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That ‘our’ Western leaders are foolhardy and make decisions contrary to interest of the people was well known. Their vision of exceptionalism leads to policy for economic gain benefitting corporations in a power play of western imperialism.

I was astonished by the statement of PM Cameron when Christian Annapour asked him to join the #BringBackOurGirls campaign to free the abducted schoolgirls in Nigeria. Either his words were chosen to head off the rising popularity of UKIP leader Farage and the May elections for European Praliament, or he is indeed ignorant what Boko Haram stands for. Probably a mixture of both.

 ○ Amanpour asks PM Cameron to join #BringBackOurGirls

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Michelle Obama has been campaigning for the release of the girls (BBC News)

Nigeria kidnap: David Cameron joins ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ campaign

Mr Cameron also spoke of the importance of tackling extremism around the world.

    “This is not just a problem in Nigeria, we’re seeing this really violent extreme Islamism – we see problems in Pakistan, we see problems in other parts of Africa, problems in the Middle East.

    “Also, let’s be frank, here in the UK there is still too much support for extremism that we have to tackle, whether it’s in schools or colleges or universities or wherever.”

…
Equating all Islamist violence These words could have come from the Islamophobe campaign of Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes, Pamela Geller and Geert Wilders.

Boko Haram is a local Nigerian issue involving people from the villages joining the Islamists to renounce all Western values, the Christian religion and renouncing education for girls. The Nigerian leaders in its capital Abuja lack the resolve to take countermeasures, send in police who are trained and armed and really solve the local issues which are at the root of the religious violence.

The leaders of Boko Haram got a second wind when arms started coming in from Libya due to the outbreak of the civil war and overthrow of the Gaddafi regime by NATO, US and GCC states. The Boko Haram fighters are much better armed than the local police, so it would be suicide for anyone to go into the forest and search for the abducted girls. Before the attack on Chibok, the security services received an advance warning!

Nigeria: Schoolgirls Abducted as Terrorists Strike Borno – April 15, 2014

Nigerian President in Crisis as Rescue for Girls Awaited

Continued below the fold …

Nigerian President in Crisis as Rescue for Girls Awaited

(Bloomberg) May 9, 2014 – President Goodluck Jonathan faces a credibility crisis among Nigerians as long as more than 200 girls kidnapped by Islamist extremists remain missing, even as investors affirm confidence in his country.

International political and business leaders attending the World Economic Forum ending today in the capital, Abuja, including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Bharti Airtel Ltd. Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, condemned the Boko Haram Islamists that seized the women and pledged continued investment in Africa’s biggest economy. Jonathan welcomed the support, describing it as “a major blow” to terrorism, yet pressure is mounting from the populace to secure the captives’ freedom.

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Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade, Nigeria's top military spokesman, left, speaks to people at a demonstration calling on the government to rescue the kidnapped school girls of a government secondary school Chibok, outside the defense headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. (Photo Sunday Alamba / AP)

“Barring a rescue of the abducted women, Jonathan’s standing will deteriorate,” Philippe de Pontet, an Africa analyst at Eurasia Group, said in an e-mailed note to clients yesterday. “The political implications are damaging for the Jonathan administration, which has been seen as ineffective in its response.”

Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, which means “western education is a sin” in the Hausa language, has claimed responsibility for the April 14 abduction of 276 girls from their dormitories in Borno state in the northeast. He has threatened to sell the girls in “markets” and marry them off, helping galvanize a global campaign to free them joined by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai.

“President Jonathan has failed to show the kind of leadership that would unite the country and give him a political bump from the widespread outrage directed at Boko Haram,” said de Pontet. “Instead, much of that outrage has shifted to the administration itself, giving the opposition an opportunity to hit the president on his already-suspect national security credentials.”

See my earlier post and diary on Boko Haram – Obama Promises to Mop-up of Boko Haram In Nigeria .

Can Nigeria Exploit the Split in the Boko Haram Movement? [Terrorism Monitor, pp 8-9 – pdf]

(Jamestown Foundation) Sept. 22, 2011 – The Northern Nigerian militant group Boko Haram is showing signs of splitting along the ideological lines that emerged at the time of the July 2009 death of the group’s founder, Mallam Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf. Whereas the divisions then were an internal matter, their differences are now becoming public. In particular, the Yusufiya Islamic Movement (YIM) is distinguishing itself from more radical elements in Boko Haram. The latter movement has become increasingly notorious for its attacks on civilians and places of worship, as well as high-profile vehicle-borne suicide-bombings such as those on the United Nations Headquarters and the Nigerian Police Headquarters in Abuja (see Terrorism Monitor Brief, July 1).  

On July 20, 2011, less than two weeks before the start of Ramadan, the YIM distributed flyers in Maidiguri (Borno State), the base of Boko Haram. Though the flyers fail to name the group they target, it is almost certainly Boko Haram that is referred to when the YIM says it is: “concerned that some people with evil motives have infiltrated our genuine struggle with a false Holy War that is outright un-Islamic. We call on this evil group to desist, failing which we shall have no option than to expose and hunt them…. We therefore distance our group from all the bombings targeted at civilians and other establishments and equally condemn them and pray that Allah exposes those who perpetrated them and attributed them to us… This is necessary in the light of genuine concern by individuals and groups to the mass suffering of innocent citizens caught in the crossfire between our members and the Nigerian troops” (The Nation [Maidiguri], July 7).

[From my diary: Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)]

Came across another gem in thinking by policy makers:

○ Regime Change in Syria Modeled After Yemen  by Oui on June 12, 2012

Hillary Clinton wants the removal of Assad in Syria saying it’s natural for citizens to back their President as they are afraid of what change might bring. Once Assad is removed, his backers will appreciate the blessings of democracy. Clinton refers to the succes in Yemen as model for transfer of power in Syria.

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