The American Spectator : Big Party in a Desert

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Big Party in a Desert

The lurking reality of absurd borders and impossible ethno-sectarian configurations — and the fun has just started.

The war in Libya is over but its aftershocks keep shaking the region. A rebel Tuareg army swept across northern Mali, taking over the famous city of Timbuktu. Tuareg rebellions have long been a recurring phenomenon in Mali and Niger, but this time it was different. Ever since the regime of Gaddafi was overthrown, the governments of Mali and Niger were sounding alarm bells over the influx of heavily armed Tuareg fighters who used to serve in the army of the late dictator. Hundreds of these fighters, and the skills and the weaponry they have brought from Libya, have created a new and seemingly unstoppable type of Tuareg rebel army that has finally achieved what eluded the previous rebellions. Within a few weeks the rebels routed the minuscule Malian army and effectively partitioned the country in two. The Malian government has meanwhile collapsed altogether.

On 6 April, the veteran Tuareg national movement — National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) — declared a new independent state in Gao, the biggest of the three towns in the North. It was not very surprising that the MNLA’s declaration of independence immediately hit a wall. The State Department, the EU, the African Union, Mali’s neighbors and its government, all flatly rejected this idea out of hand. The surprising part was that the declaration was rejected from within the rebel ranks as well. For decades uprisings by Tuareg nationalists have been a major headache for local governments and their outside sponsors. Now a previously unknown rebel faction, which calls itself Ansar ed Dine, said it had no interest in independence whatsoever and its goal was instead to impose the Islamic law on the entire country of Mali

2006. Tuaregs having fun in Timbuktu.

It’s a story familiar in the Middle East and North Africa — if it’s not nationalists, then it’s Islamists. Nature abhors a vacuum. Where the former fail, the latter often step in. The capital of the de facto independent Iraqi Kurdistan has been transformed from a neglected backyard of Iraq into a sea of construction cranes. American flags are posted proudly on dashboards. Not one single American soldier had died here. But in South Yemen it’s no longer the defeated nationalists who are fighting battles against the northern army, but instead Islamic fundamentalists are imposing Sharia law on towns and areas under their control.

Nevertheless, the emergence of Tuareg fundamentalists has amazed some observers. The Tuaregs are known as occasional providers of logistic services to radical Islamic groups, but until now the nomads were not usually known as naturally born fundamentalists. As a matter of fact, MNLA has repeatedly offered its services in fighting Al Qaeda in the strategically important Sahara region to the West and the international community in exchange for recognition of Tuareg independence.

The tradition of men covering their faces certainly gives the Tuareg men a rather sinister look.

In fact, in Roman times, their ancestors were called the Garamantes, and controlled lucrative caravan routes across the Sahara from Mali. They repeatedly clashed with the Romans on various occasions and the last proconsul to earn a triumphus — Lucius Cornelius Balbus — won this distinguished honor from Augustus in 19 BC for having defeated the Garamantes in a series of skirmishes in modern-day Fezzan. Yet, even though the poet Virgil prophesied the subjugation of these tribesmen in his renowned epic the Aeneid, the Garamantes always remained independent of Roman rule in the province of Africa.

Modern day Tuaregs do have a reputation for smuggling, raiding and providing ruthless mercenaries to regimes across the region, including the one of Muammar Gaddafi. But Tuaregs also have a less known soft side of the bon vivants of the Sahara desert, fans of booze, partying and a peculiar music style known as Tuareg rock or Tuareg blues. Other aspects of the Tuareg culture also make them unlikely converts to the Islamist cause. The Tuaregs are largely matrilineal. Though they are not matriarchal, traditionally, in the Tuareg society women were accorded higher social status compared to Arabs and other Berber peoples. Not a bunch of folks one would normally expect to submit themselves readily to the bleak and dry routine of a Sharia state.

The leader of the new faction himself is a perfect example of this dramatic change. A renowned rebel, who single-handedly kick-started a previous Tuareg uprising, as late as 2008, Iyad ag Ghali still appears in Wikileaks sharing intelligence about Al Qaeda with U.S. diplomats. Ag Ghali’s transformation into an Islamic fundamentalist is even more surprising given the existence of personal accounts that indicate that not so long ago the man was still a big fan of smoking, drinking and partying. In this Ag Ghali was certainly not unlike many other Tuaregs of the region.

