Burn, Burn - Africa's Afghanistan

Angocachi Tuesday 22 Jan 2013

There is a difference between giving money, training and weapons to Salafis intent on establishing an Islamic State, and allowing them onto the front because they're fighting the same enemy. In Syria the US has done nothing to stop Al Nusra from coming in, recuiting, acquiring arms, etc because they'd welcome anybody willing to fight Assad; whether Communists, Lesbians, or Animal Rights activists angry that Assad spanked his horse... it doesn't matter to them. But NATO is not trying to oust Assad to install Salafis, but rather ex-Assad regime members that will obey Western capitals. The GCC and NATO only became pissed and reluctant to back the Syrian insurrection when it became clear that the FSA isn't going to be able to shut out the Salafis if Assad falls. In the Balkans, secular Muslim agents of NATO had no problem keeping the lid on the Jihadists, so NATO went in balls out. In Libya, the stooges did have a problem keeping the black banners from the reigns... and the Obama administration learned from that.

Terrorism experts agree that it is a myth and a misunderstanding by laymen that the US has supported Jihadists, most especially not Salafis and Qutbis. On any topic I tend to go with the majority or consensus verdict by the professionals in the field, not Pepe Escobar or Alex Jones.

And just because Jihadists are fighting China, Russia, or Iran... or anyone in their orbit, it doesn't mean the US or Saud are behind it. The Islamists are a third path in the Sunni world. They're trying to throw off everyone, the US, France, UK, China, Russia, Iran, India. Just as the Iraqi insurgency against the US, UK, Poland, etc wasn't a Russian operation... the Syrian insurgency isn't an American plot.. other than the American plot to throw a lasso around it. And Mali, for god's sake, is a French puppet. Why would the West get behind an Islamist insurgency against a regime they already control?

Theo
It wasn't a ragtag army. It's Assad's Army, the Sunni part of it... with all the training and arms he afforded them. Then in addition, Jihadists with years and years of experience in theaters from Iraq to Afghanistan to the Caucasus, from Libya to Somalia to Kashmir.
The US has been backing the FSA, and are (were) relying on Turkey in the way they relied on Pakistan to back the Seven Party Alliance in Afghanistan against the Soviets. But the FSA are not Salafis. They're just a coup of Sunni Assad regime members.
But Al Nusra/Al Qaeda gets its money and weapons in the ways I listed.

Niccolo and Donkey Tuesday 22 Jan 2013

Theo Angocachi SweetLeftFoot SteamshipTime Roland President Camacho

This is very interesting....................

Terror in North Africa: are Westerners pulling the strings?

Westerners, including a man with blond hair and blue eyes, are believed to have been among the Islamist militants who launched last week’s attack on the Tigantourine complex near Algeria’s border with Libya .

A French jihadist, previously unknown to authorities, and two Canadians are suspected to have been involved in the hostage-taking, and reports also claim that a man with a Western accent was among the extremists who lured terrified gas workers from their rooms during the hostage crisis.

Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal told reporters that a man, judged “by his English accent” to have been Canadian, was among the 32 Islamists whose raid on the Algerian refinery prompted a global crisis. One of the Canadians, identified only as “Shaddad”, is alleged to have played a leading role in the attack which left 58 hostages – including 37 Westerners - dead after a four-day battle with Algerian forces. Five further Western workers are still unaccounted for. “A Canadian was among the militants,” Mr Sellal said. “He was co-ordinating the attack.”

The militant group also included men from Tunisia, Egypt, Mauritania and Niger, Mr Sellal said. At least 29 Islamists from eight nationalities were killed in the operation to end the siege, with the remaining three captured alive. The make up of the attacking group – an al-Qa’ida splinter brigade who call themselves “Those Who Signed in Blood” - will be carefully examined as security experts try to assess the scale of the terror threat across North and West Africa.

Concern at the international composition of the Algerian kidnap brigade will be compounded by reports from residents in Diabaly, Mali, that Islamists who overran the town last week contained English-speakers and militants of European appearance .

Angocachi Tuesday 22 Jan 2013

3 possibilities; Converts, Balkans, Caucasus. There are quite a few White converts with As Shabaab. One of them, I can't recall his name, was featured in a video making roadside bombs.

Bob Dylan Roof Tuesday 22 Jan 2013

1 More possibility: Bix Noods making shit up

Ferdinand Tuesday 22 Jan 2013

Why is it necessary for the US to support the creation of Sharia states? They can generate the conditions that warrant a permanent military presence in various regions. That is, they destroy unitary sovereignty through multiple means in order to justify and perpetuate the existence of AFRICOM et al and allow the entry of the various private interests that can generate a profit. This is especially so when everything is at the expense of Chinese expansion.

Niccolo and Donkey Tuesday 22 Jan 2013

Niccolo and Donkey Thursday 24 Jan 2013

Angocachi Theo Roland SteamshipTime President Camacho

China and Western intervention in Mali

China, in contrast, has other profound thoughts on its mind - principally, its conflict of interests with the West in Africa. The angst in Beijing is apparent from a scathing criticism in the Global Times on Tuesday of the West's intervention in Mali. It was written by written by He Wenping, director of African Studies under the Institute of West Asian and African Studies belonging to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He wrote:

China has certain interests in Mali through its investment projects. It is not necessarily a bad thing for China as France's decision to send its troops can stabilize the situation... However, despite all the potential benefits, there is one possible cause for alarm - French forces. Involvement in Mali will provide the case for legalization of a new interventionism in Africa.

France's direct economic interests in Mali cannot be underestimated... One of the drawbacks of this action is that it brings back memories of the "African gendarmerie" - France's colonial status.

