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The Libyan eastern military governor Abdelraziq Al-Nathori was accused by Abdelbasit Al-Saiti of detaining his brother Rashid Al-Saiti - the deputy head of the civil registry authority - with no rightful executions.

Bawabet Al-Wasat website cited Al-Saiti as saying that his brother went to meet with Al-Nathori along with his chauffeur and one of the authority's employees.

"All were surprised that Rashid did not depart from that meeting and when they asked for him, the guards said the military governor ordered his arrest." The website added.

Al-Saiti also said that they don't know why his brother was arrested; whether because of political, tribal or criminal reasons, saying that if the reasons were criminal, he was supposed to be arrested in a legal way with a prior investigation.

"What happened is not justifiable." Al-Saiti added.

He also explained that there are tribal disputes between his tribe and Al-Nathori's one that go three years back, adding that this could be the reason why his brother was arrested.

"I call on Khalifa Haftar to interfere and see the issue of my brother. These irresponsible behaviors by certain individuals from the army could lit up a conflict among tribes." Al-Sait indicated.

An armed group at Labreg airport in eastern Al-Bayda city city in east Libya last week while he was on his way back from a business trip from Tripoli.

He was later released without revealing why he was detained in the first place.

Link:
East Libya military governor detaining deputy head of civil registry authority - The Libya Observer

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Emmanuel Macron says France will set up refugee 'hotspots' in Libya - The Independent

GNA prime minister Fayez Al Sarraj with French president Emmanuel Macron and Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army. Philippe Wojazer / Reuters

The cause of peace has made a great deal of progress today, French president Emanuel Macron declared on Tuesday, referring to the outcome of the deliberations between Libyas prime minister and its most powerful general. Mr Macron had brought together Fayez Al Sarraj, head of the UN-backed Libyan unity government, and Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar under one roof to negotiate an end to Libyas years-long conflict. The agreement that emerged from their talks, building on their last meeting in Abu Dhabi on May 3, merits the solemn praise lavished on it by Mr Macron. The joint declaration signed by Field Marshal Haftar and Mr Al Sarraj is both comprehensive and visionary. Both sides agree that only a political solution accompanied by a national reconciliation process can rescue Libya from the ongoing crisis. To achieve this, both men have committed themselves to a ceasefire; arms will not be used for any purpose that does not strictly constitute counterterrorism. The two sides have agreed to work in earnest on drafting a new constitution, building democratic institutions, and instituting the rule of law. They have pledged to begin work on unifying Libya, and to make efforts to integrate freelance fighters into regular forces or disarm and help them rejoin civilian life. Parliamentary and presidential elections will be held as soon as possible, and further talks will be pursuant to the deal brokered by Mr Macron. After three years of conflict, this agreement represents the opening of a pathway for peace. But the magnitude of this moment must not blind us to the enormity of the challenges that lie ahead. Field Marshal Haftar and Mr Al Sarraj have not just committed to ending the bitter war raging in Libya. They have embarked on a nation-building project. Libyas history makes it inimical to such ambitions. Muammar Qaddafi diligently hollowed out the countrys institutions during his long decades of misrule. Libyas new leaders have no native inheritance to build upon. They must start from scratch. The Libyans states loss of legitimacy under Mr Gaddafi will only add to the difficulty of convincing Libyans to place renewed trust in the state. Will the militiamen who run the myriad warring outfits that have sprung up across Libya give up their arms to unify behind a single source of power? Will ordinary Libyans, who were brutally betrayed by the ancien regime, feel secure enough to engage freely and openly in a reconciliation process set in motion by a new government? Field Marshal Haftar and Mr Al Sarraj have shown great courage in burying their differences for the good of Libya. Each needs the other, and their joint efforts, if sustained and supported by the world, can yield genuinely positive results for Libya. But the road to peace is a long one. As they put their plan into action, it might be prudent to temper our expectations.

