Reblogged from The Wretched of the Snark: At first they came for my radio and I said nothing because the local station is terrible. Then they came for the manuscripts and I ignored them because I have a copy on my kindle. But then they forced me to bury good beer in the desert…. Many … Continue reading
Reblogged from Dekhnstan: Mali’s problems did not start with the fall of Libya’s Qadhafi. They started even before it gained independence from France. A diverse set of ethnic groups were forced to coexist without much thought of the immense potential for conflict caused by that arrangement. France’s 25th hour short-legged attempt at Shock and Awe … Continue reading
Posted: 23rd January 2013 on jihadica.com by Andrew Lebovich Ansar al-Din was created in November 2011 by Iyad Ag Ghali, a legendary Tuareg powerbroker in northern Mali who led two rebellions against the Malian government in the 1990′s and in 2006. According to journalistic accounts as well as scholarly writing, Ag Ghali grew increasingly religious and joined the … Continue reading
Posted: 19th January 2013 on jihadica.com by Andrew Lebovich [Editor’s Note: Jihadica is thrilled to welcome Andrew Lebovich, one of the very few people who specializes in North African jihadis. This is the first of a four part series on the jihadi chess pieces at play in the current Mali/Algerian crisis. Tomorrow’s post will be on the splinter … Continue reading
Posted: 20th January 2013 on jihadica.com by Andrew Lebovich The man allegedly behind the gas facility attack, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, had, until recently, run AQIM’s Katibat al-Moulathimin (“The Veiled Brigade”), a reference to the practice of male veiling common in parts of the Sahel. In October 2012 AQIM stated that Belmokhtar had been “suspended” from the command of the … Continue reading
Posted: 22nd January 2013 on jihadica.com by Andrew Lebovich The Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO, in French) is an AQIM splinter group that publicly appeared in December 2011, when they claimed the kidnapping of three European aid workers in Tindouf, Algeria. Led by the Mauritanian Hamada Ould Kheiru, an explosives expert, … Continue reading
By SCOTT STRAUS and LEIF BROTTEM Published: January 18, 2013 in NYT CHANCES are that French air power combined with superior numbers and equipment on the ground in Mali will prevail and force the jihadis to retreat in some fashion to the Sahel. That, however, will hardly be the end. We know from previous wars … Continue reading
Reblogged from peter tinti: Bamako, Mali: Reading, writing and thinking about Mali consumes most of my days, which is why I can empathize with those who seek to better understand the current crisis but have no idea where to begin. Across the board, the problem with Mali coverage is a matter of quality, not quantity. Mali’s rapid … Continue reading
