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US-China geopolitical dispute motivates legally-questioned US operations
Written by Uriel Araujo, researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts.
Biden has authorized the redeployment of hundreds of troops in Somalia, thus reversing Trump’s December 2020 decision. The US plans to establish a “persistent military presence” there. This new development is not very surprising, and in fact Washington had never quite left the country but has always maintained at least an advisory presence.
The US has had an “invisible” presence in Africa for a while, encompassing a whole range of covert and clandestine operations – this includes the Horn of Africa, where Somalia is located. Washington has been militarily involved in the country since the early 1990s, as part of a humanitarian intervention in the context of civil war. By the early 2000s, violent fundamentalist Islamic groups started to grow in power and numbers, including the al-Shabaab, which started an insurgency in 2006-7.
At the end of his presidential term, former United States President Donald Trump had removed most troops from this African country, redeploying them to nearby states, so as to offer remote assistance to the Somali authorities against the al-Shabaab rebels. Recent US intelligence reports claim that since the troops left, this group has grown stronger.
In July 2021 the Biden administration carried its first airstrike on Somali soil against al Shabaab combatants, shortly after withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. This took place without White House’s approval and was justified by the Pentagon by invoking the 2001 “Authorization for the Use of Military Force”, even thought this pertains to the terrorist groups that attacked the World Trade Center towers twenty years ago. In a context of growing mobilization in both houses to reclaim oversight of the very war powers the Presidency and the Pentagon have accumulated since the 911 attacks in 2001, even top Democrats (from Biden’s own party) warned that such actions were a “dangerous precedent”. Even so, other such strikes followed – there was a major one in February 2022, for example. Voices within the Pentagon had been defending the redeployment of troops in Somalia since early 2021. It has finally happened.
One of recently elected Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s first actions was to issue a statement thanking President Biden for the redeployment and describing Washington as a “reliable partner” in the country’s anti-terrorism efforts. However several sectors of the country’s society dispute this description.
According to an Amnesty International April 2020 report, by the year 2020 the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) had already conducted hundreds of air strikes over a decade, with zero acountability for the deaths of civilians, who were routinely labeled as “terrorists”, and with no compensation of any kind to the families.
According to former Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council (in the US) Luke Hartig, it is simply not clear how Biden’s escalation of Washington’s “forever war” in Somalia even fits into the United States larger counterterrorism strategy, and this is so because the White House so far has not released its own National Strategy for Counterterrorism. As a result of this lack of transparency, nobody really knows what the strategy is and one can only speculate.
It is widely known, for example, that US oil companies, such as Coastline Exploration Ltd, have interests in the country. Already in 1993, a Los Angeles Times article stated that “nearly two-thirds of Somalia was allocated to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco, Chevron, and Phillips”.
When discussing Somalia, not so much is talked, though, about US-China geopolitical competition in the region. Already in January 2021 the FPRI website published a piece by former American Ambassador to Somalia Stephen M. Schwartz arguing that the withdrawal of troops could “open the door” to a “greater role for the People’s Republic of China” on the continent. Moreover, he argued that Somalia is “more” than just al-Shabaab. Chinese presence in Africa is of course a great concern for Washington.
More recently, in a March 18, 2002 article, former Pentagon official Michael Rubin criticized Biden’s “neglect” of Africa in general and of Somalia and its neighboring region, arguing that it was about time Washington provided “democratic, pro-Taiwan Somaliland” with the means to “defend itself against a Chinese-backed regime”. The Republic of Somaliland is a de facto state internationally considered to be part of Somalia, which lies on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden, a very strategic area, for a number of reasons, and is bordered by Djibouti, where China has its only overseas military base.
There is no indication so far the current administration will pursue any such policy pertaining to Somaliland especifically. In any case, for Washington, its activities in Somalia and in the larger Horn of Africa region are in now way merely about classic counter-terrorism operations. It is also about a kind of great power competition with Beijing.
While carrying on such a geopolitical dispute, the very legality of the American military actions has been disputed, and Washington’s terrible record of human rights infringement in the region has been largely forgotten, while Biden’s presidency still hypocritically pursues the narrative of a moral leadership regarding human democracy and the rule of law.
