2017-11-10  Dr. Harald Malmgren

Europe is in a period of fundamental transition.

French President Macron has put great energy into what sees as the next phase of European development, namely intensified integration of the EU member states into a common framework of governance.

He has even called for a common security effort backed by an EU military.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech on the European Union at the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University on September 26, 2017 in Paris. Credit: CNN

Macron’s proposals have had strong backing from the European Commission, which sees itself as the likely governing body in a more fully integrated European Union. The Commission is also busy devising a wide range of initiatives that it might take that would reduce or eliminate remaining rights of member governments to ignore or overrule EU Commission regulations and mandates.

What Macron seeks for the EU is not very different from what previous French governments have been seeking for many years, namely consolidation of budgets into a single EU budget, with debt sharing among members. It has long been Germany’s position that debt sharing remains illegal under existing EU treaties, as well as under the German Constitution.

To be cynical, Macron wants to distract French voters from focus on internal needs for economic and labor market reforms, and instead shift focus to consolidation of the EU or Eurozone financial structure. On the one hand, Macron seeks greater French budget flexibility than the Maastricht Treaty provides, and hopes that a new German coalition would be less resistant to some form of debt sharing among all EU governments.

The timing of these new ideas for EU unification is inconsistent with what is happening politically and economically at the EU national and local levels.

Brexit opened a huge crack in EU cohesion, but it is not the only crack to be found.

An array of lesser cracks is appearing both between and within the member states.

There has been little media attention to Belgium, which has long been engaged in the formulation of a divorce agreement, with settlement of assets and future obligations, between Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia. With separate budgets already operational, Belgium has one flag flying over two separate societies, keeping for now the illusion of one nation.

Historical differences played a role in the peaceful separation of the Czech Republic from Slovakia less than 25 years ago. Rifts are emerging in several places: Catalonia vs. the Spanish central government; regional governments in Italy seeking greater autonomy from Rome; Scots from the UK. Merkel’s open border policy for refugees has even generated strains between Bavaria and Berlin.

Merkel’s open borders policy resulted in hordes of refugees migrating from the Middle East to EU countries. Many of the refugees are resistant to any form of legal or social assimilation, insisting on their own forms of maintaining social order. They continue resistant to conformity to the laws of nations to which they have fled. The sanctity of Schengen rules within the EU has broken, resulting in a widening gap between some of the Eastern European members and the rest of the EU.

This refugee crisis has also intensified increasing political pressures for pushback on Brussels “overreach” in its seemingly relentless effort to enlarge its regulatory grip on member states and even local governments. The EU Commission in practice has become maker of European laws, by promulgating directives and then sending national appeals to those directives to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for review. In turn, the ECJ routinely upholds the EU directives and overrules national objections, effectively establishing laws without parliamentary consideration.

Spain’s Constitution was written to bring to an end the vestiges of Franco and his followers. The Constitution included powers for the central government to prevent any form of separation of regions of Spain from the central government. When the Catalonia referendum was called, PM Rajoy reacted with thuggish physical force to disrupt the referendum. When independence was declared, Rajoy acted not only to oust the Catalonia elected government, but ordered arrest of elected Catalonia legislators and officials under charges of sedition and treason.

Although acting within his Constitutional rights, Rajoy sought to suppress freedom of speech by charges of sedition and treason. His actions drew silence from the EU Commission and Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, even though Rajoy’s actions appeared to violate human rights provisions of the Lisbon Treaty of the EU.

Rajoy’s actions to coerce compliance by use of police and court powers to suppress independent political views now pose hard questions about the credibility of the Lisbon Treaty or any other EU treaty.

The big anti-EU and anti-Euro push by Le Pen and her FN party failed in France, but the extreme nationalism sentiments remain, like hot embers, ready to flare up again in France as Macron’s Presidency continues to lose popular support.

The 5 Star movement is still strong in Italy, and now even Berlusconi is seeking to return to politics and capitalize on growing anti-EU political sentiment in Italy together with regional unrest and pressures to restore greater autonomy to the local governments.

Macron and the EU Commission are effectively discussing the future of the EU without regard to security issues, except to talk positively about the idea of an EU army which is beyond the financial means of most EU member states.

