What is happening in Europe and Africa, and the people and culture thereof?

It's not always possible to easily divide news into exclusive groupings of good or bad. Often the news is an admixture.

Fortunately, the West has moved away from religiously inspired killing, but in Africa and Indonesia the same is not the case.

Boko Haram says its aim is to impose a stricter enforcement of Sharia law across Africa's most populous nation, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south.

After the predominantly Muslim Seleka militia took control of the Central African Republic under President Michel Djotodia in 2013, a period of lawlessness and sectarian violence continued. Following warnings of "genocide" by the UN and a controversial intervention force by MISCA, Djotodia resigned. Despite neutral Catherine Samba-Panza being made president, the Anti-balaka Christian militants continued sectarian violence, including reported targeted killings, against Muslim civilians.

INDONESIANS are reeling from one of their country's most awful incidents of religious violence in years. It happened on February 6th, in a village in Banten, the western end of Java, not far from Jakarta, a district where strictly Islamist parties poll well. Out of keeping with the more usual pattern of Muslim-versus-Christian attacks, this was a mob attack by Muslims against men who claimed to be their own fellows: members of a Islamic sect called the Ahmadiyah.

Remember Rodney King?

"People, I just want to say, can't we all get along? Can't we all get along?"

Demographically Africa is becoming a major continent.

(Though a graph to 2100 is highly speculative.)

Demographically Africa is becoming a major continent.

Yeah! .
Till the Big British Isle hasn't sunk trampled by those Africans, huh?

Egypt court sentences 683 people to death

An Egyptian court has sentenced 683 people, including Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie to death.

In a separate case, the same court also upheld the death penalty for 37 defendants, reversing 492 death sentences out of 529 it passed in March, the AFP news agency reported. Most of the death sentences were commuted to life in prison.

Monday's hearing in the southern province of Minya comes amid a brutal crackdown on supporters of President Mohamed Morsi and the Brotherhood since the military overthrew him last July.

The court has come under the spotlight after the same judge in March sentenced the 529 defendants to death in just two sessions.

The second batch, including Badie, had faced charges of the murder and attempted murder of several policemen during rioting by Morsi supporters in Minya on August 14.

Those Egyptian judges don't play at service...

"40 maps that explain the Roman Empire"

As soon as I saw map #2 I was inclined to think "to Americans" at the end of that title.

Nah, nice maps.

What happens between Europe and Africa is that everyday people drown by the hundreds trying to get into Europe.
They are human beings, by the way, and there's no such a thing as illegal human beings.
Words matters.

America is opening up bases there on the quiet and probably a little miffed that China is well in their on trade.

Boko Haram crisis: Why it is hard to know the truth in Nigeria

It is not easy to find out the truth in Nigeria.

The Baga killings last week are a case in point, with politicians and government officials offering vastly different information - from 150 dead to 2,000.

News of another attack by Islamist militants from Boko Haram often starts as a vague one-liner as was the case on 3 January: "Attack on Baga. Loud gunfire heard."

This first bit of information often comes via social media. The challenge now is to find out the details and there are plenty of obstacles in the way of getting to the truth.

First up there has been no mobile phone connection in Baga for many months after the jihadists attacked mobile phone masts in the north-east.

There are of course the officials whose job it is to tell the world what is going on.
But for the first few days of the Baga crisis both the military spokesmen and government officials were silent or not picking up calls.

Nigeria has been a mess economically, politically corrupt and an army that needs better training than by a local Boy Scout Leader. Talk about hopeless and I thought the French were militarily a groan.

Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat. This is big. Now, if some point in the future Muhammadu Buhari, who doesn't have the best of democratic credentials, will do the same, Nigeria will have a real electoral democracy.

There has been a great deal of concern over possible election violence as both sides were so hell-bent on winning this contest.
The man who has been voted out, Goodluck Jonathan, has played a huge part today in helping to prevent unrest.
He made the phone call to concede victory and to congratulate Muhammadu Buhari when a disputed outcome would have sent the country on a dangerous road.
"I promised the country free and fair elections. I have kept my word," he said later in a statement.
"I have also expanded the space for Nigerians to participate in the democratic process. That is one legacy I will like to see endure," he added, urging people with complaints to follow due process and not to go to the streets.
No doubt some in his camp would have preferred to dig their heels in.

My requirement for a functional electoral democracy is one where governing has passed to the opposition twice in fair elections with no intervening coups or similar power grabs. By this requirement many democracies are not, like e.g. Russia or Ukraine.

