Libyan Coast Guard

Um, in a Mediterranean that's warming a fifth faster than, than most of the world's oceans, um, causing a whole lot of problems for communities on both sides and a whole lot of like migration and displacement, um, in addition to what's already there.

Um, and then, you know, you kind of remember that the reason that the, uh, Libyan Coast Guard such as it is exists is partly because these were the relationships, um, formed, um, between Western interests that were looking to secure access to, uh, um, Libyan oil and gas in a stable way after having bombed the place into anarchy in 2011.

Um, and the people that were the, that were initially the sort of hired guns for, um, energy transit lines then got converted into anti-migrant cops, um, a few years down the line.

And then meanwhile, there's a bunch of ships, um, not too far from us heading westwards which are carrying, um, or at least seem to be carrying weapon shipments and dual use, uh, equipment to Israel.

but I think there are, you know, that while those thoughts will be being had, there are a few things that prevent that, that, those worries from ever becoming materially actionable, um, in terms of, like, generating alternatives.

Firstly, because the, the current way of doing things is very, both, like, politically and economically lucrative for a lot of people.

There are a lot of, like, incentives and interest networks already locked into things like equipment provision to the Libyan Coast Guard or so on and so on and so forth.

And so breaking, breaking that would, you know, if you're looking at it from their side, pull out a, a bunch of, um, uh, wires from the system in a way that could also trigger unintended consequences, um, or, you know, short-term escalations in, in, um, uh, instrumentalization of, of movement.

But the evidence usually adduced for the smuggling claim is, oh, you know, there were smugglers on the boat in distress.

And in taking people on board from that boat, you're effectively acting as a taxi service well you know if something is approaching you at speed you know that there are prior cases where smugglers have forced people in the water at gunpoint potentially to their deaths and you've got a bunch of people who are still very much in distress well you and you're there you take that call but if you if you show that footage in the wrong way and one thing that i find quite interesting is a couple of months ago this whole issue resurfaced a with a ship that had been shot at by the Libyan Coast Guard.

I want to come back to the increasing violence of Libyan militias against our rescue assets.

But a ship had been shot at, and then when getting into port, the captain was detained, pursuant to a criminal investigation.

He is killed in 2011 and the, and you get chaos and civil war and anarchy afterwards.

And the Europeans are trying to continue to maintain access to lucrative and needed oil and gas supplies from Libya.

And so that's the context in which they start forming relationships with militias that later grow into what becomes the Libyan Coast Guard around the same time, partly because of the breakdown of law and order, Libya is becoming more and more of a transit point for people moving and moving in the most horrific conditions.

I'd recommend Sally Hayden's My Fourth Time to be Drowned.