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Ear to the Ground

Meanwhile, in Ivory Coast ...

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Posted on Apr 11, 2011
Stefan Meisel (CC-BY)

Libya may get all the attention, but another international effort to oust an African strongman may have reached its conclusion. After three months of fighting, former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo was captured by forces loyal to France, the U.N., his political opposition or all of the above, depending on who tells it.

Gbagbo and his rival, Alassane Ouattara, have both been implicated in human rights atrocities in their quest for power.

Ouattara, however, has the backing of the international community, including the United Nations, which organized the Ivorian election in November and declared him the victor.

Gbagbo contested the U.N.‘s findings and refused to cede power, accusing former colonial master France of once again meddling in the country’s affairs.

Gbagbo was once himself an opposition figure. After spending 20 years on the outs, Gbagbo rode street protests to power in 2000. A decade later, he had tanks on his front lawn.  —PZS

BBC:

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the detention of Mr Gbagbo had brought to an end months of unnecessary conflict, and the UN would support the new government.

US President Barack Obama has welcomed Mr Gbagbo’s capture and called on armed groups in Ivory Coast to lay down their arms to boost the chances of a democratic future.

He added that victims and survivors of violence in the country deserved accountability for the crimes committed against them.

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Napolean DoneHisPart's avatar

By Napolean DoneHisPart, April 14, 2011 at 12:14 pm Link to this comment

You’re a racist and may not even know it.. let alone be able to identify it within yourself… especially if you believe what the Amerikan schools system has taught you.. and the hegemony broadcast via their media channels.

I am surely NOT advocating intervention. 

Is that I wrote somewhere?  Or is that what a non-thinker puts in lieu of comprehension? 

I am simply pointing out WHY the U.S. military dictatorship is ignoring these Africans…. for they have nothing to offer in return ( no natural resources, no gold, only themselves.. and slaves are at their all time low of $90 per head.

Besides, the French already own them and that country…. to their shame.  What we’ll witness is a vacuum like seen in Haiti… but wait, too late, the French already resumed their control… that country was actually already resembling a free state.

And I mention racism, for that is the lifeblood of the Amerikan Empire, this gestapo and inbred country which propagandizes racism, hatred and indifference every chance it gets… or have you not noticed?  Have you not woken up yet to a nation of subdued and fearful working class slaves believing every obfuscation broadcast from hired hands… or gladly consuming the WMD’s ( weapons of mass distraction ) and buying garbage thinking they are really doing something and going somewhere?

Yet, the truth is finding its way.

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By ZenBowman, April 14, 2011 at 11:56 am Link to this comment

Ignoring this situation is not racism, it is simply good sense. If you can point me to an instance where intervention in a sovereign country’s internal conflict has helped before, I might agree with you.

If non-intervention equals racism, then I am a proud racist.

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Napolean DoneHisPart's avatar

By Napolean DoneHisPart, April 14, 2011 at 10:18 am Link to this comment

With even more attention, not much will be done…

Racism is at the core of ignoring this trouble… plus again, not much to reap from intervention.

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By ZenBowman, April 14, 2011 at 9:57 am Link to this comment

Do we really want to draw attention to this? International attention always seems to lead to international intervention, which is almost always bad.

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Napolean DoneHisPart's avatar

By Napolean DoneHisPart, April 12, 2011 at 9:41 pm Link to this comment

Why isn’t this story getting much attention?

Could it be similar to investing in the inner cities?  Not much return ( ROI ) to be realized….so the hegemony simply ignores… just like all the lemmings watching the empire’s show.

Yet, here is a dose of reality:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akm3nYN8aG8

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Napolean DoneHisPart's avatar

By Napolean DoneHisPart, April 12, 2011 at 10:13 am Link to this comment

I heard the ‘new’ face of the Ivory Coast speaking in French last night declaring the ‘resolution.’

I wonder, what language did that people speak prior to empire and slavery?

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