A new “cluster” of European nations with a common security objective has quietly emerged recently in the form of focused military cooperation and coordination among the Nordic nations, Poland, the Baltic States, and the UK.

This cluster is operating in close cooperation with the US military.

The Danes, Norwegians, the Swedes and Finns are cooperating closely together on defense matters.

Remarks by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the official inauguration of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats in Finland

Enhanced cooperation is a response to fears of Russian incursions which are not new, but have roots in centuries of Russian interaction with Northern Europe.

It is also a response to the weak defense and security policies of most of the rest of Europe, notably the emasculation of any meaningful German military by the German government.

The Norwegians and Danes notably and reaching back to the UK are adopting the concepts of warfare pursued by the US military in its new focus on conflict in a fully integrated battle space operating in high intensity and at high speed.

At the heart of this integrated approach to building a credible deterrent to Russian “adventurism” and territorial incursions are the 5th generation F35 aircraft capable of coordinating and applying firepower from land, sea an air simultaneously.

Norway, Denmark and the UK are all acquiring the F-35 as part of the evolving collaborative approach.

The pilots in this assemblage of F35s are all trained in the same locations in the UK and the US, and are able to fly each other’s aircraft without adaptation.

It should be noted that Italy’s military wants to find a way to interact with the Northern Europeans as well as the UK and is acquiring F35s for itself to enable participation on short notice.

Will other political or security clusters appear elsewhere in Europe?

Fundamental divisions are emerging among Eurozone members regarding monetary and economic policies.

Countries like Austria, Slovenia, the Netherlands and the Baltic States are aligning with Germany and its Bundesbank, against the continuous pressure from Italy, France and Spain for greater flexibility in dealing with their crumbling banking structure.

Much of the mainstream media ignores the pervasive sickness of the Eurozone banking system, rarely giving brief recognition to problems of non-performing loans.

The reality is that hardly anyone knows the scope and depth of the bad loans of the Eurozone banks, because mark to market was long ago suspended.

There is no broad municipal bond market similar to that of the US. Most local governments in Europe operate within financing arrangements with banks.

One is reminded that the first European Banking Authority stress tests a few years ago declared Dexia, a Belgian-Luxembourg bank, as the safest of all major European banks. When the Great Financial Crisis took effect, Dexia was one of the first to fail. Most noteworthy, the Federal Reserve and Treasury became actively engaged in the rescue of Dexia, and Dexia became one of the largest beneficiaries of Treasury funding for troubled banks.

The reason was that Dexia had developed specialization in financing of local governments, and in doing so had even become an important supplier of funding for the US municipal bond market. Dexia had also become the principal funder for much of northern France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Most of the European banking system is exposed to risks that are not readily visible, support of local governments being but one. All of the Eurozone banks are dependent on “Eurodollar” funding, and from time to time short-term funding shortages of liquid dollar denominated assets erupt. The European Central Bank was only able to keep its banking system alive at the peak of the post-Lehman crisis with the support of Federal Reserve swap lines to overcome insufficient dollar liquidity.

The fragility of the Eurozone banking system has not been repaired since 2008. Instead, the ECB has used its QE to buy up sovereign debt and corporate debt in order to compress risk spreads and create the appearance of a functioning financial market. The ECB, operating as a kind of gigantic waste management facility has transferred trash from all over Europe to the ECB’s balance sheet.

The ECB can postpone unwinding that balance sheet a few more years, but eventually the pile of trash will have to be dealt with. In the meantime, financial markets operate as if the ECB had actually cured the Eurozone debt market sicknesses and revitalized Eurozone banks, when in reality the shifting ownership of trash from one owner to another, with Germany the ultimate backer, has simply created an illusion of stability.

As a result of the most recent elections, German politics looks to be turning towards greater nationalism and growing unhappiness with the EMS, the ECB, the European Commission ambitious overreach, and even the weakness of the European Council.

Apparent weakening of Merkel’s grip on German politics suggests that the occasional financial rescue summits under Merkel and Schäuble leadership are unlikely to recur in future Eurozone crises. Nearing the end of 2017 Italy looks likely to be the ground zero for a financial earthquake that is likely to shake all of the Eurozone.

The European Union has turned a corner and is now likely to experience disintegration, at first slowly, but when financial markets become stressed, rapidly.

Like bankruptcy, a process of decay developing slowly, and then all at once.