The government still opposes rescue missions in the Mediterranean despite 950 migrants drowning in one day

Last year the Government theorised that letting people drown would end the crossings



The Government has ignored calls to back restored search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean after 950 people drowned on a boat crossing to Europe.

Reinstating the rescue missions, which the UK government has previously said it opposes, pointedly does not feature in the Foreign Secretary's response to the latest mass deaths.

In a statement released on Sunday Philip Hammond blamed 'traffickers' for encouraging people to flee conflicts and come to Europe but was silent on helping families who might drown in future.

"We must target the traffickers who are responsible for so many people dying at sea and prevent their innocent victims from being tricked or forced into making these perilous journeys," he said, calling for a "comprehensive, co-ordinated response" to the regular deaths.

Mr Hammond said he was "horrified at the appalling loss of life" at the crossing and accused groups assisting the migrants to make the crossing of "cynicism".

When the rescue missions were ended in October last year the Government said it believed the prospect of being saved from drowning in the event of an accident encouraged people to make the journey.

"Ministers across Europe have expressed concerns that search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean have acted as a pull factor for illegal migration, encouraging people to make dangerous crossings in the expectation of rescue," a Downing Street spokesperson said in October.

"This has led to more deaths as traffickers have exploited the situation using boats that are unfit to make the crossing."

Migrants have continued to make the journey despite the Government's theorising, however. Well over 1000 people had died crossing the sea so far this year.

Well it has always been a big player size-wise but it's modern progress is a bit of a splutter and questionable status. Dictator attitudes, corruptions, getting money always pumped into it and much of it bagged. At the same time on a very big scale widened HIV disease. So it is still a bit of a pick and mix as a Continent.

The reason why so many refugees drowns in the Mediterranean its the northern european pseudo morality that thinks refugees are a problem of the South and how they value human life. Cockroaches they call again to human beings, just like Nazis did before.

To some degree I agree with you. These deaths were completely predictable and completely avoidable. Not because they haven't cared about the plight of the south, but because they haven't cared about the plight of the boat refugees.

John Derbyshire (over at TakiMag) has a different take... A taste:

The mass drowning of eight or nine hundred--nobody knows precisely--illegal immigrants in the Mediterranean last Sunday triggered a lot of commentary about these boat people, most of it stupid. Here are some of the grosser stupidities.
They're just seeking a better life.
Who isn't? I guess there are some Lotus eaters among us who are perfectly happy with their lives and seek nothing better, but I doubt they're a majority. Most of us, most of the time, want something we don't currently have, in hopes it will make our lives better.
It's a matter of methods. Al Capone rose from Brooklyn street urchin to be the boss of a major crime syndicate, presumably because he sought a better life. Should we admire him for that?
These boat people are self-selected as the bravest and most enterprising of their stock.
Then their home countries need them more than Europe does.
They are the poorest of the poor.
No they're not.

For economic migrants, the decision to leave is generally a conscious choice by relatively well-off individuals and households to enhance their livelihoods ... Clandestine travel costs anywhere from US$5,000-$35,000. Many of these migrants are petty entrepreneurs who sold their businesses or property in order to pay for the expensive trip.

I think even that writer may have put some lipstick on the pig. Petty entrepreneurs, sure; but in sinkhole Third World countries like Niger or Eritrea there are other classes of people who can get their hands on a few thousand dollars. There are minor government functionaries--cops, for example--with jobs that allow them to squeeze bribes out of their fellow citizens. There are also, of course, criminals.
A thing you notice about these illegals from the news photos is that they look well-dressed and well-fed. Some are positively chubby.
Sure, their countries are crappy places, but these are people who haven't been doing too badly in them.

(the rest is here)

I post this only because I doubt anyone else would...
You're welcome!

Thank you for closing that door, allowing me to bash it in (though not to be churlish, I really would have wished for a much less rickety one).

The article accurately self-describes as Camp of the Stupids, managing to completely miss both the complexities and the simplicity of the issues. It is a classic example of the less you know, the more you're willing to pontificate, and out of place in a web site that purports to be libertarian. (Libertarians, like the followers of any ideology or religion, come in two groups. Those that believe in what they are saying, and those who use it to justify their own interests, and as a vehicle for being offended when those interests seem threatened.)

His most cogent argument, and I am not being ironic, is the one the site chose to highlight,

"To permit mass settlement by blacks who are also Muslims is to pass beyond the bounds of mere folly into homicidal insanity."

