Russia Has a Plan for Libya—Another Qaddafi [NOT]

The headline is misleading but the article is instructive otherwise.

Moscow has until now been seen as throwing in its lot with Khalifa Haftar, a military strongman who controls most of the oil-producing east of Libya. Yet Russia has been quietly building ties with all the competing factions, according to two European diplomats who study the Kremlin’s strategy. That puts it in a position to benefit more than other outside powers that support one side or another.…

“The West did everything it could to plunge this country into chaos,” said Alexander Dynkin, head of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, a state-run research group that advises the Kremlin. “Now all parties to the conflict trust Moscow.”

The West has been busy over the last several decades destroying its soft power as the bastion of liberal democracy and human rights. What to expect?

During the bloodletting, Saif al-Islam, 46, who studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science, was captured, put on trial and then freed in mid-2017 by the rebels who toppled and killed his father....

A representative of Qaddafi’s son met Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in early December, delivering a letter on his behalf with greetings to Putin and the Russian government, explaining his political vision for Libya and asking for political support.…

Haftar also has his own presidential ambitions as do other Libyan politicians, and Russia hasn’t yet decided on supporting one particular candidate, said the person....

Russia does not have "a plan for Libya — another Qaddafi."

Bloomberg
Russia Has a Plan for Libya—Another Qaddafi

See also

The discussion demonstrated that there is no need for “Russia’s return”: its interaction with Africa was established in the Soviet times and has not disappeared ever since. The only question is what to do with this mutual “capital of trust”.

Valdai Discussion Club
No More Fairy Tales. Russia’s Goals and Interests in Africa

See also at Valdai

The stark realities of the world descending into a vortex of sanctions and protectionism have already given rise to a number of initiatives in the developing world targeting the creation of alternative institutions and integration groupings that would to some degree provide for additional venues for openness and liberalization across the developing world. Some of the key initiatives in this area included the launching of the BRICS+ format by China at the BRICS summit and its further development by South Africa during its chairmanship in BRICS in 2018.

These innovative approaches to economic integration increasingly point to a more active cooperation among not just the largest economies of the Global South but also the largest regional integration blocks led by BRICS economies. A potential megablock that brings together these regional integration arrangements denoted as BEAMS (BIMSTEC1, EAEU2, AU3, MERCOSUR4, and SCO5 – all on the basis of previous outreach undertakings by BRICS countries) could form the basis for the first megablock of the developing world that would have enough weight to provide a counterweight to other competing megaprojects such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

A new architecture is taking shape as the non-West reacts to perceived Western overreach.

Building with BRICS and BEAMS: A Constructivist Approach to Global Economic Architecture