http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7701269.stm

- Once again, we shall stand idly by while Africa tears itself up and no doubt genocide follows in its wake.

This is where we need to be: Africa.

If "we" go into Africa, whom do "we" support? The rebels or the governments?

I'll go with the people who have no guns and are getting killed. My new concept...support the people and peace.

Clearly, they need to be "liberated".

The rebels have guns, and the governments have guns.

The people caught in the middle are just ordinary people trying to live. So do "we" set up safe havens for them to go to to get away from the fighting? How do "we" keep these places from being used as launching sites for the governments or rebels to perform attacks? How do "we" keep one force from attacking the refugees and using it as a tactic by blaming the other for the attack, and trying to bring "us" down on one side or the other?

How long till the analogies of Concentration Camps are brought up by those that are critical of everything "we" try to do?

So do "we" set up safe havens for them to go to to get away from the fighting?


Yes


How do "we" keep these places from being used as launching sites for the governments or rebels to perform attacks?

Kill the ones with guns


How long till the analogies of Concentration Camps are brought up by those that are critical of everything "we" try to do?

Republicans always bitch about something...fuck 'em.

Yes

Where should "we" set up these safe havens? March into a soverign nation and say, "We're here to set up a refugee camp, and there ain't a damned thing you can do about it." ? Didn't "we" get into a big mess invading a soverign nation to help some other people?


Kill the ones with guns
So if a refugee picks up a gun to defend themselves against a government soldier or a rebel with, "we" should shoot them, right?

What about people that don't abide by the Geneva Convention's rules of wearing a uniform, ect? How do "we" differentiate between a refugee, a rebel, and a government soldier if they all refuse to identify themselves?

Republicans always bitch about something...fuck 'em.

You have become better at rhetoric (205)!

Yeah fuck it, just let them kill each other...no oil there for us unlike Iraq...those poor people in Baghdad needed rescuing.

I'm not saying we shouldn't try and help, I'm just trying to illustrate what happens if we get involved using our our usual "cowboy tactics" to solve a situation that is delicate, at best.

Sure it's great to go in and help people, but the logistics of an undertaking are mind boggling, to say the least.

Also, given there are some governments that are suspicious of everything the United States is involved in. So no matter what, there will always be a level of suspicion on anything we do, to include nothing at all....

Whats the exit strategy? Let the people who want out know, cagem them all up. Then let the B1'S in...level the place, rebuild it, open the cage and move on.

If "we" go into Africa, whom do "we" support? The rebels or the governments?

In Africa its not just the government and rebel factions you have to take into consideration. Hell in Somalia there isn't even a goverment at all for the most part.

Tribal factions are just as important and equally as confusing and intricate as the Islamic factions the U.S. has had to wade through over the last 20-30 years of "helping" the middle east out.

I'll go with the people who have no guns and are getting killed. My new concept...support the people and peace.

Machette seems to be a popular weapon of choice, while guns and ammo are expnsive and a bit harder to come by for the poorer of combatants, Machette's seem to be behind a lot of the attrocities we see on the continent.

Disease, hunger, coruption, wars, genocide, AIDS, negative environmental impacts, very poor economies, tribal mistrust, blatant and out of control government corruption, Niger email spam....

Africa has it all on huge scales, where the hell do you begin?


Cheers,

First of all, I didn't say anything about going in militarily.
Second of all, as Lokase pointed out, the tribal factionalism that dictate's Sub-saharan politics makes supporting one side far more murky than western media would have it.

We need to concentrate our foreign policies, resources and diplomacy on Africa, more than anywhere else, including the Middle East. That was the message of my original comment.

Anywho, just been reported that 50,000 displaced people are being attacked and the camps they're in burned. Another genocide INCOMING.

Well, when you are a Military-Industrial complex, you only have 1 of 2 responses.

Bomb it, or build it!

Yes




Kill the ones with guns




Republicans always bitch about something...fuck 'em.

Coming from the party of I am a victim and life isn't fair this is purely laughable.

Sorry I don't support the current incarnation of the Republican party but I'll be go to hell if I listen to someone spout such purely partisian crap.

The Democrats are just as likely to bitch as the Republicans.

Oh and kill those with the guns. Yes they are all clearly marked and easy to see. See it's like a James Bond movie where all the bad guys wear easy to ID colors and you just shoot them enmasse.

All very easy, and yes "we should liberate them" is so funny...I mean every tom dick and jackass spouts it and thinks themselves clever nowdays...lmao Bill Mahrer says it often and I can see him being one to emulate!!

Something needs to happen, I nominate the rest of the world to put their necks out so they can be on stage and under the microscope. Bring all of our troops home from every bit of foreign soil and let the world handle themselves..../nods

Coming from the party of I am a victim and life isn't fair this is purely laughable.

Sorry I don't support the current incarnation of the Republican party but I'll be go to hell if I listen to someone spout such purely partisian crap.

The Democrats are just as likely to bitch as the Republicans.

Oh and kill those with the guns. Yes they are all clearly marked and easy to see. See it's like a James Bond movie where all the bad guys wear easy to ID colors and you just shoot them enmasse.

All very easy, and yes "we should liberate them" is so funny...I mean every tom dick and jackass spouts it and thinks themselves clever nowdays...lmao Bill Mahrer says it often and I can see him being one to emulate!!

Something needs to happen, I nominate the rest of the world to put their necks out so they can be on stage and under the microscope. Bring all of our troops home from every bit of foreign soil and let the world handle themselves..../nods


Not going to happen...and republicans bitched to no-end when it came to Kosovo, a place that they now use as a point of how great America can be.

I'm partisan because they are, they chose that route they can live with it...it's the monster they created. Remember the "real americans" what a fucking joke the whole thing is.

Rather than using the situation to get into more pathetic partisan bullshit, I say leave it for the United Nations to handle and coordinate a response, since that is what they are there for anyway.

Counterpoint: Africa is overpopulated and economically unsustainable in any sense of the word. Colonialism may have gotten them where they are, but it certainly isn't getting them out. Many African governments are actively subverting aid sent to them.

We like to think we have a moral imperative to help people. We don't like to think we have limitations. However, regardless of the comparative value or justification of other adventures in the third world, there is nothing we can do for Africa in the broadest sense.