U.S. Other Interventions and Non-Interventions in Africa

U.S. Other Interventions and Non-Interventions in Africa

In terms of economic intervention, Sierra Leone and Chad may offer positive examples of what the world community can do to affect policy in Africa. In 2000, the UN imposed a ban on the purchase of diamonds from Sierra Leone, sales of which had been used in large part to fund that nation’s civil war. Two years later, the 11-year war ended in a ceasefire.

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U.S. Security Policy and Interventions in Liberia and South Africa

U.S. Security Policy and Interventions in Liberia and South Africa

In deciding to intervene, whether by military, economic, or diplomatic means, prudent leaders tend to favor a conservation of resources. An example was America’s response to chaos in Liberia in 1990. The West African nation, founded by freed American slaves in 1847, has proven no more stable or successful than any of its neighbors that had been colonies. Nor has the American influence yet fostered a greater degree of respect for human rights: ironically, the freed slaves, known as Americo-Liberians, virtually enslaved the native Liberians, who lived under conditions of forced labor and extreme poverty.

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U.S. Security Policy and Interventions in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Angola

U.S. Security Policy and Interventions in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Angola

The United States was criticized, both at home and abroad, for not intervening in Rwanda, an extremely poor and landlocked nation with almost no strategic importance to Washington. It is possible that had America intervened, it would have been condemned for interfering in other nations’ internal affairs. Such was the case in Somalia just a few months earlier, when U.S. attempts to provide humanitarian assistance so inflamed resentment that even after the terrorist attacks of September, 2001, Muslim critics of U.S. policy would cite Somalia as an example of American imperialism.

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U.S. Security Policy and Interventions in Congo, Rwanda, and Africa’s “First World War”

U.S. Security Policy and Interventions in Congo, Rwanda, and Africa’s “First World War”

The Congo exemplified this problem. In 1960, Belgium granted its former colony independence, but this proved only the beginning of new troubles. Civil war ensued, and initially the United States, as a participant in a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping force, seemed to back Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. But as Lumumba drifted increasingly into the Soviet orbit, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) considered means of assassinating him, in the words of the local CIA station chief, “to avoid another Cuba.”

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Africa, Modern U.S. Security Policy and Interventions

Africa, Modern U.S. Security Policy and Interventions

United States policy in Africa since World War II has generally been non-interventionist, in the sense that U.S. troops have seldom actually engaged in military or quasi military activities on the African continent. Exceptions, however, do exist, most notable among them being a limited commitment (both of troops and of covert operatives) during the Congo civil war in the early 1960s, the bombing of Libya in 1986, and the humanitarian mission to Somalia in 1993.

More often, the United States has provided assistance to African movements, such as anticommunist guerrillas in Angola during the 1970s and 1980s. America has also used diplomatic and economic pressure, both against South African apartheid in the

1980s and criminal activities in Nigeria during the twenty first century

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ADFGX Cipher the most famous codes

ADFGX Cipher the most famous codes

The ADFGX cipher, sometimes referred to as the ADFGVX cipher, is one of the most famous codes in the entire history of cryptography. Introduced by the Germans in World War I, it is based on an ancient idea of associating letters with positions on a grid.

Variations on the code have made communication possible across the walls of prison cells, and further intricacies added through the technique of transposition have made the code unbreakable without the aid of a computer.

Greek historian Polybius (fl.c. 200 B.C.) introduced what became known as the Polybius square, a 5 x 5 grid that used the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet.

Each letter had a unique position identifiable by a coordinate system that numbered the rows and columns. For example, A was one column to the right of the point of origin, and one row down, so its coordinate would be 11. In the English alphabet, two letters are combined in a single square so that the 26 letters fit into the 25-square grid. Supposing I and J are combined, then K would be at position 25—two rows down, and five squares over.

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About Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) the most violent of the Islamic separatist groups

About Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) the most violent of the Islamic separatist groups

The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) is the most violent of the Islamic separatist groups operating in the southern Philippines.

Some ASG leaders have studied or worked in the Middle East and reportedly fought in Afghanistan during the Soviet war. The group split from the Moro National Liberation Front in the early 1990s under the leadership of Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, who was killed in a clash with Philippine police on 18 December, 1998. His younger brother, Khadaffy Janjalani, has replaced him as the nominal leader of the group, which is composed of several semi-autonomous factions.

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