You have commented 338 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Africa North
Western powers plan a longer stay and wider presence in Africa
2013-02-06
[Iran Press TV] An analyst says France is in cahoots with British colonial policy and terrorist funders Saudi Arabia and Qatar and this war begun in Mali is not intended to end.

In the background of this the French incursion in Mali is four weeks old. Their air force is pounding Muslim Tuareg tribal areas in the north of Mali. Algeria has beefed up its position to prevent refugees from entering their country and of course to prevent a spillover of terrorists, which are also being herded in that direction by French forces. The Tuareg region has been demanding independence from Mali for a decade.

Press TV has interviewed Lawrence Freeman with the Africa Desk of the Executive intelligence Review about this issue.
That'd be a Lyndon LaRouche publication...
The following is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Taking a look at this situation as it stands right now as the French military forces move toward the north, pounding Tuareg areas. Where does it all end? France has not really spoken much about bringing about democracy or even stability for that matter to the country.

Freeman: It's not going to end because it's not intended to end. In fact the clearest discussion of what the policy intends to be were delivered by the former prime minister Tony Blair yesterday in an interview on the BBC.

Tony Blair speaking for the British colonial policy said very clearly, "We're going to be in this region for a generation to come". That's 20-25 years. And that is what we're looking at.

The French have no way of dealing with this problem. They've driven out some of these insurgents from Timbuktu, from Gao... but that was what was expected; they've dug in 100 kilometers north and they're going to try to drive them towards the Algerian border.

Algeria now is going to be a target of destabilization in the region. It's now the largest African country that essentially has not been destabilized and now it will be destabilized. There is no intent to stabilize these countries. The intent is going to be a 30 years war of all against all - different ethnic groups different religious groups all fighting each other and none of the substantial issues of drug trade, of economic development, of poverty, of hunger, none of these are being addressed.
Posted by:Fred

#2  In describing likely events, perhaps, but not in his attribution of intent. The last thing the French want are more north African refugees making it to Spain and thence to France - and the destabilization he describes will generae thousands of them, if not tens of thousands, who manage to make it across the Strait. Meanwhile, Britain is slashing its military budget like mad and has no public support for such a presence on the mere dream of 'colonialism'.
Posted by: lotp   2013-02-06 18:26  

#1  Thanks Fred. This is probably one of the most insightful analysis of recent North African developments that I have seen to date. Freeman is spot on!
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-02-06 16:26  

00:00