Editor’s Note: In a recent article by Lisbeth Kirk published in the EUObserver on November 10, 2017, the reworking of a European approach seen from the perspective of Northern Europe was analyzed reinforcing much of Dr. Malmgren’s analysis in this article.

In Greek mythology, the hero Odysseus was sailing home from the Trojan War through the Strait of Messina (which separates Italy from Sicily) when he was beset by two monsters – Scylla and Charybdis – one on either side.

Odysseus had to figure out which was the lesser of the two evils as he passed through the strait to reach home.

The old trope came up again when Nordic countries recently met in Helsinki for their annual session.

Odysseus’ story can be used to describe how smaller countries are preparing to navigate between Germany and France in future, when Britain is no longer a member of the EU, one MP noted.

French president Emmanuel Macron laid out his vision for an overhaul of the EU in September.

His EU would include a more integrated eurozone with its own budget managed by a finance minister who would be held responsible by a eurozone parliament.

The European Commission would be reduced to 15 members and half the members of the European Parliament would be elected through trans-national lists already in 2019.

Macron kindly waited for the Germans to hold their national elections before presenting his big plan and he is still waiting for Berlin’s answer, because Germany is locked in ongoing coalition talks.

“There is a wide agreement between France and Germany when it comes to the proposals, although we must work on the details,” was the only comment from chancellor Angela Merkel so far.

Meanwhile, other EU countries are considering what the new European set-up might look like and how they fit in, when the UK leaves the bloc at 23:00 GMT on Friday 29 March 2019.

“I think we are going to see even more and closer UK-Nordic co-operation as a result of Brexit and I think that is also what the UK understands because we are very like each other. I mean, sharing lots of common values,” Swedish conservative MP and Nordic Council presidium member, Hans Wallmark told EUobserver in Helsinki.

“What we are probably going to see also is this new power between Merkel and Macron and we need to sail in between those Scylla and Charybdis,” he said.

“The UK has been a very close ally to all our countries, especially Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. It has been a natural partner. We have balanced the UK against Germany and we have been in the middle. With the UK out of the EU, we suddenly risk looking like the ‘extremists’ on issues like being pro-market economy, pro-free trade – the kind of things that the UK has promoted”, he added.

“We need to build new alliances and for us it would be natural to do that between Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, but also the Netherlands and hopefully Germany,” Wallmark said.

New leadership

The Nordic council has existed since 1952. Its assembly of 87 national parliamentarians meets annually. This year it met in the Finnish parliament.

Bertel Haarder, a Danish MP and Nordic council member, told this website that Europe needed leadership and that Merkel and Macron could not do it by themselves.

“I think they would both love it if Nordic countries and Benelux countries took a leading role,” he said.

“Brexit has left us in a Union with 27 countries where the Nordics as well as the Benelux countries may feel a bit more alone,” he said.

“We have a very good friend in Germany and may also get a very good friend in Emanuel Macron’s France, but you never know,” he added.

“Southern European countries of course have their own agenda and the Central and Eastern European countries have rising nationalism and more of those countries are not so easy to co-operate with anymore. So it is time for the Nordics hopefully together with the Baltics and the Benelux to take a leading role”, the MP said.

The three Baltic prime ministers, by tradition, already meet Nordic leaders for a summit during the Nordic council session. A representative of the Benelux parliament was also present at the event.

The Benelux Parliament was established in 1955 and is composed of MPs from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Its seat rotates among the cities of Brussels, The Hague, and Luxembourg for two consecutive years at a time.

“We come together three times a year and more often in committee sessions to discuss our Benelux agenda,” said Andre Postema, a deputy who represents Labour in the Dutch senate and who is currently president of the Benelux parliament.

“There was always a balance of power between France and Germany, and Great Britain, which had a more transatlantic view. Now, that they are leaving, we will be missing a partner in that because that’s also the case for the Netherlands and for many Nordic countries – of course we are Europe-oriented, but we are also Atlantic oriented,” he said.

“With Brexit we lose a powerful partner … that’s a reason to join hands between the countries of the Nordic, the Baltic, and the Benelux,” he told the EUobserver in Helsinki.

“The German-French axis is quite determined now, quite powerful and it is not that their ideas are necessarily bad, but it is always good to have our voice also heard,” he said…..

