Article

2003-05-14 East/Subsaharan Africa

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Steve White 2003-05-14 01:51 am|| || Front Page|| [11 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Since Thabo's country controls much of Subsaharan africa, why aren't they the majority of the peacekeeping force? and where the hell are the belgians? too busy throwing war crime indictments at everyone else? pussies....

Posted by Frank G 5/14/2003 9:59:34 AM|| 5/14/2003 9:59:34 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 "and other governments join in"

That means Uncle Sam has to get involved...without the US to provide topcover, the cheese eaters might get accused of...shudder...quagmirism! Besides, who is going to provide logistics support and strategic airlift if we don't? Not France! The A300 has not been delivered and and France can't easily move or supply a militarily significant force beyond her borders.

Posted by Watcher 2003-05-14 02:06:45|| 2003-05-14 02:06:45|| Front Page Top

#3 "We're kinda busy right now. Good luck, you'll need it..."

Posted by mojo 2003-05-14 02:37:14|| 2003-05-14 02:37:14|| Front Page Top

#4 . More than 10,000 people in the embattled city took shelter under U.N. protection at the city's airport and a U.N. compound, a U.N. spokeswoman said.

Yep. They're doomed, the poor souls...

Posted by Ptah 2003-05-14 03:28:15|| [www.crusaderwarcollege.org] 2003-05-14 03:28:15|| Front Page Top

#5 Is there any way we can remove the word "security" from anything to do with the UN? Can we at least put it in Reuters quotation marks?

Posted by tu3031 2003-05-14 08:41:50|| 2003-05-14 08:41:50|| Front Page Top

#6 The Lendu just love French cuisine, paratrooper flambe, etc.

Posted by Chuck 2003-05-14 09:19:30|| [blog.simmins.org] 2003-05-14 09:19:30|| Front Page Top

#7 Since Thabo's country controls much of Subsaharan africa, why aren't they the majority of the peacekeeping force? and where the hell are the belgians? too busy throwing war crime indictments at everyone else? pussies....

Posted by Frank G 2003-05-14 09:59:34|| 2003-05-14 09:59:34|| Front Page Top

#8 I think France can take care of this. The Lendus won't know what hit them. It'll be like 'Bam' right across the forhead. Couple mechanized divisions and a few air wings. Float the whole force over on the Fleet De Republique

Posted by Lucky 2003-05-14 10:41:41|| 2003-05-14 10:41:41|| Front Page Top

#9 After the French end commercial Concorde flights later this year, they could transition the aircraft to military use. I bet each Concorde could hold as many as fifty troopers with their equipment. While they could move forces quickly, flights would be restricted to really long, hardened runways. May be tough to find in Africaâ¦

Posted by The Kid 2003-05-14 11:29:38|| 2003-05-14 11:29:38|| Front Page Top

#10 I'll believe the world is serious about the Congo when a serious plan is floated to partition the region.

Posted by Hiryu 2003-05-14 12:26:00|| 2003-05-14 12:26:00|| Front Page Top

#11 Reading this and the article below, want to bet that France's military go on strike tomorrow? That will make it far more difficult to do ANYTHING - even worse than normal for the French. Maybe they can borrow a dozen or so CASA 222's from the Spanish Air Force...

Posted by Old Patriot 2003-05-14 14:34:04|| 2003-05-14 14:34:04|| Front Page Top

#12 A technical note: The French call companies battalions and so on. Companies typically have around 100 riflemen. So a French battalion would number around 100 riflemen.

In US terms what Annan is asking for is closer to a regiment/brigade.

Posted by badanov 2003-05-14 22:03:09|| [www.rkka.org] 2003-05-14 22:03:09|| Front Page Top

#13 Good question by the way: where are the Belgians? Answer: they ARE pussies and aren't going to help in any important way.

But these kinds of "security forces" can never work. Reason? If it comes to a real fight, what soldier from Pakistan or France, or Belgium, is going to die for a bunch of Congolese? It's the "why we fight" question. (French and Belgian soldiers. Just sends chills down the spine, don't it?)

Allied forces work when the allies have an actual interest in winning a war.

Posted by R. McLeod 2003-05-15 02:04:39|| 2003-05-15 02:04:39|| Front Page Top

09:19 Hiryu
08:51 w_r_manues@yahoo.com
08:45 w_r_manues@yahoo.com
07:43 w_r_manues@yahoo.com
07:24 w_r_manues@yahoo.com
02:27 R. McLeod
02:18 R. McLeod
02:04 R. McLeod
01:55 R. McLeod
01:48 R. McLeod
01:47 R. McLeod
01:38 R. McLeod
01:28 R. McLeod
00:27 Bomb-a-rama
23:02 mojo
22:57 mojo
22:50 Paul Moloney
22:32 The Kid
22:23 Dishman
22:03 badanov
21:57 NamVet
21:45 badanov
21:21 Fred
20:48 Aris Katsaris