Author Topic: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa  (Read 2603 times)

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rangerrebew

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US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa



JOE HARWOOD/U.S. AIR NATIONAL GUARD
 
By JOHN VANDIVER | STARS AND STRIPES Published: May 30, 2017

The U.S. military faces a two-decade struggle to help bring stability to Africa, where the lack of an overall government strategy is complicating operations, according to the general in charge of special operations on the continent.

“(T)here are too many conflicting perspectives when it comes to what the (U.S. government) policy should be for Africa,” U.S. Special Operations Command Africa’s Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc said in a recent article. “The problems in Africa defy solution within a single fiscal year, or the two- to four-year tour of a Geographic Combatant Command commander.”

https://www.stripes.com/news/us-special-ops-general-sees-decades-long-struggle-in-africa-1.471104#.WS58-ca1s4r
« Last Edit: May 31, 2017, 08:21:48 am by rangerrebew »

Offline Gideon300

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2017, 05:10:38 pm »
US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa



JOE HARWOOD/U.S. AIR NATIONAL GUARD
 
By JOHN VANDIVER | STARS AND STRIPES Published: May 30, 2017

The U.S. military faces a two-decade struggle to help bring stability to Africa, where the lack of an overall government strategy is complicating operations, according to the general in charge of special operations on the continent.


Africa....

The best strategy for Africa is to get out and stay out.  Northern Africa, Libya, Somalia, etc., is an Islamic problem, and we all know that isn't going away soon no matter what ingenious "strategy" the government comes up with.  It is not much different from the rest of the Middle East, and we see how that has worked out in the past century.

Sub-Saharan Africa, including southern Chad and Sudan, is nearly hopeless.  Read the works of Mungo Park, Henry Stanley and Sir Richard Burton among others to see how the region was a century or so ago, and look at how it is now.  The only major difference is the presence of more efficient ways to kill each other.  In two hundred years Sub-Saharan Africa has accomplished nothing except as a great place for Europeans to loot probably the largest storehouse of oil, gold and diamonds on earth, meanwhile making certain local warlords rich enough to buy their entire country and all the people in it.  Which they freely did.  It was a cesspool in 1700, it is a cesspool now, and it will be no different in 200 years more. 

The only reason for the US military to be in Africa is in the ongoing fight against Islamic terrorism, but it needs to be fought with a will, not piddling around for decades getting nothing accomplished and getting a lot of people killed. 

Offline truth_seeker

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2017, 05:23:07 pm »

We must not be putting much emphasis on Africa, if a mere Brig. General is in charge.

Africa's problems can be found in the 1994 book titled "The Bell Curve."

https://iq-research.info/en/page/average-iq-by-country
"God must love the common man, he made so many of them.�  Abe Lincoln

rangerrebew

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2017, 05:25:32 pm »

The only reason for the US military to be in Africa is in the ongoing fight against Islamic terrorism, but it needs to be fought with a will, not piddling around for decades getting nothing accomplished and getting a lot of people killed.

I suspect we got in to Africa was because of Imam Obama and his hatred for the military.  Putting troops in places where there is absolutely no chance of defeating an enemy is about as rotten a thing as a CIC could do.

Offline Gideon300

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2017, 05:27:10 pm »
We must not be putting much emphasis on Africa, if a mere Brig. General is in charge.

Africa's problems can be found in the 1994 book titled "The Bell Curve."

https://iq-research.info/en/page/average-iq-by-country

I was trying to avoid saying that...

Offline driftdiver

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2017, 05:29:42 pm »
We must not be putting much emphasis on Africa, if a mere Brig. General is in charge.

Africa's problems can be found in the 1994 book titled "The Bell Curve."

https://iq-research.info/en/page/average-iq-by-country

@truth_seeker
So you're saying its because of their race?   
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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2017, 05:32:15 pm »
@truth_seeker
So you're saying its because of their race?

Have you read the cited book, or looked at the linked statistical table?

"God must love the common man, he made so many of them.�  Abe Lincoln

Offline driftdiver

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2017, 05:32:51 pm »
Africa....

The best strategy for Africa is to get out and stay out.  Northern Africa, Libya, Somalia, etc., is an Islamic problem, and we all know that isn't going away soon no matter what ingenious "strategy" the government comes up with.  It is not much different from the rest of the Middle East, and we see how that has worked out in the past century.

