday".

"The screams of the kids, the dead bodies around the streets," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He explained he spoke to a family who were the only ones to have survived the floods in their neighbourhood.

"They described the situation when the floods went away, saying a woman was hanging in the street lights because she was taken away by the flood.

"She stayed there and died there. They eye-witnessed that, they eye-witnessed their nephew dead in the streets, thrown away by water."

People say the amount of water is indescribable, he said.

"Tens of thousands are either dead or beneath the soil. The water took the ground beneath them and threw them into the sea."

The floods have claimed the lives of a number of elite footballers, according to the Libya Football Federation.

The LFF has officially announced the deaths of four footballers in the region: Shaheen Al-Jamil, Monder Sadaqa and brothers Saleh Sasi and Ayoub Sasi.

The United Nations has called the deadly floods a "calamity of epic proportions".

The cities of Soussa, Al-Marj and Misrata were also affected by Sunday's storm.

Libya has been in political chaos since long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011 - leaving the oil-rich nation effectively split with an interim, internationally recognised government operating from the capital, Tripoli, and another one in the east.

But despite the split, the government in Tripoli has sent medical supplies, body bags, doctors and paramedics.

Derna, about 250km (155 miles) east of Benghazi along the coast, is surrounded by the nearby hills of the fertile Jabal Akhdar region.

The city was once where militants from the Islamic State group built a presence in Libya, after Gaddafi's fall. They were driven out some years later by the Libyan National Army, forces loyal to Gen Khalifa Haftar who is allied to the eastern administration.

The powerful general said eastern officials were currently assessing damage caused by the floods so roads could be reconstructed and electricity restored to help rescue efforts.

[kefnut-the-gweilologist]

1 of the scariest political memories i have from my childhood has to be american reaction to muammar gaddafi and libya. Like before 2011, i had never seen libya be brought up on the news. And now all of a sudden gaddafi must die and libya is a under a despotic dictatorship and gaddafi is as much a threat to democracy as the taliban and im just sitting here like where the fuck did this all come from

[thunder-jolt]

Urgent request Assistance:i need your help and cooperation for a good purpose I want you to keep this top secret between us. My name is James Ramos, I am 53 years old. I am US military currently in Yemen for peacekeeping mission. . During our work routine in Libya in 2011,there was an attacked by Taliban's,

during the process 25 of us was signaled to intervene, and we succeeded in protecting the life and properties of the people of that community. We personally discovered a huge sum of $98,000,000.00 USD and 44,000, karat of Gold hidden by the Taliban's after one week of the mission,the $98,000,000.00 USD and 44,000, karat of Gold was share by all the army General officer and the military doctor's, my own share of the money is 7 million US dollars and 80 kg Karats of Gold ,i kept my own share of the money and the gold in a safe place inside a trunk box with a security code,wish i deposited it in security company in (Accra Ghana)

Urgency information:past 3 days back, i got email from the security company to come over to claim my package within 2 weeks time,before their Government will close down the security company,i have try all the best i could but . we all army General military,no one was allow to live until the mission is over here in Kuwait , ,actually i am already due for retirement ,i will through with my mission here in Kuwait in 2 months time, Pleading: i need your assistance ,please ,i want you to assist me to receive my package to your country until i will hrough with my mission here in Kuwait in 2 months time ,i am agreed to give you 20% of my package ,and 10% will go for any expenses you will make and i will hold 70% ,I will also reward you greatly for this help and your partnership

as soon as my package is deliver to you in your country.... i hope you would not disappoint me on this, this is my life. i will come come over to you for investment arrangements between both of us when i through with my mission here in Kuwait in 2 months time also think of the kind of investment that i can also invest in your area with some part of my money. Then plan our life together immediately. If you are interested, give me your email address or WhatsApp number for more details. This is my email address: genjamesnewyork@gmail.com.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Spreading... The word...

I suppose...

(I'm not sure if this is legit or not but I'll post JUST TO BE SURE.)

[y2kbugs]

Urgent request Assistance:i need your help and cooperation for a good purpose I want you to keep this top secret between us. My name is James Ramos, I am 53 years old. I am US military currently in Yemen for peacekeeping mission. . During our work routine in Libya in 2011,there was an attacked by Taliban's,

during the process 25 of us was signaled to intervene, and we succeeded in protecting the life and properties of the people of that community. We personally discovered a huge sum of $98,000,000.00 USD and 44,000, karat of Gold hidden by the Taliban's after one week of the mission,the $98,000,000.00 USD and 44,000, karat of Gold was share by all the army General officer and the military doctor's, my own share of the money is 7 million US dollars and 80 kg Karats of Gold ,i kept my own share of the money and the gold in a safe place inside a trunk box with a security code,wish i deposited it in security company in (Accra Ghana)

Urgency information:past 3 days back, i got email from the security company to come over to claim my package within 2 weeks time,before their Government will close down the security company,i have try all the best i could but . we all army General military,no one was allow to live until the mission is over here in Yemen, ,actually i am already due for retirement ,i will through with my mission here in Yemen in 2 months time, Pleading: i need your assistance ,please ,i want you to assist me to receive my package to your country until i will hrough with my mission here in Syria in 2 months time ,i am agreed to give you 20% of my package ,and 10% will go for any expenses you will make and i will hold 70% ,I will also reward you greatly for this help and your partnership

as soon as my package is deliver to you in your country.... i hope you would not disappoint me on this, this is my life. i will come come over to you for investment arrangements between both of us when i through with my mission here in Syria in 2 months time also think of the kind of investment that i can also invest in your area with some part of my money. Then plan our life together immediately.