Quote Originally Posted by tequila View Post
Something tells me that the Ethiopians will soon be knocking on Washington's door, looking for some kind of deal like the Pakistani Army is receiving now. Given a possible war with Eritrea, current "counterinsurgency" in the Ogaden, and brewing urban guerrilla war in Somalia, the Ethiopians will be in search of handouts. One wonders if we will be as recklessly generous as we have been with the Pakistani military --- thankfully the Ethiopians don't have a nuclear project or two to enable.
FMF to Ethiopia has been declining recently with IMET increasingly slightly. I think you hit the nail on the head--there are four things that generate extensive security assistance from the United States: 1) having a significant AQ presence; 2) having nukes; 3) producing narcotics; 4) being Israel or a threat to Israel.

From Ethiopia's perspective, that's 0 for 4. But maybe the creation of AFRICOM will help.