The latest in my long, continuing "Let's Invade" series...

I expect it to begin before the end of the week.

5/7/2014 1:59:00 PM

Some interesting things about Boko Haram's leader:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/07/world/africa/abubakar-shekau-profile/

5/7/2014 2:19:59 PM

I was talking about overthrowing GoodLuck Jonathan.

[Edited on May 7, 2014 at 2:54 PM. Reason : He would be a fool to accept our help, because once you let us in, we never leave.]

5/7/2014 2:53:03 PM

I'm afraid that if the international community goes after Boko Haram in force, those girls will never be found. I take that back, their bodies will be found.

They need to be taken out though.

5/8/2014 8:51:41 AM

Playing Whack-A-Mole around the world forever is just not sustainable.

5/8/2014 9:57:13 AM

how is this any of our business? what US assets are we protecting by going after this guy?

5/8/2014 10:57:42 AM

We're protecting the slaughter of innocent human beings? I thought you were all about that.

[Edited on May 8, 2014 at 11:02 AM. Reason : or does it only matter when they're american fetuses?]

5/8/2014 10:59:17 AM

Quote :

"how is this any of our business? what US assets are we protecting by going after this guy?"

US foreign policy in a nut-shell.

And to answer your question, here is a link, which explains how it is US's business also, even though on the surface it might not seem like it:

http://www.policymic.com/articles/89001/u-s-special-forces-are-in-nigeria-but-not-for-those-missing-schoolgirls

5/8/2014 12:33:57 PM

China is taking over Africa. The US needs a better foothold there. Maybe we should take an interest again in Liberia... That is a travesty we need to fix.

5/8/2014 12:49:58 PM

KONY
2012

5/8/2014 1:10:56 PM

A scandal almost bad as Benghazi!!!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/08/clinton-state-department-resisted-labeling-boko-haram-as-terror-group/

Here's a picture to help explain the scandal:

5/8/2014 3:53:15 PM

Quote :

"At the time, a department official told Reuters they were "very concerned" about violence in Nigeria but stressed that adding a group to the list is a "rigorous process which has to stand up in a court of law." "

Wat? This isn't enough:

Quote :

"But Boko Haram had been killing people for years at that point, building ties with Al Qaeda sympathizers and orchestrating major terror attacks, including one on a U.N. compound in 2011. "

Quote :

"A March 30, 2012, letter from Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., and Meehan urged Clinton to "immediately designate" the group, citing estimates that it had killed more than 900 people in the last two years. "

5/8/2014 4:05:37 PM

Quote :

"According to The Daily Beast, State Department officials now argue there was concern at the time that putting Boko Haram on the list would raise its profile and give it "greater credibility," in turn helping recruitment. "

5/8/2014 4:11:00 PM

this is a good read on the history of the group

http://www.policymic.com/articles/89069/everything-you-need-to-know-about-boko-haram-the-group-kidnapping-nigerian-girls

started basically in a noble way, now a vicious perverted group.

5/8/2014 9:55:31 PM

certainly you aren't the one judging others of being perverted

certainly.

5/9/2014 10:55:58 AM

yes, i kidnap girls and sell them into slavery.

troll.

5/9/2014 11:02:23 AM

Wanting to implement Sharia Law is noble? Maybe I've been duped by the media, but it's my understanding that Sharia Law tramples human rights. Maybe that's just Extreme Sharia, and there are other, more humane forms of Sharia?

5/9/2014 11:19:21 AM

I was referring to this:

Quote :

"Boko Haram traces its beginnings back to the northern Borno state, traditionally the most underfunded region of Nigeria. "In 2001, a young Muslim cleric named Mohammed Yusuf in the northern city Maiduguri [the capital of Borno state] began preaching against the government's ills, such as corruption, lack of adequate employment and education and the persistence of poverty," said journalist Alexis Okeowo in a recent interview with Foreign Policy Interrupted. "

And not the paragraph after.

5/9/2014 11:33:17 AM

by following that link, or reading the next few sentences, you will learn that they blamed western education for those things and wanted to replace them with Sharia law (presumably because the corrupt officials received western education. their grievances were noble, but this group was never noble and even early on other clerics disagreed with them.

5/9/2014 11:38:20 AM

yeah, that's what i meant. their grievances were legit, and the ills they were fighting against should be fought against.

but their reasoning for those ills was flawed from the beginning.

and their methods, initially benign, soon became violent.

