Libya Deal Is a Gentleman's Bargain, Between Rogues
Angela Merkel was able to extract a modicum of courtesy from Khalifa Haftar in Berlin, but there’s no way this is a “comprehensive way forward.”
Promises on Libya ring familiar, and hollow.
Photographer: Mahmud Turkia/AFPIf you strain your eyes very hard, you might see a silver lining in the gloomy outcome of the Berlin summit over the Libyan civil war: At least Khalifa Haftar didn’t storm off in a huff. The commander of the rebel forces besieging Tripoli did not reprise his performance of the previous week, when he left Moscow without so much as a by-your-leave to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was able to extract a modicum of courtesy from Haftar, getting him to stay through the end of the summit, and agreeing to a deal she tried heroically to cast as progress. It was “a comprehensive plan forward,” she said, claiming that “all participants worked really constructively together.”