(by Massimiliano D'Elia) Libyan interior minister Fathi Bashagha said that his government will send Turkey an official request for military support to fight the mercenaries alongside Khalifa Haftar.
Erdogan replied that on the 7th the Turkish parliament (certainly of the majority) will approve the sending of troops in support of Tripoli. On January 8th there will be a meeting between Erdogan and Putin to talk about Libya (sharing of interests) and the dangers deriving from the initiative of some countries in the field of energy supply that could undermine the aims of the Russian-Turkish gas pipeline Turkstream.
The number one danger for Putin and Erdogan is called Eastmed, the gas pipeline controlled by the Greek Depa and Edison (of the French Edf group). This is a fundamental network for Italy, which through an agreement with Athens and the Poseidon pipeline can become the central country of Eastmed by establishing itself as the first gas supplier, with Eni, as well as the first buyer. Israel, Greece and Cyprus will sign an agreement on January 2 in Athens EastMed pipeline. According to the plan, Eastmed should go all the way to the south of Italy and from here to Europe.
EastMed
"What we are doing is not a reaction to anyone - says Nikos Dendias, Greek Foreign Minister - It is an effort to improve the quality of life of our citizens, to improve our economies, to give solutions. EastMed is a big boost to the energy balance of the European Union".
"I believe that the right infrastructure has been created to neutralize any move by those who wish to destabilize the eastern Mediterranean by violating international law"Said Nikos Christodoulides, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Cyprus.
Christodoulides evidently refers to Turkish President Erdogan, who recently entered into an agreement with Libya, which recognizes jurisdiction over a stretch of North African waters, regardless of Greece's claims.
The EastMed pipeline will have a capacity of between 9 and 12 billion cubic meters per year and will be powered by reserves off the coast of the three signatory countries. It will wind for 2 thousand kilometers from Israel and, through Cyprus and Crete, it will reach mainland Greece.
Rivalry of Italy and France in Libya
The interests of their two black gold giants, the Italian Eni and the French Total, are at odds in Libya, writes La Verità. Three French attitudes should be noted and an observation made. The first attitude to report concerns Wagner: the presence of these Russian mercenaries in Libya but also in central Africa has never been condemned by the Elysée. The second refers to the pressure from Paris which in these months of offensive has tried, succeeding, to prevent the European Union from condemning General Haftar in official press releases. The third and final concerns the latest French moves: given the European difficulties, he preferred to push Italy forward with an almost impossible diplomatic attempt. The observation concerns the targets of the Cyrenaica strong man raids, supported by Moscow: the Haftar air force never targeted the Total plants, unlike what happened with those managed by Eni.
Turkey's haste to intervene in Libya
Apparently there is an acceleration of the Libyan-Turkish bilateral agreement while the western countries will calmly meet in Berlin on January 14-15, after the Christmas holidays have ended. Haftar, on the other hand, with the help of 5 Sudanese, 200-1000 Russian contractors (Wagner company), the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and small aliens of French mercenaries, continues to bomb Misrata placing yet another ultimatum in Tripoli which expires next Wednesday.
Late Europe sends an EU delegation to Tripoli
Europe takes its first feeble steps, now belated, and decides to go on a mission to Tripoli on January 7 following an Italian impulse, with the coordination of the High Representative of the EU Josep Borrell, which yesterday informed the Libyan foreign minister, and the push from Berlin that is preparing the January conference on Libya in Germany. All to prevent General Haftar's Benghazi troops (supported by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates) from sinking into Tripoli and the opposing deployment of Turkish troops in support of Al Sarraj's fragile national concord government. Borrell specified to his interlocutor that the foreign holders of Italy, Germany, France and the United Kingdom will participate in the mission. A final attempt at stabilization, as weapons thunder and the self-proclaimed Libyan Liberation Army of Haftar announces that it has taken control of the Nagliya base and the airport south of Tripoli, ready to enter with elite forces in the residential neighborhoods in south of the capital. On the Facebook page of Haftar's forces, we read that they are advancing towards the center of Tripoli "after violent clashes" with the Al Sarraj militias who "withdrew, leaving corpses on the way to the airport".
The big hoax against Italy
Once the bilateral agreements with Libya were close to us, Italy was the preferred partner was Eni which collaborated in an important way with the Libyan oil authorities with mutual benefits for both countries. In 2011 France decided that the "toy" should be broken, attacked Libya first and favored the fall of Gaddafi.
With Gaddafi Italy had reached a perfect balance also with regard to the management of migration flows. After 2011 Libya has plunged into "chaos", a land of conquest for anyone with hegemonic aims, France primarily with its Total company. The US has always treated the Libyan dossier with obvious disinterest so much so that today Russia and Turkey want to put their flags on a territory tormented by thousands of micro conflicts, but undoubtedly very rich in energy resources and very attractive for its strategic geographical position.
Whoever controls Libya controls the Mediterranean, energy and migrant flows.
Italy, on the other hand, remained to watch organizing the Palermo summit (a blatant failure), looking for the American side, never had, and now the help of France, Germany and England itself with the Berlin summit.
The greatest danger that is looming is the Turkish presence in Libya, an uncomfortable presence because Erdogan could use the lever of migratory flows to threaten Europe both from the east (Balkan border) and from the south (with Libya). Let's not forget that Turkey, to contain migrants, crowded in its territories, receives many billion euros from the European Union every year, recently the EU has issued a check of 5 billion. Then there is the question of the Turkstream pipeline from to preserve.
In Italy we play with the numbers of migrants' arrivals
Italy in perennial electoral campaign still plays with the number of arrivals on the national territory. The latest data from the Interior Ministry confirm that this year arrivals have collapsed, halved, a sort of "spot" for the yellow-red government. Two days ago, in fact, the data relating to the arrival of migrants in our country from 1 January to 24 December 2019 were disclosed by the Interior Ministry: those numbers say that this year the landings have halved compared to the previous year (11.439 compared to 23.210 in 2018) and decreased by 90% compared to 2017 (when there were 118.914). Admiral Nicola De Felice pointed out on TG4 that with Salvini the average arrival was 22 per day, with Lamorgese, however, it is 54 per day.
At first glance everyone would think that the contraction took place thanks to the current Minister of the Interior, Luciana Lamorgese. Data in hand, the merit is, instead, of the former minister Matteo Salvini who in 2019 held the Interior Ministry for the first eight months. As the Giornale writes, it should also be specified that, if this executive cannot open the ports and favor indiscriminate reception, as it would like, it is precisely because of the immigration decrees wanted by Salvini that have placed a squeeze on the arrival of NGOs , re-established control over our territorial waters and made landing in Italy less attractive, eliminating the granting of the permit for humanitarian reasons. Wanting to go back, some credit could also be attributed to the former Minister of the Interior Minniti who signed an agreement with Libya to try to stop the migratory flow out of the world.
The migrants landed in Italy in 2019 were 11.439, 50,72% less than last year, when they were 23.210. This was revealed by the data from the Interior Ministry updated to 24 December. The difference increases even more if we look at 2017, when 118.914 migrants arrived by sea, 90,38% more than this year. Regarding the nationalities declared at the time of disembarkation. according to the data of the Interior Ministry of the 11.439 migrants arrived this year 2.654 come from Tunisia (23%). Arrivals from Pakistan follow (1.180. Or 10%). Ivory Coast (1.135, 10%), Algeria (1.005. 9%). Iraq (972% of the total). Bangladesh (9, 581%) and Iran (5, 481%).