2009. The desert comes to party in Europe. Tinariwen performing live in Rubigen, Switzerland.

The Tuareg uprising in Mali has received limited media coverage and was largely overshadowed by the ongoing battles of the Arab Spring. Syria, in particular, grabbed the attention of international audiences and produced an unholy amount of analyses and plain speculations. But behind the two uprisings in Mali and Syria, happening in different parts of the region and at the first glance unrelated to each other, is lurking the same reality of absurd borders and impossible ethno-sectarian configurations. It’s a reality that hails back to decisions made by the former colonial ruler of these lands many years ago.

In 1959 on the eve of Mali’s independence a group of Tuareg tribal chiefs wrote a letter to French President Charles de Gaulle:

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About the Author

Oskar Svadkovsky is a computer networking professional based in Tel Aviv, and the owner of the Happy Arab News Service blog. He graduated in Indian and Chinese Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (70) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Jack in Wi.| 5.24.12 @ 6:48AM

You left out the most spectacular colonial failure of that era, the establishment of Israel in the middle of the Arab world, where they have no right to be, and where they are oppressing, killing and stealing from the original inhabitants, the Palistinians, to this very day. Now Israel does exist with huge numbers of people under it's control that it basically treats as vermin to be expelled or exterminated. It could of had peace for decades, but refuses to get behind it's 67 borders, as demanded by international law.

Israel is an artificial, failed state that is only in existence because the USA protects it with hundreds of billions of hard earned American tax money and the blood and sweat of American troops in hundreds of bases around the Middle East. This situation can not go on forever. The USA is bankrupt. Its troops are sick of 2 decades of war for no sane reason. Either Israel learns how to live in the neighborhood it stole or it should go out of business.

A just peace is the answer. Jews have survived for 3000 years, by being mostly peaceful and useful neeighbors. I don't think that the walled, racist ghetto, being built is either a good idea or a workable solution.

The Big E| 5.24.12 @ 9:01AM

Oh yeah, just give the Arabs whatever they want and they'll like us and leave us alone, right? Accommodate them in every way possible, and all the war and strife in the Middle East and elsewhere will all just go away, right Jack?

The Tuareg rebels will no longer rebel, the South Sudanese and North Sudanese will kiss and make up, Assad will stop massacreing his own people, everything will be love and kisses in the Muslim world if we just get rid of Israel.

And hey, if a few million innocent people die in the process, so what? They're Jews right? So who cares?

Jack, you may share the Islamic vision that the lives of Jews are of no value, but here's a clue for you - that same Islamic vision holds that YOUR life is of no value either. The destruction of Israel would not end the violence in the Middle East, it would make it worse. It would embolden the Islamists as they would view the destruction of Israel as a Holy Vindication of their Jihad, as a promise from Allah that the world is now theirs for the taking, and would spark violence, not only in the Middle East, but around the world on a scale not seen since WWII.

You need to remember this - Israel, the Jews, they are NOT the enemy. Islam has been at war with civilization since the day of its founding, and it will be at war with civilization till the day of its destruction - or ours.

I find it sad that you prefer the latter.

Joe Callan| 5.24.12 @ 11:25AM

To start, if you read history the Jews were there first. Second, in terms of both human rights AND material gain, Israeli Muslims are far better off than their Palestinian counterparts. Third if you read the Old Testament in a historical context, modern Israel is located in almost the same location as ancient Judea was. To summarize, modern Israelis have as much right to their land as modern Palestinians do and have done a much better job of holding and developing their piece of the Middle East.

Jack in Wi.| 5.24.12 @ 1:51PM

All a pack of lies. Israel is an apartheid state. Israel treats it's Arab citizens worse then we used to treat our black citizens. In fact here are race riots right now where Jewish Israeli's are beating up black Africans. Go read the Israeli Press. It treats the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza, like vermin to be expelled or exterminated.

The Book of Leviticus tells Jews to love your neighbors as yourselves. It also tells Jews to treat the aliens among you as you do yourself. In the book of Exodus God tells the Jews to treat the aliens and strangers among you well for you were once aliens and strangers in the land of Egypt.

