Who's heard of Africom?

There are so many things about what our government is doing around the world, especially militarily, that most of us are simply not privy to because we just don't care enough to find out or our news agencies are more concerned about Jennifer Aniston's wanting a baby than reporting news essential to our understanding of the world in which we live.


Maybe I'm just out of the loop. Have you ever heard of Africom?

Assuming a negative answer, I'm gonna tell you.

Africom is a new U.S. military command for Africa, established by President George W. Bush in February 2007: it is the Africa Command.


Daniel Volman, writing for AllAfrica.com says that "Throughout the Cold War and for more than a decade afterwards, the U.S. did not have a military command for Africa; instead, U.S. military activities on the continent were conducted by three separate commands: the European Command, which had responsibility for most of the continent; the Central Command, which oversaw Egypt and the Horn of Africa region along with the Middle East and Central Asia; and the Pacific Command, which administered military ties with Madagascar and other islands in the Indian Ocean."

So, why do we need an Africa Command now? Because the Bushites decided that someone had to keep a closer tab on Africa's oil! In fact, "the Bush administration declared that access to Africa's oil supplies would henceforth be defined as a 'strategic national interest' of the United States..."


The question is whether Barack Obama will continue to walk the path laid out by Bush and friends as regards Africa. Indications are that he will, with important reservations. In his response to a questionnaire by the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, Obama said that Africom "should serve to coordinate and synchronize our military activities with our other strategic objectives in Africa."

Part of his reasoning was that "there will be situations that require the United States to work with its partners in Africa to fight terrorism with lethal force." And it will be helpful to have "a unified command operation in Africa" to facilitate such action.

Notice, that Obama spoke of "partners in Africa." In other words, unilateral action is unlikely but nevertheless many are fearful "that the Obama administration will continue to expand the entire spectrum of U.S. military operations in Africa, including increasing U.S. military involvement in the internal affairs of African countries ... and the direct use of U.S. comabat troops to inteervene in African conflicts."


Some folks, however, are re-thinking Africom, including members of Congress. In 2006, the Resist Africom Campaign was formed to educate the American people (boy, they missed me!) about Africom "and to mobilize public and congressional opposition to the creation of the new command."

The Resist Africom Campaign wants Obama to "pursue a policy ... based on a genuine partnership with the people of Africa and on a mulitlateral approach which includes other countries which have an interest in Africa, including China and India -- which promotes sustainable economic development, democracy and human rights, and a new global energy order based on the use of clean, safe, and renewable resources."


Sounds good to me. But, then there's that oil bizness. And we still ain't close to getting over our addiction to black gold.


Read Volman's entire article here.

Is Sarah Palin a socialist?

[Drawing of the Alaska State House in Juneau]

That may sound like a silly question. Of course, Sarah Palin is no socialist! She is a capitalist from Nome to Rome (Georgia, that is!).

Or maybe she doesn't know the difference.


Lately, we've heard Ms. Palin take off on Senator Barack Obama for his off-hand statement to Sam the Plumber (who hasn't paid his taxes!) about "sharing the wealth." Obama's comment was perfectly legitimate as it was in reference to the place of taxes in a democratic society, but it has been mutiliated beyond recognition by the McCain campaign in another attempt to slur Obama and paint him as a "socialist" who would take money from your pocket to give to the lazy and undeserving poor.

Palin's rallying cry of late has including mocking Obama for wanting to "spread the wealth." She curls her lip and sneers about "Barack the wealth spreader."


Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly says these attacks are filled with irony, for as noted by Ryan Powers:

"Just last month, in an interview with Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker, Palin explained the windfall profits tax that she imposed on the oil industry in Alaska as a mechanism for ensuring that Alaskans 'share in the wealth' generated by oil companies. [...]

"In fact, Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share (ACES) program, which manages the redistribution of oil wealth in Alaska, brings in so much money that the state needs no income or sales tax. In addition, this year ACES will provide every Alaska with a check for an estimated $3,200."


Back to Benen: "I realize that even McCain, Palin, and Fox News don't take this 'socialism' nonsense seriously, and that this is just rhetoric borne of desperation. McCain has always struggled with new ideas and a changing world, so it stands to reason he'd rely on a red scare as his closing argument.

"But the truth is, Sarah Palin's Alaska is about as close to socialism as America gets. ..."