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US Drones, Boots Arrive In Mali
Absolutely "nobody" could have possibly anticipated that the week old French incursion into Mali could already have such disastrous consequences: a botched hostage rescue attempt by French commandos while leaving behind one of their team, a downed pilot on the first day of the confrontation, rebels that succeeded in capturing a strategic village and military post, and today, yet another hostage crisis in Algeria that has seen tens of hostages killed, potentially including Americans, following another botched rescue operation. Yet, in some ways, perhaps the stars have aligned just right for the US, which as Bloomberg reports, has wasted no time in sending not only drones in the air, but also boots on the ground.
From Bloomberg:
- U.S. military trainers are expected to arrive in West Africa this weekend to train local military forces to fight Islamist insurgents including those now battling French and local government troops in Mali, State Dept. spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says in Washington.
- U.S. now providing intelligence, airlift to French troops fighting insurgents in Mali
- No U.S. troops to operate in Mali; U.S. barred from providing direct assistance to Mali military
So on one hand the US is barred from providing direct assistance, but on the other, US trainers are... providing direct assistance?
But why? Well, take a quick look at the map of French "military assets" in Mali.
What does this map show?
Nothing.
Mali is one of the most irrelevant countries in West Africa from a resource standpoint, and what happens inside of it is certainly irrelevant from a greater geopolitical standpoint.
What is more important is what this map doesn't show, specifically the name of the country located a few hundred miles to the south: Nigeria.
Now Nigeria is important: very important. Or rather, Nigerian light sweet, one of the highest quality crudes in the world, is. And thanks to the "bungled" French peacemaking attempt, the US now has a critical foothold in what is the most strategically placed stretch of desert in Western Africa, a place where US "military trainers" will now be deployed at will.
Be on the lookout for curious escalations in violence around the capital Abuja, and key port city Lagos, in the coming months once the current Mali fracas is long forgotten.
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+1
There is one difference between repubs and dems: When dems are in office, we dont need to resort to a "support the troops!" campaign. There will be no opposition. There will be no protest voiced by the press or occupy. There will be no cackling, crazy cindy sheehans.
Just send them in, spend the money, fuck up what ya gotta and don't worry about the opposition.
vee need zee gollld from ms. molly to send it to ms. merkel; course it vill take a few years to deeg eet out and refine eet.
Will Obama free the black people? Stay tuned.
First, he is going to need to heavily arm the people. DOH!
Yeah, Obama being African (closeted) and Muslim (closeted) it is probably a tough call for him. But either way, I am very pleased that he is spending my money over there.
Completely unrelated guys and gals, but the US Mint has just informed all of its "authorized purchasers" (i.e. the big distributors or very large retailers) that they have suspended Silver Eagle Sales until Jan 28th as they are sold out. Here is the verbiage from the email they got:
“Authorized Purchasers,
The United States Mint has temporarily sold out of 2013 American Eagle Silver Bullion coins. As a result, sales are suspended until we can build up an inventory of these coins. Sales will resume on or about the week of January 28, 2013, via the allocation process.
Please feel free to call us if you have any questions.
Regards,
Jack A. Szczerban
Branch Chief, Precious Metals Group
Department of the Treasury
United States Mint”
They should raid slv. It seems they have a line to millions of tons of the stuff.
Man and only 515,000 oz shy of the best January ever.
Wal-mart today only had about 1/2 normal ammo stocks, many calibres out-of-stock.
Silver Eagles out of stock. What in the wide wide world of sports is going on here!
Price ceilings cause shortages...price floors cause surplus.
plenty of sports and beer in stock though. O'caesar knows his peeps.