God gave the 10 Comandments first to the Jews. Who gave it to the rest of the world. You zionists seem to have forgoten a few of them.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not bare false witness.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors property.
Return to God. Return to the Commandments. Return to the Torah. Shalom.

Vern Crisler| 5.24.12 @ 3:19PM

After WW1, a lot of countries were "artificial."

TrueBlue | 5.24.12 @ 5:19PM

Since the West Bank and Gaza are not part of Israel but instead are home to aggressive factions, those are NOT race riots. That is the Israeli police and SDFs smacking down the idiots that keep launching rockets into their territory. They were kicked out by the Jordanians during WWII because they were TRYING to be nice and peaceful citizens of the various countries. Instead they got the same jealous rhetoric used on them that the Jews in Germany did. JORDAN is the one that stole land from the Palestinians.

The Road Warrior| 5.24.12 @ 5:47PM

Aw heck, let's give South Dakota back to the Sioux. Then eventually give New York back to the Mohawks.

We can play this game forever...

Jack in Wi.| 5.24.12 @ 8:53PM

I am not talking about giving it back. I am talking about giving half the population under Israeli control full civil, religious, and economic rights. It would also include massive amouts of reparations for all the murder, torture, and theft the Israeli's have infleicted in the last 64 years. No group was more outspoken for equal rights then the Jews of the USA and South Africa. It is time to practice what you used to preach. Equal rights for all in old Palistine. Integrate israael now. If it is good enough for Alabama it is good enough for Israel.

Skippy| 5.25.12 @ 4:29PM

" It treats the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza, like vermin to be expelled or exterminated."
That's because they are.

Jack in Wi.| 5.24.12 @ 8:47PM

I am talking about the beatings of African migrants in Tel Aviv, this very day. It has even been condemned by old Netanyahu himself. Go read the Israeli press. I am not talking about the racist abuse of Arabs both Muslims and Christians which has been going on ever since Israel's founding. That this digraceful entity has ever recieved one penny of American tax money makes me want to vomit. Even the Jewish journalist Bob Simon on 60 minuties had a recent program on how Christians are abused in Israel.

Paul Kotik| 5.24.12 @ 2:44PM

I wonder why it is that the Arabic language refers to the Jews as "al-Yahud", that is, people of Judea? I wonder why Mohammed, writing in the 7th Century, placed Jesus ( a Jew) in Judea some 700 years earlier? I wonder why Hebrew lettering on archeological relics throughout Israel antedate the earliest Arabic relics by over a thousand years?

There's only one possible explanation, and I wish Jack would step up and lay it out. Let me prod him a little: Area 51...time machine...George W. Bush...mass migration from pre-Columbian Brooklyn... it all makes sense when you realize the extent of the neoquantumcon conspiracy in 4 dimensions, along with those supra-blue gravitational fields.

Avner Herzog| 5.24.12 @ 4:15PM

Tistom et a-pe

Alan| 5.24.12 @ 7:07AM

Had to turn a story that had nothing to do with Isreal into another jew hating rant didn't you Asshole. what was the key word this time? Desert?

Jack in Wi.| 5.24.12 @ 7:19AM

It is all about colonial borders sonny. The writer above misses the biggest colonial blunder of them all. Perhaps because he is an Israeli. Anyhow all the borders in Africa and the Middle East were drawn by the colonial masters and have little rime or reason.

dark man| 5.24.12 @ 8:49AM

Jooooo's are looking for you Jack... be afraid, be VERY afraid

The Big E| 5.24.12 @ 9:07AM

Actually, drawing the borders in the Middle East the way they were drawn makes a lot of sense from the standpoint of the Europeans who did the drawing. For the previous thousand years, from time to time, they had had to fend off Muslim invaders. Everytime the Islamic worlds gains a sufficient level of organization, it takes its permanent state of warfare on the road. By drawing the borders the way they did, they insured the Muslims would be directing their fiercest Jihaddist tendencies onto themselves instead of directing them toward the civilized world.

Frankly, I think that was pretty smart - not 100 percent effective as it turned out - but pretty smart. The followers of Islam are going to engage in warfare on a perpetual besis. Better for them to engage in it against their brethren than against the rest of the world.