Westerners are pagans. The Western culture of Catholics or Protestants is 80% a culture of Germans in Northwestern Europe. These Germans tortured and killed people as an offering to the northern Germanic gods: Thor, Freija, Odin. That’s why the West kills people every day. As an offering to their Germanic gods.
Facepalm
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Be original once in a while.
Christians, Jews and Muslims also murder people for their patriarchal god. There’s no substantive difference between Semitic and Indoeuropean patriarchal theology (ancient ideology): all are about some bearded guy up in the sky representing the bearded guy down on Earth as patriarch, warrior, looter and abuser. All patriarchal gods are one and the same and all are equally evil.
Long live to Loki-Prometheus-Sugaar, which represents the dignity of men in equality with women, represented by the Mother Goddess in her various forms. That’s the only true religion, at least the only one that is not evil and demonic.
even the term Demonic being bad is christian bull-crap in Greece the demons where seen as neutral spirits like a tools thus saying demons are bad is like saying guns are bad and not the shooter.
The agathodaemons not the cacodaemons. Angels were called agathodaemons in ancient Greece.
In ancient Greece there were no angels, a Hebraic import from the Bible, that’s proto-Medieval to you. The Middle Ages for all practical purposes should be considered to start with Diocletian, who established serfdom (colonatum) and in general inheritance of profession (casteization of society, theoretical end of social mobility) and made his best to butcher the Roman Empire, which oddly enough still survived another century in wretched Christianized (Judaized, orientalized) form.
False, agathodaemons were the angels.
Medieval innovations, know your demonology. Just being stubborn doesn’t make you right. Just go to the Wikipedia page on “agathodaemon” and get your knowledge straighted up, kid.
Yes, of course, but it’s hard to wholly avoid the centuries-consolidated conventions of language.
In my text “demonic” is used in the Judaic (Christo-Islamic) way, not in the ancient Greek one, else I’d use the archaic “daemon” or the Arabized form “djinn” or the Westernized re-form “genie”.
Christians do not kill people for the gods. Christians are a religion in Arabia, just as Jews are a peaceful religion. Unfortunately, the Germans united with Caesar in the year 50 BC, and Caesar took over the Germanic religion as a cult of Rome. since then the Romanians united with the Germans have been burning the living people, for example the Emperor Nero Germanicus who was burning the living Christians. Catholics are a combination of 80% German Paganism and less than 5% Christianity. Catholics like Protestants kill people every day as an offering to their gods.
Lol wut
Do I have to reply to this nonsense? SF, please a block button, please!
Again that bloody patriarchy. lol
Patriarchy is a thing and something you don’t find among hunter-gatherers or even most early style farmers. Why? I wrote several lenghty articles about that but are all in Spanish, so only for you, a very short synthesis.
In the Iberian Neolithic (example from study) there were no class or gender differences yet: all people eat about the same and reached similar ages, usually their 50s (unless they died from childhood illnesses). In the Iberian Bronze Age (also example from another study) there were classes and sexism, especially young low class girls suffered of malnutrition and probably other abuses but, in parallel, we can see how the three classes (lords, guards and serfs in my interpretation) had different food quality, which affected lifespan, and thus different and hierarchical life experience, much like ants.
The formation of Landownerist class society and that of Patriarchy are thus parallel and intertwinned. Unlike some seem to believe, Patriarchy is not particularly attached to Capitalism, but rather a residue from earlier times, one that Capitalism uses or destroys at whim, depending on what is more profittable to do, but tends to erode it very clearly, as does with all institutions of the Landownerist era.
Gimbutas was not fully right therefore, because Patriarchy was developing also in “Old Europe” prior to Indoeuropean invasions, it may not be an extremist Patriarchy but Patriarchy nevertheless because it was part of Class Society landowner (warrior lord) style.
However Patriarchy is not anymore useful nor viable: no system of discrimination (racism, casteism, you name it) is, not because of a moral judgement but because it limits the ability of the capitalist mafia to exploit and sell without limits. Capitalism is and has been for centuries already executing a “cultural revolution” (mafia style rather than Mao style) on our societies, cultures and minds, and conservatism/reactionarism is powerless to stop it because it can’t challenge the central tenet of Capitalism: private property.