Ireland’s prime minister met his Nordic and Baltic counterparts in the margins of the EU summit in Brussels in October.

The Nordic countries form together the world’s 11th largest economy and share many of the same values.

“The Nordic region is part of Europe. Nordic co-operation is also taking place in a European framework,” Norway’s conservative prime minister, Erna Solberg, said in a speech Helsinki.

“when Europe stands in a demanding recovery period, it is important to voice clear Nordic support for European cohesion and cooperation. We are seeing more and more people looking to the Nordic countries, as Britain withdraws from the EU,” she said.

“This provides opportunities. In climate and environment, we see that Nordic solutions become European solutions,” she added.

“We have something to give, when Europe is being tested,” she said…..

 

 

 

2017-11-11 At the recent NATO Defense Ministers meeting held on November 8, 2017 in Brussels, the Ministers decided to modernize the NATO command structure.

As a story published on November 8, 2017 by Radio Free Europe noted:

NATO defense ministers have endorsed a plan to establish two new military headquarters designed to improve the movement of troops across the Atlantic and within Europe, as the alliance looks to counter the growing threat from Russia.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made the announcement on November 8, the day before an expected decision to boost NATO’s mission in Afghanistan by some 3,000 troops.

Speaking after the ministers’ first day of meetings during the November 8-9 gathering in Brussels, Stoltenberg provided initial details on the two new commands, although he said military commanders would “flesh out the details” and present them to defense ministers in February 2018.

It is the first time the 29-member alliance is expanding its command structure since the end of the Cold War, when 22,000 personnel were working at 33 commands. Numbers have been slashed since to fewer than 7,000 people and seven commands.

In recent years, Russia’s military actions in Ukraine have increased concerns about Moscow’s intentions in NATO nations, particularly former Soviet republics or Warsaw Pact satellites of the Soviet Union.

Russia occupied and seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and backs separatists whose war against Kyiv’s forces has killed more than 10,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April of that year.

A series of potentially dangerous close encounters between Russian and NATO warplanes and navy ships in recent months has added to the tension, with the alliance accusing Moscow of aggressive maneuvers in the air and at sea.

Those actions have prompted NATO to step up its defenses in the east, deploying four multinational battle groups in the three Baltic states and Poland — totaling approximately 4,500 troops.

One of the planned new NATO command centers will be tasked with ensuring that “sea lines of communication” between North America and Europe “remain free and secure,” Stoltenberg said.

The other command will “improve the movement of military forces across Europe” and strengthen logistical functions across NATO.

https://www.rferl.org/a/nato-defense-ministers-afghanistan-command-structure-stoltenberg/28842517.html

In his speech to the Ministers, The Sec Gen of NATO had this to say about the change:

We took further decisions to continue NATO’s adaptation to the challenges we face.

A key component of our adaptation is a robust and agile command structure.  This underpins both our strengthened deterrence and defence posture and our ability to project stability beyond NATO’s borders.

At the Warsaw Summit last year, we decided to launch an assessment of the NATO command structure in light of the changed security environment. To ensure it can do the job across the full spectrum of Alliance missions. Today, we agreed on the outline design for an adapted NATO Command Structure, which will be the basis for further work.

Let me mention some key elements.

A Command for the Atlantic, to ensure that sea lines of communication between Europe and North America remain free and secure. This is vital for our transatlantic Alliance.

A new Command to improve the movement of military forces across Europe. And ways to strengthen the logistical function across the NATO Command Structure. Our military commanders will now flesh out the details. And the results of their work will be presented to Defence Ministers next February.            

The adaptation of the NATO Command Structure will further strengthen our ability to reinforce Allies quickly and effectively. But military mobility is not only about new commands. It’s also about the ability to move forces and equipment quickly, with the right transport means and the right infrastructure. Since 2014, we have made good progress in improving national legislation. Removing many bureaucratic hurdles to allow us to move forces across Allied territory. But much more needs to be done. We need to ensure that national legislation facilitating border crossing is fully implemented. We need enough transport capacity at our disposal, which largely comes from the private sector. And we need to improve infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, railways, runways and ports. So NATO is now updating the military requirements for civilian infrastructure. 

Of course, military mobility is not just about the military. It requires a whole-of-government approach. So it’s important that our defence ministers make our interior, finance and transport ministers aware of military requirements.  