Alan| 5.24.12 @ 8:32AM

No Sonny, its about staying on topic, something its seems is beyond your capability. But then again Sonny, its all about you, not respect for the author or the topic isn't it Sonny. Pathetic fucking idiot.

TLP| 5.24.12 @ 9:41AM

As you can see in the picture at the top of the story, the clothes on the two people dancing, look good on them. My wife and I have the exact same outfits, and I swear, they just don't look the same, when I have them on.

How is it that the Continent where, SUPPOSEDLY, Man's Evolutionary Journey began, can't seem to get with the 19th Century, let alone the 20th, or the 21st?

How is it that One Continent suffers from an Evolutionary DEAD END.

I can almost understand how the Jungle Tribes along the Amazon, can justify their Mesolithic existence. They live in a place of Constant Climate, Lush Jungles, filled with Fruits and Nuts, and Game, for Meat, as well as a Bounty of Fish, from the River. Necessity is the Mother of, not just Invention, but of Evolution. And these people, pretty much, have everything they need, already.

AFRICA, on the other hand, has nothing that everybody needs, unless they need Flies, and Malaria carrying Mosquitos, with your No Clean Drinking Water, and No Food. You would think that, with this being the WORLD CAPITOL of Necessity, there would be Inventions all over the place. As mush Necessity as this Dump has, you would think they'd have Teleportation Devices, and Food Sequencers, to create solid food, out of the Basic Atoms and Molecules of whatever it is, they wish to eat.

Instead, it is the HELL ON EARTH Capitol of The Planet. The Original 1,000 Ways To Die show.

The National Pastime is Murder, Rape, and Genocide, when they're not busy Dying from Disease, Malnutrion, or Dissintary. (Super Diahria)

Africa is called the Cradle of Civilization.

How fitting, as well, that it clearly looks like it will be its Coffin, as well.

The End of the world, seems Destined to get its Start, where it all began, in the 1st place.

I can't decide if that's Shakespearian, Orwellian, a Greek Tradgedy, or the final episode of Greatest Reality Show in the Universe. (Like, when Daffy Duck blows himself up, to get applause vs. Bugs Bunny)

Whatever.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.24.12 @ 12:12PM

I like that color green on the woman. Did you notice that her turban is a little darker shade from her robe. Chartruse? Is that the name of that particular green?

I'm a highly educated man, but colors are not my forte. Not my forte. Look it up if you have to.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.24.12 @ 6:57PM

Once again, the cheap imitation of Albert Constantine Jr. reveals himself.

My advice is that you get your spell check function working a little better.

THKrupp| 5.24.12 @ 2:48PM

Theres a pretty good book called Guns Germs and Steel which offers a decent possible explanation.

Alan| 5.24.12 @ 8:34AM

Ahhh, the author could be a Jew, thats what gets you isn't it? Gotta give the Jew one of your anti-semitic Isreali lectures don't you? Couldn't pass that up. Gets your nuts off don't it?

TLP| 5.24.12 @ 9:07AM

Careful Alan. One "l" in Alan, is a dead giveaway.

He's on to you.

BOO!

Alan| 5.24.12 @ 10:29AM

Yeah, he would see that would he not?
Its pathetic how this troll has to wedge in his daily diatribes no matter how far off the subject it is. What it must be like to be that captive to an obsession where everything has to filter through it somehow.

USSAlabama| 5.24.12 @ 11:26AM

Please send a letter to the editor at editor@spectator.com

We have to insist that they block the IP addresses of these trolls.

No one minds dissenting opinion. But there is a duty to membership and a forums' first fealty is to keep trolls off its' comments section.

I am writing and including a list of the most obvious trolls, who are nothing but.

We all need to let the editors here at Spectator know not only how bad it looks to have those in the comment section, but also how other sites do a better job controlling it and why it matters.

I used to recommend articles on this site with pride and would highly recommend reading of the comments
We had many more contributors to the comments and people always remarked how sophisticated and intelligent they were.

I don't recommend articles anymore.

Please include a list of the most offensive trolls when you write. Include other sites where you enjoy the comments more if not the articles and authors. Say why.

Write to ... editor@spectator.com

Every contributor to comments should do this as a responsibility to each other. Today.