Only Socialism does but Socialism is no friend of Patriarchal Landownerism either. There’s no going back to the Metal Ages, if you try to, you’ll fail and become salt statue like that Biblical character who dared to look back. Even the Talibans are doomed.
Yeah but I am a supporter of patriarchy and I don’t like capitalism. Private property is ok though but corporatocracy is not.
In a society, castes should exist but those castes should be formed on meritocratic templates and not on plutocratic.
You say that reactionarism has failed but I don’t see that. It was being overthrown because the bourgeoisie didn’t want it. And then the bourgeoisie became the exploiter class and the workers revolted. The more nationalist workers became fascist, the more internationalist workers became communist.
I remember the pictures of dead American soldiers being towed by cars in the streets of Somalia before the US forces withdrew.
It created problems for the American Zionists that the enemy was not in uniform and they could be anyone in the population.
This time they want niggers to kill niggers by allying with Somaliland.
Another facepalm, commenters here at southfront are making an idiotic competition.
Can’t wait to see dead Americun soldiers being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu.
Agreed. Any idiot ZOG bot that signs up to fight wars for Israel deserves this outcome.
Westerners are pagans. The Western culture of Catholics or Protestants is 80% a culture of Germans in Northwestern Europe. These Germans tortured and killed people as an offering to the northern Germanic gods: Thor, Freija, Odin. That’s why the West kills people every day. As an offering to their Germanic gods.
Tor, Frøya and Odin are Scandinavian gods not Germanic.
The Germans are a people north of the Moselle River in Germany and west of Finland and the former GDR. The Germans have been practicing human sacrifice for their gods for thousands of years. This region of northwestern Europe includes England, where the Mastiff Deaths are found. Human sacrifice by burning people alive has been described by Caesar and many other historians. The Germans conquered Western Europe and imposed their pagan religion. In combination with Arab Christianity, Catholicism has emerged, burning people alive for over 1,500 years without interruption.
Half truths again
Maybe Biden’s puppet masters will focus on Africa to get the public to forget about their losses in Afghanistan and Ukraine.
The United States depends on having some wars going on to keep unemployment low.
Producing weapons makes a big profit but does not create a peaceful world.
There are plenty of people so they are worthless to the profiteers.
Biden has forgotten about all these subjects due to dementia.
He will have to focus somewhat in Africa because there’s a growing Chinese and Russian challenge in that (huge and naturally rich) continent, most recently manifested in the expulsion of France from Mali. However Somalia’s geostrategy rather pertains to the Middle East region, especially because of its projection towards the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
It’s not about forgetting or remembering, it’s about positional geostrategy.
Somalis will ally with Turkey and Iran.
Mike Durant, we won’t leave you behind! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7lNdMFpKE4
War pilots are mass murderers and not popular when captured by infantry.
The US are not happy that China has a presence in the horn if Africa and the Anglo Americans wish to use any ethnic issues in the area to their own advantage. China has invested a lot of money and infrastructure there as the horn of Africa controls shipping from the Indian ocean through the suez canal into the Mediterranean the yanks don’t like the idea that another country may want to secure trade routes there
We still don’t know the motives of China.
The motives of China are of course their own imperialist motives: securing resources and markets for their national economy. The difference with the USA is not about the why but about the how: China has not invaded any country since the border war with Vietnam many decades ago.
Yeah I agree. Plus the Americans say that Greeks are friends while they support radical Albanians and radical Vardaskans.
Russia should be providing satellite intelligence, providing captured arms (NLAWS, Stingers) to al Shabaab in Somalia in order that they might destroy the fachlsts with their own weaponry.
Turn-about is fair play.
Iran does this. lol
Doesn’t the old fuck have a debt ridden country to run?
That’s exactly why he needs colonies.
China builds roads and railroads, water systems, electrical and communications systems. USA sends occupying soldiers and tanks and destabilizes the area with their paid al queda monsters. Wow, what a choice.
Send arms to Somalia to kill Americans or you’re missing out
That picture is disgusting.