PREPARING FOR WAR IN AFRICA

• The graphic above was produced by the Pentagon's Africa Command (AfriCom).  It gives a clear indication how the military views the continent.  The Washington Post carries an article today called Drone base in Niger gives US a strategic foothold in West Africa.  The article reports that Obama has sent Predator drones and more than 100 troops to Niger.  The article only talks about the US being in West Africa at the request of host governments and the French to help fight terrorism.  (The Pentagon has already signed an agreement with Niger in January that provides judicial protection and other safeguards for US troops in that country.)  The article never made the slightest mention of resources which is really why AfriCom is ramping up US military operations there.

• In fact France has interests in securing resources, particularly oil and uranium, which the French energy company Areva has been extracting for decades in Niger. Behind France's recent military intervention in neighboring Mali is the strong hand of the US.  The obvious goal is to militarize the entire region in order to control resources. Obama's strategy is to have France take the direct hit with the US taking a role in the background.  Obama figures it might not be a good idea to jump right into Africa while the US is still bogged down in Afghanistan.  But who better than the black president to get the US deeply engaged on the African continent.  Have you heard the Black Congressional Caucus or leading Black figures in the US publicly complain about Obama taking us into war in Africa?  Obama has effectively neutralized any opposition.
• I got an exciting email yesterday from a student peace group at the University of Maine-Orono up near Bangor.  They read my Op-Ed in the Bangor Daily News yesterday about the proposed "missile defense" base in Caribou.  They wanted to express their concern and offered to help organize opposition to the base.  They are working on a protest rally for May 4.