The attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, reportedly carried out by al-Qaida affiliate al-Mourabitoun, has compounded interest in terrorism in the region, in part because it comes in the wake of the attack in Paris. Whether there is a connection between the two is an important question, given the presence of French nationals in the hotel, as well as the ongoing military involvement of France in Mali’s fight against terrorism.
While many have concentrated on whether the hotel attack was the work of Islamic State – it was not – the more concrete worry should be what this attack demonstrates while the French regional anti-terror operation continues.
The presence of jihadi groups in Mali prompted the French to intervene in January 2013, when the mostly al-Qaida affiliated militants were making their way towards Bamako. Following the intervention, the militant groups withdrew and “set up shop” in other countries in the region, particularly in Libya, which has remained a crucial destabilising factor. Thus, although the operation was deemed a success for having caused the militants to flee, this in fact caused a regionalisation of the threat by prompting them to operate from other areas. As a result, last year the French launched Operation Barkhane, with the aim of insulating the chaos in Libya.
In this context, the significant expansion of militant activity beyond the core theatre of operation in the north of Mali, which included an attack against the Byblos Hotel in Sevare, as well as smaller-scale incidents along the Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mauritanian borders, underscores continued attempts by militant groups to challenge the French, UN and local counter-terrorism efforts. So Friday’s attack in Bamako is not surprising, given that the capital has remained a high-ranking target for these groups, which have demonstrated their ability to successfully carry out attacks there. That said, although this resurgence and expansion of militant activity proves that counter-terrorist actions have not been sufficient, it does not necessarily mean that the ongoing efforts are for naught, or that Operation Barkhane is a failure.
The French have tasked themselves and their African counterparts with a very complicated operation. Many factors hinder their efforts, including vast desert areas that are hard to monitor, the ongoing destabilisation caused by Libya, as well as the porous nature of borders in the region that enable the smuggling operations that finance militant activities. The need for the international community to increase its involvement in Mali is underlined by the continued ability of militant groups to reach Bamako. The situation in Mali is highly volatile and likely to remain so.
More significantly, this undertaking has made France an important target for militant groups, with its involvement in other campaigns across the world serving to do the same. As a result, the connection between the Paris attacks and the siege at the Bamako Radisson Blu is best understood through a global lens. France being targeted in Mali is most certainly also a result of its historical presence in the country and the region, although the active international role it has taken in the global counter-terror efforts has made it an enemy of militant groups.
In a global effort where international players are akin to chess pieces in a worldwide competition between rival terrorist networks, the question remains as to whether the growing number of attacks against France will deter it from being as active as it has been thus far. One thing is certain, however: the Bamako attack demonstrates that al-Qaida remains alert and active in the Sahel.
Bat-el Ohayon is president of AfriQue Consulting Group, a geopolitical and risk mitigation company
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/22/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
#1
no. Jihadi long term goal in mali is to establish the global caliphate under sharia
the same as every islamist fascist around the world
incorrect analysis leads to incorrect target selection
#3
As per WAFF, and regardless of whether France "backs off" or not, looks like Darth Vlad = Russia is threatening to intervene + bomb Any + All Hard Boyz in Mali as Russia does in Syria-Iraq???
Meanwhile, NOT to be outdone by RUSSIA ...
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > THREE CHINESE AMONG 20 DEAD [in new Mali terror attack] | [SCMP] THREE CHINESE AMONG 20 DEAD IN MALI: TROOPS RAID WHILE LUXURY MALI HOTEL WHERE ISLAMIST GUNMEN REMAIN.
* SAME, LONDON EXPRESS.UK > TIME TO ACT: CHINA [to?]LAUNCHES WAR ON ISIS AFTER TERRORISTS "EXECUTE CHINESE HOSTAGE" [Fan Jinghu].
Finally FTLG.
versus
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > FRANCE + RUSSIA GOT IN THE WAY OF ATTEMPT BY BEIJING TO PAY HOSTAGE RANSOM | [SCMP] CHINA PLAN TO RESCUE ISLAMIC STATE HOSTAGE JINGHU "FOILED BY RUSSIAN AND FRENCH AIRSTRIKES".
#2
Because being Muslim means you don't kill other Muslims. So they become unauthentic Muslims, not real, apostate, etc. 'They' are probably the real fundamentalists, but 'they' can't be in the mind the minds of the apologists. It's called displacement. "In Freudian psychology, displacement (German: Verschiebung, "shift, move") is an unconscious defense mechanism whereby the mind substitutes either a new aim or a new object for goals felt in their original form to be dangerous or unacceptable."
#5
If they yell "Allan's Snackbar" when they are killing people, they are Islamic. Islam needs a reformation movement that cleans out the radical element or fundamentalists. I have not seen this happening; in fact the Sauds have funded the radical movement and it has morphed into what we are dealing with today. The world needs to take action.
#8
"But THEY do" > Yuuup, moreso per the future US born, US-raised, Ex-USDOD Elite + Convert to Islam ISLAMIC MAHDI/MESSIAH/HIDDEN IMAM aka MUSLIM/ISLAMIC NUCLEAR NAPOLEON.
2030 - 2050, as well-consistent or widin a former US Fed Director's assessment that IHO the war or fight agz ISIS/ISIL/Daesh could last "30 Years".
