With at least $24 trillion in gold, diamonds, tin, coltan, copper, cobalt, and other natural resources beneath the ground, it’s often assumed that Congo’s violence is intimately connected with the desire to control its mineral wealth. By Nick Turse Tom Dispatch October 10, 2019 GOMA, North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo -- The boy was sitting next to More
MOAB, tomahawks and the threat of nuclear war
Turse: Africom and the Pentagon jealously guard information about their outposts in Africa, making it impossible to ascertain even basic facts — like a simple count — let alone just how many are integral to JSOC operations, drone strikes, and other secret activities.
From the article: “If you run they will kill you, so you just close your eyes so you don’t see the rapes.”
Tom Englehardt: It’s been an incredibly quiet show. In recent years, the U.S. military has moved onto the African continent in a big way -- and essentially, with the exception of Nick Turse (and Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post), just about no one has noticed.
"Pain at sunrise, regrets at sunset – dawn or dusk, life isn't fair anymore."
Turse: In 2013, the combined total of all U.S. activities on the continent reached 546, an average of more than one mission per day. Last year, that number leapt to 674. In other words, U.S. troops were carrying out almost two operations, exercises, or activities -- from drone strikes to counterinsurgency instruction, intelligence gathering to marksmanship training -- somewhere in Africa every day.
The close links between American surveillance of Africa and military facilities in England are revealed by campaigners working for non-violent social change. PAUL ROGERS OpenDemocracy.net December 24, 2014 The kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls in April 2014 by the Boko Haram movement in the town of Chibok, northeast Nigeria produced a strong reaction in the western More
As a Man-Made Famine Looms, Christmas Comes Early to South Sudan: The Limits of America’s African Experiment in Nation Building Posted by Nick Turse tomdispatch.com August 7, 2014 Tom Englehardt's Introduction On return from his recent reporting trip to Africa, Nick Turse told me the following tale, which catches something of the nature of our battered More
As a Man-Made Famine Looms, Christmas Comes Early to South Sudan: The Limits of America’s African Experiment in Nation Building Posted by Nick Turse tomdispatch.com August 7, 2014 Tom Englehardt's Introduction On return from his recent reporting trip to Africa, Nick Turse told me the following tale, which catches something of the nature of our battered More
U.S. ranks 101st in the GPI; Iceland #1 GPI rank ThePeaceAlliance.org June 2014 Last week the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) released the 2014 edition of its annual Global Peace Index (GPI), which “ranks nations according to their level of peace.” The GPI measures the “absence of violence and absence of the fear of More
U.S. Military Averaging More Than a Mission a Day in Africa Documents Reveal Blinding Pace of Ops in 2013, More of the Same for 2014 By Nick Turse March 27, 2014 TomDispatch.com Read Tom Engelhardt's introduction here. The numbers tell the story: 10 exercises, 55 operations, 481 security cooperation activities. For years, the U.S. military has More
