Russia says West to blame for arms used by Mali rebels

[No Elephants]

Russia says West to blame for arms used by Mali rebels



By Timothy Heritage and Gabriela Baczynska

MOSCOW | Wed Jan 23, 2013 12:59pm EST

(Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday the rebels fighting French and African troops in Mali are the same fighters the West armed in the revolt that ousted Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.

An Islamist alliance of al Qaeda's North African wing AQIM and home-grown Malian groups captured northern Mali last year, armed with weapons seized from Libya after the fall of Gaddafi.

Russia backed a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing military intervention in Mali but is still bristling that its abstention from a U.N. vote over Libya in 2011 allowed NATO air strikes to help the rebels trying to topple the veteran leader.

Russian officials accused the United States and its allies of overstepping their mandate.

"Those whom the French and Africans are fighting now in Mali are the (same) people who overthrew the Gaddafi regime, those that our Western partners armed so that they would overthrow the Gaddafi regime," Lavrov told a news conference.

The aim of the foreign intervention is to prevent northern Mali from becoming a launchpad for international attacks by al Qaeda and its allies. Fears of this increased sharply after a hostage-taking raid by Islamist militants last week on a gas plant in Algeria.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/23/us-sahara-crisis-russia-idUSBRE90M12X20130123


Feels somehow familiar. "Charlie Wilson's War," when we armed Osama in Afghanistan against the Russians, perhaps?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472062/



Where have all the weapons gone,

Long time passing?

Where have all the weapons gone,

Long time ago?

When we will ever learn? When will we ever learn?

(sincere apologies to songwriters Pete Seeger and Joe Hickerson)

[Enthusiast]

1. The Russian claims sound entirely plausible.

Someone made a boatload of profit on the manufacture and sales of said weapons.

[No Elephants]

2. I can only hope it was at least a U.S. based manufacturer.

At least that would mean jobs in the U.S.

"Follow the money."

Amazing how many times and in how many situations that is excellent advice.

We've segued from the Cold War to the never ending War on Terror.

Same shit, different excuse.

Er, I mean, different war.

[Enthusiast]

3. This should be on billboards all over the nation.

This must be pounded into the heads of the American people.

"We've segued from the Cold War to the never ending War on Terror.

Same shit, different excuse.

Er, I mean, different war."

[No Elephants]

4. Well, it's here on DU2 instead of a billboard.

If it were on a billboard, I'd probably get a tax audit, right before I "committed suicide" by deliberately overdosing on drugs that I don't even know where to buy.

[Enthusiast]

5. I don't know what you mean.

Maybe you could elaborate. I'm sort of slow. More than sort of.