Boko Haram declares 'Islamic state' in northern Nigeria

From the BBC:

Militant group Boko Haram has said it has set up an Islamic state in the towns and villages it has seized in north-eastern Nigeria...

Nigeria's army has rejected the claim as "empty".

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BBC News - Boko Haram declares 'Islamic state' in northern Nigeria

Boko Haram essentially formalized what had been a de facto situation. Given its battlefield position, Nigeria's army is not in any position to declare the declaration "empty." It remains very unlikely that the army will mount any meaningful offensive against the Boko Haram terrorist organization, much less a successful one, to drive it from northeastern Nigeria.

Maybe the United Nations should or an alliance of African nations.

#bringbackourgirls

John S said:

Maybe the United Nations should or an alliance of African nations.

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Mornin John. :2wave: That's what Gadhafi was doing after he turned over his WMD and Chems......he was working for a United States of Africa. This naturally meant he had to be taken out as that would screw up all the Saud and the Sunni Arabs plan for a United States of Islam. Which now of course the Invisible Sheik is a real and viable threat to the Saudi Goat King and his ascendency to follow their so called holy man.....Mohammad.

Gadhafi and the Berbers were always a thorn that twisted in the Saud and Sunni Arabs side. As they wont bow down to them in any way whatsoever.

donsutherland1 said:

From the BBC:



BBC News - Boko Haram declares 'Islamic state' in northern Nigeria

Boko Haram essentially formalized what had been a de facto situation. Given its battlefield position, Nigeria's army is not in any position to declare the declaration "empty." It remains very unlikely that the army will mount any meaningful offensive against the Boko Haram terrorist organization, much less a successful one, to drive it from northeastern Nigeria.

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Mornin DS. :2wave: Wont BO and drone them from Djibouti.....doesn't he have to make it seem like MO's concern was genuine?

Well I would not worry too much. If worse comes to worse I think USA may have some influence in Liberia (AKA Worlds worst country). Arming and training them may bring more rivals and aid against Boko Haram.

Of course later things may get out of control, but that seems to be the way things run these days. We never learn, do we?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRuSS0iiFyo

MMC said:

Mornin DS. :2wave: Wont BO and drone them from Djibouti.....doesn't he have to make it seem like MO's concern was genuine?

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In the absence of a viable Nigerian government (in this case, I mean one that makes decisions based on information and evidence, is not oblivious to developments within Nigeria, and is willing and able to accept governance responsibility) and competent Nigerian army, there's probably very little actionable intelligence on which the U.S. can act. The U.S. does not have the necessary infrastructure in place to avoid relying on the Nigerian authorities. Hence, months have passed since the seizure of the girls. It is probably increasingly unlikely that they are in a single group at this time. A few have escaped and some additional ones may escape, but the future is probably quite bleak for the others.

The larger geopolitical story is that a major oil producer continues to become less and less stable. Although the collapse of Nigeria's government is not imminent, its ability to function and its ability to exercise jurisdiction continues to erode. The absence of a competent military force facilitates the forces of destabilization. In the longer-run, the risks associated with Nigeria may well begin to raise the costs of oil production there (financial and periodic disruptions).

donsutherland1 said:

In the absence of a viable Nigerian government (in this case, I mean one that makes decisions based on information and evidence, is not oblivious to developments within Nigeria, and is willing and able to accept governance responsibility) and competent Nigerian army, there's probably very little actionable intelligence on which the U.S. can act. The U.S. does not have the necessary infrastructure in place to avoid relying on the Nigerian authorities. Hence, months have passed since the seizure of the girls. It is probably increasingly unlikely that they are in a single group at this time. A few have escaped and some additional ones may escape, but the future is probably quite bleak for the others.

The larger geopolitical story is that a major oil producer continues to become less and less stable. Although the collapse of Nigeria's government is not imminent, its ability to function and its ability to exercise jurisdiction continues to erode. The absence of a competent military force facilitates the forces of destabilization. In the longer-run, the risks associated with Nigeria may well begin to raise the costs of oil production there (financial and periodic disruptions).

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What happened to the Advisors BO sent......then the Teams of FBI people? Also we had sent some into Chad that were coordinating.....what happened with that endeavor?

Has Boko Haram pledged to the Invisible Sheik yet? If not.....I don't think they will try and call theirs a Caliphate.

Oh boy.

Well, it won't last. Besides, they only have a few towns, none of which of any importance. The biggest town they control has about 250k people which is nothing when you think that Nigeria has 170mil people. Basically, they made a state with at most... what... 1.5- 2mil people? So basically ~1% of the total population. They're stronghold is purely superficial on the fact that Nigeria's govt is incompetent and also, has a lot on it's plate. Not to mention that while there is no confirmed ebola in Nigeria, there are confirmed cases both south and west of Nigeria.

So they're not a threat in the same way the real islamic state, ISIS, is. I mean, ISIS has half of Iraq, over half of Syria and it has real armament. Though probably less army, in terms of footsoldiers. So less army but better equipped and better vehicle and generally heavy armament.