Sub-Saharan Africa, including southern Chad and Sudan, is nearly hopeless.  Read the works of Mungo Park, Henry Stanley and Sir Richard Burton among others to see how the region was a century or so ago, and look at how it is now.  The only major difference is the presence of more efficient ways to kill each other.  In two hundred years Sub-Saharan Africa has accomplished nothing except as a great place for Europeans to loot probably the largest storehouse of oil, gold and diamonds on earth, meanwhile making certain local warlords rich enough to buy their entire country and all the people in it.  Which they freely did.  It was a cesspool in 1700, it is a cesspool now, and it will be no different in 200 years more. 

The only reason for the US military to be in Africa is in the ongoing fight against Islamic terrorism, but it needs to be fought with a will, not piddling around for decades getting nothing accomplished and getting a lot of people killed.

@Gideon300
A big part of whats wrong in Africa is its history.   If you look at what The Dutch and British did to Africa from the 1700s to as recently as the late 1940s.   Not to mention the heavy Muslim presence in north africa.   
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Offline driftdiver

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2017, 05:36:10 pm »
Have you read the cited book, or looked at the linked statistical table?

@truth_seeker
No and I have no plans too.   Its a ridiculous concept.   

Unless you think God made some people less in his image than others.
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Offline mirraflake

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #9 on: May 31, 2017, 05:39:58 pm »
We must not be putting much emphasis on Africa, if a mere Brig. General is in charge.

Africa's problems can be found in the 1994 book titled "The Bell Curve."

https://iq-research.info/en/page/average-iq-by-country

Majority if not most of Africas troubles is it crappy culture not IQ.   

@truth_seeker

Offline driftdiver

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2017, 05:46:26 pm »
Majority if not most of Africas troubles is it crappy culture not IQ.   

@truth_seeker

@mirraflake
A culture that wasn't all that advanced to start with but was then destroyed as millions were enslaved, raped and/or murdered by the European companies that were plundering central Africa.

Or when England abandoned the continent following WWII.   Leaving many countries without a functioning government.

Many parts of Africa are truly a mess and have been for hundreds of years.    Hundreds of years of war will have that effect.
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Offline mirraflake

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #11 on: May 31, 2017, 05:50:40 pm »
@mirraflake
A culture that wasn't all that advanced to start with but was then destroyed as millions were enslaved, raped and/or murdered by the European companies that were plundering central Africa.

Or when England abandoned the continent following WWII.   Leaving many countries without a functioning government.

Many parts of Africa are truly a mess and have been for hundreds of years.    Hundreds of years of war will have that effect.

Colonial powers also split up borders and tribes which did not help.

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #12 on: May 31, 2017, 05:54:54 pm »
Colonial powers also split up borders and tribes which did not help.


What does that have to do with low IQ scores in America?
"God must love the common man, he made so many of them.�  Abe Lincoln

Offline TomSea

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #13 on: May 31, 2017, 05:57:02 pm »
If IQs are being discussed, Larry Elder cites some Catholic school in Philadelphia, NYC, somewhere like that and where the students did well and among the best in the city. I only heard a little bit on this but he sounded like he's discussed it before.

Offline driftdiver

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #14 on: May 31, 2017, 06:02:47 pm »
What does that have to do with low IQ scores in America?

@truth_seeker
Umm the article is about Africa.   But the cause and effect hold true.   Have a dysfunctional culture which does not value hard work or education and the people will be lazy and uneducated.

Lazy and uneducated people tend to perform poorly on standardized IQ tests which are poor indicators of intelligence to start with.
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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #15 on: June 01, 2017, 01:37:21 am »
drifdiver wrote, answering truth_seeker:
"No and I have no plans too.   Its a ridiculous concept.
Unless you think God made some people less in his image than others."


Fishrrman's credo:
Reality is what it is. It is not what we believe it to be.

Reality:
« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 01:39:34 am by Fishrrman »

Offline driftdiver

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #16 on: June 01, 2017, 02:14:10 am »
drifdiver wrote, answering truth_seeker:
"No and I have no plans too.   Its a ridiculous concept.
Unless you think God made some people less in his image than others."


Fishrrman's credo:
Reality is what it is. It is not what we believe it to be.

Reality:


@truth_seeker

You see what you want to see.
Fools mock, tongues wag, babies cry and goats bleat.

Offline Gideon300

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #17 on: June 01, 2017, 03:28:51 am »
@truth_seeker

You see what you want to see.