Totally unrelated, but Guy Adami on Fast Money just credited ZeroHedge on German gold repatriation reporting. You had to listen carefully over all the interruptions, but he talked straight through it all and told it straight.
all the bitchez read ZH-Adami is probably Francis Sawyer
Let's not forget that the Northern half (approximately) of Nigeria is Muslim, often quite violently so, and that it wouldn't take much for that part of Nigeria to begin causing real serious problems for the oil-producing half, who they have always resented because very little of the benefits of the oil resources in the South have made their way into the North. There are plenty of well-organized and well-armed Muslim groups in Northern Nigeria who would like nothing better than a good excuse to bomb a few strategic facilities like pipelines in the South. Also Northern Nigeria - look at a map - borders on Niger and Tchad where quite a few French 'assets' are based. Not all that unreachable.
Yes they are muslim just like our Mullah.
Timbutu or bust.
Here we go again America,into the abyss of War in Africa.
Time for another Nobel Peace Prize for our Fuehrer don't you think?
Mein Fuhrer always had the best interest of a Greater Germany at heart-this mutt-not so much with the US
Remember...ve are all a part of Greater Chermany
You mean like when your der fuherer took over the German war machine during Operation Blue and let it become annihilated on the Russian steppe. Your dear jew furher would have probably achieved his plans for the Ukraine if he weren't a rothschild jew like you. Rothschild hoe.
my guess is that the french invasion was always a pretext for american troops to invade on the orders of the bush crime syndicate.....parts of the world the rockefeller axis of evil subjugates through socialistic ant-sovereignty parties while others the bush crime syndicate subjugates through military force - it is a pincer movement both wicked entities tightening the noose around civilization and decency...
the bildeberger hollande is doing exactly as he was ordered.....
Two words have become extremely diverting when it comes to the identification of America’s tyranny problem. The words are Bush and Obama. Both men have been faithful order carriers for the banker elite, their economics and their wars.
"[T]he Hegemony of World Finance should reign supreme over everyone, everywhere, as one whole supernational control mechanism." - Montagu Norman, governor of the Bank of England from 1920-1944.
It’s a mistake when assessing blame to limit it to the “bush crime syndicate” and the “Rockefeller axis of evil.”
Dr. Carroll Quigley, professor of history at the Foreign Service School of Georgetown University, identified the power group as the “international bankers,” men who are quite “different from ordinary bankers in distinctive ways: they were cosmopolitan and international; they were close to governments and were particularly concerned with questions of government debts...; they were almost equally devoted to secrecy and the secret use of financial influence in political life. These bankers came to be called ‘international bankers’; and, more particularly, were known as ‘merchant bankers’ in England, ‘private bankers’ in France, and ‘investment bankers’ in the United States."
The proposed global government at Bretton Woods I, designed upon principles of socialism, was designed with two weapons of control. One was a monetary weapon -- the IMF and its sister the World Bank. The other was a world police force. Of the two weapons, monetary control would be the most important -- a world central bank with the ability to issue a common money which all nations would be urged to accept under the argument of international trade and growth.
The “hope” in Quigley’s “Tragedy and Hope” was the man-made millennium of a collectivist one-world society when the power network achieves its goal of ruling the world. Anarchy against this tyranny would be the "tragedy."
I'm no lover of Bush, but I can't believe this was just laid on his door step.
Tony, you're clearly part of the clown syndicate.
Under Bush, Al Qaida worked for the CIA.
Under Obama, the CIA works for Al Qaida.
Huge difference.
Another armpit war to help a country that does not like us and in the end will resent our help, and will raise our deficit further, for a country most americans cant't find on a map, by a con man president with an unexplainable nobel peace prize, whos true history and purpose is unknown. Now that we are involved, expect humanitarian refugees from there to be brought here for a new entitelment class.
What's the problem with that deficit? Obama can tap the pension funds for that war.
“Mali,” says Justin Raimondo, “is Africa’s third largest producer of gold, and the recent discovery of vast unexploited sources of oil on traditional Tuareg stomping grounds should give us some idea of the commercial motives behind the French incursion.”
Raimondo of Antiwar.com has an in-depth analysis of the Mali war and its background in European imperialism, specifically identifying the Tuareg independence movement as a critical factor rather than Islamist “rebels.”
