Last week, we reported in the Trends Journal that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met with the leader of Libyan rebel forces and former CIA agent Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar over concerns that the U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) was making advances on the strategically significant port city of Sirte. The port is currently under control of Haftar’s rebel forces.
Last Wednesday, Egypt’s parliament officially backed sending troops to fight “criminal militias” and “foreign terrorist groups,” setting the stage for direct conflict with Turkey, which backs the GNA.
It should be noted that President Al-Sisi, when he was a General, overthrew Egypt’s democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood movement of President Mohamed Morsi (who died in prison), which Turkey supported.
Taking aim at Turkey’s military intervention in Libya, Al-Sisi said he “would not stand idly by in the face of moves that pose a direct threat to security.”
While it is reported that Cairo has been militarily supporting Hafta since the overthrow of Libya’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi, last week’s official authorization by the Egyptian parliament to send ground forces into Libya brings the nation closer to war with Turkey. Turkey has an agreement with the Tripoli government to access the country’s richest oil reserves.
TREND FORECAST: Both nation’s economies, already in dire straits – and much more so Egypt, with a poverty rate of 27 percent – will severely deteriorate as the “Greatest Depression” worsens.
Should direct war break out between the Egypt and Turkey, it will destabilize much of the Middle East, spiking oil prices sharply. Should Brent crude double in price from its current $43 per barrel mark, it will swiftly push much of the world deeper into depression.
Moreover, war between the two nations may prove to be the trigger point that ignites World War III as ally and axis nations take sides.
