Here Come The Drones, Or The True Reason For The Mali Incursion

www.zerohedge.com...

So, this article goes in some great details and flowing of actions to show that the real reason may be war in Africa is to create a Drone Base for monitoring of Chinese assets.

It makes sense, when you follow the timeline and connect the dots.

Given our recent discussion (here and here) of the rising importance of Africa in the world's power and money echelons, it is not entirely surprising that the NY Times reports that US military command in Africa is actively preparing to establish a drone base in northwest Africa to increase "unarmed surveillance missions on the local affiliate of Al Qaeda and other Islamist extremist groups" that American and other Western officials say pose a growing menace to the region. It would appear Niger will be the most likely place for the base - from which officials envision flying only unarmed surveillance drones though, of course, they have not ruled out conducting missile strikes at some point if the threat worsens. “This is directly related to the Mali mission, but it could also give Africom a more enduring presence for I.S.R.,” one American military official said Sunday, referring to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Perhaps, actually scratch the "perhaps", what is really happening is the US now has a drone base with which to supervise Chinese expansion in Northweast Africa, anda drone fleet to use defensively and offensively as it sees fit.

The USAF has already been operating both manned, unmanned, and strike aircraft in Africa for years. There has been an F-15E Strike Eagle detachment in Djibouti (god I love that name) for over 10 years now. That's not counting the U-28A, and M-28A aircraft SOCOM operates in the area, or the RQ-4, MQ-1, and MQ-9 aircraft that have operated there for at least the last 5-6 years.

www.wired.com...

reply to post by macman


hi, man very interesting read,,
we have us drones here in finland too, i saw one last fall, i got a picture of it too, i will post it someday.
i am saying american becouse we have joint training programs in our air space, foreign drones are illegal here, but they dont care. still they fly around.

reply to post by solve


Crazy and sad to hear that.

Originally posted by solve
reply to post by macman

 

hi, man very interesting read,,
we have us drones here in finland too, i saw one last fall, i got a picture of it too, i will post it someday.
i am saying american becouse we have joint training programs in our air space, foreign drones are illegal here, but they dont care. still they fly around.

Actually Finland looks like it is buying Israeli drones and also offers a drone testing area in Lapland for anyone who cares to hire it - but that does include getting Finnish civil aviation permits, etc.

But hey - by all means make accusations of illegal behaviour without bothering to back them up with any evidence.....

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


whoa! sorry man, no harm intended. it was the best guess i could think about becouse of all the joint operations, this article has not been repoted in finland, i have searched. this helped me alot becouse i have been tracing the origins of the drone i have photographed. thank you for the info!
for the legality part i dont live in lapland, but in the city, and it was exremelly low, and it was obviously spying, for it was howering near buildings, it cant be legal, aviation permits or not.
one more edit this wasnt a small toy it was the real deal.

Ahhhh, now it makes sense why the sudden interest in Mali.

reply to post by Cinrad


Not really no. As I said, the US has already been flying manned and unmanned missions out of Africa. So why the need to help Mali to build a base, when they already have a number of them all across the continent?

Actually the real reason for intervention - with or without drones - is that France gets most of its Uranium for its reactors from West Africa, and its reactors provide about 75% of its domestic electricity!

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Cinrad

 

Not really no. As I said, the US has already been flying manned and unmanned missions out of Africa. So why the need to help Mali to build a base, when they already have a number of them all across the continent?

It is over 3000km between Djibouti and Mali, I dont know the range or speed of these drones but it has represent at least a substantial fuel saving. Actually thier bases in Italy are closer to West Africa. And how hard is it for a Western army to piss off a few African rebels?

I have been reading about the destruction of the Timbuktu's library - it didnt happen after all. I have thought for a while that esoteric Islamic writings will be found in that library and this will lead to Dan Brown like attacks on Wahabism with the intent of turning muslims to the religion of the coming OWG. I wonder if this has someting to do with the "intervention".

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Cinrad

 

Not really no. As I said, the US has already been flying manned and unmanned missions out of Africa. So why the need to help Mali to build a base, when they already have a number of them all across the continent?

In fact, why does the US need to base in Mali when it already has plans drawn up for a drone base on it's border? That kind of redundancy makes no sense whatsoever.

I'll go with the Uranium Mine theory for $500, Alex.

NIAMEY, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Niger has given permission for U.S. surveillance drones to be stationed on its territory to improve intelligence on al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters in northern Mali and the wider Sahara, a senior government source said.

The drones could be stationed in Niger's northern desert region of Agadez, which borders Mali, Algeria and Libya, the source said.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

reply to post by Cinrad


Djibouti is only one base though. That's just where they fly the F-15E from. There are multiple bases through different countries there we don't know about.

I could be wrong but Mali would be a pointless place to launch from if you want to spy on china wouldn't it be more ideal to have one in say northern Australia.

That's my 2 pence anyway