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2013/01/15/napoleon-in-mali/
NY Fed's got 7 years to dig up some Au to deliver to Germany. Mine it, refine it, stamp it, and fly it over the Med to Berlin - git'r dun Ben.
Copper and gold
In Reko Diq, Baluchistan, deposits of copper and gold are present. Antofagasta, the company which possesses the Reqo Diq field, is targeting an initial production of 170,000 metric tons of copper and 300,000 ounces of gold a year. The project may produce more than 350,000 tons a year of copper and 900,000 ounces of gold.[4] There are also copper deposits in Daht -e- Kuhn, Nokundi, Located in Chaghi district.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Pakistan
French colonization, 1892–1960
Mali fell under French colonial rule in 1892.[1] In 1893, the French appointed a civilian governor of the territory they called Soudan Français (French Sudan), but active resistance to French rule continued. By 1905, most of the area was under firm French control. French Sudan was administered as part of the Federation of French West Africa and supplied labor to France’s colonies on the coast of West Africa. In 1958 the renamed Sudanese Republic obtained complete internal autonomy and joined the French Community. In early 1959, the Sudanese Republic and Senegal formed the Federation of Mali. On 31 March 1960 France agreed to the Federation of Mali becoming fully independent.[2] On 20 June 1960 the Federation of Mali became an independent country and Modibo Keïtabecame its first President.
THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT!
Okay I'll sum up the current ZH policy :
French = bad
US = good
Strangely this opinion seems to be agreed on in the US of A only. Being Amercan tell me ONE foreign country where you can walk freely without being spat at or worse (stoned knived etc..). Yes Americans are hated everywhere they go. The French? Not so much...
Alaska. They like us in Alaska.
And Hawaii
The French are hated in Ontario.
They should learn better French.
Good time to reference Acadian Dritwood by The Band written by Robie Robertson from Ontario about the forced expulsion of 15,000 French speaking people by the English in 1750s Canada...mind you he wrote The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down also, so you're probably right but the people who matter in Ontario don't hate the French quite the opposite in fact.
Not so much in Hawaii.
http://www.hawaiiankingdom.info/
Something must be lost in translation. Current ZH policy: stupid wars = stupid.
Come on over, I'll spit on you. ;)
. . . "the french not so much . . ." Well de Bresse Bismark, there's at least one exception to your theory--Mali, considering the ASS KICKING that French forces are enduring, and its not just one ass kicking, but up and down the fucking elongated country, while they leave comrades behind. I think that counts as an excpetion. Go fuck yourself.
Ladies and gentlemen: I have located the culprit responsible for there being one suspicious downvote on every single post joking about France.
Strangely enough, we owe the frogs a debt from the Revolutionary WAR, the yshowed up and blockaded the English/German troops opposing Washington, etc. After that we saved their smelly butts too many times to count, and they proved to be the most inept military on earth except maybe for the Italians. And the there was DeGaulle, one of the biggest ingrats in the history of Western Civilization. So at least since Nurenberg trials, the French have been a dead weight or worse - care to talk about Dienbienpu? And after they got kicked out of North Africa in the 60-70's, they went to sleep while we defended their asses from the Rhine looking East. And dear scum bag Frenchie, how many French troops manned the Rhine at the cost of billions and billions and billions, so you could develop the worker's paradise - that thankfully is now falling apart at the seams. You are just an irrelevant bunch of pond scum.
I suggest you read the portrait of dorian gray by Oscar very Wilde; and don't, don't, ever look in the mirror!
The mighty french (who after all are the worlds best at being invaded) and the power of the Americans (think Grenada, Vietnam, Iraq and Afganistan) joining forces to start another war where they can't differentiate good guy from bad guy. Can't see any future problems with this. . .
Aren't the French the idiots that built the Maginot line? And that country with all of the rude, faggy waiters? Why would anyone even admit to being French? Dang.
Send "Piers Morgan" to [Timbuktu], with a straw and a roll of toilet paper...
