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By no means unknown…
Former president Touré, who came to power in a coup in 1991, enjoyed US military and economic support for many years. According to figures released by the US government, Washington backed Mali with $138 million in 2011 and planned to increase its support to $170 million in 2012. A joint military manoeuvre between US forces and the Mali army took place in January.
The new ruler is by no means unknown to the US government. Sanogo took part in language training courses in Texas from August 2004 until February 2005. In 2007, he was schooled by the US Secret Service and trained as an infantry officer in Georgia for five months.
It is quite possible that Sanogo’s coup was arranged in cooperation with the US government. However, imperialist forces will not be happy with the result because Mali’s north is still in the hands of the insurgents. A future UN intervention supported by the US cannot be excluded, because for Washington, Mali is particularly important from the standpoint of containing Chinese influence in Africa.
Just as the international intervention in Libya was aimed in part at denying China access to North African oil, a military intervention in Mali in cooperation with the US would target Chinese influence in the country.
This influence has grown in recent years. Chinese direct investments in Mali increased 300-fold from 1995 to 2008. Mali ranks with Zambia, South Africa and Egypt among African countries where China has made its largest investments.
In addition to the United States, France also has an intense interest in its former colony, and is just waiting to “rescue” the country’s cultural heritage with a military intervention backed by the UN Security Council. ….
Map and text via http://mediarevolution-amat.blogspot.com/2012/08/western-powers-preparing-intervention.html