OWG CO-SUPERPOWER IRAN GOING NUKULAAR = IRAN'S SUNNI RIVALS [KSA, Turkey, Egypt], BESIDES ISIS-THREATENED, ALEADY NUKE-ARMED MUSLIM PAKISTAN, WILL WANT NUKES [+ OWG Co-Superpower status?] = ALSO GO NUKULAAR = DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, THE ISIS/ISIL + OTHER BY 2030 WILL ALSO VERY LIKELY POSSESS MIL NUCTECHS [Nukes-WMDS].
Lest we fergit, the above is EXCLUSIVE of 1990's POTUS Clinton-era Pert, MSM-Net allegations that IRAN + OTHER MUSLIM NATIONS PROCURED [Tac-only?]NUKES ON THE BLACK MARKET AFTER THE
COLLAPSE OF THE USSR.
[1960's-1970's = 2014 "EDGE OF TOMORROW" > TOM CRUISE'S COWARD-WID-A-HEART-OF-GOLD USMC CHARACTER = "THE INVASION WILL FAIL [Counter-Invasion agz Islamist-controlled/dominated Europe] - EVERY [Anti-Caliphate] SOLDIER THAT LANDS ON THAT BEACH TOMORROW WILL DIE"!]
THE US-ALLIES WON IN 1944 [Normandy], BUT MAY NOT IN 2044.
They wanted SECULAR OWG MARXIST-COMIE-SOCIALIST GLOBALIST US-WORLD ORDER, BUT GOT THEO-SOCIALIST OWG US-WORLD CALIPHATE ISLAMIST-JIAHDIST ORDER INSTEAD.
Four forces compete in the Venezuelan parliament vote of December 6: government, opposition, independents and abstention. The triumph of the opposition or the government in the upcoming Venezuelan parliament vote will depend on the influence of independents and abstention.
In principle, though, independents and abstention rather harm the opposition. Why? Because they basically come from the higher social classes, where the opposition is most voted. There, the opposition-government ratio is more or less 70%-30%. However, they represent only 30% of the registry of voters. The remaining 70% is in the lower classes. There, pro-government voters prevail. Once the National Assembly is established, independents, after taking votes out from the Unified Democratic Panel (MUD), will become part of the opposition group. By December 6, the noted trend is that independents and abstention will remain at 30%-40%.
Evil polarization, after more than 16 years, clearly shows exhaustion and despair. Just have a look at this number: more than 90% of Venezuelans demand dialogue. They want peace, and they think they cannot achieve it because of the conduct of hardcore government followers and dissenters. They back cohabitation. They regard agreements and talks as progress, social calm and economic improvement. They feel that this could lead to consensus able to improve economy, increase production and dismount fanaticism, intransigent ideology and hatred among Venezuelans. Do political stockholders realize it? It does not seem so, as polarization is the object and subject of their strategy.
Meanwhile, a giant mass of voters takes sides with either the government or the opposition. Political polarization has been merciless, to such an extent that each party makes its existence conditional upon inexistence of the other party. Hence, they act and yell in terms of extermination. Either them or us! In the roadmap of both sides polarization is the strategy.
An eventual tight result, let's say, 84 deputies on the one hand and 83 deputies on the other hand, could fuel violence the very December 6. The situation could reach a deadlock. And they would be forced to agree on some important public affairs to prevent the State and the government from coming to a halt. As for me, on December 6 nobody will get a landslide victory or a crushing defeat. May God have mercy on us!
[American Thinker] I spoke with two Germans, several weeks before the Paris Islamist attacks, on religion, ideology, and the future of Europe. I predicted to them that Germany will be consumed by Islam due to the hordes now invading. Both Germans were serenely, unperturbedly dismissive.
He is a captain of industry, middle-aged, brilliant. The world is his oyster, and he is in great command of industrial and financial trade. Married with children, he lives in London and guffaws at the idea of Islamist takeover on the mainland. She is a neuroscience graduate student, fully persuaded that religion is completely irrelevant and that these ripples of medievalism will surely die out as the Muslims settle down to the prosperity of economy.
Evidence, for both of my German friends, need not interfere with the exaltation complexes that blind them. The question is why.
Europe is convinced -- utterly -- of the superiority of its civilization. Europe today has no questions. It "knows" there's no God. It knows that socialism in a secular liberal democracy is supreme. It knows that atheistic science is the only science allowed to be done. It knows that wanton sex isn't just a right, but an entertainment industry orthogonal to morality. It knows that abortion is a shrug of the shoulders and that the bearing of children in marriage is a most improbable occurrence -- but when the Leonids return, it might be considered in an academic paper. The continent "knows" that religion is a thing of the past. And it knows that the march towards dissolution of personal sovereignty, national sovereignty, is an inevitable fact of evolution, evolution being the unquestionable god of all things.
And all that evidence-free fundamentalist secular-liberal certainty is becoming Europe's complete undoing.
[AlAhram] Among the many mysteries hanging over the Gay Paree attacks, few are more puzzling than the fate and role of jihadist Salah Abdeslam, subject of an international manhunt since the carnage.
He and his brother Brahim played a key logistical role in the wave of terror which left 130 people dead and hundreds injured, renting cars and hotel rooms where the jihadists could hole up.
Brahim, like another five of the assailants, went kaboom! after the bloodshed. A seventh was shot by police.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/22/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