I'm surprised this slipped past Tyler> White House ups the ante for petition website: 100,000 signatures - latimes.com
the neo-con artists known as american's are
agents of a global financial elite who desire
control and command of all people and resources.
dig? look it up, they have published the manual
for all to see and read. it, the manual, was designed
on wild fire response organisation and they see the
entire world as a wild fire to be extinguished.
that is it folks. look it up, do the google stuff
and you will see the control plan and method.
everything and everyone becomes as asset in the
effort to control and suppress.
.
Randy Newman - Political Science (Let's Drop the Big One Now)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqBrw3rQvKo
Pathetic another pointless war for nothing, following that French idiot who is trying hopelessly to distract his free-market destruction policies.
Obama! Find us a war, any war will do...
Ok, in honor of Limerick King
Why limit the war to just Mali?
Why not Yemen, Iran and then Bali?
Is it just me,
Or do many agree
That fighting more War is just folly
http://www.worldtribune.com/2013/01/09/u-s-to-establish-military-bases-i...
Got Yemen covered...........Despite being flat ass fuckin broke, we are adding bases in Yemen..........FUCK THE NEO-CONS
Yeah! Fuck the guys who are no longer in the White House. Fuck THOSE guys.
Ass hat.
This reminds me of something from the 60's...
hmm...
"a botched hostage rescue attempt by French commandos while leaving behind one of their team"
lol
Another modern military getting spanked by "insurgents" with second rate surplus hardware. Some chicken littles who daydream about violent gun confiscation scenarios still think the U.S. government would stand a chance against millions of heavily armed Americas.
Newsflash... Obama punted to Congress on the ban and it's no going to happen.
" a rifle behind every blade of grass"-Admiral Yamamato
You got it!
Hey whatever happened to those "mass arrests" you kept yapping about. Uh-huh. Whatever. That's what happened.
Some chicken littles who daydream about violent gun confiscation scenarios still think the U.S. government would stand a chance against millions of heavily armed Americas.
There won't be "millions of heavily armed Americans" to go up against, there won't any armed confrontations, they're not stupid. Just piecemeal one-by-one confiscation (and prison).
Not one of O's 23 EOs says anything about confiscation. It's all about outlawing ownership, using the medical profession to diagnose everybody with some sort of "mental disorder".
Once you're diagnosed with some "mental disorder", and it's in a national medical database, and you legally can't own guns anymore, they'll just wait till you're caught with one, there goes your guns and there you go off to prison.
You idiot GOs are waiting for some sort of massive confiscation, at which time you'll launch your so-called "revolt".
Bullshit and bullshit. There won't be any massive confiscation, and there won't be any so-called "revolt".
We're getting pretty tired of "oh yea, you just wait, we're gonna do it someday".
Bullshit. You'll never do it.
Plans written long ago involve using UN soldiers here to disarm.
http://www.infowars.com/un-gun-grab-follows-state-department-plan/
First, we bail out the Frogs in IndoChina, then they empty Fort Knox to foot the bill. Who wants to bet the Frogs (French to you non-New Yorkers) end up sticking a fork in the dollar by the time this little 'adventure' is over?
its not about frogs its about the dogs of war defending the Oligarchy Gods of oil and uranium.
Go learn your Mowgli book of the Jungle.
Also keep in mind its part of the Oligarchy plan to suck in Algeria into the "Maghreb conundrum". Egypt...Libya...Tunisia...Algeria...Mali...NIger...Nigeria... you get the picture (like in Syria).
The whole of Sahel from Somalia to Mauritania will be land of opportunity, once the incumbent regimes of local countries take on the Islamist backlash, as a foot in the door strategy of global Oligarchy to control cowered regimes, caught between the anvil of Islamism and the hammer of first world (US oligarchy military) power.
Preempting that backlash is a good strategy to hasten the rush to RM assets before Chindia gets there. The fight between first world and Chindia is on for Africa's resources.
