At Pentagon, ‘pivot to Asia’ becomes ‘shift to Africa’

[unhappycamper]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/at-pentagon-pivot-to-asia-becomes-shift-to-africa/2013/02/14/649988e0-76d4-11e2-9357-7a107e548ef5_story.html

At Pentagon, ‘pivot to Asia’ becomes ‘shift to Africa’
By Craig Whitlock, Published: February 14

In his first term, President Obama instructed the Pentagon to pivot its forces and reorient its strategy toward fast-growing Asia. Instead, the U.S. military finds itself drawn into a string of messy wars in another, much poorer part of the world: Africa.

Over the past two years, the Pentagon has become embroiled in conflicts in Libya, Somalia, Mali and central Africa. Meantime, the Air Force is setting up a fourth African drone base, while Navy warships are increasing their missions along the coastlines of East and West Africa.

In scope and expense, the U.S. military involvement in Africa still barely registers when compared with its presence in Asia, let alone the Middle East or Afghanistan. On any given day, there are only about 5,000 U.S. troops scattered across all of Africa, while 28,000 are stationed in South Korea alone.

But it is becoming more common for the Pentagon to deploy troops to parts of Africa that many Americans would be hard-pressed to locate on a map, such as Djibouti, the Central African Republic and now the West African country of Niger, where the U.S. military is planning a base for Predator drones.

[pscot]

1. Makes ya proud to be a Merkin