Alan| 5.24.12 @ 11:34AM

USS, I tried that once, but they don't care. Unfortunately I don't think they even have the ability to block adresses as this forum is ancient in design. I suggested to them to make it a members only forum where you have to register. Never got a reply on any of it. But I suppose if enough people make it an issue who knows they might finally listen. Also agree with reccomending anything on here to others, I don't do it anymore.
Best of luck to try.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.24.12 @ 11:42AM

In my humble (that's a silent h) opinion, the trolls add a dash of spice to the dialog. They allow me the opportunity to express my erudite knowledge on a whole host of subjects--from Smucker's Jam (have you tried it?) to Hoover Dam (ever been there).

Ben Stein's been there, he and his wife vacationed there in February and took along their dog.

Rage rage against the dying of the Right.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.24.12 @ 11:44AM

And remember, boys, right rhymes with Tight.
(you know what I mean)

Ernestine| 5.24.12 @ 12:19PM

I do not appreciate your vulgarity, Mr. Smarty Pants.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.24.12 @ 7:00PM

This is another double shot of the poor imitation. Keep working on your Albert Constantine Jr., junior, and you might measure up one day.

USSAlabama| 5.24.12 @ 11:52AM

Alan,

That's why we need to do it now - all of us.

They CAN block IP's although they have been
hesitant to do it, the time is NOW.

We must insist, and Albert - trolls do not add 'spice'.
That's what dissenting opinion is for.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.24.12 @ 12:17PM

I think I am an older, more esteemed member of the coterie of AS commentators, USSAlabama, and if I say trolls spice up the blog, I know what I'm talking about.

I read AS every day and check the comments about every half-hour. No one is more devoted to AS that I (or is that me).

No offense intended.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.24.12 @ 12:20PM

I meant than rather than that. I always proof my posts, but USSAL irked me so, and my blood pressure is up.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.24.12 @ 7:04PM

The fake posts keep rolling in. Keep working on it, you might master it yet.

USSAlabama:

The e-mail address is editor@spectator.org. It is not a .com address.

Jack in Wi.| 5.24.12 @ 1:36PM

The usual zionist gestapo trys to surpress the truth and honest dicussion. You will notice that all these people do is lie, name call, and try to surpress the truth. All you guys want is Zionist propaganda and sheep to herd around. It isn't working anymore. We are taking our country back inch by inch.

Alan| 5.24.12 @ 2:12PM

Of course YOUR the self-described judge of truth, appointed by yourself, proscribed by yourself, endorsed by yourself, self important and self rightous all at the same time. That right there is your problem troll this board isn't about YOU any more than its about me, difference is I know that and don't live here. Don't patronize yourself with the "we", there's just you and that other brain damaged robo posting twit. Two homeless Paulbots whose hero didn't save them from the Jews. Yeah your converts are legion here, two! Your, oh I'm sorry, WE are an army of two. LOL

Vern Crisler| 5.24.12 @ 3:29PM

I don't want to see censorship either.

John786| 5.24.12 @ 9:15AM

Sickening islamophobia worked into an article on the Tuareg uprising. Pray do tell us how the yazidis etc.. Have managed to survive Muslim rule for two 1.5 thousand years. The one eyed never see the mountains of holocoasts that is demonstrably their legacy decades upon decade stretching centuries if not millennia.

The Big E| 5.24.12 @ 9:38AM

By definition, a phobia is an irrational fear or . There's nothing irrational about fear of Islamic violence. Thus, there is no such thing as islamaphobia.

Unlike many people in this country, I listen to what the Jihaddis say and take them at their word. What they have planned for everyone who is not like them is death.

There's nothing phobic about it.

John786| 5.24.12 @ 10:51AM

You should be careful who you listen to. The 'jihadis' are a small insignificant fragment who in their quest to use violence to effect change are very modern and very irreligious. The Islamic world is emerging very slowly from centuries of ongoing colonisation. This process will take many decades and will not be linear. The US can help by militerialy removing itself from the ME. And stop supporting ethnic cleansing in historic Palestine. The US should use its vast strength to bring harmony and not fan the flames.

Alan| 5.24.12 @ 11:10AM

In other words, let the Muslims kill each other, they(the right kind of Muslims) love killing Muslims who aren't the correct kinds. They have been doing it for centuries and they are really good at it. Saladin killed far more Muslims than he ever killed Christians. They are doing it in Syria.

