Who is Joseph Kony?

[Byrnzie]

This one will probably have the effect of throwing a cat into the hen house...

[MookiesLaw]

By all accounts, it sounds like this campaign is ten years too late:

• The LRA is not in Uganda but now operates in the DRC, South Sudan and the Central African Republic

• In October last year, Obama authorised the deployment of 100 US army advisers to help the Ugandan military track down Kony, with no results disclosed to date.

• The LRA is much smaller than previously thought. It does not have have 30,000 or 60,000 child soldiers. The figure of 30,000 refers to the total number of children abducted by the LRA over nearly 30 years.

It also makes the point that there is currently no threat to remove the US advisers who are working with the Uganda government to track down the army – Invisible Children's key aim is to force the US government to keep them there.

All correct.

This should be a new requirement before sharing the Kony 2012 video. Click on Uganda, if you can




A far greater threat to the Ugandan people is Yoweri Museveni. How many people even know who he is?

[Byrnzie]

Click on Uganda, if you can

It's South West of Ethiopia and West of Tanzania. It's where the mountain gorillas live.

[MookiesLaw]

Click on Uganda, if you can

It's South West of Ethiopia and West of Tanzania. It's where the mountain gorillas live.

Nice That was not directed at you btw, it was a general question for everyone to think about while they have their activism hats on.

[Eliot Rosewater]

I'm so annoyed that my employer just put up a "Kony 2012" sign in the front window.

Yes, I believe Kony is a bad dude. And not in a good way. But I do question the motives of the film, certainly the timing. And while Invisible Children may have helped some, I do believe the portion of funds raised vs. the portion of funds used to do the groundwork of this "operation" could be better. And supporting the Ugandan Army and basically saying they are the "lesser of two evils" is shameful. But then again, I voted for Nader....because I refuse to accept the "lesser of two evils" theory. I will be writing myself in for the next presidential election. In all honesty, I believe I could do a much better job than anyone who will be on the ballot.

I'm mostly annoyed because I know for a fact no one (and it is a very small company) at my work knows a goddamn thing about Kony or Uganda, or even Africa aside from the Kony 2012 video made by that perv who got put in a hospital for jerking off in the streets a few days ago. And wtf was that all about? The story I read said he was hospitalized because he wasn't inebriated. So jerking off drunk in the street lands you in jail. But if you're sober they just take you to the hospital? Jesus.

Anyway, when I saw the Kony 2012 sign in my office window, it reminded me of this "pink slime" campaign that ABC has launched against Beef Products Inc. I'm actually working on a story for this right now as I work for a newspaper in a rural area and the cattle industry is quite large here. After speaking with MANY officials from the USDA on local, regional and national levels, the entire "pink slime" theory seems to be mostly nonsense.

It just goes to show you that while we live in a day and age where information and communication systems can be useful for many reasons, they can also spread false information at insane rates. This world is full of ignorant assholes (myself included sometimes) who can spread an idea....a thought disease....merely by the click of a mouse.

We need to be careful with what we "share" or "like" on these sites.

[Idris]

A coup d'état in Mali last week, (hmmm)

The Leader of the Coup ( 'Amadou Sanogo') say's (After the US demands that he and the other renegades release the ousted Leader and restore the Government)

“These people are safe and sound. We will not touch a hair on their heads. I will hand them over to the courts so that the Malian people know the truth,” Captain Amadou Sanogo said. (apparently partly because Amandou has issues with the way the army is being used and not 'properly supported'.


Canadian Government say's

"Canada utterly condemns this attack on democracy by a faction of Mali’s military," Baird said. "We call on those behind this coup to immediately withdraw so that constitutional order, peace and stability may be restored."

('AFRICOM', the Push for Africa, it's all heating up now)
-
and some Kony news..The African U/UN are sending 5.000 troops to go after him (Kony) and all his 300 child strong army. (That starts today)

[peacefrompaul]

A coup d'état in Mali last week, (hmmm)

The Leader of the Coup ( 'Amadou Sanogo') say's (After the US demands that he and the other renegades release the ousted Leader and restore the Government)

“These people are safe and sound. We will not touch a hair on their heads. I will hand them over to the courts so that the Malian people know the truth,” Captain Amadou Sanogo said. (apparently partly because Amandou has issues with the way the army is being used and not 'properly supported'.


Canadian Government say's

"Canada utterly condemns this attack on democracy by a faction of Mali’s military," Baird said. "We call on those behind this coup to immediately withdraw so that constitutional order, peace and stability may be restored."

('AFRICOM', the Push for Africa, it's all heating up now)
-
and some Kony news..The African U/UN are sending 5.000 troops to go after him (Kony) and all his 300 child strong army. (That starts today)

Yeah I've been following the Coup a little. I guess the soldiers were looting too... But the leader of the military has told them to stop.

[Idris]

Yeah I've been following the Coup a little. I guess the soldiers were looting too... But the leader of the military has told them to stop.

Yea

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/24/world/africa/mali-coup/index.html?section=cnn_latest

[peacefrompaul]

Yeah I've been following the Coup a little. I guess the soldiers were looting too... But the leader of the military has told them to stop.

Yea

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/24/world/africa/mali-coup/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Roger that

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/20 ... 17577.html

[Idris]

Leader of Mali military coup trained in U.S.

The leader of a military coup in the West African country of Mali received military training in the United States on “several” occasions, a U.S. defense official said.

Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo, who led a renegade military faction that on Thursday deposed Mali’s democratically elected president, visited the United States several times to receive professional military education, including basic officer training, said Patrick Barnes, a U.S. Africa Command official based in Washington.

Barnes said he could not immediately provide further details about the duration or nature of Sanogo’s participation in the International Military Education and Training program. The State Department funds that program, and foreign officers are generally selected by U.S. Embassy officials.

“If this situation is not resolved democratically, the remaining portion of that aid could very seriously be affected,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Friday.

“The actions of the mutineers run contrary to everything that is taught in U.S. military schools, where students are exposed to American concepts of the role of a military in a free society,” said Hilary F. Renner, a spokeswoman for the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs.

In appearances on African television since Thursday, Sanogo has stated that he received U.S. military and intelligence training but did not reveal details.

The coup leaders have pledged a return to democracy and said they deposed President Amadou Toumani Toure because of his incompetence in combating theTuareg insurgency, which has been fueled by the return of Malian fighters from Libya.

Reuters reported that soldiers looted gas stations and hijacked cars in the capital, Bamako, and the African Union said it had assurances that Toure was safe.

Rumors swirled of an imminent countercoup led by Toure loyalists and that Sanogo had been killed, a suggestion denied on state television.The coup comes a month before Mali — one of the few established democracies in the region — was to hold a presidential election.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/leader-of-mali-military-coup-trained-in-us/2012/03/23/gIQAS7Q6WS_story.html