Dispatch from halfway around the world

You may or may not -- not, as likely as not -- have heard of the past day’s events in distant Mali.

If not -- this is stated by no means by way of reproach.  Mali is, after all, the locus of Timbuktu;  which, when I was but a lad in knickers, was a metonym for Back of Beyond; or, as the young folks say today, Beyond Effing Egypt (B.F.E.).   You have, understandably, been too busy wrestling with the Riemann Hypothesis (warning:  It’s trickier than you think), or tending to your garden (in line with Voltaire’s well-known advice), to attend to the latest putsch in a far-off land.

And indeed I know nothing more about it than what I glean from the press.  But the point is, in the course of such gleaning, I stumbled upon an unusually graceful essay, by an African journalist, one Jean-Claude Coulibaly -- here, of all places:

http://news.abidjan.net/h/429911.html

M. Coulibaly thus joins our favorite radio-feuilletoniste Fouad Laroui, and the eloquent Lebanese editorialist Issa Goraieb, in the pantheon of francophonic African-and-Middle-Eastern essayists, their prowess known to Helicon, but scarcely beyond it.

~     ~     ~

[Update 24 III 2012] A NYTimes article quotes some relevant questions:

“Is this really an organized coup d’état, since it started as a mutiny?

“In a place where there is an election in a month, it is difficult to understand why troops would take over from the government.”

And adds a detail which makes the story ready for a Hollywood-style paranoid thriller:

the military men who have seized power — led by Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo, who received extensive training in the United States between 2004 and 2010

Specifically:

Le capitaine Sanogo, proclamé président du tout nouveau CNRDR (Comité national pour le redressement de la démocratie et la restauration de l’Etat), a dit avoir été formé par des “marines” américains et des agents des services de renseignement américains dans le cadre de la lutte anti-terroriste.

http://www.afrik.com/article25161.html

 Ahem, hmm!  Where there's smoke, there's fire, no?

~     ~     ~

My friend Snarla alerted me to this recent success by a random internaut:

We're not trying hard enough: http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/03/ff_reddit/all/1

Now, in response to The_Quiet_Earth’s question about time-traveling marines, Erwin started typing. He posted his answer in a series of comments in the thread. Within an hour, he was an online celebrity. Within three hours, a film producer had reached out to him. Within two weeks, he was offered a deal to write a movie based on his Reddit comments. Within two months, he had taken a leave from his job to become a full-time Hollywood screenwriter.

I am offering my services as screenwriter.   Key idea:  The resultant TV series will parallel the events in Mali in real time,  each episode explaining the real-life events of the previous week  in terms of deep-reaching conspiracies, steamy sex, … and, lurking invisibly in the background, a shadowy organization known only as the Brotherhood of the Riemann Hypothesis… Goes "24" one better.  Tune in next week.

[Note to Hollywood:  Call my agent at the usual location.
 Note to Mr Big:  Call me on the Red Phone.]

Studios wishing to compete in the bidding  may consult my credentials in an earlier project (launched in the Real World  so as to make millions from the later movie), the "DSK Affaire" (currently in production, scheduled for a Mayday release), here:
http://worldofdrjustice.blogspot.com/2011/11/trussed-like-turkey-dsk.html


[Update, later today]  Disturbing developments here.

[Update 25 III 12] Sidelights on the Mali coup:

A CLUSTER of Australian mining companies will nervously watch events in the West African nation of Mali this week, where a sudden political coup has threatened to erode strong recent performances on the ASX.

Mali was in chaos on Wednesday when a military mutiny escalated to overthrow the government, sparking widespread looting and civil unrest over the weekend.

Among the ASX-listed companies with exposure to Mali is market-darling Papillon Resources, which has been feted in recent times for a four-fold share price gain over the past 12 months.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/mali-mutiny-casts-a-fear-on-asx-bounty-20120325-1vsgq.html#ixzz1q9ulmA11

From Reuters:

In the north, separatist MNLA rebels and Ansar Eddine, a group that wants to impose sharia law in Mali, both have forces surrounding the town of Kidal,

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-mali-armybre82o0be-20120325,0,2217874.story

(Note: Ansar Eddine is from Arabic, ‘Supporters/Defenders of (the Islamic) religion”.  The term Ansar, ultimately deriving from those who helped the Prophet in Medina, is used in the name of several jihadi groups, such as the AQAP-afficilated Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen.)