It’s also important that NATO coordinates with the European Union and we are indeed working closely and actively together on this issue. For instance, we share information on standards, requirements, as well as challenges related to civilian infrastructure. So I envisage that military mobility could become a real flagship of NATO-EU cooperation.

Finally, we discussed ways to strengthen our cyber defences. We must be just as effective in the cyber domain as we are on land, at sea and in the air, with real-time understanding of the threats we face and the ability to respond however and whenever we choose. Today, ministers agreed on the creation of a new Cyber Operations Centre as part of the outline design for the adapted NATO Command Structure.

This will strengthen our cyber defences, and help integrate cyber into NATO planning and operations at all levels. We also agreed that we will be able to integrate Allies’ national cyber capabilities into NATO missions and operations.

While nations maintain full ownership of those capabilities.

Just as Allies own the tanks, the ships and aircraft in NATO missions.

 

 

2017-11-06 by Murielle Delaporte

The Niger Ambush puts the fight against Islamic terrorists into perspective.

During an ambush, in early October in Niger, American and Nigerian soldiers encountered terrorist fighters who caused the deaths of nine of the counter-terrorist forces.

It is also a reminder that fighting global terrorism requires working together in spite of our differences; divided indeed we shall fail.

But instead of a Ben Franklin, moment some news stories simply choose to support the efforts of the terrorists to divide us.

For example, on November 4th, Breitbart News (echoing) an article published by the Guardian that same day, claiming that the pilots of “French warplanes sent from neighboring Mali to engage the enemy (…) refused to attack due to poor weather, rough terrain and an ability to differentiate friend from foe.”[ref]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/04/special-forces-unit-ambushed-in-niger-desperately-called-for-help-sources-say ; http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/11/04/guardian-american-troops-fought-ambush-alone-allies-fled/[/ref]

That kind of statement is not only wrong in its formulation, it is certainly not helping at a time when the “fog of war” against Islamic Terror Groups is already dense or thick enough.

It is clear that a strong Coalition is needed to keep up the fighting in areas where terrorists are pouring in following the debacle of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

Preparing the armament for the Mirage 2000 for the Mali operation, January 9, 2013, at the airbase in N’Djamena, Chad. Credit: French Ministry of Defense.

A debacle by the way made possible because of the strength of an ad hoc coalition, which succeeded in spite of incredible political divergences to implement a successful military strategy leading to the genuine and symbolic falls of Mosul and more recently Raqqa.

Winning these battles against terror has been possible because of a joint and united approach (even if temporarily) in the region.

The war against terror unfortunately goes on, and, as a result of those victories, with even more vigor in other parts of the world and especially the Sahel area.

According to a recent United Nations report, the number of attacks in that part of the world has increased by more than 100% between June and September of this year, while in October both Niger and Mali, and their border where the ambush occurred, have been the theater of increasing recruiting and violence by Al Qaida-linked Jihadists)(part of  “Jamaat Nosrat al-Islam wal-Mouslimin.”)[ref] http://www.opex360.com/2017/10/04/selon-lonu-17-militaires-francais-ont-ete-blesses-au-mali-au-cours-des-trois-derniers-mois.[/ref]

What has been characterizing this region for centuries is complex marble cake of multiple infighting, battles and trafficking which are constantly going on.

The current enemy – or more to the point, the enemies – have no border, are polymorphic, are always on the move and constantly adapt.[ref]See for instance General Brethous interview in >>> http://www.sldmag.com/fr/archives/issue/23/operationnels-slds-33-34-printemps-2017[/ref]

This observation has led to the way both US and French military forces have been operating in a theater, which other characteristics are its size and roughness.

Following the death of U.S. Green Berets in Niger, the political debate in Washington shifted once again about the War Powers Act and the need for an “africanization” of the fight against terrorism.

But this is exactly what has been going on in the past years with efforts to train and equip African partner nations and conduct trans-border mixed patrols.

Indeed, it is interesting to note that the ambush just took place when the armed force of the G5 countries – i.e. the five African countries involved in the fight against terrorists in Sahel (Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad) under a 2014 French initiative and military support via Barkhane Operation[ref]See for instance >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barkhane[/ref]- had been preparing their very first joint military operation called Haw Bi[ref] http://www.opex360.com/2017/11/02/la-force-conjointe-du-g5-sahel-lance-sa-premiere-operation-anti-jihadiste/[/ref] and when Washington was taking a decision whether or not to fund the G5 initiative.