Continue reading here:
The long road to peace and reconciliation in Libya - The National

The media is now filled with headlines about North Koreas missile test on Friday, which demonstrated that its ICBMs may be able to reach the continental U.S. What isntmentioned in any of these stories ishow we got to this point in particular, what Dan Coats, President Donald Trumps Director of National Intelligence,explained last weekat the Aspen Security Forum.

North Koreas 33-year-old dictator Kim Jong-un is not crazy, said Coats. In fact, he has some rationale backing his actions regarding the countrys nuclear weapons. That rationale is the waythe U.S. has demonstrated that North Korea must keep themto ensure survival for his regime, survival for his country.

Kim, according to Coats, has watched, I think, what has happened around the world relative to nations that possess nuclear capabilities and the leverage they have and seen that having the nuclear card in your pocket results in a lot of deterrence capability. In particular, The lessons that we learned out of Libya giving up its nukes is, unfortunately: If you had nukes, never give them up. If you dont have them, get them.

This is, of course, blindingly obvious and has been since the U.S. helped oust longtime Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafis regime in 2011. But U.S. officials have rarely if ever acknowledged this reality. Heres the timeline:

In December 2003, Libya announced that it would surrenderits biological and chemical weapons stockpiles, as well as its rudimentary nuclear weapons program.

In celebrating Libyas decision, President George W. Bush declared that the rest of the world should take away the message that leaders who abandon the pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and the means to deliver them, will find an open path to better relations with the United States and other free nations. Paula DeSutter, Bushs Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance, explained that we want Libya to be a model for other countries.

In 2011, the U.S. and NATO conducted a bombing campaign to assist Libyan rebels in overthrowing the Gaddafi government. Gaddafi himself was captured by one rebel faction, who apparently sodomized him with a bayonet and then killed him.

You would definitely expect this to getthe attention of North Koreas ruling clique especially given that Iraq had also disarmed and then been invaded, with its dictator executed by a howling mob.

And, indeed, North Korea said this explicitly at the time. Its foreign ministry stated, The Libyan crisis is teaching the international community a grave lesson, which was that thedeal to rid Libya of weapons of mass destruction had been an invasion tactic to disarm the country.

Yet the Obama administration shamelessly denied this. Areporter told State Department spokesperson Mark Toner that North Koreans are looking at this and it didnt give them a lot of incentive to give up their nuclear weapons. Toner replied that where [Libya is]at today has absolutely no connection with them renouncing their nuclear program and nuclear weapons.

Moreover, North Koreans and other countries can read, and so understand what Americas foreign policy elite has repeatedly explained why we want small countries to disarm. Its not because we fear that they will use WMD in a first strike onus, since nationslike North Korea understand that would immediately lead to their obliteration. Instead, our mandarins explicitly say the problem is that unconventional weapons help small countries deter us from attacking them.

There are many examples. For instance, in a 2001 memo, then-Secretary of DefenseDonald Rumsfeld stated:

Several of these [small enemy nations] are intensely hostile to the United States and are arming to deter us from bringing our conventional or nuclear power to bear in a regional crisis.

[U]niversally available [WMD] technologies can be used to create asymmetric responsesthat cannot defeat our forces, but can deny access to critical areas in Europe, the Middle East, and Asiaasymmetric approaches can limit our ability to apply military power.

The think tank Project for a New American Century, a neoconservative pressure group that had a heavy influence on George W. Bushs administration, made the same point in an influential paper called Rebuilding Americas Defenses:

The United States also must counteract the effects of the proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction that may soon allow lesser states to deter U.S. military actionby threatening U.S. allies and the American homeland itself. Of all the new and current missions for U.S. armed forces, this must have priority.

In the post-Cold War era, America and its allies, rather than the Soviet Union, have become the primary objects of deterrence andit is states like Iraq, Iran and North Korea who most wish to develop deterrent capabilities.

In fact, even Dan Coats himself has said this, in a 2008 op-ed he co-wrote. An Islamic Republic of Iran with nuclear weapons capability would be strategically untenable, Coats said, because it would possessa deterrent against U.S. attack. And to prevent Iran from acquiring the ability to deter us, he explained, we might have to attack them.

