http://youtu.be/Hy4QjmKzF1c

I’m going out on a limb here, but there is no need for geo-strategic design in North Africa and the Middle East. This hand-wringing and calls for action are just European angst.

Sooner or later, things will reach some fluid steady state and North Africa will go back to the collection of impoverished statelets it was before Ottoman colonisation.

But trade will go on, to Europe’s advantage. Isn’t that what really matters?

North Africa isn’t China.

In the words of Louis Nolan, there, my Lord, there lies your enemy.

I have fond childhood memories of that angled football pitch.

My friends and I spent many a Sunday afternoon having free-spirited football games, and yes, that angle, along with a few concrete benches on the other side (under the wall) posed a challenge which we took on our stride and did not let it ruin our fun.

At least we had somewhere to kick a ball (and a few legs), and not having to resort to finding an alternative place to enjoy ourselves.

Placing that eyesore there is really inconsiderate and this shows that the well-being of children has not been thought of.

Marsascala needs and deserves a permanent and proper police station.

http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/mondo/libia-lappello-delle-milizie-litalia-ci-aiuti-contro-lisis-1094579.html

What Misurata thinks of Muscat’s efforts to pacify the opposing factions.

What is painfully clear is that Muscat’s Labour may be hindering any proper ceasefire between Tripoli and Tobruk.

Never was an EU, one that manages a proper geo-strategic design, as urgent. One that recognizes who the stooges are.

Seeing how he must apply double speak; UN equals neutrality, EU equals adversary and immigrants are EU business, is something which cannot be tolerated anymore.

I’m afraid we’re back to the days when RAI was the only source of news for anything North Africa.

Let’s hope Minsk works.

On CNN they are reporting that a fresh video has been released showing the live beheading of a score of Egyptian Copts in Libya, accompanied by threats made to Christians.

The authorities still believe that we are uninformed about what is happening next door or that we depend solely on what they chose to feed us on PBS news.

Jozef, thank you for being the only Maltese passport-holder to take an interest in something that’s happening in our own backyard.

And thank you for giving me this splendid opportunity to say “Oh bollocks” to that bit about how it was Malta’s insistence that got Italy to act. Bollocks. It was France.

France’s reputation among the anti-Islamist Libyans is in tatters. After all, it was France that removed Gaddafi, and it was that power vacuum that allowed the rise of the Islamists.

Now France took the lead in combating Libyan ISIS on Libya’s southern flank in January 2013 (the heady days…). It knows it cannot take the official lead in combating ISIS on Libya’s coastal strip, because all the world’s cameras will be there (unlike the Southern Algeria/Niger/Libya region, which is too rugged for even the most intrepid hack).

So Italy is to be the figurehead. But Italy hasn’t the military capability for this sort of operation. So once again the European lead nation will be France, with the US filling in all the essential (and neglected) gaps (intelligence, logistics, refuelling, communication).

The trouble is, I don’t know how long anyone can keep it up. France is way overstretched, and Hollande’s alacrity in deploying the full number of troops allowed for internal duties (hoping to garner votes, no doubt) has made a desperate situation even worse. The Italian public has no appetite for expensive and protracted military operations. Likewise for the US public, and this time round, also for the US administration.

I think it likely that in the usual post-baby-boomer way, we’ll see a short, sharp air campaign, perhaps followed by a deployment of ground troops. The after a few weeks, Egypt and Qatar will step in (a bit like the Mali model). Only for them to be driven out by renewed fighting.

The Blessed George of Vella called such a situation “fluid”, I think.

The bottom line, as always, is money. European governments are skint. Wars cost money. And for which purpose? So Corinthia Group’s board of directors can make a few more millions? I’m not being flippant here. Italy may have economic interests in Libya, but the others?