So much for that calculation, if true, since Haw Bi did take place at the end of October and the Trump administration just decided to add some 60 million dollars to match the European Union and French financial support.[ref]See for instance >> https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/deaths-of-four-us-soldiers-in-niger-hint-at-the-shadow-war-against-isis-in-africa/2017/11/03/abfd2d2f-be00-4d50-a4e8-b8b5f1151bf4_story.html?utm_term=.8c188c012357 ; http://www.opex360.com/2017/10/30/les-etats-unis-vont-financer-la-force-conjointe-du-g5-sahel-hauteur-de-60-millions-de-dollars/[/ref]

As for trying, through a false debate, to decouple the action of the two mains allies in a Coalition in which the Spanish and the German armed forces also participate, facts speak for themselves.

The truth is the truth.

Franco-American cooperation has been very successful over the past years, with the U.S. supporting the French forces in terms of ISR and logistics and the French maintaining a 3ooo to 4,000 men presence ever since 2014, while suffering casualties on a regular basis.

In the case of the October 4th ambush specifically and the question of French close air support, General Mattis himself rebuked any hint of criticism stressing that French jets were on site within thirty minutes of the call for help initiated from the ground.

And Colonel Patrick Steiger, spokesman for the Chief of Staff of the French armed forces, explained that the reason the Mirage 2000 only did a “show of force” and did not shoot was because of the imbrication of the fighters.

When you cannot distinguish between friends and foes, it is better to abstain from killing them all, isn’ it?

Military rules of engagement are the same for everybody on this one.

This reason alone is enough; but to go back to the Guardian’s asserted quote, poor weather could also be held responsible, since according to some published reported accounts of the ambush, one of the Green Berets’initial missions had been cancelled earlier on, precisely because of bad weather.

When the Mirage 2000 arrived although not on alert for that specific mission, the fight stopped and the enemy was dispersed limiting the number of casualties, while French Puma helicopters coming from Gao in nearby Mali evacuated injured soldiers.

A joint counter-offensive was organized right in the aftermath of the deadly attack.[ref]See for instance >> https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/deaths-of-four-us-soldiers-in-niger-hint-at-the-shadow-war-against-isis-in-africa/2017/11/03/abfd2d2f-be00-4d50-a4e8-b8b5f1151bf4_story.html?utm_term=.8c188c012357 ; http://www.opex360.com/2017/10/30/les-etats-unis-vont-financer-la-force-conjointe-du-g5-sahel-hauteur-de-60-millions-de-dollars/[/ref]

Using the death of American soldiers for various domestic political agendas the way it is currently done inside the Beltway is nothing new, but it is no less revolting as well as aiding the terrorists more than focusing on ways to prevail.

References

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/04/special-forces-unit-ambushed-in-niger-desperately-called-for-help-sources-say

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/04/politics/us-forces-hostile-fire-niger/index.html

http://www.opex360.com/2017/10/04/selon-lonu-17-militaires-francais-ont-ete-blesses-au-mali-au-cours-des-trois-derniers-mois/

http://www.opex360.com/2017/10/26/quinze-jihadistes-mis-hors-de-combat-par-les-militaires-francais-dans-le-nord-du-mali/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barkhane

http://www.france24.com/en/20171105-diverging-stories-account-niger-attack-killed-4-us-soldiers

https://www.wsj.com/article_email/u-s-forces-in-niger-were-denied-armed-drone-1509146561-lMyQjAxMTI3NTI3ODUyMzg0Wj/

http://www.france24.com/fr/20171005-mort-trois-soldats-americains-niger-revele-presence-sahel-forces-speciales-terrorisme

http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2017/10/05/des-soldats-nigeriens-et-americains-tues-dans-une-embuscade-au-niger_5196282_3212.html

http://www.opex360.com/2017/10/20/le-pentagone-ouvre-une-enquete-sur-lembuscade-qui-coute-la-vie-4-commandos-americains-au-niger/

http://time.com/4986918/us-military-niger-soldier-deaths-investigaton/

http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20171005-niger-tongo-tillabery-nord-mali-frontiere-embuscade-bsr-soldat-mort-americain-sahra3/4Surlem%C3%AAmesujet%EF%84%B7%EF%84%B8Floren

