Too little is published about this topic. Unfortunately, this reviewer brings in his own invented facts, unsupported prejudices, and odious comparisons. Hence I have edited the review. A link to the unedited version is given at the bottom of the article, as usual. _____
Counterpunch.png US War Footprint in Africa A review of Nick Turse's book, "Tomorrow's Battlefield" Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch, USA, 7 August 2015 The United States Africa Command, otherwise known as AFRICOM, describes its mission like this: "United States Africa Command, in concert with interagency and international partners, builds defense capabilities, responds to crisis, and deters and defeats transnational threats in order to advance U.S. national interests and promote regional security, stability, and prosperity." Like every other Pentagon mission, the security this mission statement refers to is the security of the financial, political and military establishment of the United States. Tomorrow's battlefield Most US residents have probably never heard of AFRICOM nor could they point out on a map the countries where it operates. Journalist Nick Turse's recently released book <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1608464636/counterpunchmaga> Tomorrow's Battlefield: US Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa aims to at the least make more of the people paying for this military intervention aware of AFRICOM and its mission. Essentially a series of investigative articles that appeared over the course of 2014, "Tomorrow's Battlefield" is a fairly detailed laundry list of secret operations, military manoeuvres, army and air force facilities creation, and other such phenomena undertaken by the US military in Africa. War footing What becomes clear as one reads this text is that the US military in Africa is essentially on a war footing and is expanding rapidly. Furthermore, the foreign policy behind this expansion seems muddled at best - much like that in Afghanistan and the Middle East - and grounded in what is an essentially colonialist mindset. In other words, Washington assumes it knows what is best for the people whose land it is operating on. South Sudan Two examples of the aforementioned arrogance and its consequences that come forth in this book revolve around the recently formed country called South Sudan. Despite helping to create this new nation and installing its government, Washington is now supporting a rebel force trying to overthrow that entity. Meanwhile China has good relations with the government once considered Washington's ally. Beijing is tailoring its involvement in the African continent towards development that provides education, health and education. Beijing's approach is legitimate, normal and bilateral, unlike Washington's militaristic one. [Note: The book under review is about Nick Turse's investigations of US military invasion of Africa via the AFRICOM. There is no Chinese military presence in Africa. Turse did not investigate China's peaceful trade relations in Africa.] "Tomorrow's Battlefield" provides a fairly detailed introduction to what Washington is up to in the countries of the African continent. . Ron Jacobs is the author of <http://store.counterpunch.org/product/day-dream-sunset/> Daydream Sunset: Sixties Counterculture in the Seventies published by CounterPunch Books. He lives in Vermont. He can be reached at: <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]. From: <http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/08/07/the-us-militarys-african-footprint/> http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/08/07/the-us-militarys-african-footprint/ -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