As they say, use the "mad men" false flag to destabilise the local regimes whose wealth you want; aka the al Qaeda nebulous vis à vis oil rich Libya/Algeria/Niger etc. is a good stalking horse to destabilise the incumbent regimes.
Al Qaeda is useful in Libya, Syria now Mali/algeria.
During the French-Habsburg stand off in 1520-1559 in Italy, France's greatest ally in Mediterranean was Barberousse, the Corsair. Ottoman admiral, he raided the Italian coast at François I's request to destabilise the Imperial spanish hold during the wars of Italy. In fact Ottoman Navy (as Ottoman army at Vienna) and French were allied against the Habsburgs.
Today in many ways the First world and Al Qaeda are allied to help the oil come back under first world control. History repeats.
Its been the age of Machiavelli ever since. Read my lips.... is the give away line. Never believe what I say but what I do!
Saudi is the biggest ally of USA....that is the most important fact of the oil patch. And they are...Wahab's sons at the top of the pyramid. Food for thought.
How can Islam in Africa/MAghreb go against those who control Mecca?
Aint that a question worth pondering?
"How can Islam in Africa/MAghreb go against those who control Mecca?"
Weeeell, we better ask the descendants of the Turkish sultan
You forget one thing : Selim I, father of Soleiman the MAgnificent, took Cairo by defeating the Mamelucks in 1517, obliged the incumbent figurehead, Abbasid Caliph, to hand over the sacred insigna of the Prophet (standard and Prophet's teeth) and brought them back to Stamboul.
From that day onwards, the Caliph of ISlam WAS the great Turc. Nobody in Sunni Islam could contest that. Mecca was now part of his empire. Only the Safavid Shiites of Iran contested Soleiman's supremacy and he fought many wars against them taking Bagdad but could not hold on to it. The Persians won that war later on.
When the Ottomans collapsed the Pax Britannica leaders of 1917 (LLyod George/Churchill) resuscitated the Hashemite power over Mecca. And that led to the Sauds...when Pax Britannica's regional (now oil) legacy morphed into Pax Americana under FDR/WW2.
There...500 years of history, how we now have the most rabid elements of Islam back in charge of Mecca; something that the Renaissance/ Enlightenment were supposed to attenuate, via the Turkish/French alliance that subsequently made Turkey, (lead player), more tolerant and west compatible, but something that good ole GWB and "clash of civilizations" have resuscitated in the Machiavellian aftermath of AMerica's use of Talibanism to fight Soviet presence in Afghan/Pak; as in IRak, in the wake of Oil patch hegemonial diplomacy; vital thread to west's way of living.
Our way of life needs Arab oil, now vital to Chindia/JApan.
Here's a more complete interactive map of Africa with comparative sizes of African countries to USA states.
http://www.africom.mil/Map
this region isn't quite so devoid of natural resources : Niger, on the other side the border, has 8% of the world's uranium
think that might get the nuclear French interested
Good observation! If you know or can, it'd be interesting to see a list of U235 ore by concentration/ton by country. It's not just size of reserves, but Size x Concentration for Total Mineable U235.
I recall seeing something in Chris Martensen's Crash Course, that showed Canada as having the highest concentrations.
Ireland's U2 can put on a light show, but not like that U235 band. ;)
Nigeria? nucking futs to attempt anything there. that place is hell
REV 9
6And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.
7The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. 8They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. 9They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. 10They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. 11They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.
12The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
Looks like this: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/01/weapons-of-the-mali-war/
The president's foreign policy is in a shambles and now it takes Algerian military to rescue Americans held hostage by Islamic militants we likely trained. No one is willing to report that the Libyan failures and training of those militants are directly tied to the president's foreign policy of leading from behind which has led to this outcome in Mali.