~

Much of the news we get from denied areas or remote parts of the world  is second-hand.  You’ll hear the NPR describing the state of the Syrian upheaval….”reporting from Beirut”.  You could just as well monitor things from New York, but the dateline sounds more exciting.

Here is an apparent eyewitness account of the street scene in Bamako:

http://www.rue89.com/2012/03/25/mali-retour-au-calme-et-attentisme-apres-le-coup-detat-230502

--

[Update 5 April 2012]  Boy did that not work out.

A ragtag bank of soldiers kick out the duly-elected government of Mali, based on the complaint that said government has not been dedicating enough resources to battling the rebellion in the north.  As an immediate result, the actual soldiers on the ground in the north face a lack of leadership -- they’re not about to take orders from this obscure captain and self-appointed coup-master -- so they doff their uniforms and run away and the whole thing falls apart and now the north is controlled … well, occupied by  a spicy mixture of Tuareg tribesmen, Salafists, AQIM honchos and AQIM dissidents:

Les trois chefs d'Aqmi à Tombouctou

As one commenter quips:

Ah le Militaires Africains! Le comité militaire a trouvé le pays au bord du gouffre. Le comité militaire a décidé de faire un pas en avant.

[Update 7 April 2012]  Video:  Touaregs fleeing Bamako:
http://www.leparisien.fr/international/nord-du-mali-des-rebelles-touareg-proclament-l-independance-06-04-2012-1942327.php

[Update 7 April 2012]  We're free, O Lord -- free at last !!
http://worldofdrjustice.blogspot.com/2012/04/o-azawad-my-azawad.html

For remarkable breaking developments, simply google "azawad tourism secluded getaway" 

For the truth, the whole truth, straight from the horse's mouth:
http://www.mnlamov.net/

[Update 12 April 2012]
Quite an interesting interview;  helps you keep track of the players:
http://www.lepoint.fr/monde/mali-les-touareg-vivent-dans-la-terreur-12-04-2012-1450745_24.php

[Update 13 April 2012]
It really is fascinating, what's going on.
My subsequent posts, riffing on this, are pour rire;
but to follow what-all is going on,
click  here ....  :
http://www.mnlamov.net/
Sample:

Le Mouvement National de Libération de l’Azawad condamne, l’enlèvement de diplomates algériens à Gao et tous les actes de vandalisme et d’agressions contre les populations civiles dans les villes libérées.

Le Mouvement National de Libération de l’Azawad se désolidarise de toutes les organisations mafieuses s’étant introduite ces jours-ci dans l’Azawad, contribuant à instaurer un climat de chaos et de désordre, après la libération du territoire.

Honestly, I feel for these guys.

Eleison, Kyrie ....

*

Pour d’autres friandises

de la confiserie 

du docteur Justice,

consultez:

http://www.linguasacrapublishing.com/justice.html

*

[Update 19 April 2012]  A welcome development in what's left of Mali:
http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2012/04/18/01003-20120418ARTFIG00587-mali-un-astrophysicien-premier-ministre.php

[Update 28 April 2012]  A grave though foreseeable development:
http://worldofdrjustice.blogspot.com/2012/04/update-to-azawad.html

[Update 9 May 2012]  The view from Tamanrasset:
http://www.leral.net/Les-Touaregs-algeriens-face-a-la-contagion-malienne_a38399.html

[Update 21 May 2012] High-spirited youth pay a visit to the Presidential Palace:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/world/africa/mali-protesters-attack-interim-president-dioncounda-traore.html?ref=global-home
"The interim president of Mali was set upon by angry protesters who stormed the presidential palace on Monday, grabbed him by the collar and beat him on the head into unconsciousness."