Human Freedom Index [PDF], The Human Freedom Index 2021
2019: 5.05, Rank: 156, Personal Freedom: 5.17, Economic Freedom: 4.79
Territory in northern Africa, ruled since 2016 by the Government of National Accord
Libya (Arabic: ليبيا, Italian: Libia) is a country in North Africa, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south and Algeria and Tunisia to the west. The country is made of three historical regions: Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica. With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometers, Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa, and is the 16th largest country in the world. Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world. The largest city and capital, Tripoli, is located in western Libya and contains over one million of Libya's six million people. The second-largest city is Benghazi, which is located in eastern Libya.
Geographical type: Territory
Latitude: 27° N — Longitude: 17° E
Area: 1,759,541 km²
ISO 3166-2 code: LY
Measures of Freedom
Level of Economic Freedom, Economic Freedom of the World
2014: 4.58, Rank: 158
2014: 4.58, Rank: 158
Libya | Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2022
2016: Status: Not Free, Aggregate Score: 20, Political Rights: 6, Civil Liberties: 6
2016: Status: Not Free, Aggregate Score: 20, Political Rights: 6, Civil Liberties: 6
Four years since the downfall of longtime dictator Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, Libya remained embroiled in political stalemate and a civil war involving hundreds of rival armed groups in 2015. Over 1,000 people were killed in fighting across the country during the year. Important infrastructure has been damaged during the conflict, and more than 400,000 residents of affected cities and towns have been displaced since mid-2014. Amid the security vacuum and a breakdown in law and order, the Islamic State (IS) militant group steadily gained ground, and consolidated a hub in Sirte.
Articles
More U.S. Intervention in Libya?, by Sheldon Richman, 22 May 2014
Discusses the situation in Libya in 2014, three years after Obama's "humanitarian intervention" that led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi and the subsequent attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi
Discusses the situation in Libya in 2014, three years after Obama's "humanitarian intervention" that led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi and the subsequent attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi
The American public has been led to believe that except for [the 2012] terrorist outburst, things have been going pretty well in [Libya]. ... Obama has sent over 200 marines along with Osprey aircraft to Sicily in case the American embassy in Tripoli has to be evacuated ... All has not been well in Libya since the U.S. military led NATO forces in an air campaign to overthrow Gaddafi ... now Libya, Cockburn writes, "is tipping toward all-out civil war as rival militias take sides for and against an attempted coup led by a renegade general that has pushed the central government towards disintegration."
Related Topic: Foreign entanglements
Cartoons and Comic Strips
Declaration of Thingamajig, by Mark Fiore, 22 Jun 2011
On thewars ... hostilities ... thingamajigs of the U.S. empire
On the
The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Libya" as of 29 Sep 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.