Imagine if you appointed yourself as The Neighborhood Cop, and had the biggest G+A collection to back you up. Also imagine that every time one of the neighbors (you didn't like or whose stuff you coveted) had his kids scrapping. Why, you'd have no choice but to spy on them with your Day/Night sights and then barge in, guns blazing. You 'keep the peace' because you have your 'peacekeeper'. ;-)
Of course, if your 'professional' neighbors (Bankers, Doctors or Lawyers) had rowdy neighbors who cause them trouble and break-ins, why, you'd have to sort out the rowdy bunch also on their behalf. After all, they are the 150 lb 'weaklings' and you are the (useful) 900 lb gorilla/guerilla. ;-)
Yeah, that's what the US 'Foreign' Policy seems like. Very 'foreign' to the average American.
Some very astute poster mentioned adjacent ( resources are in jeopardy)... He/She in fact, was/is correct.
CIA - The World Factbook Mali Another off the books CIA quagmire. No mention of natural resources as primary exports.
Goat herding and Cow milking, are the GDP of Mali< caugh_ caugh> ...
French: Ze Germans want back ze gold we have.
Americans: Yeah. We're in a jam.
French: There is a lot of gold in Mali!
Americans: OK, we'll get some AQ in there. Then you attack. We'll get the gold. We just have to stall the Krauts.
All Magician's Trick: Distraction & Action. Mali is the 3rd largest AU producer, next to South Africa.
http://www.mbendi.com/indy/ming/gold/af/ml/p0005.htm
Q = Where is MFG (Mali's Frikkin Gold)? The Dutch and German Central Banks are asking the same thing:
Where My F'n Gold!?"
The American and the French need to get the gold, to pay the Dutch and Germans, who want their gold that neither French nor Fed has in their vaults.
Suspect that the US and French AU is gone.. into 'private' hands: Needed for the Golden Temple and the Golden Bull. Grand opening when there is "One Coin To Rule Them All". Just kidding. I think.
It's time Obama put his boots on and went in himself.
Man has no balls- Only drones.
lots of raybans been in Mali for years. very curious that AQ decided to play mole to our whack-a-mole in Mali. Only thing I can think of is some Libyan stuff had to be moved and they just can't keep the saturday night fighters chilled.
Look at the border problems between Israel and Egypt as the next big flash point on Obamas foreign policy. That big black swan is getting ready and it's just a matter of time.
If the US has drones over Mali then we indeed have boots on the ground in Mali. In order for the drones to accurately hit targets, especially trucks with rebel leaders, lasers need to tag these targets. This tagging of targets is done by boots on the ground special ops teams. Where there are drones there are boots on the ground, period.
What would "Wall Street is Great!" or "Bankers are Great!" be in Arabic?
Maybe the DOD should just paint "Dollar Akbar!" on the drones?
If the US and other western nations would allow Nigeria to control its oil and use the proceeds from fairly traded oil to help their people - instead of installing thug puppet scum as leaders who allow western oil countries to pillage resources and pollute to high hell - then perhaps they would not have a massive uprising on their hands (that just happens to be lead by Islamists)
THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RELIGION - AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE US GANGSTERISM (YET AGAIN)
irrelevant from a resource stand point ??? Well I get some really nice grossular garnets from there. Guess I'll just have to raise the price on the ones I have and not cut anymore rough........
This all sounds like Vietnam...french screw things up, US sends in "military advisors", things go badly for the puppet gov't, US sends in foot soldiers, lots of kids die for ???
I guess Prez Owe pulls us out of Afghani too early, just in time to keep his election promise, but now sends them off to Mali. And I thought he was cutting Defense.........
Boots on the ground
Drones in the air
If it's a big botch
The Yankees are there
AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZIng that US Intel has already announced that this attack was planned LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG before the Mali action by France. We are still waiting for any light to shine on Benghazi!
So long as you have a fiat currency called the US Dollar, you will have war.
Just print it up , get the troops and drones ready and Away we go.
Oh what fun ( besides the moolah we make )!
