Re: What's Going on in Eurafrica?
Reply #69 –
...as an Amer-ee-can, I'm expected to be a little slow on the uptake, no? 
Thank for all the info, jax. I agree the area and its united front organization is important and worthwhile. Which makes the latest coup in Mali problematical...
To me Sahel looks set to be the Central Asia of the twenty-twenties (and if unlucky, as likely as not, the twenty-thirties as well). Everyone has to be there, nobody knows why, nor how to get out of there. But much like Afghanistan back in the good old days, looking the other way, and forgetting about it, will lead to more trouble in the long run.
I don't know how long the US will have the stamina to continue the War on Terror, but Sahel is the happening place to be, and it is going to be worse before it gets better. It is also likely to export trouble to coastal West Africa, which would worry the EU, particularly as one of the goals is to stem immigration.
If the US goal instead is to counter China, this G5 is not the place to be. China has for natural geographical reasons more interests in East Africa, particularly with the Belt and Road Initiative.
Among UNDP's 189 countries on the
Human Development Index (2018), non-landlocked Mauritania is ranked 162, Burkina Faso 182, Mali 184, Chad 187, and Niger 189.