Nigerians skeptical of deal with Boko Haram to release abducted schoolgirls
Barrage of airstrikes stops ISIS advance on Kobani, Syria
Investors cheer as Wall Street gains 263 points on Friday
Nigerians skeptical of deal with Boko Haram to release abducted schoolgirls
Nigerians carrying ‘Bring back our girls’ banner (Reuters)
Nigeria’s government announced on Friday that they have reached a trucewith the Boko Haram terrorist group, which has been terrorizing theentire northeast, as well as major cities up and down the country, foryears. It is now the six month anniversary of the abduction of 219schoolgirls on April 16.
In announcing the truce, Nigeria’s Chief of Defense Staff, Air MarshalAlex Badeh gave almost no details and took no questions. Anothergovernment official said that the deal would free the 219 abductedschoolgirls. He said that more talks would take place to work outexactly how the girls would be released.
However, multiple analysts in Nigeria are casting doubt on thecredibility of the deal. For one thing, there is been no announcementfrom anyone in Boko Haram. Some analysts have even claimed that theBoko Haram militant who brokered the deal was an imposter, with noconnection to the Boko Haram leadership.
According to one Nigerian columnist:
I guess Nigerians are tired and, as such, any newsthat offers respite on this protracted war between Nigeria &such good news becomes Nigeria’s enemy. But the leadership of #BHare said to be miffed that a nation of the profile and magnitudeof Nigeria, with high level of intelligent people, is being easilyencased in deceit and nobody seems to be asking tough questions.
What is most worrying here is, government at the highest level andthe intelligence formations in #Nigeria has embraced this ‘goodnews.’ This shows lack of understanding of the reality that thisis an ideology that can only be neutralized after long hard workthat is yet to start.
It also appears that government is more interested in shadows andbubbles, than in substance and clear headed engagement with theThe News (Nigeria) and BBC and AFP
Barrage of airstrikes stops ISIS advance on Kobani, Syria
An onslaught of dozens of airstrikes by U.S. warplanes in the last fewdays has halted the advance of the Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL) on the Syrian town of Kobani, and permitted theKurdish defenders of Kobani to drive back ISIS in some, but notall, of Kobani. According to Kurdish officials, the Kurdish defenderswere giving the coordinates of the ISIS militants to the U.S. toidentify bombing targets.
As of last week, it seemed that ISIS was on the verge of overrunningthe Kurds defending Kobani, which is on the border with Turkey, whileTurkey’s armed forces simply watched the slaughter from tanks in thehills overlooking Kobani. Turkey has been under heavy internationalcriticism for doing nothing to stop the slaughter, but has demandedthat the U.S. agree to attack targets assets of the Bashar al-Assadregime before Turkey will commit troops to Kobani.
Analysts, including U.S. administration analysts, are not claimingthat this is the end of the battle of Kobani. ISIS has been sendingin reinforcements, and they seem determined to overrun Kobani in orderto humiliate the U.S. administration and its airstrike strategy.Reuters and World Bulletin (Turkey)
Investors cheer as Wall Street gains 263 points on Friday
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 263.17 points on Friday,continuing a pattern of wild ups and downs during the last couple ofweeks. Some analysts were euphoric, while others were just relieved.As I explained two days ago, thesewild swing signal a very dangerous time when a crash might beapproaching. This would be the case of the amplitude of the swingscontinues to increase in the next few days, though not necessarily ifthe swings settle down. Generational Dynamics predicts that we’reheaded for a global financial panic and selloff. Forbes
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