Don't we all!  But some things are hard to ignore regardless of how inconvenient.  Did God create mankind unequally?  Who's to say He didn't.  We're told that God works in mysterious ways, and it's not within our meager human abilities to understand what those ways are.  Perhaps in the beginning God created all men the same, but gave them free will, the ability to choose how he lives, where he travels, how he forms his different cultures, etc.  Over thousands of generations those different gene pools will generate some profound differences in appearance, beliefs, physical attributes, mental abilities, and many other things that were not in his original makeup. 

I perceive you are a devoutly Christian man, and I respect that very much.  But God did not say "Let there be man, and let him be equal".  After the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the whole scenario changed anyway, for man became a free agent and wandered farther and farther from "God's image".  We can't be arrogant enough to say we know the thoughts of God, only what little that has been revealed, and if we are all in His image, then He must have a lot of different facets, most of which He can't be too proud. 

Someone mentioned above the book "The Bell Curve", which you dismissed out of hand, admitting that you haven't read it nor ever will.  That's acceptable, but bear in mind this book isn't in any way a tome of racial bigotry.  It merely shows the results of hundreds of studies and tests over many decades, and giving an average of those results in the individual categories.  Frankly, unless you're a social worker or anthropologist, it's pretty boring, and it's a BIG BOOK.  The men responsible for this work are very intelligent, well educated professionals who show no obvious bias for or against any culture or race.  Many people, most of whom haven't read the book, think it's a racist attempt to denigrate people of Sub-Saharan African descent, but nowhere withing it pages is there any reference to blacks being inferior in any way.  They are not singled out any more than East Asians, Europeans, or any other ethnic group.  It just happens that native Africans occupy the bottom left of the curve, not put there by the authors but by the results of hundreds of studies and tests.  This is not racist, no more than Asians being on the opposite side, it's merely fact.  Nowhere do they say that all Africans are dumb nor all Asians smart, only an average of results for their ethnic group as a whole.   

I don't write this to be a personal attack on you or your beliefs, so I would hope you will not take it that way.  I just want to say that we humans cannot legitimately claim to know what God in His wisdom intended for mankind, nor can we claim to think as God thinks, and especially not think FOR Him.  Even devout believers must have at least somewhat of an open mind when it comes to the workings of God, for we and God are by no means on a level playing field. 

Offline truth_seeker

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #18 on: June 01, 2017, 03:57:01 am »
Someone mentioned above the book "The Bell Curve", which you dismissed out of hand, admitting that you haven't read it nor ever will. 

Why am I not 7'2" like Kareem ? Why am I not gifted in music, in dance, in art ??

"God must love the common man, he made so many of them.�  Abe Lincoln

Offline driftdiver

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #19 on: June 01, 2017, 01:10:52 pm »
Don't we all!  But some things are hard to ignore regardless of how inconvenient.  Did God create mankind unequally?  Who's to say He didn't.  We're told that God works in mysterious ways, and it's not within our meager human abilities to understand what those ways are.  Perhaps in the beginning God created all men the same, but gave them free will, the ability to choose how he lives, where he travels, how he forms his different cultures, etc.  Over thousands of generations those different gene pools will generate some profound differences in appearance, beliefs, physical attributes, mental abilities, and many other things that were not in his original makeup. 

I perceive you are a devoutly Christian man, and I respect that very much.  But God did not say "Let there be man, and let him be equal".  After the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the whole scenario changed anyway, for man became a free agent and wandered farther and farther from "God's image".  We can't be arrogant enough to say we know the thoughts of God, only what little that has been revealed, and if we are all in His image, then He must have a lot of different facets, most of which He can't be too proud. 

Someone mentioned above the book "The Bell Curve", which you dismissed out of hand, admitting that you haven't read it nor ever will.  That's acceptable, but bear in mind this book isn't in any way a tome of racial bigotry.  It merely shows the results of hundreds of studies and tests over many decades, and giving an average of those results in the individual categories.  Frankly, unless you're a social worker or anthropologist, it's pretty boring, and it's a BIG BOOK.  The men responsible for this work are very intelligent, well educated professionals who show no obvious bias for or against any culture or race.  Many people, most of whom haven't read the book, think it's a racist attempt to denigrate people of Sub-Saharan African descent, but nowhere withing it pages is there any reference to blacks being inferior in any way.  They are not singled out any more than East Asians, Europeans, or any other ethnic group.  It just happens that native Africans occupy the bottom left of the curve, not put there by the authors but by the results of hundreds of studies and tests.  This is not racist, no more than Asians being on the opposite side, it's merely fact.  Nowhere do they say that all Africans are dumb nor all Asians smart, only an average of results for their ethnic group as a whole.   

