French military targets Islamist rebels in Mali

[Kirkland Laing]

COIN doesn't work long term w/o a good host nation partner but a combatant commander can definately make real short term progess against an insurgency with the right assets and leadership.

It doesn't really matter in the short term though. It's only worth doing if it works in the long term and I can't think of anywhere the west managed to do it effectively. I read something back during the Iraq situation that said the Brits had managed it in malaysia a hundred and odd years ago but that was only because they'd already been there over a century and had a lot of local knowledge/ties etc.

[VictorCharlie]

We keep picking shitty partners

[Andre]

We keep picking shitty partners

"Im your Huckleberry".

[Kirkland Laing]

So we're now being told that a bunch of beardy nutters with guns in North Africa is somehow an existential threat to Britain and will require a generational struggle to deal with. Or it could be that countries around Mali contain lots of oil, gas, uranium and other goodies vital for European/US economies and we've decided to send troops/special forces/drones in to keep an eye on them despite the fact that this will cause an increase in terrorist incidents. Then when the terrorist incidents happen we'll use them as an excuse to continue being there. Fantastic.

[Mars_ax]

So we're now being told that a bunch of beardy nutters with guns in North Africa is somehow an existential threat to Britain and will require a generational struggle to deal with. Or it could be that countries around Mali contain lots of oil, gas, uranium and other goodies vital for European/US economies and we've decided to send troops/special forces/drones in to keep an eye on them despite the fact that this will cause an increase in terrorist incidents. Then when the terrorist incidents happen we'll use them as an excuse to continue being there. Fantastic.

Mali's oil production isn't commercially viable, but it's neighbor Nigeria has oil, the British discovered oil in the Niger Delta in the late 1950s. Algeria, another neighboring country also has oil and it's one of the major oil and gas producing countries in Africa. So good analysis Kirkland, what it really boils down to is oil, maybe we should thank the Islamic militants and/or "terrorists" for supplying us with incidents. Let's keep that fucking oil flowing.

[Kirkland Laing]

So we're now being told that a bunch of beardy nutters with guns in North Africa is somehow an existential threat to Britain and will require a generational struggle to deal with. Or it could be that countries around Mali contain lots of oil, gas, uranium and other goodies vital for European/US economies and we've decided to send troops/special forces/drones in to keep an eye on them despite the fact that this will cause an increase in terrorist incidents. Then when the terrorist incidents happen we'll use them as an excuse to continue being there. Fantastic.

Mali's oil production isn't commercially viable, but it's neighbor Nigeria has oil, the British discovered oil in the Niger Delta in the late 1950s. Algeria, another neighboring country also has oil and it's one of the major oil and gas producing countries in Africa. So good analysis Kirkland, what it really boils down to is oil, maybe we should thank the Islamic militants and/or "terrorists" for supplying us with incidents. Let's keep that fucking oil flowing.

Libya too. Massive quantities there and we were banned from access when Gaddafi was in power. Go figure. A lot of the guys fighting in Mali used to be members of Gaddafi's army believe it or not. When we fucked Gaddafi they headed home and joined up with the Islamist groups there, and the Mali groups are headed by Algerians/Moroccans and operate all over the region. It's going to be impossible to protect all those oil/gas facilities and even more impossible to protect all that pipeline. Luckily most of these groups are crooks first and Islamists second and we'll be able to continue bribing them, otherwise we're fucked and looking at $200+ a barrel.


Also Niger supplies a big chunk of the world's uranium including all of France's. Massive quantities of natural gas in these countries too.

[VictorCharlie]

I guess I'll start working on my French since North Africa is looking like my next vacation spot for Uncle Sam. That ought to be easier than Iraqi bastardized Arabic and Pashtun.

[Mars_ax]

So we're now being told that a bunch of beardy nutters with guns in North Africa is somehow an existential threat to Britain and will require a generational struggle to deal with. Or it could be that countries around Mali contain lots of oil, gas, uranium and other goodies vital for European/US economies and we've decided to send troops/special forces/drones in to keep an eye on them despite the fact that this will cause an increase in terrorist incidents. Then when the terrorist incidents happen we'll use them as an excuse to continue being there. Fantastic.

Mali's oil production isn't commercially viable, but it's neighbor Nigeria has oil, the British discovered oil in the Niger Delta in the late 1950s. Algeria, another neighboring country also has oil and it's one of the major oil and gas producing countries in Africa. So good analysis Kirkland, what it really boils down to is oil, maybe we should thank the Islamic militants and/or "terrorists" for supplying us with incidents. Let's keep that fucking oil flowing.

Libya too. Massive quantities there and we were banned from access when Gaddafi was in power. Go figure. A lot of the guys fighting in Mali used to be members of Gaddafi's army believe it or not. When we fucked Gaddafi they headed home and joined up with the Islamist groups there, and the Mali groups are headed by Algerians/Moroccans and operate all over the region. It's going to be impossible to protect all those oil/gas facilities and even more impossible to protect all that pipeline. Luckily most of these groups are crooks first and Islamists second and we'll be able to continue bribing them, otherwise we're fucked and looking at $200+ a barrel.


Also Niger supplies a big chunk of the world's uranium including all of France's. Massive quantities of natural gas in these countries too.

Mali and the region around it are going to be the new jump-off/hot spot for Islamic nutters for the next 10+ years. They can wreak havoc there as well as in Western Europe, praise Allah and bring on those 70 virgins.

[Andre]

We keep picking shitty partners

"Im your Huckleberry".

(I was speaking on behalf of the Australian diggers here)

We are like The Doc Holiday version, backing up Wyatt, come what may.