The Middle East and North Africa play an increasingly important role in a “multipolar” world, the Russian leader said
Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged for stronger relations with the Arab League and its member states, proposing closer cooperation in maintaining regional security and in resolving a number of ongoing conflicts from Libya to Yemen.
Addressing the members of the Arab League ahead of the body’s 31st summit in Algiers on Tuesday, Putin said the “formation of a multipolar system of international relations is gaining momentum,” adding that the nations of the Middle East and North Africa, “with a combined population of almost half a billion,” will play an “increasingly significant role in this process.”
“Russia is ready to continue to fully boost ties with the Arab League and all its members, particularly in strengthening regional and global security,” the president continued. “We believe that the military and political issues that the Middle East and North Africa are facing – including the Syrian and Libyan crises and the Yemeni and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts – should be resolved based on universally recognized international laws, with full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.”
The Arab League summit kicked off later on Tuesday, with officials from all of the body’s 22 members in attendance besides Syria, which has been suspended from the org since its civil war began in 2011. Though there was some discussion about allowing Damascus to attend the event in Algiers, Syria’s own foreign minister reportedly suggested the issue be resolved later “for the sake of Arab unity given the challenges posed by current regional and international conditions,” according to Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra.
The regional organization was forced to delay the summit several times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, including in 2020, 2021 and once again earlier this year.
The two-day event is the first Arab League summit since some members signed normalization deals with Israel, moves which have stoked condemnation from other members – namely the Palestinians, who have slammed any improved diplomatic ties as a betrayal of their cause. Algeria, the host of this year’s summit, remains a vocal supporter of the Palestinians.
Among other issues, the league is expected to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict, ongoing crises in Libya, Yemen and Syria, regional food and energy security, reforms to the league itself, as well as the conflict in Ukraine and its aftermath.
The United Nations on Tuesday voiced “deep concern” over growing tensions between rival Libyan forces, calling for “immediate” moves to calm the situation. The UN’s mission UNSMIL said it was “following with deep concern the ongoing mobilisation of forces and threats to resort to force” by groups vying for control of the North African country. […] Full Original Post > https://north-africa.com/2022/08/libya-in-turmoil-again-as-tensions-escalate/
Clashes between armed groups erupted in Libya’s capital on Friday night, according to local media, as the country reels from a failed coup attempt three weeks ago.
A Tunisian court sentenced 16 people to death in the first judgements against jihadists involved in 2016 attacks near the Libyan border that left scores dead, media reported Saturday.
Five Western nations urged Libyans on Friday not to drag the National Oil Corporation into political disputes that could threaten the country’s fragile peace. The statement came with the NOC’s chief and the interim oil minister in a standoff. “All actors” should “respect the unity, integrity, and independence” of the NOC, said the statement from […] Full Original Post > https://north-africa.com/2022/02/libyan-oil-company-dragged-into-political-feuds/
The late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been recalled on numerous occasions since his death in 2011, in renewed readings of his views and positions. It is noteworthy that he paid special attention to the problems between Russia and Ukraine.
Gaddafi had made statements to the media on August 14, 2009, in which he warned that NATO’s realization of its plans to expand to the east poses a direct threat to Russia’s interests and security.
Muammar Gaddafi said in this regard, “NATO is trying today to drag the former Soviet republics into its sphere of influence, which can only be described as a real danger to Russia.” According to “Russia Today”.
On the same occasion, Gaddafi expressed his concern about the strained relations between Russia and Ukraine. “During my visit to Ukraine, I was convinced that there are serious problems in the relations between the two countries. One of these problems is the Ukrainian leadership’s pursuit of NATO membership,” noting that Kiev is looking at NATO, as a guarantor of its security, “which cannot but cause concern for Russia.”
In an article published in April of the same year, he touched on Russia’s historical and contemporary situation and what he described as attempts to advance from the West towards the East, pointing out that Russia was a target for what he called “Western expansion.”
In his article, Gaddafi explained that this targeting began at the beginning of the nineteenth century with Napoleon’s attempt to gain access to Russian wealth, followed by Hitler’s attempt during World War II to achieve the same goal with his mighty armies.
The Libyan leader expressed his belief that NATO is proceeding with its expansion towards the east in the footsteps of Napoleon and Hitler, taking advantage of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the vacuum that left it, because the West believes that it has achieved a victory in the Cold War over the socialist camp, and therefore this pushes it to fill the vacuum surrounding Russia to tighten the cord around it. and surrounded.
Gaddafi comes to the conclusion that the expansion of the alliance towards the east and its annexation of the countries of Eastern Europe and its quest to besiege Russia from all sides, is a dangerous provocation and an attempt to encircle and subjugate it.
In the conclusion, he stresses that “Russia is a country that cannot be easily besieged and defeated, as proven by the facts of history, far and near.”
In this context, the colonel refers to the Russian military capabilities, which he believes make them difficult to achieve thanks to its possession of the nuclear triad, that is, strategic missiles, long-range bombers and nuclear submarines.
Gaddafi believes that the threat of Russia and the attempt to encircle it plunge humanity into a new adventure that differs from the adventure of World War II in that it exposes all of humanity this time to extermination and destruction.
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