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/world/africa/special-forces-killed-niger.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/la-david-johnson-niger-ambush-may-have-been-captured-islamic-militants/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/deaths-of-four-us-soldiers-in-niger-hint-at-the-shadow-war-against-isis-in-africa/2017/11/03/abfd2d2f-be00-4d50-a4e8-b8b5f1151bf4_story.html?utm_term=.8c188c012357

http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2017/10/05/des-soldats-nigeriens-et-americains-tues-dans-une-embuscade-au-niger_5196282_3212.html

http://www.jeuneafrique.com/481109/politique/embuscade-meurtriere-au-niger-un-quatrieme-soldat-americain-retrouve-mort/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/29/death-us-soldiers-in-niger-restarts-debate-about-military-involvement-post-vietnam.html

http://www.opex360.com/2017/10/05/des-commandos-nigeriens-et-americains-sont-tombes-dans-une-embuscade-pres-du-mali/

http://www.rfi.fr/ameriques/20171024-embuscade-niger-trump-polemique-soldat-tue-myeshia-johnson

https://af.reuters.com/article/africaTech/idAFKBN1CA14U-OZATP

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-niger-usa/french-nigerien-forces-operating-where-three-u-s-soldiers-killed-idUSKBN1CA14K

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/hours-before-death-in-niger-us-soldiers-were-targeting-militants-in-mali/2017/11/05/57861ad2-c243-11e7-9922-4151f5ca6168_story.html?utm_term=.1d96ea7fa9fd

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/29/world/africa/niger-ambush-isis.html

http://www.opex360.com/2017/11/02/la-force-conjointe-du-g5-sahel-lance-sa-premiere-operation-anti-jihadiste/

http://www.france24.com/fr/20171005-mort-trois-soldats-americains-niger-revele-presence-sahel-forces-speciales-terrorisme

http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2017/10/05/des-soldats-nigeriens-et-americains-tues-dans-une-embuscade-au-niger_5196282_3212.html

http://www.opex360.com/2017/10/20/le-pentagone-ouvre-une-enquete-sur-lembuscade-qui-coute-la-vie-4-commandos-americains-au-niger/

http://sldmag.com/fr/archives/issue/23/operationnels-slds-33-34-printemps-2017

http://www.opex360.com/2017/10/17/le-secretaire-general-de-lonu-plaide-pour-un-soutien-accru-la-force-du-g5-sahel/

http://www.opex360.com/2017/10/30/les-etats-unis-vont-financer-la-force-conjointe-du-g5-sahel-hauteur-de-60-millions-de-dollars/

http://s.ouest-france.fr/labs/grand-format/operation-barkhane-desert-malien/

http://time.com/4986918/us-military-niger-soldier-deaths-investigaton/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-details-ambush-niger-soldiers-dead/

http://www.jeuneafrique.com/480547/politique/niger-des-soldats-nigeriens-et-americains-tues-dans-une-embuscade-a-la-frontiere-avec-le-mali/

http://www.bbc.com/afrique/region-41507683

https://qz.com/1110216/niger-ambush-after-us-and-nigerien-soldiers-were-killed-questions-linger-for-trump-administration/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-forces-in-niger-were-denied-armed-drone-1509146561

http://www.lepoint.fr/monde/niger-la-mort-de-trois-soldats-americains-revele-leur-presence-au-sahel-05-10-2017-2162355_24.php

http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20171005-niger-tongo-tillabery-nord-mali-frontiere-embuscade-bsr-soldat-mort-americain-sahra

http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2017/10/05/97001-20171005FILWWW00025-niger-huit-soldats-tues-dans-une-embuscade.php

http://nypost.com/2017/10/23/top-us-general-soldiers-in-niger-called-for-help-1-hour-after-ambush/

http://afrique.le360.ma/autres-pays/politique/2017/10/05/15558-secretement-presents-au-niger-des-soldats-americains-tues-dans-une-embuscade-155

Murielle Delaporte is the editor of the French journal OPERATIONNELS and has been embedded with French forces in Mali and other areas in Africa and the Middle East.