Russia can turn U.S. to radioactive ash: Kremlin-backed journalist

[n87]

We ALREADY have American Forces fighting on the African continent...

Mainly advisors and logistical support...

 

[tommyguns2]

How about Darfur and turmoil in other african countries? Are we gonna police those too?

Not if we don't have a significant national security interest at stake. To the extent that Al Qaeda is active in Northern Africa, we should be involved there.

 

[SJA]

I just wanted to say that reading this makes me proud to be part of TID. A politically charged thread without any BS and some great comments and facts.....very mature group here!! Kudos to everyone.

 

[graniteman]

Mainly advisors and logistical support...

Not true. SF and support have been on the ground for a very long time now in a number of countries there. Some after Koni, some working in mali, Liberia, Sudan, etc

 

[graniteman]

Do you see US trying to send troops to Russia or China, instead of to weaklings like Iraq and Afghanistan?
The point is, no country will directly attack equally strong opponent. Too much at stake. Days of the Third Reich are long gone.
And availability of nukes serves as a major deterrent.

Well I sure as hell didn't see Russia or China hijacking planes and flying them into Our Twin Towers, as well as attempting to bomb it, blowing up The USS Cole, Blowing up The Marine barracks in lebanon, Blowing up our embassies in Kenya, Tanzania, allowing their countries to be used for training and plotting these terrorist attacks. Do you have some inside info you can share ??
Weaklings? I don't know many that have returned from Afghanistan and called the Afghani fighters ''weaklings''. Iraqi's maybe not Afghani's. I do believe the Ruskies tried to invade Afghanistan and it didn't work out to well for them. We went in and dominated, our politicians lost it for us not our Military.
I'm always amazed at guys like you and like to ask but never receive a answer. So I will try yet again: What would you have done in response to The Twin Towers as well as all the other bombings?

 

[n87]

... Do you have some inside info you can share ??
Weaklings? I don't know many that have returned from Afghanistan and called the Afghani fighters ''weaklings''. Iraqi's maybe not Afghani's. I do believe the Ruskies tried to invade Afghanistan and it didn't work out to well for them. We went in and dominated, our politicians lost it for us not our Military.
I'm always amazed at guys like you and like to ask but never receive a answer. So I will try yet again: What would you have done in response to The Twin Towers as well as all the other bombings?

No, no inside information...What would I have done in response to twin towers attack? Let's see, none of the hijackers were from Iraq or Afghanistan, but quite a few were Saudi's and all of them were wahhabi (sp) muslims, if you know what that is...We were barking at the wrong trees. Should have attacked Saudi Arabia instead.
As far dominating Afghanistan, yes US did that and so did USSR. Easily overran non-existing military and occupied Kabul. But neither could fully control it, especially Kandahar and Eastern part of the country. Hi tech gadgets don't give you the same advantage in mountains as in flat deserts. So, in my book US didn't do to well in that area either.
As a country Afghanistan is a a weakling. Mujahideen are not. I never said that.

 

[joe1]

Mainly advisors and logistical support...

The US is building up in Africa. Russia, Cuba, China and a few others have "advisory teams" in Africa. What you're seeing (or will be seeing) is the CIA/?? vs China in Africa.

Al Qaeda and that whole Kony thing? Yeah well that was an attempt to get the public to approve our presence in Africa and it's working pretty damn well. I mean they're not wrong, Al Qaeda does have fighters there and we are striking them with the drone bases we put there, but they are just not making it known one of the MAIN reasons why the US has a presence in Africa.

It's a shadow war. Africa has plenty of raw materials, rare earth metals such as lanthanum, and China is trying to lock it down. If they do, we're screwed.

Source: Friends in the military-industrial complex

 

[RAIDEN]

The US is building up in Africa. Russia, Cuba, China and a few others have "advisory teams" in Africa. What you're seeing (or will be seeing) is the CIA/?? vs China in Africa.

Al Qaeda and that whole Kony thing? Yeah well that was an attempt to get the public to approve our presence in Africa and it's working pretty damn well. I mean they're not wrong, Al Qaeda does have fighters there and we are striking them with the drone bases we put there, but they are just not making it known one of the MAIN reasons why the US has a presence in Africa.

It's a shadow war. Africa has plenty of raw materials, rare earth metals such as lanthanum, and China is trying to lock it down. If they do, we're screwed.

Source: Friends in the military-industrial complex

good stuff Joe.

 

[graniteman]

The US is building up in Africa. Russia, Cuba, China and a few others have "advisory teams" in Africa. What you're seeing (or will be seeing) is the CIA/?? vs China in Africa.

Al Qaeda and that whole Kony thing? Yeah well that was an attempt to get the public to approve our presence in Africa and it's working pretty damn well. I mean they're not wrong, Al Qaeda does have fighters there and we are striking them with the drone bases we put there, but they are just not making it known one of the MAIN reasons why the US has a presence in Africa.

It's a shadow war. Africa has plenty of raw materials, rare earth metals such as lanthanum, and China is trying to lock it down. If they do, we're screwed.

