	Generational Dynamics
	Forecasting America's Destiny ... and the World's

\| HOME \| WEB LOG \| COUNTRY WIKI \| COMMENT \| FORUM \| DOWNLOADS \| ABOUT \|

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 4-Dec-2014
4-Dec-14 World View -- Nigeria mobilizing thousands of vigilantes to fight Boko Haram

Web Log - December, 2014

4-Dec-14 World View -- Nigeria mobilizing thousands of vigilantes to fight Boko Haram

Iran strongly denies it's targeting ISIS with airstrikes, despite video

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Nigeria mobilizing thousands of vigilantes to fight Boko Haram
Iran strongly denies it's targeting ISIS with airstrikes, despite video

Nigeria mobilizing thousands of vigilantes to fight Boko Haram

Vigilante fighter in Nigeria (AP)

Vigilante fighter in Nigeria (AP)

The Nigerian terror group Boko Haram continues to abduct schoolgirls and to take control of entire villages in the northeastern state of Adamawa, especially near the border with Cameroon. Nigeria's army continues to appear to be helpless against Boko Haram, and some reports indicate that soldiers have been shedding the uniforms and fleeing when Boko Haram approaches.

Authorities in Adamawa now say they're implementing their own plan. They plan to mobilize some 4,000 vigilantes from the local villages. Bala James Nggilari, the governor of Adamawa, said:

"The vigilantes and hunters are local people, local boys who know the terrain. When you bring a soldier from Bayelsa [in southern Nigeria], for example, who is coming here for the first time he doesn't know the terrain.
The people we are fighting are also part of the local community. There is nothing on their forehead that says 'insurgent' but these local hunters are familiar with them, they know them, they have the native intelligence which the regular army may not have."

These vigilantes, in cooperation with the army, have already retaken several towns that Boko Haram has captured.

Boko Haram is afraid of these vigilante groups, according to one resident. The local men know some of the insurgents personally and would be able to identify them to security forces. For Boko Haram to operate freely, "they must be sure they overcome those vigilante groups."

Boko Haram last week attacked Damasak, a town on the Cameroon border, killing dozens of people. There is evidence that this attack was a revenge attack against the town's young men who have been joining anti-Boko Haram vigilante groups. BBC and VOA

Iran strongly denies it's targeting ISIS with airstrikes, despite video

There has been video on al-Jazeera and elsewhere of Iranian war planes striking ISIS targets in Iraq, and also of Iranian special forces on the ground in Iraq. American officials have confirmed it. And yet, Iran's foreign ministry has firmly denied any Iran military presence in Iraq against the Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria (IS or ISIS or ISIL).

The situation is embarrassing for both America and Iran. American officials have insisted strenuously that America and Iran are not cooperating or coordinating air strikes or any other military action in Iraq, and that that Iraq government was responsible for an coordination of the two air forces that might be necessary, presumably to make sure, for example, that American and Iranian war planes don't crash into each other. That's because the administration doesn't want to be seen as cooperating in any way with Iran.

It's even worse for the Iranians. The Iranian leadership, starting on top with the delusional Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, blames everything on "the Zionist regime" (Israel) and the "minions of Arrogance" (America). To show even the slightest cooperation with either the Zionist regime or the minions of arrogance would undermine the entire purpose of his daily rants. In fact, I suspect that the entire government might collapse if he admitted to cooperating with the Americans.

There's another reason. Iran and Iraq fought a generational crisis war in the 1980s, climaxing in 1988. Iraqi Sunnis do not trust the Shia Iranians in any way, and one of the reasons that many of them have joined ISIS is because they believe that Iraq's Shia government in Baghdad is in league with Iran -- which is undoubtedly true. To admit that Iranian warplanes were bombing targets in Iraq would only further infuriate the Iraqi Sunnis. The bombing is also making Iran's Sunni enemies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar nervous.

Still, more and more commentators are noting the irony of Iran and American working together to oppose ISIS. I wrote ten years ago that American and Iran would be allies in the coming Clash of Civilizations world war, and we're seeing that prediction come closer and closer to confirmation almost every week. With Iran now bombing Sunni targets in Iraq, it would take only one or two miscalculations to turn this into a broader sectarian war between Sunnis and Shias. Mehr News (Tehran) and AP

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 4-Dec-14 World View -- Nigeria mobilizing thousands of vigilantes to fight Boko Haram thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (4-Dec-2014) Permanent Link
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Donate to Generational Dynamics via PayPal

Web Log Pages

Current Web Log

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 4-Dec-2014 4-Dec-14 World View -- Nigeria mobilizing thousands of vigilantes to fight Boko Haram

Nigeria mobilizing thousands of vigilantes to fight Boko Haram

Iran strongly denies it's targeting ISIS with airstrikes, despite video

Web Log Pages

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 4-Dec-2014
4-Dec-14 World View -- Nigeria mobilizing thousands of vigilantes to fight Boko Haram