13-Dec-13 World View - Russia prepares for Chechen jihadists

[John]

13-Dec-13 World View -- Russia prepares for Chechen jihadists' return from Syria

Greece begins to confiscate bank accounts of tax evaders


** 13-Dec-13 World View -- Russia prepares for Chechen jihadists' return from Syria
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/ ... tm#e131213




Contents:
Russia prepares for Chechen jihadists' return from Syria
Christian revenge attacks on Muslims increase in Central African Republic
Greece begins to confiscate bank accounts of tax evaders


Keys:
Generational Dynamics, Russia, Chechnya, Syria,
Bashar al-Assad, Ramzan Kadyrov,
Central African Republic, France, Séléka, anti-Balaka,
Christians, Muslims, Greece

[NoOneImportant]

John, between Belgium - the Belgian Congo - and France - French Equatorial Africa, the French Congo - the two nations held almost all of central west Africa. Both the Belgian, and French Congo were given their colonial release within a year of each other in 1960. French Equatorial Africa, had experienced simmering difficulties as far back as the end of WWI. With the French departure, French Equatorial Africa was carved up into: Gabon: C.A.R., and the Republic of the Congo, and Chad.

The Belgian Congo was released in 1960, and in the early - mid 1960s proceed to engage in a savage civil war. It was, as I recall, a proxie war between the Soviets, and the U.S., with Mubutu on one side, and Patrice Lamumba (Soviet, as the Soviets formed Patrice Lamumba University in Moscow in his honor,) on the other.

Africa at this time was quite a mess, as the UN Charter dissuaded continued colonial presence in Africa. So much of Europe was inclined to envision a 20 - 30 year departure timeline - as these were very rich possessions, with immense agricultural, and mineral wealth holdings. The residents of central west Africa saw things a bit differently and thought an immediate European departure was best - with violence being the gudgel that helped the Europeans see the merit of an immediate departure. The Europeans attempted to create a European educated class that would, over time, have acquired political power, when in fact that attempt set each side against the other - inflaming not only class warfare, but instilling class warfare, and inflaming old tribal antipathies.

Practically speaking, Africa had been - beneath the European veneer - and continued to remain a tribal society, with tribal affiliation trumping European impressed education - with no thought given to tribal mixing.

I realize that this doesn't provide a great deal of assistance, generationally speaking, but perhaps it'll lead you somewhere constructive.

[John]

When we talk about crisis wars in the west, I usually refer informally
to two different so-called timelines, the WW I timeline, and the WW II
time. So, for example, Russia's Bolshevik Revolution (1917) is on the
WW I timeline, while Japan's war with the U.S. is on the WW II
timeline.

Talking about these two different timelines is convenient and useful
for several purposes, but it's too much of a simplification for
analyses of individual wars. For example, Iran is informally said to
be on the WW I timeline, but neither of its two crisis wars, the
Constitutional Revolution climaxing in 1910 and the Iran/Iraq war
(1988) weren't really part of WW I. China's civil war (1934-49) was
involved in WW II, but was completely separate in many ways. Other
examples that don't really fit into either timeline are Cambodia's
"killing fields" war (1979 climax), the Spanish Civil War (1939), the
India vs Pakistan war that created Bangladesh (1971), and the Bosnian
genocide (1995).

The same kind of situation applies to Africa. There are two obvious
timelines -- World War II, which applies to northern Africa and South
Africa, and the "Liberation Wars," that apply to much of Black Africa.

However, once again, there are many wars that don't really fit into
those timelines. Kenya's Mau-Mau uprising (1959 climax) might be
called a liberation war, even though it was much more an ethnic war.
But the Rwanda Hutu-Tutsi genocide (1994) was clearly an ethnic/tribal
war. Mali's Tuareg rebellion (1963) was an ethnic/tribal war.

So now I turn to the situation in Central African Republic. It's only
early days, but that situation looks to me very much like the
beginnings of a full-fledged crisis war. I keep reading things like,
"The Christians and the Muslims have lived together side-by-side in
peace for decades, so the current violence is a surprise." That's
exactly the kind of description that was used in the Rwanda genocide
and the Bosnian genocide. And it would seem to imply that the last
major genocidal war between Christians and Muslims in C.A.R. was in
the 1940s. So I would really need the details of that war. In
addition, I would like additional details about those decades
of living side-by-side in peace.

Another thing to keep in mind is the size of Africa. When you look at
Africa on a map of the world, you might think that's it's just a bit
larger than Texas. But actually, Africa is as big as the ENTIRE
United States PLUS Alaska PLUS Europe PLUS China -- and there's still
enough room left over for New Zealand.

So if you know something about a war in one part of Africa, it may not
have relevance to a nearby country, since "nearby" could end up being
hundreds or thousands of miles.

So what I need is very specific information about the relationship
between Christians and Muslims in C.A.R. French colonial histories
undoubtedly contain such information. But information about
wars in other parts of Africa, even major wars, is unlikely to
have any relevance to Christians vs Muslims in C.A.R.

[gerald]

John, your comment regarding Africa is most appropriate. The world map shown to most people is highly Euro eccentric due to when that map was map was drawn "Mercator projection". Geographically Europe is not all that large., But they want to think so. While travailing in Australia I saw maps of Europe superimposed upon Australia , Europe is not much. https://www.google.com/search?q=austral ... 0&bih=1080
We live in a world of delusions.

[Guest]

Hello John. To answer your question on the Central African Republic, I may of found of something off of Wikipedia that may help.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongo-Wara_rebellion

The Aftermath snippet could give some idea of the history.

[Guest]

I have studie the Central African republic since 2006. The single biggest factor in the CAR has always been France.

Chad, Libya, and other surrounding nations have been involved with the CAR for various reasons, usually to do with spill over from internal problems like civil wars and coups.

The CAR has been controlled by a series of mad, bad, and dangerous to know dictators (bizarre even by the strange standards of Africa). The primary one was Bokassa, a retired French (well, African-French) army officer. He eventually crowned himself emperor, was accused of cannibalism, and was finally overthrown by the French military. Bokassa's nearly two decades in power is a strange tale, indeed. (There is an English language biography available.) The previous CAR President, Bozize, was one of Bokassa's ex-generals. He was promoted from 2nd lt. to army general in an instant when he punched a French reporter in the face during an interview with Bokassa (whom Bozize felt had failed to show the emperor proper respect.) Bokassa was able to play Cold War politics quite well. He got the Yugoslavians to build him a giant gymnasium, the Chinese to build power plants and roads, and the French to build a university. I believe the Soviets,other Warsaw Pact countries supplied help and infastructure projects (and all of these projects were free.)

The CAR is a big EMPTY country-an African Mongolia rich in uranium, diamonds and many other things. It has been so badly managed that only a few families ever benefit. Th French need the uranium.

I exchanged several emails with one of Bokassa's daughters in 2006. You can probably locate several of his children (he had dozens of them) online if you try. The one contacted was quite pleasant and well educated.