First off hat's off to Zerohedge as the only news outlet that actually knew of the slaughter of Western hostages by the Algerian Government. I mean "already the lies and obfuscation are flying"? These clowns in the media are even more insane with their stories of "neo-colonial imperialist French getting slaughtered as they should" mularkey (as said on National Public Radio today.) for a site devoted to gold I'm surprised by the "insane asylum relook" here. Mali is to Goldcorp what Ray Lewis is to the Baltimore Ravens. Anywho "I'm sure this war will be like all the others" USA. "Four years, lots of press...zero complexit" let alone...ahem..."moral ambiguity." I must say I do find it interesting that the slaughter of these hostages caused oil and it would seem all North American markets to surge as they did. Hmmmmm. I wonder why that is....
Hey I just had to comment when I saw that. I read about the Algerian "massacre" at around 08:30am UK time on ZH. 14 hours later the BBC where claiming no one knew what was happening but maybe 1 or 2 of the hostages were dead but expect more bad news to follow. Go figure.
There go the neighborhood.
Al-Qaeda scores again.
Hope they keep them over there working for them and not bring them to the US. I think they already brought them here once.
The US is in bed with Al-Qaeda in Syria
Al- Qaeda is known to be a CIA operation
How else do you think the US can go where it wants using it as an excuse!
WAIT JUST A FUCKING MINUTE
They do sweet fuckall and get our guys and diplomats shot to bits in benghazi,right?
Now,something starts brewing in Mali and they are all in with the snake eaters and drones?
There is a smelly turd here somewhere.....
And,why don't the locals love their Gubbmint enough to fight for them? Bunch of Crooks?
Drones are pay-back for suicide bombers plain and simple.
Understand... http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-war-in-libya-was-seen-as...
The Indepenent article brings up what the media have not acknowledged. When President Obama helped overthrow the goverenment of LIbya without the consent of Congress, he contibuted toward the destabilization of the area. Displaced Tuaregs and other African mercinaries working for Khaddafi left with his weapons which were used against Mali. This mess in Mali is a direct result of Obama and France overthrowing Khaddafi as was Benghazi. The press has almost totally absolved President Obama of the problems his misplaced Liban policies caused.
Mali is one of the most irrelevant countries in West Africa from a resource standpoint, and what happens inside of it is certainly irrelevant from a greater geopolitical standpoint.
____________________
No actually that is not true. Mali has some of the very large gold deposits in Africa owned by the likes of Endeavor, Anglo, BHP and others who are rampng up production.
It's about blood bullion - nothing more
This is a stupid article. The following ZeroHedger is right on:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-16/it-will-take-fed-seven-years-de...
While China is buying Africa with US$. US is recapturing Africa with brute force. When you are late, stupid and have no money, gotta use force.
Africa is last standing continent to be developed!
Well, that discounting pinguin country. Are they going to blame pinguins for terrorists acts in 2035 to invade their country?
Bang on.
Having worked in Angola etc, the chinese are using soft power.
When I heard from expats (trust me they always hear and see the stuff first hand) that the US were thinking about 'protecting african resources' we immediately knew direct action would be immient because like you say the west has no money.
Frankly I feel sorry for the poor citizens being stuck in the middle of this new cold war between China & Russia on one side and the west on the other.
I just hope sanity will prevail, but currently it appears out to lunch.
And yes Antartica will be next, much to the annoyance of New Zealand, Austrailia and Chille
A Bungled French Policy..!! American "Advisers"... !! Where have I heard that before ???
Duh... Vietnam..!!
"Another war we're gonna lose...
Oh Ma I got the GI Blues!"
2013 US Army Corp song...
"Mali is one of the most irrelevant countries in West Africa from a resource standpoint"
Good job Randgold Resources don't know this.
I have to love the 'US Military Trainers' (mercs).
Like these guys need training....like most soldiers in Africa, they have been fighting for years.
Death is a pretty good teacher of combat tactics, as is the availability of military books on the internet.
Given the 'success' of the wars in the middle east I'd rather avoid the wests 'advice'; especially when we can't even manage our own finances, let alone get our own houses in order.
