I was unable to sustain much of a discussion here getting into the facts surrounding the American military and diplomatic efforts in the Horn of Africa. Well, I basically lost momentum here and my YouTube thing was getting all of the 200 character comments. I still maintain the research notebook on Somalia.
The Christian Science Monitor (a damned good source) gives me the following news which I accept with some neoconservative resignation:
Washington - When Pentagon strategists sought to create a new military command to oversee Africa, they believed they could build one that deemphasized military might and would serve as an exemplar of what so-called US soft power could do around the world.
But in recent months, the Pentagon has had to scale back its ambitious vision to adapt Africa's political terrain, military officials acknowledge, adding they remain committed to the original idea of a military command to promote peace in the region.
For now, officials have ruled out basing the headquarters anywhere in Africa and may in fact locate it on the East Coast, a senior defense official says. They have also backed away from selling the new command as a full "interagency" organization that spans military and nonmilitary entities.
"We sort of admitted all along that we were building something that we'd never built before," says one senior defense official, on how the command has changed. "So you gotta start somewhere, you gotta take a stab at it."
As the US Africa Command – or AFRICOM – works to stand on its own by October, the change in plans illustrates the limits of the US trying to use the military to try to broaden its influence across the globe.
When you consider the vehemence with which people I consider ignorant and rebellious reject the military umbrella of American hegemonic protections, you basically leave them to their fate. I should probably find some strong argument in a book, perhaps Bolton's, that gives a safe retreat from proper American geopolitical intervention. We are not an empire and have no such mandate from the people, and yet there is much we are able to do. But in the back of my mind, I know it is essentially irresponsible for America, especially the Pentagon to allow people in Africa or anywhere butcher each other without the benefit of a proper war. Sound strange? Think about it. Do you think the Geneva conventions applied in Rwanda? Of course not. And who makes any 14 year old with an AK47 obey any law? With real soldiers from real armies. America is the only country willing and able to deploy multinational forces of any substance. The AU doesn't seem to be on its game. But the illegitimate bloviation of immoderate dissent has quite enough adherents and we're not in the mood to discipline a better solution. So to hell with Africa. OK?
I note this in reflection upon the latest Long Now seminar which reminds me that America invented modern philanthropy and the new philanthropy is going through an interesting evolution. I'll pickup that tangent another time.
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