It is the only point where he may be a little ahead of the curve. European xenophobia, just like American or Asia xenophobia, will change with migration patterns. The fear of today is Muslims, the fear of tomorrow will be Africans, and yes they will be black. A majority of them will not be Muslim though (more are likely to be Christians), but a large minority will, probably enough to keep up the "Clash of Civilisations" narrative a while longer.

Some of them will pick Asia or America as their destination, but most will pick Europe as it is geographically and culturally closer. I think they deserve better than Europe which has been poor at turning migrants into enterprise.

His lesser points are really lesser points, but as you mentioned them: OK, he's a naturalised American (Glaswegian?), but what happened to "pursuit of happiness"? Of course they are not starving. Starving people are pliable, fairly stationary, and generally geldorfable. He should grow up (as should Geldorf, not carrying much hope for either).  The reason we can expect a rapid rise in African migrants isn't because Africa is getting poorer, but because Africa is getting richer. With growth of wealth comes a growth of ambition, ambitions that generally can't be fulfilled at home, and as mentioned I am not sure Europe is up to it either.

It is necessary to separate the boat people as people from them as symptoms, the article viewed them as symbols ("we are being invaded, they are crossing our moat", "we" in solidarity with those left behind in the old country). They are a symptom of things to come, things that have been like that for a while actually.

Boat people the people are being decimated, quite literally, the current fatality rate for a crossing seems around 10%. That may be an overestimate, and a steep jump from earlier. They are dying needlessly. People are dying needlessly all over the world, but this is significant, and much more importantly, avoidable.  By avoiding the avoidance we Europeans are passively complicit in their death.

Foremost in European thinking on Libya hasn't been the hackneyed "it's all about the oil and gas", though that would be nice of course, nor on the erratic behaviour of Gaddafi, but on migration. Not from Libya itself of course, the country has a population the size of Norway, but as a point of transit, a point that is currently broken. Blowback, European style.

They are dying needlessly. People are dying needlessly all over the world, but this is significant, and much more importantly, avoidable.  By avoiding the avoidance we Europeans are passively complicit in their death.

European politicians are actively complicit with their death. We, European citizens, are passively complicit by having such politicians.

What is Europe supposed to do then> Keep just taking these hordes in?

I remember a few years back the Royal Australian navy sent a warship out to send a loaded ship back to the east as they were trying to get into the country on the north coast and body-swerve Australia's allowed immigration quta.  Now this thin in the Med is getting out of hand and some if it was caused by our involvement in Libya and resulting in a country melt down. And anyway many are not even Libyans but travelling from other places in North Africa and the Middle East to Libya. Europe cannot just let an open door policy and things are getting ridiculous and although it is a strain on Italy there are places in Europe where full up situations are emerging. Naval ships should get these immigrant and sail them back to Libya and maybe some help there but Europe should in general be a time to shut doors.

European politicians are actively complicit with their death. We, European citizens, are passively complicit by having such politicians.

Perhaps someone could part the waters for them... ?

@jax: Is your home, your house, open to all and any, at any hour? But perhaps you've never had one...
I'd appreciate it if you'd resume your Charity vs. Government Subsidy thread! It would be enlightening.

These are as mentioned two different issues.

The US has (had?) a thriving underground economy with their migration flow from the south, not so, or not any longer Europe. A likely fate is unemployment or severe underemployment. Additionally the EU four freedoms (including free movement of workers), together with the crisis half a decade ago, still ongoing for some countries, has resulted in internal immigration from other EU countries overshadowing immigration from outside EU. The huddled masses yearning to breathe free should have a better alternative.

While the huddled masses yearning to breathe free may be out of reach for Europe, drowning people yearning to breathe are not. Fortress Europe is now organised such that the Mediterranean moat is the most open and most deadly entrance. The Libyan moat guards may have been capricious, but at least they were there and now they are not, while the Italian guard ran out of support last December.

What should be done? What has been done would be an improvement. For the rescued ones: food, shelter, processing. Those who are at risk of losing their lives if they were returned get through the gate to live a hopefully productive European life. Those who are merely at risk of wasting their lives will be returned.

Mending fences. For well over a decade North African states have been bribed compensated to do the European border patrols for them. It may not have been perfect, it involved some frequent and fervent away-looking for abuses, but it mostly worked. Now there is a huge Libyan hole in that fence.

Now this stops the gap, but leaving people down and out in Morocco, or high and dry in the Atlas, is no real solution. One part of the solution I believe could be this, Africa is urbanising faster than any other place on the planet: