Sis-boom-al-Shabaab

When the supposed al-Shabaab video came out a week ago threatening the Ghermezian malls in Alberta and Minnesota, the only people who pretended to take it seriously were the nabobs in Ottawa who are desperately trolling for terror threats of all types in order to whip up support for their draconian anti-democratic Bill C-51. After all, al-Shabaab has never hit a target more than a day's donkey-cart drive from the border of Somalia.

But a week later, our resolve to stand strong in the face of ludicrously implausible terror threats is beginning to crumble. At last count, no less than twelve cheer-leading squads have dropped out of the Alberta Cheer-leading Association Championships, scheduled to begin next week at West Edmonton Mall.

Those vile al-Shabaabbers have struck a blow at the heart of Western civilization...

Is nothing sacred?

Raping Somalia for fun and profit

When President Hassan Mohamud was elected in a highly dubious process (no popular vote was held) two years ago, his backers in the West were ecstatic. After 25 years in the wilderness, Somalia finally had the Moses who would lead his people to a future of peace, prosperity, and democracy.

That same circle of Mohamud cheerleaders in Western capitals were almost as ecstatic this week when a US Hellfire missile dispatched al-Shabab boss Ahmed Godane to his reward. It is as though these "terror" outfits exist only because some malevolent but charismatic personality has rallied a few malcontents to a cause, and peace will descend once that leader is eliminated.

The fact this strategy never works is no reason for the warmongers in the Nations of Virtue not to use it again and again and again. After all, to pursue a different strategy, like sitting down with these so-called terrorists and discussing their legitimate grievances, would involve conceding that they do indeed have legitimate grievances.

That's not a concession that the West is prepared to countenance.

Unfortunately for the deaf, dumb, and blind interventionists in those Western capitals, two related stories in their own media today serve as a brilliant recruiting campaign for the very terrorists we are supposedly fighting, or paying the African Union to fight.

The first concerns a UN report that implicates Somalia's Moses in a scheme to steal tens of millions in assets from the country.

The second is about a HRW report that accuses AU peace-keepers of systemic sexual exploitation of Somali women and girls.

Somalis understand the truth; the AU is an army of occupation and the President is a stooge of the West, and a crooked one at that. From that realization it is not a far reach to recognize that those so-called terrorists are resistance fighters, and that the real terrorists are the ones bought, paid for, and directed from London, Washington, and Paris.

What next for Somalia after US assassination of al-Shabab leader?

Western narratives about our "enemies" typically place an unwarranted focus on the importance of the leading personalities of whatever terror group or drug cartel or rogue state happens to be the enemy du jour. The conventional wisdom is that if we can eliminate this or that charismatic leader, often characterized as "cutting off the head of the snake", we have solved the problem.

The gloating headlines in the Western media about the assassination of Ahmed Abdi Godane by US missile strike is just the latest example. Have we really struck a major blow against al-Shabab?

History tells us not bloody likely. Did Israel's execution of Ahmed Yassin, a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, end Hamas? No!

Did the murder of Pablo Escobar stem the flow of cocaine into America? No!

There are multitudinous examples of hubristic  Western crowing about our "successes" in decapitating the snake that have only resulted in more snakes.

The enduring success of the "head of the snake" trope is due to its function in diverting attention from the role that our policies play in creating and nurturing the failed states, terror groups, drug cartels, etc., who inevitably morph into our next mortal enemy.

How much more agreeable to place the blame for Hamas on a charismatic leader than in noxious Israeli-US policy.

How much more palatable to blame drug cartels on Pablo and his many pretenders instead of on our own policies.

So back to al-Shabab. America has once again cut the head off the snake...

Is this the end of al-Shabab?

Has America solved a problem?

No!

When our enemies are our enemies because of failed US policies, we cannot expect to eliminate them by eliminating their leadership.

A new al-Shabab leader, younger, smarter, better educated, more ruthless and ambitious, was already waiting in the wings.

The murder of Godane has not eliminated a problem.

It has made the problem worse.

Not a bad week for The Empire in Africa

First of all, you've got United States Army War College grad General al-Sisi winning an election in Egypt. al-Sisi is still a youngish man, so by the expected life-span standards of middle-east despots his victory should sew up Egypt for Western interests for the next thirty years or so.

Meanwhile, right next door in oil-rich Libya, US citizen and "rogue" Libyan General Khalifa Haftar is doing God's work imposing order on the 1001 Libyan militias that have run amok over the past three years. Both of our generals are committed to crushing the Muslim Brotherhood, and both have better relations with Israel than they do with the Palestinians.

At the same time, our allies in Kenya and Nigeria have doubled down on the "terrorist threats" in their midst, promising "all-out-war" against al-Shabab and Boko Haram respectively. The call to war was immediately echoed by French colonies Benin, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.
Declarations of perpetual war can only be music to the ears of AFRICOM boss General David Rodriguez and the Pentagon.

So while it may no longer be a perfect world, rumours of The Empire's imminent demise are greatly exaggerated.

Africa under the Bintus

Back when I was a bright-eyed keener in Professor Jorge Neff's International Development class he used to talk a lot about the Bintu tribe. Took me awhile to catch on, but he was referring to local elites who had been to the west for their education.

As in "been to" Harvard.

Been to the LSE.

Been to Oxford, been to MIT, been to Columbia, etc.

The Bintus.

I was reminded of this while reading about the latest attack on the Presidential Palace in Mogadishu. The al-Shabaab hit team managed to create a minimum of mayhem but missed both the president and prime minister. One of their victims was an Ottawa man, and the article revealed that PM Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed was also from Ottawa.

In fact, he is a graduate of the University of Ottawa, a bit of trivia that the school could capitalize on by featuring him in their recruitment literature.

He is also an alumnus of multiple international finance and NGO outfits. He has drank deeply from the cup of western wisdom. He's a man who knows what the west expects, knows how the power game is played.

He's one of us, in other words, which is why he's deemed suitable for a leadership role in Africa.

Latest western bumboy in Somalia bedeviled by corruption concerns

How do we know this to be true?

Because no less a personage than Governor of the newly created Somalia Central Bank, Yussur Abrar, says so. And Yussur was once a VP at Citibank, so she obviously knows whereof she speaks.

The Gods of Development in the Nations of Virtue have not done much for Somalia over the last fifty years or so, but apparently we have gifted them a central bank, the better to centralize the looting of their country, I suppose.

The single bright moment in that time in terms of indigenous development came in that brief period that the Union of Islamic Courts established some primacy over the myriad warring factions in the country. That was an effort that should have and could have been supported by the west.

But no.

We sent our proxies in to stamp out that wee episode of regional self-sufficiency.

We would rather see Somalia as a bleeding morass, worthy of pity but not respect.

Somalia can never begin to heal until the foreigners go home.

Netherlands Khat ban tinged with racism

For many years the Netherlands has had the reputation of being easy-going when it comes to the enforcement of drug prohibitions. In my youth a pilgrimage to Amsterdam was a mandatory part of life's journey for a certain kind of individual.

They're becoming less easy-going all the time. In recent years the government has sought to discourage drug tourism and has gradually tightened up on cannabis cafes. The most recent assault on its liberal reputation comes in the form of a ban on the import of khat.

Khat is a chewable weed that is the buzz of choice for many of our African friends. It also makes a lovely tea. Anti-khat hysteria has been driven in large part by claims that radical groups like al-Shabaab in Somalia are financing themselves by the trade in what has hitherto been a legal crop.

In yet another case of drug-war/terror-war convergence, the good (white) folks behind the ban are going to eliminate this trade by rendering the khat crop illegal.

Ponder that for a moment.

In order to deprive al-Shabaab of their profits from the khat trade they've made it illegal.

Did making marijuana illegal eliminate the marijuana trade? Did that trade become more profitable or less profitable by being prohibited?

Did the criminalization of cocaine eliminate the cocaine trade? Did the cocaine trade become more profitable or less profitable as a result of that criminalization?

Obviously this move will only enrich the khat trading networks. Insofar as radical groups benefit from that trade, they're in for windfall profits.

And in the Netherlands hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding (black) khat chewers have become criminals overnight.

So long Syria, hello Somalia!

There’s enough hot air coming out of London this week to send a fleet of dirigibles to the horn of Africa, there to rain thousands of tons of “projectiles of democratic values” down on the al-Shabaab evil doers currently doing their evil on the benighted people of Somalia.

All the usual suspects are in town for the Somalia Salvation Summit, usual suspects meaning NATO and a few hangers-on.

The fact that Clinton and Cameron are making bold pronouncements about Somalia also tells you something about Syria, i.e. that NATO has washed its hands and isn’t about to get more involved than it already is.

And if they’ve had a change of heart about Syria, it also tells you something about where their thoughts are on Iran. Syria has essentially been a proxy front in the war on Iran.

So while there’s going to be continued braying for Persian blood from the usual right-wing war-mongers in Likud and the GOP, the reality is that NATO has decided on smaller fish for their next adventure.

Like Somalia. After generations of anarchy during which we occasionally sent in our proxies from Ethiopia or Kenya to flatten a few villages, the fact that Somalia suddenly merits its very own conference means bigger things are in the works.

Hillary Clinton herself has announced that Somalia stands at a crossroads.

Cameron must have thought he heard “crosshairs” instead of crossroads and immediately offered to begin bombing raids on the al-Shabaab.

Canada’s John Baird is just hoping the world has forgotten the last time Canadians were bringing democracy to Somalia. That effort resulted in the torture and murder of a number of Somali civilians.

So good luck to you, Somalia! Good things are just around the corner now that NATO’s got your back.

And carry on with that nuke program Ayatollahs; you’re good to go for now.