5/9/2014 11:40:13 AM

http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201405132040-0023731

Netizens to Michelle Obama: #BringBackYourDrones
US First Lady's support for Nigerian schoolgirls prompts criticism from drone opponents.











And the best one...



[Edited on May 13, 2014 at 4:40 PM. Reason : ]

5/13/2014 4:39:55 PM

This whole "criticize michelle because she showed concern about the school girl kidnapping because of the U.S.'s policy on drone attacks" campaign is so stupid.

5/13/2014 4:44:24 PM

Agreed (it is stupid), but selective outrage and hypocrisy is stupid too evil.

[Edited on May 13, 2014 at 4:57 PM. Reason : ]

5/13/2014 4:55:11 PM

you can't be involved in politics without being hypocritical. It's literally impossible. And it's cliche, but there are sometimes "necessary evils".

5/13/2014 5:00:32 PM

wait does Nigeria even have oil?

5/14/2014 10:01:04 AM

They got a lot and are they're quickly growing into an economic powerhouse.

5/14/2014 10:08:42 AM

^^^^^^ What about the Muslim girls who are stoned to death in Pakistan for possessing mobile phones? Is there a card for those innocent lives?

5/14/2014 10:18:33 AM

^^^ of course they have... from what i can remember, it is in the to 10 or so oil producing countries and also in the top 10 with respect to oil reserves, and is a member of OPEC. nearly 50% of its GDP is from oil.

nigeria is crazy, and it will explode soon ("african spring") according to my prediction, which is based on these facts:

- largest african economy by GDP (just surpassed SA recently)
- economic growth rate in the top 3 worldwide
- poised to become top 20 economy by 2020
- lots of oil money, but
- most people are dirt poor
- extreme levels of corruption
- 1 in 6 africans is a nigerian
- crazy population growth rate
- current population of 180 million
- expected to rise to 0.7-1.0 billion by 2100
- nearly half the population is under 16
- life expectancy only around 50 years
- hundreds of ethnic groups and languages, and lots of tension between groups/religions

5/14/2014 1:10:07 PM

There is no amount of money, materiel, or military intervention that would fix Nigeria, or Africa as a whole.

European imperialism absolutely ruined this continent.

5/14/2014 1:24:14 PM

^ I disagree

Nigeria has money, but corruption and greed are what stop this from helping the people. They need a strong judicial system and some good wealth redistribution programs.

5/14/2014 1:55:08 PM

the wealth will trickle down though

5/14/2014 2:11:42 PM

^^^

it was a tongue-in-cheek question about US intervention and the notion that we will only invade countries to help them out only if it helps our oil interests.

5/14/2014 2:59:37 PM

ah ok

(and i was frankly surprised because you are knowledgeable about such things)

5/14/2014 3:08:33 PM

Don't worry, next time a Rethug leads our armed forces, we'll invade Nigeria and make a big show of it.

5/14/2014 3:42:36 PM

^ looking forward to it!

5/14/2014 4:40:41 PM

learn some history

http://www.policymic.com/articles/89247/to-understand-boko-haram-the-west-must-look-more-closely-at-itself-than-at-nigeria

5/20/2014 9:01:31 PM

They're suspecting that Boko Haram is behind the today's twin blasts in a crowded business district that killed at least 118 and injured 45

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/20/us-nigeria-violence-idUSBREA4J0QL20140520

5/20/2014 9:08:11 PM

http://www.policymic.com/articles/89831/this-map-shows-all-the-countries-in-africa-where-the-u-s-has-active-military-operations

5/24/2014 9:16:38 PM

Nigeria is six miles away from my house. Several of my coworkers are Nigerian. Nigeria scares the fucking shit out of me.

Quote :

"how is this any of our business? what US assets are we protecting by going after this guy?"

The imminent concerns would be our oil interests and concern that Boko Haram has been expanding its operations at a rapid clip, including kidnappings of westerners. To some extent there's the hope that we can nip it in the bud now, while it's still very regional. Certainly the Nigerian government and military are incapable of doing anything at all.

Quote :

"China is taking over Africa. The US needs a better foothold there."

