Senate The Boko Haram massacre

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/12/africa/boko-haram-deadliest-attack/]as[/url] many as 2000 dead, still counting

So... when are the leaders of the world going to go to Africa to march in solidarity?

 

Ah no argument here.

 

If people would just accept a radical, barbaric, savage and primitive form of shari'a then all this violence would be unnecessary.

 

Other than the obvious distinguishing factor, the tactics of Nigeria's military in fighting Boko Haram are extremely brutal and a lot of innocent people are imprisoned, killed, or simply disappear. International pressure on Nigeria's government (e.g., the well-meaning "Bring Back Our Girls" campaign) only made that aspect worse. At least the Hollande government has the decency to support the killings of people in other countries.

 

What everyone said.



Everyone should watch this Dispatches episode on Nigeria and its war against Boko Haram. The Nigerian military is brutal to civilians and the only real difference is that the Military doesn't use religious reasoning behind it.

 

I smashed up my Whiter Shade of Pale album in protest.

 

I thought nobody was supposed to talk about conflicts in Africa until the fatalities hit seven figures.

 

Africa seems to be the world's heatsink for everything awful that humans have ever done. We've got your genocide, authoritarian dictators, diseases, diseased animals, scams; diamond smuggling, oil production that's likely unsafe, hating gays, hating each other, etc. We (the rest of the world) have contributed to the mass suffering of Africans and it seemingly gets worse every year.

 

Imperial powers condensing unrelated ethnic groups into geographic and political organizations, then leaving a sudden power vacuum during decolonization was one of the unkindest things Europeans ever did to Africa. I mean a civil war started in Congo basically the day after the first free election, right?

 

The Belgians and Americans actively helped that along.

 

All lives matter.

 

559 Boko Haram fighters deradicalized

This is an interesting event, as Nigeria attempts to rehabilitate Boko Haram terrorists. What other countries have such a program? Any thoughts about the viability of such an endeavor?

 

Nice necropost.

 

I mean, this is still an important issue in that part of the world; should we just not talk about it at all because that would be a “necropost?”

 

No dude, I was being sincere.

 

Ah. Sorry. I feel like Ken’s avatar today

 

Deradicalization programs are actually quite common. I don't think they're particularly successful, though I don't know the numbers. Like prison rehabilitation, there are some successes and some failures, and some relapses. It seems similar to what we have discussed several times on this forum: how to change people's views. It seems to me like people can always just lie and say what they need to say to graduate without really believing it.

 

Well this is some good news from the area.The problem I fear though is terrorists using this as an advantage. Like they send someone through the program saying they've "changed" all while it's just to take suspicion off themselves so they can secretly recruit or plan an attack later. If these programs don't account or think of this, I fear it would be a bad thing not to consider.

If they truly are changed, then great. Would be a great way to dissuade others from joining.