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And Haftar's done. I didn't realise that I was lucky enough to be on the front lines for "Zero Hour" but it truly was a zero if the idea was for Haftar do a backflip in Martyr's Square. Sadly his UAE and Russian backers had already shifted to "Plan B" libyaobserver.ly/news/haftars-z…
Haftar crashed all the jets the Russians fixed up so they have switched from the "strong man" to election model. The four Russians never met Saif (who was killed in a shootout two years ago) and seem clueless, Two remain in jail. They were scammed. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
After Mohamed Dahlan's big idea ate shit, the UAE is shifting to a more aggressive stance. They are putting together an helo assault and ground assault group and moving to the base in Niger. This is the story I am working on. SA mercenaries and a US ground commander are involved.
Egypt seems to be maintaining the course. They don't have much skin in the game. Sudan is dabbling via the UAE and Saudi is supporting Haftar but it is not clear to what level. Its also a tribal thing for Egypt/Saudi and east Libya. Salafist stuff sprinkled all around.
Turkey is flowing minimal weapons but the memories of the Ottoman empire make them the least favorite partner. Libyans want America to push the useless UN out of Libya, shut own Haftar and block foreign escalation. But we won't... so there is a potential for a proxy war.
The key players need to stop playing both sides demanding peace talks and also providing weapons to Haftar. The US is key to this "responsible adult" approach but we don't actually have a foreign policy. Donald just loves dick-taters and thinks Libya is in the middle east
Trump's reversal of the US support of the UN process and the State Department's castration has baffled Libyans (among others) since they view Haftar as a self interested Qaddafi throw back who models himself on Nasser. Which is like...the 60's? Libya is young. 
Mohamed Dahlan (the UAEs spare Erik Prince) was supposed to grease Haitham Tajouri and open the gates to #Tripoli. Both street smart guys but one was street smarter.
