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Is it just me? All of a sudden the news is all about the Islamic threat in North Africa, the French ( that is right isn't it?) have gone to Mali, all those poor gas workers in Algeria being killed ( can you imagine was that must have like for the families!!!??) government and news are taking about it every day now.
It just feels like a set up. Too much time spent on here probably!! LOL
[tinfoil hat]Well, there *is* quite a lot of oil there....[/tinfoil hat]
You're quite right emsz. 3 commando and 16 air assault warned off for potential north africa ops already.
I have said it before, but:
Never has a 'lol' seemed so incongruous.
Need to read up about the Nazis emsz, clever bunch. They knew you always had to give the people an enemy, even if one didn't exist. Then you can get away with anything. They were pretty much the founder of propaganda, indeed, all modern warfare is based on their method first seen by us in WWII.
'Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.' Hermann Goering
How may people could place Mali on a map a week ago? And how many are now experts!!
Ha ha, my GF rants about this stuff like, constantly!! She reckons its all about the arms industry!
Teamhurtmore: that would be me!! Lol ( not being able to point at it, but def not an expert)
On my phonecand struggling to link the video but listen to Gil Scott Heron - work for peace.
Just sit back and wait for the old weapons of mass destruction chestnut.... 🙄
All of a sudden the news is all about the Islamic threat in North Africa
Depends which news you follow. There have been rumblings for a few months now, as the Tuareg and the Islamists took over the north of Mali earlier last year. Timbuktu has been under their control for a few months, and they've been going around destroying old temples and suchlike, much like the Taliban in Afghanistan.
It's only in the last couple of weeks that it's seemed more likely that they could take the capital (the north is a whole lot of not much) and everyone's woken up a bit. Even then it took the French deciding to go solo (former colonial power, feel slightly involved) for people to actually sit up and take note.
She reckons its all about the arms industry!
I doubt that. I can't see how the arms industry would benefit substantially from French/Western intervention in Mali.
If you want to point a suspicious and cynical finger then oil would probably a better choice.
Proven oil reserves have recently been discovered in northern Mali.
[url= http://magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/08/12/feature-03 ]Mali seeks to develop oil reserves[/url]
And you can add another suspicious angle to it by considering how the democratically elected government of Mali was recently overthrown by a US trained officer.
[url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/07/amadou-haya-sanogo-mali-coup_n_1655975.html ]Amadou Haya Sanogo, Mali Coup Leader, Derails 20 Years Of Democracy[/url]
Not that the US government/CIA would ever organise a military coupe in some poor Third World country to further US business interests of course.
Thread resurrection... Why the hell is Cameron now committing troops as I've just read on the guardian's website? Have they learnt nothing from recent history?
Oh let's get stuck in to another unwinnable war whilst making the UK an even more 'worthy target' s to nasty folk around the world.
Double post
Us,the public are so used to it now ,no one cares.
How far down the news is a soldier being killed in Afghanistan now?
Just say no.
The French have done the right thing.
Shoot and ask later ...
It's all about a nasty controlling religion. The same religion that has been causing misery and death around the world for much longer than I've existed on this planet.
Have you not noticed this common thread in all parts of the world?
It's often reported that these people are extremists. Perhaps true, but there sure are plenty of them everywhere you go.
Must take some serious intimidation to indoctrinate people to become suicidally dedicated this medieval, but hollow cause!
All I can say is thank fxxk we live in a relatively free society (for the time being).
sorry spongebob, just for clarity, you are talking about the west and capitalism arn't you?
Well Camerons letting British troops loose in Mali.
the western puppet leaders in mali allow western oil interests in. the indigenous people want the wealth to stay in the country. they have no democratic voice (like us, hah!) they are moslems, therefore they are islamic extremists. the end.
and another thing, the war in Afghanistan has seen some of the bloodiest fighting involving british troops since ww2, yet we never hear about it on the news? public opinion stopped the vietnam war, that was the last war that was properly reported on the tv, and pictures of burning children where just too much for the public to take
The news reports of the French 'encountering little or no resistance' and 'fighters just melting away' have an eerily familiar air to them. The last couple of times this happened, its ended up going really well.
How long are we giving it before the French Troops hit their first IED's. I'm going to be an optimist and give it until Friday.
[quote=spchantler said]
and another thing, the war in Afghanistan has seen some of the bloodiest fighting involving british troops since ww2, yet we never hear about it on the news?