Overstating the case a bit but yeah, America needs to start seeing Africa as an opportunity rather than as a cauldron of infinite sadness. China's influence is extremely apparent even in tiny, resource-poor Benin. I don't believe, as some do, that China is positioning itself for the goal of crushing the US economically and politically in the future, but all the same I'd rather not give them the chance. Aside from which, there is money to be made (for us as well as for African countries and people) if we invest smartly here.

Quote :

"A scandal almost bad as Benghazi!!!"

Based on the news I could get, declaring it a terror group was almost entirely symbolic. Normally that designation bans Americans from giving the groups money, or doing business with people that give the groups money. Boko Haram's budget is pretty much all theft and ransom, mostly the latter. They're not doing fundraising in Detroit or anything.

Quote :

"started basically in a noble way, now a vicious perverted group."

I guess noble...kind of...maybe...actually, no, I can't get behind that at all. It was started to promote a narrow regional interest through extralegal means. They arose essentially because of a breakdown in the alternating presidential system that Nigeria adopted (foolishly) and the northern Muslims were pissed that they didn't get their full term when their guy died.

Quote :

"They got a lot and are they're quickly growing into an economic powerhouse."

I beg to differ. They have a large economy, yeah, because they've got a shit ton of people. The vast majority of whom are poor. Almost all of the wealth comes from oil (and almost all of that stays in the hands of a corrupt cadre in bed with government). Their manufacturing is limited to making products so shitty that they are treated with disdain even in Benin, which manufactures exactly nothing.

Quote :

"nigeria is crazy, and it will explode soon ("african spring") according to my prediction"

It will explode, yes. That explosion won't be "African Spring," unless the whole "spring" term has mostly come to mean civil war now. Nigeria will turn into a bloodbath in our lifetimes. The DRC, except with more people in a smaller area. And so I agree with the first part of this statement:

Quote :

"There is no amount of money, materiel, or military intervention that would fix Nigeria, or Africa as a whole. "

Nigeria is fucked, yeah. Beyond hope. A lot of Africa, though, is salvageable in the foreseeable future. Ghana/Togo/Benin/Burkina Faso represent a stable area with Ghana making impressive gains. If it could start to expand its influence over the others (by supplanting Nigeria) I think there's real potential. Much of Eastern Africa has done quite well for itself (excluding Somalia, as Somalia should always be excluded). Even Rwanda has made enormous gains. Ethiopia was a byword for poverty when I was growing up, but now it is relatively strong.

Southern Africa...hit or miss, with some great hits and some depressingly bad misses.

5/25/2014 6:43:01 PM

I always have mixed feelings about Nigeria. It's one of those countries that has tremendous potential in terms of natural resources and an educated population. It's also one giant powder keg with 250+ ethnic groups split between two different religions brought together into a single, semi-stable confederation. The country's been a bit of a mess in the past because a series of coups and dictatorships have retarded economic and political growth. As one Nigerian friend put it, when you have a country full of smart people with no job opportunities, you end up with a nation full of smart con men eating the country alive.

I pray to God that Nigeria doesn't fall into civil war, because it will destabilize the entire region. They are too well armed, too connected regionally, that if war breaks out, it will become a Congo-style, multi-nation regional war, dragging in every neighboring country and maybe the entire region, literally blowing away all recent economic progress. That's why I secretly, perhaps irrationally hope that they sort out their problems because the alternatives are very bad.

5/27/2014 4:42:40 PM

^^i was kidding with my statement "A Scandal Almost as big as Benghazi"!! I was poking fun at FoxNews.

Quote :

"I beg to differ. They have a large economy, yeah, because they've got a shit ton of people. The vast majority of whom are poor."

I was basing my assesment of them "growing into an economic powerhouse" based on wikipedia:

Nigeria has been identified as a regional power in Africa. Its economy (GDP) in 2014 became the largest in Africa; worth more than $500 billion, and overtaking South Africa while becoming the world's 26th largest economy.furthermore the debt-to-GDP ratio is only 11 percent, 8 percent below from 2012 ratio, and is expected to become one of the world's top 20 economies by 2050.

5/27/2014 4:53:25 PM

Quote :

"I was basing my assesment of them "growing into an economic powerhouse" based on wikipedia:"

That much was clear.

Look, it's easy to have a huge economy when you have a huge population. Nigeria is Africa's biggest economy? No shit. It has way more people than any other country on the continent. 26th largest economy? It's the 7th most populous country on earth. Those aren't good numbers.

