According to AJE – there are 34 hostages dead – and 15 kidnappers .
This is basically a fight for resources – and will be thro’ghut Africa – between US and China .
Hollande is just a US ‘stooge . Africa has sufferd at hands of Imperilaists for many centuries . At least the Chinese are clever about it – they build schools , roads , factories . The West goes in with guns blazing – — they never seem to learn .
as for France supporting Islamists in Syria and attacking them in Mali ———– makes perfect sense – . In Syria – they want to leave it like Iraq – - no threat to Isreal . In Mali – they are after Mlais gold – and other precious metals eg Uranium .
If the rescue attempt was botched – it reminds me of the 1979 attempt by Carter to rescue the Hostages in Teheran – . Only that time the hostages had the good luck that the mission failed – was a farce in fact – they broke down in desert – and ended up shooting at each other .

but this stroke of luck has absolutely nothing to do with god. it’s got more to do with the CIA arming rebels in Libya (because Gaddafi was standing up to world leaders and their bosses) that has lead to these nutters being armed to the teeth and quickly on the move through Africa. Jebus wept!!

Why did( Jebus )weep if God had nothing to do with it?

I agree Gearoid. These guys are either battle hardened from Libya(the Tuaregs) or are ex government military who were trained by US special forces.
The region is about to get a whole lot dicier.
What I am baffled about is why the French directly support foreign Islamists in Syria yet are battling foreign Islamists in Mali as they perceive a problem with the Islamists there.
The only word that comes to mind is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy on an unbelievable scale by the French.

Why thank god?
Surely it was a variation of god which compels these people to take hostages, did the western god overrule him?

You’re a tool Gearoid. Another conspiracy theorist. How can you possibly blame America here. Libya were being armed by China and Russia for a lot longer then the US ever did so get your facts right.

The guys responsible for this are Islamic Fundamentalists who detest everything western and want to force a barbaric sharia law similar to the Taliban.

Always find some Shinner/Irish Anti War Brigade deflecting the attention on the real culprits, these Islamic terrorists on to the Yanks or the Brits.

Mr Liberal.

You need to up your game. The LIFG(Libyan Islamic Fighting Group) is closely allied to AQIM(Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb). So what?

Well, the AQIM are causing the mayhem in Algeria and Northern Mali. France is fighting AQIM in Northern Mali. France intervened on behalf of LIFG during the NATO invasion of Libya. France provided weapons and training and put special forces and aircraft at their disposal.

You couldn’t make it up. In other words France is fighting the very people it assisted and trained in Libya.

France has no qualms about supporting foreign Islamic jihadists in Aleppo(Syria). France was not concerned when the Islamic fighters in Aleppo(whom France DIRECTLY supported) implemented Sharia law and banned women from driving as one of their first acts.

Blow hard Lowe, give us a break will you!

Never wished you a happy new year Declan.

So would you prefer France not to have acted in Libya?

Yes NATO acted on Libya and assisted the various Libyan rebel groups, but it was the Chinese/Russians who had been supplying them for a hell of long time before. When sanctions kicked it, and western corporations left those contracts were swiftly snapped up by the same delighted Russians and Chinese.

They are doing the same thing with Syria. How can you put the blame on the West. Can’t believe how many commie apologists I find on this site.

Geroid, you really have some serious hate against America and Americans. I remember on a different story, you were trying to argue that I’m not Irish even though I hold citizenship, have Irish parents, and lived in Ireland for a decade. Geroid, you sound as if you belong in Saudi Arabia with the rest of the extremists.

@ Mr Liberal, you may call me a tool but i’m not afraid to put my name to my comments!!

That’ll do the job Endas a tough guy.

being irish makes you special. thank god hes safe.

correct Nan
an Irish passport is one of the best to have, in these situations.
anyway – hope the report is true & that the Antrim man is safe.
the sutuation seems confused – hope the oyhers are ok too.

He’s

That’s a load of nonsense, these terrorists care not about passports, they did a fat lot of good for Margaret Hassan or Ken Bigley in Iraq.

These guys are Islamic fundamentalists and all westerner a are viewed as infidels to them. Hopefully these nutters will get their comeuppance.

out of “them”

Virtual Architect
Your buddy Gearóid, is not correct, and your assumption, is also incorrect. Your analysis while populist (post Gulf War 2) relies on a deeply cynical view of the west that is both a foolish and simplistic one which does not hold up under close scrutiny. It is just a lazy observation to attribute the causes of Islamic based terrorism to the policies of the US and the West. The simplistic view that you and many others profess is a black and white model of the world, problem is that this model does not work. In simple terms Islamic terrorism is in large part a reaction to the effects of globalisation, there are many other aspects in the different regions that feed into the problem and sustain it at different levels of intensity. Nearly all of these groups are home grown and one of the major contributing factors in the country’s that are hotbeds for terrorism is extreme poverty and oppressive governments. While it is true to say that world powers interact with these groups to help attain their own selfish ends against their opponents in the big game. However, you cannot say by any means that these groups would not exist only for the interaction of the outside powers.

Re SteoG, I disagree.
Say that to the million or more innocent civilians killed in Iraq as a direct result of the invasion of Iraq.
Say that to the mothers and fathers of the hundreds of thousands of babies killed by the sanctions placed on Iraq.
Say that to the ordinary Libyans who are living a daily nightmare as a result of the NATO bombing of that country back to the stone age. NATO blew up water facilities that supplied 70% of the population in Libya. Not to mention the warlords who now rule Libya and dictate at will.

B Lowe
You can disagree as much as you like my friend; try to be a little less emotive on the issues. You have not taken me to task on any of my points, so what exactly, do you disagree with? You are just making emotive bullet point statements in your post.
Your view of the world is very much skewed; you constantly accuse others of swallowing propaganda, that is so ironic, why? Well you just consume all the facts and figures from Press TV and RT and Globalresearch.org etc and spew them out in your posts, the result is a very one sided view. Are you incapable of understanding that these sources are also highly biased and cannot be held to account for any misinformation they supply; they have their own sinister agendas.
Are you just disagreeing with me for the sake of it? I am a natural sceptic and do not profess support for any particular political ideology. You need to see the world for what it is, not what you believe it to be, the world may be full of conspiracy, you are very much mistaken in believing that it is one big conspiracy theory, and that only you, are enlightened enough to see the big bad world for what it really is.

You hear people every week dying in Iraq this last year and the US military is NOT even in Iraq anymore…….

Skibereen syndrome

What a stupid thing to say!

Er, what?

You’re dead right Sean, how dare the journal report news stories which people have an interest in, they should be more like RTE.