So Why is France in Mali?

Great question. 

For anyone who doesn't know where Mali is, it's on the cusp of North Africa, but stuck predominately in the Sahara. About a week ago, the president of Mali sent an urgent appeal to France which prompted the military intervention. Of course, this would also be smart for France to do seeing as Mali is quite closer to Western Europe than the typical "hot spots" associated with al-Qaida. In fact, different extremist groups such as the al-Qaida of the Maghreb and MUJWA have gained such influence in Mali that they have started imposing Shariah law.  Due to France's domestic religious tolerance (or lack of), the author believes that France is predominately in the region due to national security interests and its "mother" role in the Francophone. The fact that President Hollande (for those who don't know is a considered a heavy socialist) is in Mali is quite a big deal. 

Looking out at NATO, "France has not asked NATO for assistance, but two British C17 cargo planes are providing support.  Troops from neighboring states of Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Togo, are now expected within days" (1). France has already bombed most of these terrorist groups which are now fleeing to the Northern part of Mali (which is in the Sahara Desert). This is good for Mali's government in the South, but now posses plenty of problems in terms of logistical support and resources needed in this unconventional terrain. According to TIME magazine, the 2,000 ground French troops were pretty much chilling in the South besides a few helping with the air raids. So, it's quite uncertain what France's next move is. 

How does this relate to NATO?
Well, France is the ONLY country really to address this problem and because a lot of members are in NATO and could see this as a threat. We can perhaps take into consideration a possible appeal of France for NATO resources to help in the efforts. 

TIME Magazine sums the situation quite well:

France deserves the world’s thanks for stepping in when and where no one else, the U.S. included, would. A collapsed Mali into the hands of Taliban-style hoodlums would have established a sinkhole of terrorism accessible from almost any corner of north, west and central Africa. American doubts that the crisis in Mali had direct national-security implications were profoundly shortsighted: as the Algerian hostage situation and the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi showed, Mali’s crisis already extends far past its borders. If no one had stopped the Islamists from taking all of Mali, the resulting calamity for the wider region would have been exponentially grimmer. The moral bravado of the French mission, however, will be of limited assistance on the battlefield as the conflict grinds on. As the French eye Mali’s north, there’s still a lot of sand to sift through. (2)


However, there was an article from somewhat of a shady source "EU Observer" (3) that quotes a senior French military officer who believes that France would be better to act alone: "We have more freedom of action if we do it alone than if we go through NATO procedures. It would be even worse at EU level. If we do it alone, it's more efficient in military terms" (3). Please note though, this Colonel does not represent the entire views of France.

The real question is:
To what extent does the success of the campaign in Mali by France influence the national security and military intervention of member countries of NATO?



1. http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/14/16506741-why-france-is-taking-on-mali-extremists?lite
2. http://world.time.com/2013/01/22/dispatch-from-malis-frontlines-france-wins-first-round-of-the-war-but-now-what/#ixzz2J3Lf9pam
3. http://euobserver.com/defence/118858

Albania, NATO, MAMA RUSSIA

In this sub-post I want to talk about the Political Affairs Committee and extremley briefly  gloss over  the  first three points of the Agenda at the Model NATO Conference. Just so you know, the CIA WORLD FACTBOOK is spectacular: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/al.html

Albania's largest trading partners are Italy (45%), China (8%), Turkey (6%), Greece (5%), Spain (5%), India (5%) 

I. NATO Enlargement

First off, (I know Wiki isn't credited) BUT this is a great way to get some good resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_NATO

I highly doubt we could expand NATO to China who is our trading partner. However, India might be a nice idea for the future. We trade quite a bit with India and they would be a great hotspot due to geographic location. They have military capabilities as well. We invited them in 2011. Read the above link for more information. 

Montenegro is supposed to join in 2014 if all is going according to plan. Maybe focus on Macedonia (Seeing as we kind of are all Balkan brothers and would support them).

II. NATO-EU Relations

Well, we aren't in the EU. We applied in 2003 and are still waiting. We did join NATO in 2009. We could play  up the EU relations in hopes of getting good cards to join in the future, OR we could stand up with our post-Soviet bloc and speak about discrimination. We did sign the Stabilisation and Association Process in hopes of reforming our country in order to be move forward in the process. According to the BBC the earliest we could possibly join would be 2015. (4) 

III. NATO-RUSSIA partnership

See, this is awkward. Really awkward since the 2008 Kosovo independence (this dates back to the Kosovo war of the 1990s). For those of you who do not know, Kosovo is a state located close to Albania with a large Albania-associated ethnic population that declared its independence from Serbia (former Yugoslavia territory). Russia supported Serbia. In the past, Kosovo Albanians were attacked during an ethnic cleansing campaign and in short suffered quite a bit that put our relationship with Russia into question.

Nonetheless, NATO was involved in this mission, something to think about: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_48818.htm

Yet, in terms of nowadays, we are involved with Russia in the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

However, I would doubt we really want Russia really involved with NATO just due to our feelings over Kosovo and the bad taste we may get from the EU members in the future. 

 4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1004984.stm

Other links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Kosovo_declaration_of_independence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_War