Like all dying empires, the arrogance is breath taking....
"What is more important is what this map doesn't show, specifically the name of the country located a few hundred miles to the south: Nigeria.
Now Nigeria is important: very important. Or rather, Nigerian light sweet, one of the highest quality crudes in the world, is."
Exactly the facts I posted a comment on ZH saying the same thing a few days and got only down votes.
I am in daily conversation with upper echalons of the Nigerian government and they have been worried about US Africom finding a foothold in Africa for more than six months that I know of. No African government wants Africom, which is why it had to be based in Germany .
etresoi, never, ever bother about those arrows. up or down, this blog has a lot of users - and many of them aren't interested in anything original
I always wonder what the sophomoric frat boys have been using.
LOL - super-easy credit and plenty of girls (a super-majority on the usual campus because of easy credit) are enough distraction without the drugs and the entertainment circus
you have to understand that our cousins in the Land of the Free start to grow up only after marrying the first time and realizing how big their debt is (particularly because her negative net worth is often astounding). add this ideology of the individual and the precariousness of all "group" security, down to the very family (thanks to their divorce laws) and I don't wonder they feel cheated, lost and confused
read between the lines and you'll see it
Man are you correct. I was speaking last night to my PHD nephew and his PHD wife, who now have two children, $150,000 in student loans and easrn hamburger wages from universities, which hire them as contract lecturers.
I feel with you - I have also family in the US in similar situations
I pay their vacations here and try to talk some sense in them, but Crazy Oncle Ghordius is simply an old, mad, very oldfashioned continental european that has no clue about anything for them
the only thing a few US nephews approve of is my (quite impressive and very historic, btw) weapons collection - but they go batshit crazy whenever I mention how illegal it is. they literally shiver
and whenever I take them to France or Switzerland or - my gosh - Italy and show them a few things they would otherwise not notice - including black markets - they blow a fuse in their mental apparatus
Fortunately, most of my family has escaped amerika. I am now a Swiss citizen, live in France but my legal residency is the Phillipines. One son is professor of humanities at a university in Cambodia, an other does economic research in South Korea and the oldest is doing environmental research for the Chinese government in Tibet. My brother and his wife have emigrated to Central America and we worry about family who remain.
The silliest family story is my nephew from Greenwich. He tried and failed at being a country-western singer/sogwriter and that qualified him to be Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes for the US Treasury. This tells you all you need to know about the war on terror!
If some recent history will help you understand what is really happening, read http://allafrica.com/stories/200908140153.html?viewall=1
The probe that was sent to Mars, was it looking for oil or gold?
STARS WARS IS ON. BITCHES. NEXT UP: BOOTS ON THE RED PLANET.
WE'RE FROM THE FEDERATION!! JUST GIVE US THE XENITE, DAMMIT!!!!
sorry doodes, the Japs were here last week and we already sold them all the Xenite, but we do have an annuity you maybe interested in.
50 tons of gold is a little over 1.6 million troy ounces worth around $2.7bn @ 1700 per ounce
cost of one american GI = X, cost of one american engineer X + Z
cost of one french man = X-Y
cost of one malian = zero?
100 tons of gold = c. $5.4 bn
cost of two american = X
etc etc
even if mali has this gold how much oe it cost to get out in human lives, equipment costs, staff on the gorund, boots/security on the ground.
it is a shithole for a reason..its not worth the cost.
Africa is ripe for Islam, if we act smart we can profiteer off the Chinese rape of Africa.
But we won't act smart, we'll manage to lose money protecting Chinese assets
Consider that
1) It will take seven years to deliver 300 tons of German gold
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-16/it-will-take-fed-seven-years-de...
2) Mali produces 55.5 tons per year (Wolfram Alpha)
3) (55.5t/y) x (7 y) = 388.5 t
Yeah, that should do it.
4) Ergo there IS NO FUCKING GOLD AT THE FRBNY