Tag: africom

Somalia Needs a War on Poverty

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 01/13/14 By Michael Shank That the Pentagon admitted, this month, to sending its military back into Somalia after a 20 year absence of explicit involvement (never mind the extensive covert operations in the country), should trouble anyone who cares about security on the Horn of […]

To Stop Al-Shabab, Help Somali People

USA TODAY 9/23/13 By Michael Shank Focus on African security missing development needs. Last month, at the beginning of a trip to Somalia, my twitter feed started buzzing with breaking news about explosions in Mogadishu. A local rebel group, al-Shabab, claimed credit. Their tactic was fairly unsophisticated: break the Ramadan […]

Aid Gone Awry in Africa

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 06/19/13 By Michael Shank and Cassidy Regan As the U.S. government gears up to militarize more of the Middle East by arming rebels in Syria, we are witnessing a similar mission creep toward the African continent. Not merely in the more obvious military interventions into […]