I don't write this to be a personal attack on you or your beliefs, so I would hope you will not take it that way.  I just want to say that we humans cannot legitimately claim to know what God in His wisdom intended for mankind, nor can we claim to think as God thinks, and especially not think FOR Him.  Even devout believers must have at least somewhat of an open mind when it comes to the workings of God, for we and God are by no means on a level playing field.

@Gideon300  @truth_seeker

The IQ tests are highly impacted by the environment & background of the person taking the test.    They are not dependable and the very chart you are basing your superiority on disproves your theory.   If dark skinned people are less intelligent why are only those on the African continent impacted?   What about the dark skinned people everywhere else?

No, your theory tells us a lot more about you two than anything else.  Its really sad.
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Online Fishrrman

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #20 on: June 01, 2017, 01:21:57 pm »
driftdiver wrote:
"If dark skinned people are less intelligent why are only those on the African continent impacted?   What about the dark skinned people everywhere else?"

Once again, take a closer look at the map in post 15 above.

Or...
... do "you see what you want to see" ...?

Online dfwgator

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #21 on: June 01, 2017, 01:27:05 pm »
Majority if not most of Africas troubles is it crappy culture not IQ.   

@truth_seeker


Offline truth_seeker

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #22 on: June 01, 2017, 06:46:22 pm »
@Gideon300  @truth_seeker

The IQ tests are highly impacted by the environment & background of the person taking the test.    They are not dependable and the very chart you are basing your superiority on disproves your theory.   If dark skinned people are less intelligent why are only those on the African continent impacted?   What about the dark skinned people everywhere else?

No, your theory tells us a lot more about you two than anything else.  Its really sad.

Impacted, but not by much.

It is not "my theory." It is the product of a great deal of scientific research and study.

Since WWI the US military has used intelligence and other aptitude testing, to help determine the best fits for the troops.

I was a Personnel Management Specialist, and trained to be one.

Good IQ testing is highly predictive of the mental abilities of individuals. That is why they have been used.

Maybe everybody got a send off from the Garden of Eden on a precisely equal footing, but it hasn't remained so.

And why can't I start at the center position, instead of Kareem?
"God must love the common man, he made so many of them.�  Abe Lincoln

Offline driftdiver

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #23 on: June 01, 2017, 07:03:46 pm »
Impacted, but not by much.

It is not "my theory." It is the product of a great deal of scientific research and study.

Since WWI the US military has used intelligence and other aptitude testing, to help determine the best fits for the troops.

I was a Personnel Management Specialist, and trained to be one.

Good IQ testing is highly predictive of the mental abilities of individuals. That is why they have been used.

Maybe everybody got a send off from the Garden of Eden on a precisely equal footing, but it hasn't remained so.

And why can't I start at the center position, instead of Kareem?

@truth_seeker
There's also a lot of research which show them to be bunk.    Especially when the person isn't American and didn't grow up in suburbia.    They are valuable only when evaluating people within the spectrum they are designed for.

Culture plays an enormous part of a persons behavior and perceived intelligence.   The culture of Africa has been destroyed by 400 + years of almost constant conflict.   Families torn apart, entire villages taken into slavery and on and on.  Currently entire villages are being decimated by AIDS.     



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Offline truth_seeker

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Re: US special ops general sees decades-long struggle in Africa
« Reply #24 on: June 01, 2017, 07:44:17 pm »
@truth_seeker
There's also a lot of research which show them to be bunk.    Especially when the person isn't American and didn't grow up in suburbia.    They are valuable only when evaluating people within the spectrum they are designed for.

Culture plays an enormous part of a persons behavior and perceived intelligence.   The culture of Africa has been destroyed by 400 + years of almost constant conflict.   Families torn apart, entire villages taken into slavery and on and on.  Currently entire villages are being decimated by AIDS.   

I haven't any idea what AIDS in Africa has to do with WWI, WWII and later IQ testing of ALL races in America.

"What does an IQ test measure?

The IQ test consists of a number of tasks measuring various measures of intelligence including short-term memory, analytical thinking, mathematical ability and spatial recognition. Like all IQ tests it does not attempt to measure the amount of information you have learned but rather your capacity to learn."

I'm finished because you seem to have predetermined ideas, which are provably false. You claim no interest in possibly the most seminal book on the subject.

Most of what liberal academics say about the book and the findings therein is false, misleading, biased like "social justice warrior" types of lies.
« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 08:03:21 pm by truth_seeker »
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