gonna post the section on the invasion of Mali as replies to this…a lot of 21st century historical background i hadn't seen anywhere else https://twitter.com/nyeusi_waasi/status/1296161841958330374

libyan civil war, overthrow of gaddafi, Tuareg nationalism & self-determination in northern Mali & the Sahel, u.s. special forces involvement in counterinsurgency

fallout from libyan civil war across the Sahel continued, renewed war in northern Mali, alliance of convenience between Tuareg nationalists & conservatives linked to al-Qaeda, ECOWAS military intervention, france & u.s. push for u.n. military intervention

Sahel groups advance south in Mali, france invades (ignoring u.n. decision), u.s. backs up france, backlash, u.n. rubber-stamps france's total violation of agreement, targeting of vulnerable people spills over into Algeria & Niger, more countries dragged into everything

u.s. is biggest backer of france's aggression, everyone ignores NGOs that said this would happen, negotiations ignore oppressed people in favor of "security" interests, ISIS/Daesh gets involved, much of Mali outside of Bamako isn't meaningfully under control of central government

& lastly the endnotes. here's a direct link to a PDF of the whole thing for text highlighting/further info etc. https://www.ohioswallow.com/extras/9780896805040_OhioUniversityPress_OpenAccess.pdf

i was kind of just throwing in keywords to make this easy to search/find later, no way i could summarize everything, but should've mentioned uranium deposits in ancestral land in Mali & Niger are a big relevant factor particularly for france

it would've been nice if the author actually cited sources for the more long-term historical background because i have some questions about that…also if they didn't keep acting like it was a "mistake" on the part of the imperialists to ignore the underlying social conditions

@threader_app compile