Africom Stands Up 2006-2017

[KingJaja]

Even if we did focus on it what on earth could we actually do? Not much. Places like Nigerian and Congo are great big and filled with lots and lots of people of whom we know not much.

State failure in Africa is just going to have to play itself out on its own. The best we can do is try to keep the Boko Harams suppressed as best we can. The rest is up to you guys.

You either deal with the root causes or you do nothing at all. You're experience in Iraq should have taught you that.

Anyway, the future is very predictable. If US couldn't figure out Sunni & Shia in Iraq until it was a bit too late, one assumes they know next to nothing about what's really going on in Nigeria.

Don't touch this tar baby unless you've fully figured out what's going on.

[Bill Moore]

You either deal with the root causes or you do nothing at all. You're experience in Iraq should have taught you that.

Anyway, the future is very predictable. If US couldn't figure out Sunni & Shia in Iraq until it was a bit too late, one assumes they know next to nothing about what's really going on in Nigeria.

Don't touch this tar baby unless you've fully figured out what's going on.

I disagree that "we" have to deal with root causes. We have thousands of political, social and economic theorists who all think they understand root causes, but their models for resolving them are either unfeasible or fail when tried. For military intervention, we should focus on achieving limited military objectives, which may be reducing the BH threat. Some problems can be solved, but they can be managed. I'm not advocating for the U.S. to get involved unless we believe important interests are threatened, and then we reduce the threat to those interests.

Underlying issues must be addressed by the locals. If we desire, we can provide capacity building, though we haven't been very successful with that effort. The bottom line is not every problem needs to be solved, it just needs to be managed. Most Americans, myself included, suffer from the savior syndrome. The first step in mitigating the ill advised behavior that this syndrome encourages is self-awareness of it. We can't save the various African nations from themselves, but we can protect our key interests and we might be able to help Africans solve their own problems by providing limited technical assistance (along with the UN and a lot of other nations).

[davidbfpo]

This graphic illustrates one problem Africans have. Sorry you will have to work out who owns the flags, I only id'd Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Eight of the ten are in Washington DC today.

OK I relented awhile:

1) Equatorial Guinea
2) Swaziland
3) Angola
4) Uganda
5) Zimbabwe
6) Burkina Faso
7) Cameroon
8) Sudan
9) Congo (Brazzaville)
10) Gambia

[KingJaja]

Totally unrelated to anything on this thread.

Christians in Africa generally view the US positively, but with America's seeming abandonment of Iraqi Christians, Christians in countries like Nigeria (where Muslim/Christian tensions are high) are beginning to have doubts about the utility or relevance of US/West to their situation.

Does this have any political implications now? Not sure, but it might have in future. Quite a few prominent Christian voices in Nigeria are saying (not openly yet), that US is more pro-Muslim than pro-Christian.

[carl]

Totally unrelated to anything on this thread.

Christians in Africa generally view the US positively, but with America's seeming abandonment of Iraqi Christians, Christians in countries like Nigeria (where Muslim/Christian tensions are high) are beginning to have doubts about the utility or relevance of US/West to their situation.

Does this have any political implications now? Not sure, but it might have in future. Quite a few prominent Christian voices in Nigeria are saying (not openly yet), that US is more pro-Muslim than pro-Christian.

Brilliant point. Even better because it is so absolutely politically uncorrect to bring it up.

[davidbfpo]

A diplomatic spat, which includes AFRICOM's efforts, as Nigeria disputes whether the USA is a helper in the struggle with Boko Haram:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/01/wo...s-falter.html?

How about such snippets as these; citing an anonymous AFRICOM official / officer:

Ounce for ounce, Boko Haram is equal to if not better than the Nigerian military

Then a classic "get stuffed" ploy:

When Maj. Gen. James B. Linder, the head of American Special Operations forces in Africa, visited Nigeria in late October, he was barred from visiting the base where American trainers were instructing the new Nigerian Army battalion created to help fight Boko Haram. General Linder was left waiting at the gate....

[davidbfpo]

A long article by two authors known to oppose this activity, but as part of the jigsaw on what is happening useful IMHO:http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176070/

To be fair 'bases' is widely interpreted, a good number are access to refuelling facilities. I am surprised there is a sign for one place in South Africa and none in Morocco.

[KingJaja]

This graphic illustrates one problem Africans have. Sorry you will have to work out who owns the flags, I only id'd Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Eight of the ten are in Washington DC today.

OK I relented awhile:

1) Equatorial Guinea
2) Swaziland
3) Angola
4) Uganda
5) Zimbabwe
6) Burkina Faso
7) Cameroon
8) Sudan
9) Congo (Brazzaville)
10) Gambia

That is 10 nations out of 54/55, hardly any kind of majority - what about the other 44/45 nations?

[ganulv]

That is 10 nations out of 54/55, hardly any kind of majority - what about the other 44/45 nations?

Well, one might argue that it’s better for the citizenry’s day-to-day life to have a static grifter in power than to be forced to choose a new one every X number of years. “At least he’s already fat,” as I have heard Burkinabé say, implying that any successor to Blaise would go through a fresh round of sating himself on the public dime.