This week, Libya witnessed two events that were celebrated as signs of progress, even though they express nothing more than the normalisation of division within what is supposed to be a single state. This happens in a country that the Greek historian Herodotus once described as “the source of all new things.” But what “new” can we speak of today, when novelty itself has become synonymous with fragmentation?

The first event was the participation of forces from Libya’s rival governments—one based in the east and the other in the west—in joint US special forces training in the central city of Sirte. It was the first military exercise of its kind bringing together former adversaries from the civil war. The Flintlock special operations drills, conducted by US Africa Command since 2005, aim to strengthen the counterterrorism and border‑security capabilities of participating nations. This year, they included units from Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army and forces aligned with the UN‑recognized Government of National Unity led by Abdulhamid Dbeibah.

The second event, celebrated with equal enthusiasm, was the announcement by the Central Bank of Libya that the House of Representatives in Benghazi and the High Council of State in Tripoli had approved the country’s first unified budget in more than thirteen years. These two legislative bodies are themselves products of Libya’s long political fracture: the eastern parliament elected in 2014, and the western consultative council formed in 2015 from members of the 2012 General National Congress.

Such celebrations amount to an open admission that Libya is no longer a unified state. Yet, in the logic of the politicians applauding these developments, they are treated as achievements.

Here lies the political tragedy: division has ceased to be a temporary crisis and has instead become a governing method—a........

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