Chad army kills Bonnie and Clyde in northern Mali

Chadian media today reported that their troops successfully dispatched the notorious American gangsters in an operation in northern Mali. Bonnie and Clyde were widely believed to have been sympathetic to al Qaeda.

The Chadian military has been enjoying success after success ever since they followed the French into northern Mali, a region well known as a hidey hole for bad guys of every stripe.

French authorities could not confirm the Chadian claims.

Nazi war criminal killed by Chad military in Mali

Chadian television claimed that their military killed Nazi fugitive Alois Brunner in an operation in northern Mali today.

The Chadian military has enjoyed a string of successes in the past few weeks, after sweeping into northern Mali behind the forces of Hollande the Conqueror. It is widely believed that Brunner has been hiding out in the mountainous regions of northern Mali for sixty plus years.

French authorities could not confirm the Chadian claims.

Chad military kills Interpol most wanted in northern Mali

After dispatching a string of top-drawer al Qaeda and Taliban leaders to their reward in northern Mali recently, Chadian TV reports that they have killed Andrei Borodin, who was hiding out in the remote mountainous regions of northern Mali.

Borodin is Interpol's number one most wanted and is suspected of having Islamist sympathies.

The Chadian military has enjoyed a string of successes in northern Mali ever since they became the only African allies of France's invasion of that benighted land.

French authorities could not confirm the Chadian claims.

Chad military claims it has killed Ali Atwa

Chadian TV today announced that its military has killed Ali Atwa, the FBI's most-wanted terror suspect. Atwa was dispatched during an operation by Chadian troops in northern Mali.

Atwa was widely believed to have been hiding out either in Lebanon or New Jersey, but the bold French strike into northern Mali has uncovered a serpents' nest of international terror suspects.

French authorities are unable to verify the Chadian claims.

Chad military claims it has killed Mullah Omar in Mali

Chad TV news reports that the Chadian military serving under French direction in Mali have killed Taliban number one Mullah Omar in northern Mali. While Omar was widely believed to be hiding out in Pakistan, the news of his dispatch will be welcomed in western capitals.

This comes hard on the heels of the Chadian forces in Mali killing the two top al Qaeda leaders in North Africa.

French authorities could not confirm the Chadian claims.

France in Mali; liberation or reign of terror?

Here's the latest Mali news from Al Jazeera.

The Qatar news source is generally pro Western, pro France, pro intervention.

They are also playing the double game just like our allies in Turkey. Some al Qaeda are terrorists when you put them in one context, say Qatar, but they are freedom fighters when you  put them in Syria.

Qatar was huge in the fight against the Monster of the Magheb, because the Colonel had for years railed against what he saw as the corrupt regimes of the Gulf statelets.

Obviously Qatar prevailed in that struggle.

Here are some key terms that we can pick out of the Al Jazeera article about Mali;

reprisal killing
collective punishment
executions
targeted killings

None of these references are to anything the "bad guys" have done.

These are the actions of the liberators, Hollande's Crusaders and their allies in the Malian army.

If a pro-Western news source is painting such a picture, what is the real situation on the ground?

We don't know. There is far more information coming out of Syria, where the evil Assad is blocking press access, than out of Mali, where the virtuous French are blocking press access.

But we're the good guys!

Qatar backing Mali rebels

Or "terrorists" if you will.

But aren't they supposed to be our allies?

We know that they funneled weapons to the Libyan rebels. It's common knowledge that they've been instrumental in supplying the Syrian rebels. Should we be surprised that they are also supporting the rebels in the north of Mali?

After all, it's more or less the same rebels. Or terrorists, depending on the time and the place.

What would be surprising is that while the Libyan and Syrian supply operations were done with the approval of the US, their support for the Mali rebels is supposedly an independent venture.

The key word being "supposedly."

Qatar is tiny country with a population the size of Spokane. It hosts major American Air Force and Navy facilities. Is it realistic to suppose they would be delivering weapons to Malian rebels without the tacit approval of the US?

Also curious is the absence of this story from US news reports. While it's a matter of public discussion in France, the story is invisible on this side of the Atlantic.

But it might explain the reticence of the Obama administration to more overtly ally themselves with Hollande's African adventure.

While it wouldn't be the first time that the US supports both sides in a conflict, it's not the sort of thing that can be done too publicly.

Harper gang wants Canadian boots in Mali

I could be wrong of course. But I don't think John Baird is calling in the ambassadors of France and Mali tomorrow just to tell them that this French action in Mali is the stupidest thing he's ever seen.

He's going into this with one question in his head; "how do I get to earn those spurs?...."

The story is going to be that "we" didn't really want to do it, but we owe it to our allies and to the people of Mali.

But I could be wrong.

We'll see.

War as riposte; French socialists attempt to recapture colonial glory

Back in the dark ages when I was studying the history of colonialism, "socialists" were typically the folks fighting for an end to colonialism.

That idea is so last century.

Today Hollande's socialist France embarked on a bombing campaign in Mali. This will escalate to much more than a bombing campaign very soon, because there is no possible way that the Islamists now in control of northern Mali are going to be bombed out of the picture.

Hard to say what Hollande is thinking. Sure, it's a short-term ploy to take the eye of the electorate off the manifold problems enveloping France. But many of those problems hinge on the failure of France's massive Muslim immigrant community to successfully integrate into French society.

How is that massive Muslim immigrant community going to react to France's bombing of Islamic rebels in Mali? That's a no-brainer, as in nobody with a brain would even consider such a course, but that's not slowing down the latest pretender to Napoleon's throne.

France's bumboy in Mali, acting President Dioncouda Traore had this to say about today's developments;

"this is a powerful and massive riposte against our enemies."

Any would-be African leader who counts on the colonial masters to do his dirty work is flying in the face of the last 200 years of anti-colonial struggle.

Mr. Traore is living on borrowed time.