The Big E| 5.24.12 @ 11:43AM

"The 'jihadis' are a small insignificant fragment who in their quest to use violence to effect change are very modern and very irreligious."

You mean that "small insignificant fragment" who engaged in wars of conquest upon their neighbors from Persia, India to Anatolia to Eastern Europe, and west across Africa and into Spain and southern Italy? Wars of conquest which were waged on a continuous basis from approximately 633 a.d. till approximately 1800 a.d.?

That the "small insgnificant fragment" you're talking about?

Or are you talking about the "small insignicant fragment" who are murdering significant numbers of Christians from Nigeria to Ethiopia today?

Richard Ryan| 5.24.12 @ 12:36PM

Total BS. The so-called "radical Muslims" or "Islamists" are not an insignificant fraction (see attitudes from random surveys about 911).

The Hammer| 5.24.12 @ 12:51PM

"The Islamic world is emerging very slowly from centuries of ongoing colonisation."

One hundred years ago the Ottoman Empire was in place. The Sultanate of Egypt controlled another significant chunk. It involved itself in European wars on the losing side and that had its effects. It is amazing to behold the ignorance of Islamic apologists. They paint themselves as victims when they are the victimizers. Their history is one of murder and mayhem. That is what they do today but it a more restricted way than they like apparently. It is extremely unlucky to have them as neighbors.

John786| 5.24.12 @ 1:25PM

Western empires were of course built on a bed of roses: in a parallel universe, The ones who are colonised are the victimisers and the one who invade are victims: very Zionist of you. Black becomes white in the hymn sheet of neoconservativism.

Alan| 5.24.12 @ 2:22PM

That is the model of an incoherent answer. Bravo!

The Big E| 5.24.12 @ 3:01PM

So, what was it called when Muslims were - as I pointed out in my post above which lacked the guts to respond to - engaging in wars of conquest upon their neighbors from Persia, India to Anatolia to Eastern Europe, and west across Africa and into Spain and southern Italy? Wars of conquest which were waged on a continuous basis from approximately 633 a.d. till approximately 1800 a.d.?

Who was the colonized then? Who were the victimizers?

John786| 5.24.12 @ 3:24PM

How dare the Bedouins of 6th century Arabia have an empire. In the holy book of colonising it clearly states that those on the bottom wrung of the ladder shall not be empiring. Unfortunately the Bedu couldn't read: bad news for the Romans, persians.

Alan| 5.24.12 @ 3:32PM

I got news for you pal, historically the Bedu were never bad news for the Romans or the Persians and unlike the Romans and the Persians didn't leave anything behind other than camel shit.

The Big E| 5.24.12 @ 4:24PM

Look in the mirror, John, the eyes staring back at you are exactly like the eyes you claim to despise.

It is rather hypocritical for those who have spent their ENTIRE HISTORY attempting to conquer and subjugate all those around them to claim to be victimized by colonizers.

The Hammer| 5.24.12 @ 3:25PM

We have our history and you have yours. I like ours better. Basic human rights are universal. Now modern Islam is a place where women that have been raped can be tried, convicted and executed if they don't have the proper number of witnesses. I admit that our universities are going a little backwards with respect to free speech but I am optimistic that they will eventually turn themselves around. Tours my friend.

John786| 5.24.12 @ 4:25PM

Believe it or not all societies evolve: statis is not part of the human condition.. The Arab spring is another twist in the ME narrative. I'm an optimist and hope this it will lead to a better place: there of course will be winners and losers. Those who want compliant zombie states are probably on a downward spiral. But this needn't be a zero sum game.

The Hammer| 5.24.12 @ 4:47PM

I have seen enough of the Arab Spring to see where it is going. The mob burns a Coptic church while the police watch. Winners (Islamo-Fascists) and losers (the civilized) is what the Arab Spring offers. Tours my friend.

irish19| 5.25.12 @ 1:04AM

Agreed. I recently came across the term 'Islamonausea' (at American Thinker I believe). It is much more accurate. I'm sick of the muzzies and their death cult, sick of their demands for special treatment, and sick to death of their apologists.

JimH| 5.24.12 @ 9:15AM

How did VW think naming a car after these guys was a good idea?