Source: Friends in the military-industrial complex

Let me guess..you're a mid twenties early 30's young man? Why is everything a conspiracy the USA does? Iraq was over oil yet we got not one drop. China actually got the oil contracts. Afghanistan, we're there for raw materials...yet we don't have a large foundry base anymore, we can't even manufacture our own bridge building materials\steel\cables etc. They come from China.
We have been in Africa for decades, Liberia, Somalia, Darfur, Sudan and many others.
United States Africa Command

Source : Friends in SF, 82nd and Air Force

PS. America has more raw materials, oil , naturl gas than any other Nation on Earth. We just aren't allowed to use it. You need to look into how much raw material and energy These United States actually import.

 

[graniteman]

No, no inside information...What would I have done in response to twin towers attack? Let's see, none of the hijackers were from Iraq or Afghanistan, but quite a few were Saudi's and all of them were wahhabi (sp) muslims, if you know what that is...We were barking at the wrong trees. Should have attacked Saudi Arabia instead.
As far dominating Afghanistan, yes US did that and so did USSR. Easily overran non-existing military and occupied Kabul. But neither could fully control it, especially Kandahar and Eastern part of the country. Hi tech gadgets don't give you the same advantage in mountains as in flat deserts. So, in my book US didn't do to well in that area either.
As a country Afghanistan is a a weakling. Mujahideen are not. I never said that.

So if some Canadian citizens went and trained in Afghanistan to attack us, we should invade Canada?
You need to look further into the USSR ' incursion into Afghanistan and what it did and the part it played in their collapse. We had the chance to crush the Taliban and Al Quaida but as usual our politicians put handcuffs on our guys, once again

 

[n87]

So, you don't think Saudis had anything to do with it?
If it weren't for politicians, how'd you handle Al Qaida and Taliban?

 

[joe1]

Let me guess..you're a mid twenties early 30's young man?

Let me guess, you have read my introductory post!

Why is everything a conspiracy the USA does?

Where exactly are you pulling this from? Anyone with half a brain could have told you that Iraq was not about oil. I relayed the information that I heard from insiders, the public domain, and common sense. You can believe what you want to believe, I couldn't care less. It kind of irked me that you had a little attitude as I was on your side in this discussion, however since you want to be so snippy in your discussion I'll show exactly how you're wrong.

As I said above, ONE of the reasons why we are in Africa is because of rare earth metals. Now lets explore this option, lets forget the other reasons for now because that's not the main focus of my post. I'm going to selectively quote this thesis, because it would be too long to post. You're more than welcome to review it yourself (which I strongly suggest you do).

"President Obama signaled in his 2010 National Security Strategy that strategic
engagement in Africa would serve to further the goals of the United States and Africa."

"Due to a combination of factors which will be explored, monopoly control of rare earths passed to China."

"The United States (U.S.) has a stated goal of engagement in Africa to both guarantee long-term U.S. interests as well as improve African partner nations’ governance, human development, and economic development. This nexus between U.S. interests and the benefits of capital infusion to African nations able to successfully identify and exploit rare earths has resulted in an opportunity to benefit the U.S. and partner nations in Africa"

"This thesis argues that the U.S. should engage the whole of government in mining and exploitation of rare earths in Africa as one part of a broader African strategy of engagement to improve U.S. long term interests, African partner nation governance, human development, and economic development. It is critical to realize that rare earth mining and exploitation cannot be the only effort on the continent as this endeavor is fraught with risks and perils. The time horizon for economic profitability from rare earth exploitation is measured not in months or years but over a decade or more."

"China has been taking steps to exploit the potential for rare earth elements in Africa. If they succeed, their monopoly will only grow as will other nations’ reliance on Chinese export policy for access to rare earths. "

"This is clearly an untenable position for the U.S.…We can’t stake our national defense and economic security on China’s goodwill or a false hope that it will choose to compete in a fair and open global marketplace for rare earths.”"

"it is a very real possibility that any large-scale, overt attempts by USAFRICOM to encourage and foster rare earth exploitation has the real potential to fail and achieve the opposite of the
Command’s stated goal of establishing stability in Africa. A failed venture would result in loss of prestige for the host nation and USAFRICOM as well as decreased economic progress in the host nation."

"Additionally, USAFRICOM can engage the whole of government to implement practices and engagement with African nations to train them in the broad spectrum of skills required to succeed in natural resource exploitation. This would most likely result in a longer time horizon, but may have a more favorable impact on long term stability and economic and developmental progress. Key partners within the U.S. Government would"

"Another approach would be to assist a nation with a more realist approach. Some examples are: gaining another source of rare earths for the U.S. or its allies, gaining military access for broader strategic goals in exchange for exploitation assistance, offering assistance to counter terrorism in a nation or region that directly affects U.S. interests, or assisting a nation in order to prevent them from accepting assistance from a peer or near-peer competitor such as China."

MINING AND EXPLOITATION OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS IN AFRICA AS AN ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY IN US AFRICA COMMAND -- Eugene V. Becker - Lt Col, USAF
Source: dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a545604.pdf


Now, as evident from above, you can see pretty clearly that I'm correct that there is a fight for the rare earth metals in Africa (read the bold). Now, when I said that there is a shadow war going on with the CIA and China, if you want to believe that it's totally up to you. But I trust my insiders pretty well and anyone with half a brain can see what's going on.

Have a good one, I hope we didn't start of on the wrong foot. You have to type the link in manually or Google it, I can't post links unless I got 20 posts under my belt.