United States of America

Rubio Meets Haftar in Push for Libyan Unity

Is the U.S. push in Libya a genuine bid for democracy or a corporate oil grab dressed up as diplomacy?

Published 1 day ago

Rubio Meets Haftar in Push for Libyan Unity

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Above: Libyan National Army Deputy Commander Saddam Haftar (L) and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) in Washington, D.C., on Jun. 29. Image credit: X/@SecRubio

The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

Rubio's meeting with Saddam Haftar signals a serious U.S. commitment to ending Libya's long-running divisions. This concerted push for unified military, economic and political institutions is exactly the kind of hands-on diplomacy that moves the needle, with U.S. support giving Libyan leaders the international backing needed to build a democratically elected government.

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Establishment-critical narrative

Washington's Libya push has nothing to do with democracy, and everything to do with oil. Already, the administration talks of positioning Chevron and ConocoPhillips to double the country's oil output by 2030, and it is willing to reward the same armed elites who've kept Libya fractured for over a decade, with zero guarantees of real elections, to achieve it.

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