The Ben Blog

Not terrorism, per se, but while I’m paying attention to all of the insanity going on in Africa and the Middle East, I’d like to take a moment to point out Syria.

Recently, in the centrally located city of Homs, 53 people (all but 6 of them women and children) were slaughtered. Both the rebels and the government blame each other, though considering that Asaad’s government is the one with the habit of breaking into peoples homes and killing them, it seems more likely that you can blame this on the people who have done this sort of thing in the past.

Rebellion has been raging in Syria for around a year, claiming 7,500 lives. If that doesn’t sound like a lot to you, let me remind you that Americans have been upset because in Iraq, we lost  4,408 soldiers in 10 years. If the conflict in Syria were to continue for, say, 10 years, that would put the American death toll in Iraq at a pitiful 6% of the lives lost in Syria’s internal struggle. And to all indications, it looks like the rest of the world is content to let Syria struggle as long as it likes to.

No one is agreeing on peace initiatives. The U.S. and its friends want to push resolutions on Syria that Bashar al-Asaad will never accept (ones that require him to give up his power). Russia offers more pragmatic solutions, but even if we get over our outdated hatred of all Russian suggestions (don’t hold your breath until we elect someone born in the 90s) we hate the idea of leaving Asaad in power, for obvious reasons. And given the fact that Asaad is a demonstrated sociopath, it is unlikely he’s going to accept the idea that he’s even done something wrong.

This is one of those times when I would most likely support an actual military initiative. I know people weren’t very happy with the last time we invaded a middle eastern country to remove a lunatic from power and replace him with someone who wasn’t nuts, but one would think we’ve learned from the mistakes of Iraq and could do it better this time.

Or not. We Americans aren’t very fond of learning from our mistakes, are we?

Read the article here.

The short:

A suicide attack outside of a Catholic church in Jos, Nigeria killed 3.

The long:

Jos, Nigeria, is in an unfortunate position. Basically, southern Nigeria is Muslim while northern Nigeria is Christian. Jos sits right on that dividing line. This is the second time this has happened in two weeks (the first attack coming on 2.26). That first attack was the work of Boko Haram, a Muslim terrorism sect. It resulted in 3 deaths and 50 injuries.

Regarding Boko Haram, I don’t know much about them. I’ve read rumors that the group has been receiving training from al-Qaeda, but I’m not sure about that.

This article is from a website that apparently doesn’t like me sharing its links. In the interest of “journalistic integrity” I’ve included the link. They would like you to register with them to read it. I’ve got no idea why I didn’t have to do that in order to read it, but whatever. Maybe try finding it though Google’s news? *shrug*

Read the article here.

Terrorism isn’t just for the middle east. Africa has its share of extremists, on top of all its other problems.

The short:

Kenya has blamed al-Shabaab, the Somali rebels linked to al-Qaeda, for weekend grenade attacks in Nairobi that killed at least six people and injured close to 70.

The long:

So, from what I gather (admitting that my knowledge here is only from this article), Kenya (along with Ethiopia and “Allied African forces” – whatever that means) invaded Somalia last year to root out some Islamist extremists. They didn’t like that, and this is the second attack on Nairobi since then. While al-Shabaab hasn’t taken credit for the attack, it is very similar to past attacks that they have claimed credit for. It also resembles al-Shabaab attacks on various Ethiopian strongholds.

It should be noted that al-Shabaab is currently undergoing serious financial and leadership crises. the attack might be the work of a more local Kenyan militant group called the Muslim Youth Centre. As the article says:

A Kenyan Islamist group, the Muslim Youth Centre, said “jihad is creeping its way into Nairobi” in a tweet following the blasts. The group says it represents “the next generation of terrorist threats” amid claims by the UN it is inspired and mentored by al-Shabaab. “[Kenya Defence Forces] must leave our Muslim land,” it said.

So be aware of the MYC as well.