Video of Coats speaking and his full remarks are below:

Source: The Aspen Institute

DAN COATS: It has become a potential existential threat to the United States and it is of great concern.

LESTER HOLT: And in terms of the number of options available publicly we know that there arent a lot of great options there, and a lot of it is trying to see into Kim Jong-uns head and thats I suspect that most difficult kind of intelligence trying to predict someones behavior.

COATS: Well, hes demonstrated behavior publicly that really raises some questions about who he is and how he thinks and how he acts, what his behavior is, but our assessment has come has pretty much resulted in the fact that while hes a very unusual type of person, hes not crazy. And there is some rationale backing his actions which are survival, survival for his regime, survival for his country, and he has watched I think what has happened around the world relative to nations that possess nuclear capabilities and the leverage they have and seen that having the nuclear card in your pocket results in a lot of deterrence capability. The lessons that we learned out of Libya giving up its nukes and Ukraine giving up its nukes is unfortunately if you had nukes, never give them up. If you dont have them, get them, and we see a lot of nations now thinking about how do we get them and none more persistent than North Korea

Top photo: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects troops of Unit 534 of the Korean Peoples Army on Jan. 12, 2014.

More here:
Trump Intel Chief: North Korea Learned From Libya War to Never Give Up Nukes - The Intercept

French President Emmanuel Macron brought together two of the principal rival leaders of Libya and, in Paris on Tuesday, won joint pledges of a ceasefire and elections next year.

There are causes for skepticism of the solidity of the accord and clear barriers still to be overcome. However, there is no question that the agreement is important for Libya and the region and a step in the right direction.

Libya has had a tormented history since its leader, Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011. Its population of 6 million has known basically nothing but conflict since American, Arab, British and Italian military intervention brought about regime change in the formerly oil-rich, authoritarian state.

It currently has at least three governments: the Tobruk-based eastern one, led more or less by Gen. Khalifa Haftar; a United Nations-based Government of National Accord in Tripoli, the ostensible Libyan capital, led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj; and the National Salvation Government, also based in Tripoli. There are also across the country various tribal and local armed militias, which answer basically to no one.

Apart from what peace and elections can mean to Libyans, there is a more important regional issue that stability in that country could help to ameliorate. With no effective government and an 1,100-mile-long Mediterranean coastline, Libya has become the center of a marketplace for human trafficking from troubled, poor African and Middle Eastern countries. The migrants destination is Western Europe, across the Mediterranean Sea.

It is estimated that some 100,000 migrants have crossed since January, up 17 percent from the same period last year, and that some 2,300 have died in the process, including many women and children. What has occurred is virtually more than the world can bear to see, and the only way to stop it is to somehow restore law and order to Libya.

Prospects for success are shaky. There have been other tentative Libyan agreements. The third government, the National Salvation group, was not at the Paris talks. Gen. Haftar is backed by the governments of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, with a history of support from the CIA. He is ambitious, with his armies controlling two-thirds of the country, including its second city, Benghazi. He had previously threatened to attack Tripoli, the headquarters of the two rival groups. His government also controls most of Libyas oil facilities.

But this new effort is certainly worth a shot, given the stakes for Libyans and the region, including southern Western Europe, especially France and Italy. The Italian government is cross at not having been involved in the negotiations that Macron organized, given its colonial past and oil interests in Libya. However, France, too, once governed part of the country. The Italians had coastal Tripolitania and Cyrenaica; France, the desert Fezzan in the south.

The Libyan accord, if it holds, is clearly a feather in the cap of the new French president. So far, Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is active in the Qatar Middle Eastern dispute, have stepped up to the plate in trying to resolve international conflicts as the United States has stepped back, preoccupied with domestic political issues.

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Good steps in Libya: France's moves can help stem migrant tide - Manhattan Mercury (subscription)