Really ? Where are you getting your news from ? I think the majority of UK residents would appreciate that it's no tea-party in Afghanistan.
We're all going to Hell in a bucket, a cheap Chinese plastic one, probably red.. 😥
Need to read up about the Nazis emsz
Wow, Godwin's in six posts.
Is that a record?
If its about the Western arms industry then then they are not doing a good job as it seems its mostly Chinese and Russians weapons being used in all of these conflicts.
The question really is why has it taken so long for anyone apart from the locals to know or care about the Islamist invasion of Mali?
A few journalists have been talking about it for several years, but no-one has paid much attention until very recently
the western puppet leaders in mali allow western oil interests in. the indigenous people want the wealth to stay in the country. they have no democratic voice (like us, hah!) they are moslems, therefore they are islamic extremists. the end.
Except in this case the indigenous people were invaded by mostly foreign Islamists, who destroyed a lot of their ancient cultural sites and imposed much stricter Sharia laws, and now they're being driven back the locals couldn't be happier.
Cynicism is a good thing, but this is nothing like Afghanistan or Iraq.
Fair point Ben. The locals on the news reports did look very, very pleased indeed to see the back of the Islamists. As I'm sure most of us would if we'd had someone else's ultra-extreme religious laws imposed on us, completely against our will.
Look at what Lindsey Hilsum's been writing/tweeting about it - she's there now, but has been covering the story for ages.
Thread resurrection... Why the hell is Cameron now committing troops as I've just read on the guardian's website? Have they learnt nothing from recent history?
Well it worked for Thatcher as a re-election ploy, so maybe he's hoping a war will get him back in. Screwing the economy certainly hasn't worked so far.
One thing I find hard to understand is why have France gone in
There normally the first if not to withdraw or not participate.
But as above they have been destroying religious buildings and now
reported of destroying religious artefacts which is incorrect of any religion.
Rather than the Falklands, I think Dave will probably be looking to Tony's more recent foreign escapades, and how gloriously successful they've been. And much more importantly what they did to his credibility, and subsequently his parliamentary majority.
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The locals seemed quite relieved that they could listen to music and not have their hands chopped off anymore.
[quote=grantway said]One thing I find hard to understand is why have France gone in
There normally the first if not to withdraw or not participate.
But as above they have been destroying religious buildings and now
reported of destroying religious artefacts which is incorrect of any religion.
Former French colony, probably lots of French business interests etc etc.
It's all about a nasty controlling religion. The same religion that has been causing misery and death around the world for much longer than I've existed on this planet.
What have the Catholics got to do with this?
Remember how we were told that there would be no british army boots on the ground? Well today at a meeting in Brussels, it will be 'decided' how many british troops are sent in a 'training' capacity.
the french oil company Total has a lot of interests in Mali
the islamists have been empowered by the weakening of dictators in north africa after the arab spring and most importantly very well armed by the west/saudi etc to fight gadaffi and then liberated his own significant weapons chaches
jonah tonto - Member
sorry spongebob, just for clarity, you are talking about the west and capitalism arn't you?
I think you know what he's on about.
How may people could place Mali on a map a week ago? And how many are now experts!!
Luckily I'd listened to Cabin Pressure the week before, so was fully aware of the situation.
Never realised before how popular pizza was there though!
How may people could place Mali on a map a week ago? And how many are now experts!!
I think you'll find STWers are all already experts on absolutely everything ...
the war in Afghanistan has seen some of the bloodiest fighting involving british troops since ww2, yet we never hear about it on the news?
Eh?
Anyway, the situation in Mali has hardly popped out of nowhere has it? It's pretty close to Libya, where there were very recently a lot of Islamists and weapons floating around, and is not alone in that part of the world in having a weak government and lots of shady terrorist/fundamentalist groups setting up shop there- like the Yemen and Somalia, which have both been in the not-quite-mainstream news a bit over the last few years and probably will be much more in the near future. It's a bit too simplistic to think that it's all about Western propaganda and starting a new war just to keep things ticking over IMO. On the other hand, it'd be naive to think that the French* aren't looking out for their near and longer term interests by stepping in.
So 'Not being on news at 10 until recently' != 'Nothing was going on there until recently'
*Same obviously goes for the US, the UK, and for that matter any other country with the means to step in and try and make sure things turn out to their advantage instead of letting the locals get on with it.