Really? We need to divert a third undersecretary of something at State Department to monitor this?
Libya threatened on Saturday to bomb a North Korean-flagged tanker if it tries to export oil from a rebel-controlled port east of Tripoli, in a major escalation of a standoff over the country's petroleum wealth.
The rebels, who have seized three major ports since August to demand more autonomy, warned Tripoli against staging an attack to halt the oil sale after the tanker docked at Es Sider export terminal.
And we haven't even gotten to the silly optics:
A local television station controlled by protesters showed footage of pro-autonomy rebels holding a lengthy ceremony and slaughtering a camel to celebrate their first oil shipment.
Okaay. With all due respect to the deep traditions that make this a big deal, really?
Yet there is a serious side to this feud between west and east (and south) Libya:
The weak government in Tripoli is struggling to control well-armed former anti-Gaddafi rebels and Islamist militias, while parliament was stormed by protestors at the weekend who blamed the politicians for the growing chaos.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur Tarek Mitri said the Libya situation would be discussed at a Security Council meeting on Monday.
"There must be a consensus also within Libya to address what seems like the intractable problem of insecurity," he said.
Is the problem really so much that the weak government in western Libya is unable to control the east and south, as it is that the east and south don't want to be controlled by Tripoli in the west? What consensus will help this out long term?
We spend too much effort defending the notion that these are nations when they are really a collection of tribes whose members don't really trust people from other tribes.
And usually for good reason. When one tribe can lord it over the others, it often does. So trying to strengthen government just allows oppression by the tribe that wins the lottery by living near the capital city, or by another tribe marching on the capital after they get tired of getting shafted.
So why not let Tripoli run the west and let the east run the east and let the south run the south? Why make different tribes that won't act like Libyans live together in a single state that we call Libya and which has a lovely engraved nameplate in New York between Liberia and Liechtenstein?
If you still want brand "Libya" so badly, keep it a single country formally but federalize the power and money. Make the nominal central government put its capital in some sleepy port town where nobody goes but the unlucky saps selected to do a tour of duty in the capital of Libya in service of the state, and let them cast their votes in New York.
But I lean toward formal separation, because at least then we could have a real farce of a threatened war between Cyrenaica and North Korea.
UPDATE: The separatism angle is still valid, but apparently North Korea has nothing to do with the oil export:
The North Korean registered ship that fled Es Sider with $30 million worth of oil is actually owned by a Saudi company and the owners will now try to sell the oil on the black market and share the proceeds with the rebel militia that controls Es Sider.
So no North Korea-Libya War.