The only way this could turn into a real threat is if this boko haram islamic state becomes a rally point for the islamic troops that fight under the banner of various islamic warlords and al qaeda in central and western africa. Then it could become dangerous and gobble up a bunch of territory. Boko Haram is a terrorist group that bolsters about 500k troops (in all the areas it activates, so not just northern nigeria) and it has ties to AQ, indeed, it receives money from it. I would like to remind you all that boko haram means "education is bad" or "western civilization is evil" or any combination of those terms, depending on who you talk to or what translation you listen to.

Yet another group of people on that side of the planet that make a great argument against the theory of evolution.

Has Obama or Kerry gotten around to declaring Boko Haram a terrorist group yet?
And what about the hundreds of girls abducted...what's the status on them?

Nigeria....another Obama foreign policy screw-up.

donsutherland1 said:

In the absence of a viable Nigerian government (in this case, I mean one that makes decisions based on information and evidence, is not oblivious to developments within Nigeria, and is willing and able to accept governance responsibility) and competent Nigerian army, there's probably very little actionable intelligence on which the U.S. can act. The U.S. does not have the necessary infrastructure in place to avoid relying on the Nigerian authorities. Hence, months have passed since the seizure of the girls. It is probably increasingly unlikely that they are in a single group at this time. A few have escaped and some additional ones may escape, but the future is probably quite bleak for the others.

The larger geopolitical story is that a major oil producer continues to become less and less stable. Although the collapse of Nigeria's government is not imminent, its ability to function and its ability to exercise jurisdiction continues to erode. The absence of a competent military force facilitates the forces of destabilization. In the longer-run, the risks associated with Nigeria may well begin to raise the costs of oil production there (financial and periodic disruptions).

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And that's the way it works in Sub-Saharan Africa, as you know.
They'll take a few billion and it'll be on to the next.
Basically, the same guys who send you those 'Prince-with-$20,000,000/Get-your-cut' fraudmails/419-scammers.. are running a country.
I won't burden this topic with my opinion on why this is, but suffice to say James Watson (Watson&Crick/DNA/Nobel) shares my view. And he got in big trouble for it.

Roadvirus said:

Has Obama or Kerry gotten around to declaring Boko Haram a terrorist group yet?
And what about the hundreds of girls abducted...what's the status on them?

Nigeria....another Obama foreign policy screw-up.

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What should Obama have done differently regarding Nigeria? Be specific.

This is what voting democrat gets you.

And voting for Bush-43 opened Pandora's Box in the first place.
No dumber thing has ever been said by a US President than "bring it on", AFTER removing a stabilizing influence yet despicable Saddam .

Heya DS......I was wrong on that call. These guys did declare themselves a Caliphate too. Hard to believe with just one Town really under their control. Whats all the terrorists going to declare each of themselves a Caliphate? :roll:



Boko Haram Becomes the Latest Terror Group to Declare an Islamic Caliphate.....

Another month, another Islamic caliphate. All eyes may be on ISIL in Iraq, which has recently undergone a rebranding as the Islamic State, but Nigeria's Boko Haram is reportedly getting into the caliphate game as well.

Boko Haram Becomes the Latest Terror Group to Declare an Islamic Caliphate

Deuce said:

What should Obama have done differently regarding Nigeria? Be specific.

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When the girls were kidnapped, US military specialists should've been sent in. 1 or 2 SEAL teams could've found the girls and fragged those pedophile-worshipping freaks before a week had passed.

But instead, he had the First Cow do a photo-op with a Hashtag sign.

Roadvirus said:

When the girls were kidnapped, US military specialists should've been sent in. 1 or 2 SEAL teams could've found the girls and fragged those pedophile-worshipping freaks before a week had passed.

But instead, he had the First Cow do a photo-op with a Hashtag sign.

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I know this may come as a shock to you, but there's a lot more to "sending in a couple SEAL teams" than just giving the order to go - the planning and familiarity with the location is nine-tenths of the mission. In order to kill OBL, they built a mock-up of the entire freaking compound where OBL lived and trained their assaults on it for weeks...and still If Boko Haram keeps moving from location to location, this becomes next to impossible.

Furthermore, just because SEALS are the best in the world at what they do doesn't make them invincible - even if we rescued all those girls, losing even one SEAL turns it into a foreign relations (and domestic political) fiasco. Frankly, if we lost even one SEAL doing so, the political Right would claim it's yet another Obama disaster and call for his impeachment/beheading/drawing-and-quartering.

Roadvirus said:

When the girls were kidnapped, US military specialists should've been sent in. 1 or 2 SEAL teams could've found the girls and fragged those pedophile-worshipping freaks before a week had passed.

But instead, he had the First Cow do a photo-op with a Hashtag sign.

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Congratulations. Dozens of dead hostages. Great call, roadvirus.