5/27/2014 5:01:42 PM

Quote :

"1 in 6 africans is a nigerian - crazy population growth rate - current population of 180 million - expected to rise to 0.7-1.0 billion by 2100"

Birth Control?

Why is Nigeria so heavily populated compared to the rest of the continent? Lack of civil wars or disease? Or is
there more habitable land, etc.

Quote :

"European imperialism absolutely ruined this continent."

The place was already in the dumps and 2 millenia behind when the Euros found it.
All the tribal infighting is just a renewal of violence that occured before the colonial period.
If one brushes up on history it was rival tribes that sold their fellow africans into slavery.

5/29/2014 8:42:00 AM

Quote :

"Birth Control?"

Birth control is a long way from holding sway in Africa, for a number of reasons.

1) Superconservative religious organizations telling them it's bad
2) Male privilege means there is almost no penalty for a man who sires an illegitimate child. It's something you get away with, no harm, no foul. So condoms are around and the men don't use them, because "We're too big for condoms." (Note: They aren't. I see about ten african cocks a day, they whip them out all over the place. They are not impressive)
3) As far as BC pills -- how the fuck are women supposed to take those at the same time every day when nobody on this continent can do ANYTHING on time? Maybe 10% of women have a time keeping device and the knowledge to use them.
4) Other BC methods -- you've gotta be kidding. Nobody can afford them. Few people can competently provide them.

Aside from which, the mentality still exists in Africa that having children early and often is a good, desirable thing, and a childless person is pitied. My girlfriend and I get that pity all the time. She's at the ripe old age of 24, probably the oldest unmarried woman in her village.

Quote :

"Why is Nigeria so heavily populated compared to the rest of the continent? Lack of civil wars or disease?"

They had a brutal civil war and they have plenty of disease -- it's one of three or four countries left that have polio (the others being Afghanistan, Pakistan, and maybe Somalia). Then there's malaria. Sleeping sickness. You name it.

Habitable land is probably closer to the mark, though not perfect. Most of the larger countries here in terms of space are mostly desert, the one noticeable exception being Congo -- a place which has been in a more or less constant state of massacre and civil war since before independence, and which has the second biggest jungle on the planet.

But the whole question kind of misses the point. ALL of Africa is densely populated. Too densely to feed itself usually -- no problem, that's what globalization is for, if only government doesn't prevent the food getting to everybody. Too densely for the labor market -- a much bigger problem. A very tiny percentage of Africans are "employed" in any sense of the word that we would recognize.

Quote :

"All the tribal infighting is just a renewal of violence that occured before the colonial period. If one brushes up on history it was rival tribes that sold their fellow africans into slavery."

Eh...yes and no. Certainly Africans were eager to sell each other into slavery, but "tribal infighting" got a huge shot in the arm from European meddling, for a few reasons:

1) Europeans offered a much bigger incentive to enslave people (and start wars with that purpose) than had previously existed.
2) Europeans provided better weapons with which to kill each other
3) Europeans partitioned the continent with arbitrary borders that forced rival groups to try to share power without any prior experience. This pretty much never worked, which either led to civil war or one side getting the other hand and perpetrating genocide.
4) Europeans tended to put / leave the biggest shit heads in power
5) Now that slavery is gone, Europeans (and Americans, and Asians, etc.) provide the enormous market for the goods that fund conflicts (blood diamonds all around!)
6) Imperialist rule and the transition to independence that it oversaw left Africa with virtually no competent leadership or civil service.

There's also a decent case to be made that innovations of imperialism were the impetus for the explosive population growth that leave the continent crowded with angry young people.

I don't want to just shit on the white man. There's also an element to this reminiscent of "The Life of Brian," when the Judean People's Front or whatever is listing all the things the Romans have done for them. There are elements of African life that would be a lot worse off if the Euros had never set foot here, and there are elements that would be a lot better off -- most of the more horrific crimes and wars were only possible as a result of imperial meddling, and local tribal conflicts are preferable to these any day.

5/29/2014 5:42:07 PM

The Nigerian people must be liberated from their repressive government. This is our burden.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/02/world/africa/nigeria-protests-ban/?hpt=hp_t1

6/3/2014 12:46:54 AM