The big question is whether the coordinated foreign policy moves by Moscow and Beijing would now also embrace the African theatre.

Following the recent Russian-Chinese consultations on strategic security in Beijing on January 9, Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev revealed that the two countries are planning to intensify their cooperation on missile defense in response to the US' growing deployments. Patrushev said:

We are concerned about the US plans to build a global missile defense system, including in the Asia-Pacific region. Our Chinese partners share our concerns and we have agreed to coordinate out actions in that respect.

However, China has far bigger stakes in Africa than Russia. It has surpassed the US and Europe as Africa's biggest trading partner (US$160 billion) and its businesses invested $15 billion in Africa last year alone. China is hot for minerals in west, north and Central African countries and oil from west Africa. Agricultural products from Chad, Mali, Benin and Burkina Faso supply China's massive textile industry. West Africa is also a key importer of Chinese products, with Nigeria figuring as the lead consumer (42%).

As the Global Times article signals, Beijing understands perfectly well that the West is embarking on a containment strategy in Africa by simply retaking control of the former colonies where China is making headway. The point is, the West cannot compete with China by matching the latter's offer of a broader relationship to the African nations.

China's trans-continental projects are leading the path to the creation of regional economic blocs, which augment the African nations' capacity to create space vis-a-vis the western powers and negotiate better. In sum, the specter that is haunting the West is not so much al-Qaeda as this inability to match China's offer of a package deal and a broader relationship with the African states.

The Russian policy in Africa, in comparison, lacks focus and sustained interest. To quote Irina Filatova, a leading Russian expert on Africa, "Russia is interested in developing economic relations with Africa but does not have much to offer. And what it does have to offer, it does not quite know how to."

Indeed, former president Dmitry Medvedev tried to reverse the trend and even appointed a special envoy on African affairs to inject new vibrancy and content into Russian diplomacy. Medvedev lamented after a visit to Nigeria that Russia was "almost too late" in engaging with Africa.

The Western military thrust into Mali could be a wake-up call for Moscow that nothing is ever too late in life and politics.

Niccolo and Donkey Monday 28 Jan 2013

Team Zissou Monday 28 Jan 2013

Good thing France has all those piles of money lying around with nothing better to do with them than fund colonial wars.

Niccolo and Donkey Monday 28 Jan 2013

Roland Angocachi President Camacho SweetLeftFoot SteamshipTime

Only time will tell if this is true....

Timbuktu mayor: Mali rebels torched library of historic manuscripts

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Islamist insurgents retreating from Timbuktu set fire to a library containing thousands of priceless historic manuscripts, according to the Saharan town's mayor, in an incident he described as a "devastating blow" to world heritage.

Hallé Ousmani Cissé told the Guardian that al-Qaida -allied fighters on Saturday torched two buildings that held the manuscripts, some of which dated back to the 13th century. They also burned down the town hall, the governor's office and an MP's residence, and shot dead a man who was celebrating the arrival of the French military.

French troops and the Malian army reached the gates of Timbuktu on Saturday and secured the town's airport. But they appear to have got there too late to rescue the leather-bound manuscripts that were a unique record of sub-Saharan Africa 's rich medieval history. The rebels attacked the airport on Sunday, the mayor said.

"It's true. They have burned the manuscripts," Cissé said in a phone interview from Mali 's capital, Bamako. "They also burned down several buildings. There was one guy who was celebrating in the street and they killed him."

He added: "This is terrible news. The manuscripts were a part not only of Mali's heritage but the world's heritage. By destroying them they threaten the world. We have to kill all of the rebels in the north."

On Monday French army officers said French-led forces had entered Timbuktu and secured the town without a shot being fired. A team of French paratroopers crept into the town by moonlight, advancing from the airport, they said. Residents took to the streets to celebrate.

The manuscripts were held in two separate locations: an ageing library and a new South African-funded research centre, the Ahmad Babu Institute, less than a mile away. Completed in 2009 and named after a 17th-century Timbuktu scholar, the centre used state-of-the-art techniques to study and conserve the crumbling scrolls.

Both buildings were burned down, according to the mayor, who said the information came from an informer who had just left the town. Asked whether any of the manuscripts might have survived, Cissé replied: "I don't know."

The manuscripts had survived for centuries in Timbuktu, on the remote south-west fringe of the Sahara desert. They were hidden in wooden trunks, buried in boxes under the sand and in caves. When French colonial rule ended in 1960, Timbuktu residents held preserved manuscripts in 60-80 private libraries.

The vast majority of the texts were written in Arabic. A few were in African languages, such as Songhai, Tamashek and Bambara. There was even one in Hebrew. They covered a diverse range of topics including astronomy, poetry, music, medicine and women's rights. The oldest dated from 1204.

Seydou Traoré, who has worked at the Ahmed Baba Institute since 2003, and fled shortly before the rebels arrived, said only a fraction of the manuscripts had been digitised. "They cover geography, history and religion. We had one in Turkish. We don't know what it said."

He said the manuscripts were important because they exploded the myth that "black Africa" had only an oral history. "You just need to look at the manuscripts to realise how wrong this is."

Some of the most fascinating scrolls included an ancient history of west Africa, the Tarikh al-Soudan, letters of recommendation for the intrepid 19th-century German explorer Heinrich Barth, and a text dealing with erectile dysfunction.

A large number dated from Timbuktu's intellectual heyday in the 14th and 15th centuries, Traoré said. By the late 1500s the town, north of the Niger river, was a wealthy and successful trading centre, attracting scholars and curious travellers from across the Middle East. Some brought books to sell.

Burn, Burn - Africa's Afghanistan

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