A French soldier of the regional anti-insurgent Operation Barkhane stands in front of a General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drone version Block 1 in Niamey, Niger. Benoit Tessier/Reuters
Lara Seligman, Foreign Policy: The US is fighting a drone war in Africa that many don't know about — and it's about to get bigger
* Last November, the government of Niger requested that the United States begin deploying armed drones against jihadi groups in Tongo Tongo.
* While the US has deployed drones to North Africa in the past, they have only been used for intelligence gathering.
* In order to meet Niger's request, the US Air Force will build new facilities in Agadez for nearly $100 million.
The US military will begin flying armed drones out of a remote base in Niger in the coming months, marking a significant escalation of the Defense Department's little-noticed war against violent extremists in Africa.
The MQ-9 Reapers will operate from new facilities the US Air Force is building at an existing Nigerien base in Agadez for nearly $100 million. Until recently, the drones have been based in Niger's capital and used solely to collect intelligence on militant groups operating in the region.
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WNU Editor: Boko Haram to the south. Mali extremists to the west. Turmoil in Libya to the north. This U.S. drone base is right in the middle of it.
10 comments:
"Turmoil in Libya to the north." - WNU
Øbama, the gift that keeps on giving. After 2011 the armories of Libya were trucked south and enabled the Mali insurgency.
If had not been fr the French Not Øbama, ISIS would be in full control of Mali and we would be in a World War.See the affirmative action hire president could have brought about full employment and full misery at the same time! Miracle!
Libya arms fueling conflicts in Syria, Mali and beyond: U.N. experts - Reuters
"West overlooked risk of Libya weapons reaching Mali, says expert" - The Guardian
"Looted Libyan Arms in Mali May Have Shifted Conflict's Path" - NYT (American Pravda)
Collateral Damage: How Libyan Weapons Fueled Mali’s Violence - CFR
I hope Mali takes Øbama, Hillary and Samantha Power to the Hague for war crimes.
"US, Britain and France focused on securing anti-aircraft missiles but neglected other weapons, Human Rights Watch says" - The Guardian
This is exactly what the movie "13 Hours" portrays.
That and Obama and Hillary hanging Americans trying to take arms off the arms market out to dry.
So thoughtful of them.
We didn't know they cared.
THIS IS 2018
2018
It's Africa's Choice: AFRICOM Or 'The New Silk Roads'
2018 and Øbama is the gift that keeps on giving like herpes or some other disease.
Maybe your imaginary engineering friend can spot the insult directed at Obama.
I would expect a narrow minded bigot to spot it.
2018 and the Obama arms bazaar is still open.
Now showing in Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger, Mali and maybe places further west.
When a liberal will not read The Guardian, you know they are DEDICATED!
Sure The Guardian has achieved saintly status, b the Grey Lady stands higher in the ecclesiastical hierarchy at least for a Murrican.
So someone posts about the Chinese Silk Road vis-a-vis Africa
They did not read the article. Shocker.
They did not read bout all the strings attached like when China loaned Venezuela billions. How did that work out for Venezuela?
You would think an Obamite would know about TIFA or previous trade agreements (AGOA). Alas, it was not on today's talking points memo so the old news, the conflicting news, was forgotten à la 1984.
You would think certain professionals would have read 1984 or Animal Farm.
"Beijing's non-politicization of investments and on-interference in internal affairs is paying off big time..."
America cannot play that game. If there is a strong man or a regime that does not sing 'The Internationale', they are by default right-wing and thus the Left-wingers demand that we embargo them or overthrow them.
They'll complain about oppression and shout "Wight-wing, wight-wing, Wight-wing!"
These same wingnuts will give China a pass for trading or otherwise supporting the same people.
Hypocrisy much you Leftists?
anon no so anon
I see you are blog pimping pretty hard.
Another things is that the odds of having done what you done are much less than 2.5% That is statistically significant, an outlier. At any rate you are not worth the time.
And your blog is not worth the time given the freight a person must pay.
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