the united states mobilized ethiopia to invade somalia when an islamist regime came to power. it has now imposed a regime with western backing, un support, that represented for a long time about one block in mogadishu.
the current antipathy to religious muslims, termed fundamentalists or extremists, is fanned by a press that is congenitally hostile to anti-western rhetoric.
that warps the news, making it necessary to go to al-jazeera to get any kind of balanced coverage.
i don't like those beautiful sudanese mosques or invaluable libraries in timbuktu or elsewhere being destroyed; i regard it as a heritage against all of us, not just muslims or malians or africans or any other group. they are world heritage sites and objects, and we all are losing beautiful, important historical objects.
but i dislike even more a military hegemon, the first world military power, imposing its politics on the entire sahel, and effecting as much hegemony over the continent as it can, by hook or by crook
the people of somalia have suffered enormously because the end of the conflict was undone by the ethiopian invasion completed by us air action. we should couple our discussion of mali with that of somalia if we are to be talking about the need for u.s. intervention.
i believe there is only one legit ground for intervention: to stop the killing of people by a regime or militia, and we have a un genocide convention that addresses that, that the u.s. has already signed.
of course, when it came to actually following that convention when a real genocide occurred in rwanda in 94, clinton refused to act, and along with belgium and france actually stopped the un from acting
ken
Kwaku, I don't know if US intervention is wise for dealing with the Islamist nuts (as you appropriately described them) who are destroying all the treasures of Ancient Mali. However, before you concede a false point, let me restate what is widely known: that the rebellion in Northern Mali has two flanks. One is the Tuareg nationalist branch; the other is the Islamist movement affiliated with Al-Qaeda. The two groups cooperated to achieve the common goal of capturing Northern Mali from the Malian army. Since reaching this goal however the two sides have diverged considerably, with the Islamists imposing Sharia and other extremist Islamist codes while the secular Azawad Tuareg nationalist branch of the rebellion has been content to declare independence for Northern Mali and to assert the new autonomy. The Islamists have since marginalized Azawad, enforcing their medieval Islamist agenda, replete with the destruction of libraries, shrines, and, now, Al-Shabab and Taliban style public stoning of fornicators. It is NOT Tuareg nationalists who are carrying out these heinous acts; it's the crazed Islamists. It is thus inaccurate to associate the Islamists and their wacky acts with the legitimate struggle of Tuareg nationalists against marginalization. Let's not forget that the rank of the Islamists in Mali consists of people of all nationalities united by a warped notion of Jihad and Wahabi Islamist ideology. In other words, many of them are not even Tuaregs let alone Tuareg nationalists.
On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 5:08 AM, <dehasnem@uic.edu> wrote:
Professor Bangura, I believe in all my heart and absolutely that the Tuareg have 100 percent claim in Mali. And I also detest their marginalization since independence just as I hate the marginalization of all tribes by African governments. My question is who is destroying our collective African historic sites,the libraries and tombs in Mali? Whoever is carrying out these barbaric deserves to be hunted down. And I believe that whatever reason sent US troops to Mali, in the process they will also hunt down these nuts. That to me will be a wonderful achievement.
Oh, I will cut my losses by keeping the bridges in inventory. However, even if one of these nuts( notice that I do not equate Tuaregs with nuts) is destroyed by US troops that will be my break-even point because the gain will equal the cost of the bridges.
Kwaku.Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2012 19:14:47 -0400 (GMT-04:00)To: <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>; dialogue<USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>ReplyTo: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.comSubject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - 69 Nations Have More US Troops Than Olympic AthletesOsagyefo Edward Mensah, it is quite obvious that you have not quite kept up with your Malian history, early and contemporary. When last did you visit Mali and talk to the folks on the ground? If you think US troops are in Mali because of tombs and libraries, then you need to keep your bridges, as in Afrikan American English or Ebonics. And if you think the Tuareg have no legitimate claims in Mali and are driven by Islam, as if the overwhelming majority of the other Malians are not Muslims, then you have been imbibing too much western manure. As I tell folks in Mali and my Malian friends in the Diaspora, if they think the Tuareg are a problem now, let them keep dragging their feet until Malians in the west decide to fight against their very long-term marginalization.
Edward Mensah
Prof Bangura, are you saying it is wrong for US troops to hunt down a bunch of Islamic nuts who are destroying ancient tombs and libraries in Timbuctu? What could be your rationale for such a belief? Another question to you is how many US troops were stationed in Africa under the Bush administration compared to the total now? And do you believe that Romney will reduce the number of troops around the world and in Africa? If you believe these then you must also in the bridge buying business? 1000 dollars per bridge. Any takers?
Kwaku-----Original Message-----
From: Toyin Falola
Sent: Jul 29, 2012 4:39 PM
To: dialogue
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - 69 Nations Have More US Troops Than Olympic Athletes
var siteurl='/'; var tmplurl='/templates/ja_teline_iii/'; var isRTL = false; window.addEvent('domready', function() { SqueezeBox.initialize({}); SqueezeBox.assign($$('a.modal'), { parse: 'rel' }); }); var K2SitePath = '/'; //
--69 Nations Have More US Troops Than Olympic Athletes
Sunday, 29 July 2012 10:25 Written by yana By David Swanson, WarIsACrime.org | ReportHere is a link to a list of U.S. troops deployed to various nations around the world: PDF. These are permanent deployments openly admitted to by the U.S. military. When U.S. Special Forces drive off a bridge in Mali, as recently happened, we discover that U.S. troops are in Mali in greater numbers than we knew, but those troops aren't listed here or considered in the calculation below. No secret forces are considered here, no allied forces funded or trained or armed by the United States, and of course no drones.
Here is a link to the number of athletes participating in the 2012 Summer Olympics from countries around the world: Link.
Many nations have sent very small delegations. Many nations have a very small U.S. troop presence. In many nations the U.S. troop presence falls just short of or exactly equals the size of the Olympic team.
In 69 nations, there is a larger U.S. military presence than the nation's Olympic team. This count excludes the oceans of the world, in which over 100,000 U.S. troops are stationed, but which of course don't have Olympic teams. The count includes, however, Diego Garcia, which could have an Olympic team if we hadn't removed all the people to make room for the military base. And it includes other nations that have been demoted to U.S. territories. It also includes South Korea, despite the U.S. military not releasing the numbers, because the U.S. military has many times the number of troops (and growing) there than South Korea has athletes on its Olympic team.
The question arises, of course, why a nation that is trailing many poorer nations in education, health, security, sustainability, and infrastructure is paying to create such a global presence of representatives with guns rather than athletes with Chinese-made sports uniforms.
Here are the 69 nations:
- Afghanistan
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belgium
- Bolivia
- Bosnia Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Burma
- Cambodia
- Chad
- Congo
- Cuba
- Cyprus
- Diego Garcia
- Djibouti
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece
- Greenland
- Guam
- Guinea
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Indonesia
- Iraq
- Italy
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Laos
- Liberia
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritania
- Nepal
- Netherlands
- Nicaragua
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Norway
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Portugal
- Puerto Rico
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Somalia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- St. Helena
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Wake Island
- Yemen
- Zimbabwe
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
--
There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.
---Mohandas Gandhi
--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
-- kenneth w. harrow distinguished professor of english michigan state university department of english east lansing, mi 48824-1036 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu
No comments:
Post a Comment