(Community Matters) the below Playbook post reminds me of another thought chain – Africa. China is battling Europe and the US for influence to source commodities, and they appear to not give a hoot about human rights. Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations appear to be spreading. Living conditions and human rights violations in too much of the continent don’t help.
THE BIG PICTURE – “France — Out of Africa? No easy exit for French fighting terror in Mali,” by AP’s Elaine Ganley in Paris : “France, breaking its own rules with a surprise military intervention in Mali, appears to be halting the lightning advance of radical Islamists seen as a threat to Europe. But the operation raises the specter of an African quagmire in a new theater of the West’s war on terror just as France and other U.S. allies emerge from the old one in Afghanistan. … Will French troops move into a support role, behind African troops, as initially set out for the West by a United Nations Security Council resolution on Mali? Or will they be lured into deeper involvement at the behest of Mali and other African nations — and, perhaps, take Western allies with them? … The U.S. was … expected to send in drones. Britain agreed to send aircraft to help transport troops. Germany offered political support [but] firmly said no combat troops.” http://bit.ly/V8Bhaw
Community Matters 