US Militarism from the Pacific Islands to Africa - 0 views
www.blacklooks.org/...cific-to-africa-what-to-expect
intervention us industry instability rights neocolonialism africa news

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Recently, militarism has taken a new form. In addition to or in place of a direct presence of US troops, private security firms and trans-national corporations producing military equipment take on the militarist role.
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Private security firms are essentially mercenaries who offer services to spare western governments the political cost of incurring too many casualties. While they are often based in western cities, many of their employees come from so-called Third World countries. For all involved, it’s much safer this way, for when Asian, African or Arab security personnel are wounded or killed on duty, the matter tends to register, if ever, as a mere news item, with little political consequence, Senate hearings or government enquiries.
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The region like the Sahara is also important for the potential natural resources and the US military presence serves to protect the transnational corporations which are or will be operating in the region and to enable them safe passage. With possession of the Pacific and the islands on the west and the Atlantic with Africa and the Caribbean particularly Haiti which is essentially occupied by the US, on the east – the US, like the Conquistadores will have consolidated it’s global reach far beyond any other nation. The popular narratives of ”African countries” and more recently “Haiti” being ‘open for business’ serve to hide US militarism and expand the exploitation of US corporations. It also serves to hide the real reason for the forced removal of the urban poor from cities like Lagos and Port-au-Prince which in turn is tied to the increased surveillance and militarization of cities in the global south and the west.
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if cultural heritage is damaged by drones or in the digging of military trenches, it is framed as collateral damage, but if it is framed as a target or victim of religious ideology, its damage is lamented in the nightly news, and it becomes a rallying cause for global consternation.
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Since the start of this week there are reports about the destruction of library buildings and book collections in Timbuktu. It sounds as if the written heritage of the town went up in flames. According to our information this is not the case at all. The custodians of the libraries worked quietly throughout the rebel occupation of Timbuktu to ensure the safety of their materials. A limited number of items have been damaged or stolen, the infrastructure neglected and furnishings in the Ahmad Baba Institute library looted but from all our local sources – all intimately connected with the public and private collections in the town – there was no malicious destruction of any library or collection.