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2022-02-18 Africa North
Why are French troops leaving Mali, and what will it mean for the region?
[BBC] President Emmanuel Macron has announced he will be pulling French forces out of the West African nation of Mali, where they have been fighting Islamist militants since 2013.

There are 5,000 French troops in Mali and surrounding countries, fighting groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

But over the past eight years, the French presence has become increasingly unpopular with Mali's government and its public.

What is the terrorist threat in Mali and the Sahel region?
Both the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda have decided to focus on the Sahel region of Africa, after suffering setbacks in the Middle East.

The Sahel is a strip of semi-arid land beneath the Sahara Desert that stretches across the continent from east to west. It includes parts of Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.
Posted by Besoeker 2022-02-18 05:35|| || Front Page|| [11132 views ]  Top
 File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa 

#1 The French have done all they can to provide aid and assistance, medicine, education, law & order, the usual elements of a civilized society. They've done all they can to provide some sort of civil order. Unfortunately, teaching goats to play the saxophone is very difficult. Time to leave the bastids to their inherent tribal misery.

If numerous other examples have somehow been overlooked, there remains a valuable teaching point to be found in the French action. That is of course, should anyone in our political establishment care to take note.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-02-18 05:47||   2022-02-18 05:47|| Front Page Top

#2 Yes. And let's remember, Mr. Kurtz worked for the King of Belgium.
Posted by M. Murcek 2022-02-18 05:51||   2022-02-18 05:51|| Front Page Top

#3 Christianity ending soon in the Sahel.
Posted by The Walking Unvaxed 2022-02-18 06:48||   2022-02-18 06:48|| Front Page Top

#4 Oh no, France won't be able to loot its former colonies any more. Dearie me, how will they ever get along.
Posted by Herb McCoy 2022-02-18 07:56||   2022-02-18 07:56|| Front Page Top

#5 Yes. The French can't get along without picking turds out of Algeria and Mali.
Posted by M. Murcek 2022-02-18 08:09||   2022-02-18 08:09|| Front Page Top

#6 The troops are needed at home to deal with those pesky anti-vaxers.
Posted by Mercutio 2022-02-18 09:27||   2022-02-18 09:27|| Front Page Top

#7 It means Africa wins again.
Posted by SteveS 2022-02-18 09:32||   2022-02-18 09:32|| Front Page Top

#8 Not so much wins as carries on all the same.
Posted by M. Murcek 2022-02-18 09:33||   2022-02-18 09:33|| Front Page Top

#9 Yes, in fact France does loot its former colonies. Why's that a surprise? Are educated people really unaware of this? The French franc still exists. Yes it does. But only in Africa. France takes its colonies' money and sells it back to them. It's a very important part of the French budget and without it France would have a very hard time making ends meet.

Why's it a surprise that the wealthy rip off the helpless and defenseless? After all, they can't help or defend themselves. You think these sharks have an ounce of human kindness in them? No, no they do not. The only possible policy is to treat them like the dirt they are.
Posted by Sheter the Lesser9291 2022-02-18 10:40||   2022-02-18 10:40|| Front Page Top

#10 So you have said before, Sheter the Lesser9291.
Posted by trailing wife 2022-02-18 10:52||   2022-02-18 10:52|| Front Page Top

#11 There are several countries who use the dollar as it's currency. Maybe the "dirt" prefer the franc.
Posted by Vespasian Ebboting9735 2022-02-18 10:55||   2022-02-18 10:55|| Front Page Top

#12 What Lesser9291 said. Only they're leaving because the USA is going in to take their place. Read up on Africom's recent actions in Chad.

And because History always repeats itself.
Posted by Secret Master  2022-02-18 10:57||   2022-02-18 10:57|| Front Page Top

#13 What's being described in #9 is seigniorage. It's a measurable economic factor, but not enough to keep any economy afloat.
Posted by M. Murcek 2022-02-18 11:07||   2022-02-18 11:07|| Front Page Top

#14 If you look at the greatest civilization/political structure in modern human history, the West (and I would argue the European and Anglo-sphere are the core components) it seems clear a certain kind of cultural "soil" seems necessary to adopt, absorb and thrive from its importation. Judeo-Christian ethics and a belief in genuine science seem essential components. It seems that even after planting, watering, and weeding, some climates and soil conditions just don't seem to be welcoming. Given that analogy, maybe we should focus on agriculture at home and accept that inhospitable conditions are not worth the effort.
Posted by NoMoreBS 2022-02-18 11:35||   2022-02-18 11:35|| Front Page Top

#15 /\ .....maybe we should focus on agriculture at home and accept that inhospitable conditions are not worth the effort.

Add to that manufacturing, education, and medical research.
Posted by Besoeker 2022-02-18 11:45||   2022-02-18 11:45|| Front Page Top

#16 It was a continuation of the analogy B, I meant the whole business of making civilizational thriving at home...sorry for being so obscure and enamored of literary blather my friend!
Posted by NoMoreBS 2022-02-18 11:55||   2022-02-18 11:55|| Front Page Top

#17 /\ No obscurity detected. I enthusiastically agree with every syllable of your pithy, spot-on comment.
Posted by Besoeker 2022-02-18 12:01||   2022-02-18 12:01|| Front Page Top

#18 #14, leftistis and race peddlers believe in "magic dirt," the idea that some people just lucked out because of where they were settled. The truth is "magic dirt" is wherever a person with a "western" mindset stands.
Posted by M. Murcek 2022-02-18 12:05||   2022-02-18 12:05|| Front Page Top

#19 If numerous other examples have somehow been overlooked...Chicago, DC,...
Posted by Skidmark 2022-02-18 12:15||   2022-02-18 12:15|| Front Page Top

#20 /\ Ha! Touché Skidster.
Posted by Besoeker 2022-02-18 12:18||   2022-02-18 12:18|| Front Page Top

#21 Separate from these savages.
Posted by Merrick Ferret 2022-02-18 12:31||   2022-02-18 12:31|| Front Page Top

09:43 Mullah Richard
09:27 Warthog
09:11 Mercutio
09:07 AlmostAnonymous5839
08:52 Matt
08:24 Matt
08:20 SteveS
07:43 Procopius2k
07:42 BrerRabbit
07:42 Procopius2k
07:39 Procopius2k
07:36 Procopius2k
07:35 Procopius2k
07:34 trailing wife
07:31 Procopius2k
07:30 NN2N1
07:22 NN2N1
07:18 trailing wife
07:14 Richard Aubrey
07:10 NN2N1
07:09 Besoeker
07:03 NN2N1
06:58 NN2N1
06:58 Besoeker









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