I found this article informative as certain events and kidnappings seem to indicate the emphasis of terrorist activity may have been shifting for some time. The article evidences the huge geographic range these people span and how difficult it must be to track down kidnap victims. I have heard of Boko Haram impacting on Nigerian politics and wonder if there is a connection with Al Qaeda. Terrorists in general often have international support systems and interact. In this case, the author is convinced of the link due to his personal experience as a kidnap victim. He describes a potentially imminent risk of expanding terrorist action emerging from increased availability of military equipment and how this is likely to impact heavily on Europe as a result. He also gives his views on the motivation and character of the terrorist mindset. If he is right and Africa becomes more involved, how will the West handle this? ME has already tested military capacity and the patience of the public to the full. I personally was rather hoping for an end to complex wars.
Nigeria is a country extremely rich in natural resources which are making an extremely rich elite, corrupt government officials and western corporations a lot of money while the vast majority of the people live in abject poverty. Just which side this particular gang of kidnappers was on is hard to say but I strongly suspect it wasn't the common man and I doubt they had much to do with Al Qaeda.
Once the ME is destabilised and the Saudi /US Empire is established , Nigeria is the next target . You must brush up on US Geo Political Strategy and watch AFRICOM carefully . Entry through Ghana probably. B x R Ch
If someone has to do it, rather the West take over the world than anyone else. At least there is some degree of freedom involved. The Syrian situation for example, doesn't appeal. However, all this ambition...people are getting war fatigue. How long do they expect to keep it up under the guise of saving the world? On the other hand, the prospect of a less user friendly regime making useful connections across Africa is no better, if they ever get to the point of capacity for united mobilisation.
There is no more freedom in USA than there is in Nigeria. USA has the largest prison population in the world and you tell me they respect freedom!?!
I think you need to look at imprisoning people as a means of respecting the freedom of others-- those who are not criminals . Or are you going to tell us that murderers and rapists should not be locked up ? In which case it appears that the US has the most freedom , because you kindly informed us that they lock up more people than in any other country . This , therefore , suggests there is more freedom in the US than Nigeria . And that tells me something went wrong with your post .
There is more infrastructure, stability, freedom of worship (and freedom not to worship) and ability to live a life uncluttered by political unrest. A few weeks ago, I read an article stating Islamist extremist group, Boko Haram, had infiltrated Nigerian security forces and Government and the Nigerian leader was trying to convince them he would negotiate if they broke cover. I had the impression he was trying to smoke them out with a view to flattening them. Who knows how that might end. If he fails, who is in government then? Boko Haram the Government of social tolerance?
Fundie Islam/Jihadists have made it clear they want a Pan-Islamic Empire. That means world domination. They mean it. We should take it seriously - they do.
They do tend to jail people for criminal activity over there. It's far better than a rap on the UK knuckles and a 'Don't do it again and to ensure you won't, here is a council house for you and your 17 kids'
On March 1st some Somali Al Shaabab arrived in Yemen... Now, Yemen has Al Qaeda, Al Houthi and Al Shabaab.. I think it is growing more complex...........
Sadly we are probably only going to see things get more complicated. It's a nasty situation against horrific foe. It is only made moreso because any practical solution would be politicaly incorect and possibly illegal in Canada to speak, and likely illegal under internation if not domestic law to perpetrate. Our best be might just be a containment sort of approach, where we try and "corrupt" their women with education in the hopes of tiliting their culture to something less homicidal. But even then, there's a chance you might just be producing well educated terrorists. At least its something we can deal with and discuss over a fair length of time, so long as we keep nukes out of the wrong hands for as long as possible.
Don't worry Margot . Yemen has been near the top of the US shopping list for many years . Who knows which of those groups are contracted to the US in one way or another ? Certainly the term alQaeda has been a flag of convenience for many years . Often it's a good idea to let the warring factions knock the stuffing out of each other before stepping in more directly to put some order into the House One thing is for sure . That NATO and the US regard this country with the greatest of significance and will not let it out of their control , be it direct or indirect .Its role is very similar to that of Bahrain in defensive terms , as I am sure you appreciate .
The people of Nigeria just want what we have. We have a law, a written law that has evolved over centuries, we have an independent judiciary to interpret the law. People in Nigeria and many other countries which have been messed about by Western powers for a couple of hundred years want the same. Nigeria used to be several countries, they speak several languages, they are of many tribes none of them trusting the other to make and interpret the laws. In the Muslim faith there is a ready built law already written, a law they all know and all understand and a law that doesn't favour one small group in the North. There are religious leaders to interpret the laws, locals the people know and trust not officials appointed by one small group in the North.
From where I'm standing it's looking a lot like it's America that is building a World Empire and there are a lot of small countries desperately trying to protect what they only recently won back from the Europeans.
I was not really wanting to go back to Victorian times , but now its geographical importance dictates that NATO /US will use the Yemen for what they require . There are different ways to skin a cat and people working at the rear invariably do better than the front ones who become expendable . It's not who you are publicly , but whose strings you pull privately .
Yemen is as difficult as Afghanistan or more so.. And the north is impossible because of the terrain... nobody in their right mind takes on mountain guerillas. There comes a point in time when we (the West or US) can't care more about political stability and economic progress than they care about themselves. Think about an addict.... can you care MORE about their sobriety than they do?
I think it is known to a fair number of people who are often happy to ascribe it as the motivation for war, particularly in the case of US. I do accept UK is ruthless enough to be involved in such dealings. I suppose possibly US might calculatedly be. Who makes a decision like that? Does a government sit and say...the economy is up (*)(*)(*)(*) creek and we need to regenerate. Never mind funding small business start-up, or negotiating free trade agreements with China. Let's just go and kill millions of innocent people in Iraq.?? I see what you're saying and obviously people think that is what they have seen, but news like that might leak out.
I think we are taking it seriously. I read somewhere that Gadaffi wanted exactly those things. World revolution. There is a fine line between racism and realism. I am very definitely anti -racist. However, Tony Blair said something like the only reason extremists were not bombing the west into the ground, is that they do not have the means. In order to protect all of us and decent Muslims included, it is necessary to be realistic and consider the risk if extremists become competent enough to unite and mobilise. This is not a new concept, we heard often during Iraq that the theatre of war there attracted extremists of all kinds and a justification for that war was that it was better to attract them en masse to A theatre of war in Iraq and kill them there, than to have them running loose and possibly attacking mainland US/UK. I am wondering if extremists have tired of that game and are deploying where there is less risk of immediate death by allied forces and more opportunity to organise a united force. Or if the Nigerian situation is a thing apart.
That....is almost exactly what Mohammed's religion was constructed to address. It is the perfect religion for that situation. When Mohammed was building his faith and belief structures he was living in an area of disunity, his religion was crafted to unite those tribes against outside attack.
