There will be no peace if underlying grievances aren’t addressed, militaries victimize local populations, and states fail to provide basic services.
Lessons from Africa: Military Intervention Fails to Counter Terrorism
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AFRICOM
The Alarming Rise of Civilian Deaths in the War On Terror
New reports show an escalation in civilian casualties from U.S. operations in Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia — and a pattern of U.S. denial about the scale of the problem.
Trump Is Expanding America’s Wars, Not Ending Them
He’s failed to deliver his promised withdrawals from Afghanistan and Syria, vetoed an order to get out of Yemen, and expanded the U.S. bombing of Somalia, all while eyeing Iran.
John Bolton Says He Wants to Protect Africa from ‘Predatory’ Chinese Behavior. What About Washington’s?
Chinese investment may come with strings attached, but Africa deserves an alternative to U.S.-led neoliberalism and militarization.
The U.S. Military Is Still Doing Exactly What Bin Laden Wanted It To
Honestly, if there’s an afterlife, then the soul of Osama bin Laden, whose body was consigned to the waves by the U.S. Navy back in 2011, must be swimming happily with the dolphins and sharks. At the cost of the sort of spare change that Donald Trump recently offered...
America’s Empire of African Bases Spreads
In the shadows of what was once called the “dark continent," a scramble has come and gone. If you heard nothing about it, that was by design. But look hard enough and—north to south, east to west—you’ll find the fruits of that effort: a network of bases, compounds,...
Obama’s Last Chance in Africa
President Obama needs to unveil a new foreign policy initiative on Africa during his trip to Kenya and Ethiopia or risk going down in history as the worst president for Africa in recent memory. It would be a shame if the first American president of African descent...
Putting Boko Haram in Context
This piece is a joint publication of Foreign Policy In Focus and The Nation. It was originally published by Black Agenda Report. The ongoing humanitarian and human rights crisis in Northeastern Nigeria has deteriorated with the recent cross-border military clashes...
Militarizing the Ebola Crisis
This article is a joint publication of Foreign Policy In Focus and TheNation.com. Six months into West Africa’s Ebola crisis, the international community is finally heading calls for substantial intervention in the region. On September 16, President Obama announced a...
AFRICOM-Lite: The Obama Administration’s Security Governance Initiative for Africa
While the media attention in the United States is riveted on the Israeli war against Gaza, on the ISIS offensive in Iraq and Syria, accomplished for the most part with guerrillas trained by U.S. allies (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel), and the ongoing...