Benjamin P. Glaser| 5.24.12 @ 9:20AM

Excellent article. Really enjoyed it. Thanks for the hard work!

James Jones| 5.24.12 @ 10:00AM

How's this for an innocuous comment, a mild suggestion. Would be nice somehow if articles like these came with maps. Gao I see on a Google map, though it hardly looks like it's in the "North." Tmbuktu -- and "modern Fezzan" -- can't find them.

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi| 5.24.12 @ 10:29AM

James Jones,

Fezzan is southwest Libya, where many of the Tuareg have long resided but have since the end of the civil war been subject to reprisal attacks because they have often been associated with support for Qadhdhafi.

shipley130| 5.24.12 @ 12:38PM

I think the Muslims need a very large dose of their own medicine.

Paul Kotik| 5.24.12 @ 3:03PM

I wonder how it happened that it was Europeans arriving from great distances in ships to the shores of Africa and America, rather than Africans and Indians arriving from great distances in their ships to the shores of Europe.

I suppose it was because the Africans and Indians were too busy co-exisitng in four-part harmony with sustainable fair trade carbon neutral vegan organic collaborationists. And some fish, too, occasionally. Doesn't leave much time for inventing explotative, ruthless, racist imperialist things like the wheel, stellar navigation, and so forth.

That would account for it.

irish19| 5.25.12 @ 1:08AM

I like the way you think, sir.

Vern Crisler| 5.24.12 @ 3:32PM

I wish writers would stop using the term "fundamentalist" to describe these people. They are Islamists, not fundamentalists. The latter term is used (sometimes pejoratively) to describe Christians who believe in fundamentals of the Christian faith.

It reminds me of those media liberals who used to describe the Stalinist opponents of Yeltsin as "conservatives."

POST American| 5.25.12 @ 2:21AM

---And the solution?

-----Standardization

--------Franchise slums

----------GM food sterilants

-------------Weaponized Gates 'vack--seens'

-----------------EUGENICS

-----------------------'Land clearance' massacres

---------------------------Pornographic, full spectrum
'SIR--veil--ANTS'

----------------------------DEMOCIDE

The DESTRUCTION of ALLLLL that was.

The ON RECORD ---FINAL Solution---
NOW underway here and ---worldwide.

"Understand, ALLLL of science is
nothing more than a technique of
the imagination enlisted to usher in
a desired mythological system."
-Informed Oxford researcher
(online)

UNDER----STAND

------ and SEE---- 'PSY---ANTS' for what it is.

UNDERSTAND-----------------AND STAND UP!

casquette ed hardy | 5.25.12 @ 4:01AM

good!

mbt chaussures | 5.25.12 @ 4:02AM

great!

sweeterjan| 5.25.12 @ 4:21AM

unrelated to each other, is lurking the same reality of absurd borders and impossible ethno-sectarian configurations. It's a reality that hails http://www.vendreshox.com/nike-shox-oz-c-6.html back to decisions made by the former colonial ruler of these lands many years ago.

John Baker| 5.28.12 @ 2:04PM

Thanks for a great story. This author enlightened us about the very much we do not know!

sarah in nc| 5.29.12 @ 11:16PM

that goes double for me
and you forgot to add, much we do not care about

sarah in nc| 5.29.12 @ 11:15PM

A Free Kurdistan Now!
take that Turks

and a Free Baluchistan Now!

and Cardinal Richelieu is smiling if we can exploit it to our own interests

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Soros Funds Anti-‘Torture’ Report

Mark Tooley|104 comments

Treasure State Treasury

Bill Croke|3 comments

My Generation’s Disease

Benjamin Brophy|60 comments

The View From the Other Side

George H. Wittman|16 comments

USPS: Radical Surgery Needed

Peter Hannaford|19 comments

The Spectacle Blog

Elijah Harper, R.I.P.

Aaron Goldstein | 5.18.13

If Only the Tsar Knew!

F.H. Buckley | 5.18.13

Low-Level IRS Staffer: No, We Didn’t Mastermind This Entire Thing

Matt Purple | 5.17.13

UPDATED: IRS Acting Chief Apologizes, But Defends His Actions

Kaylin Bugos | 5.17.13

Voter Fraud Affected Election Results in Missouri