this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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US/Terminally online — I’m mostly interested insofar as they apparently have Burkina Faso’s support. Can’t say I knew much else about the area otherwise before this, unfortunately. The Wagner connection doesn’t sit well with me since I’m a major fruitcake and they probably don’t cotton to that kind of thing, but if the mercs are necessary the mercs are necessary.
I do not speak to other people about these things irl for fear of hearing dumb opinions and I do not watch or read the news from major sources.
Ever since the dismemberment of Libya, jihadist groups, including ISIS have moved in in the whole area. Wagner was invited there after 15 years of US "help" not actually helping but making the problem worse.
Surprise surprise, the Wagnerites were actually effective at kicking several jihadist groups out of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. Compare Niger to the neighbouring Nigeria, who still rely solely on Western help and is about to collapse.
Yeah, in that light their involvement definitely seems worthwhile.
It's really more the personal "They would probably beat my ass in the insanely remote chance we crossed paths" factor. Then again, there's a lot of people who would do that.