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France expected to more than triple Mali troop numbers
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Bluebonnet
Site Admin
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2009 8:59 am Posts: 6532 Location: Friendswood, TX
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France expected to more than triple Mali troop numbers
France is expected to more than triple its troop numbers in Mali as raids continue on Islamist insurgents following overnight air strikes on a small town that had been seized by the rebels. Sources close to the French defence minister, quoted by Agence France-Presse, said French troop numbers would "progressively" reach 2,500. President François Hollande, speaking from a French military base in Abu Dhabi at the start of a day-long visit to the United Arab Emirates, said: "We will continue the deployment of forces on the ground and in the air. We have 750 troops deployed at the moment and that will keep increasing, so that as quickly as possible we can hand over to the Africans." He said French forces in Mali had carried out further strikes overnight, "which hit their targets". A convoy of 40 to 50 armed trucks carrying French troops crossed into Mali on Tuesday from Ivory Coast, where they were stationed. West African defence chiefs are meeting in Bamako to approve plans to speed up the deployment of 3,300 regional troops, foreseen in a UN-backed intervention plan to be led by Africans. The beginning of the African troop deployment is expected to take at least a week. The troops from the Ecowas grouping of west African states are expected to bolster the Malian army, which is in total disarray following a coup last year and the fall of the desert north to Islamist groups, who operate a drug trafficking and kidnap economy in northern Mali and other Sahelian countries. France has carried out air strikes since Friday in a vast desert area seized last year by an Islamist alliance, which combines al-Qaida's north-African wing, AQIM, with Mali's home-grown Movement for Oneness and Jihad in west Africa (Mojwa) and Ansar Dine rebel groups. The UN refugee agency said the military clashes in northern Mali were adding to the already large numbers of people who had fled its recent conflicts. snip Read more here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/15/french-troops-triple-maliHmmmm - worth watching? Is France getting themselves into an Afghanistan/Iraq fiasco?
_________________ The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. - FDR
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Tue Jan 15, 2013 8:51 am |
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Sky
Moderator
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:55 am Posts: 3770 Location: 30 clicks N of 3030
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Re: France expected to more than triple Mali troop numbers
Nope - the scramble for Africa has begun! Its is the re-colonization of Africa >>>> Whatch America's effort closely from now on. This is the race to the moon all over imo - just this time it's with China rather than the Ruskies.
_________________ We all have the choice to exercise Free Will. amor vincit omnia "Ignis Natura Renovatur Integram"
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Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:47 pm |
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Bluebonnet
Site Admin
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2009 8:59 am Posts: 6532 Location: Friendswood, TX
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Re: France expected to more than triple Mali troop numbers
Sadly, Sky, I think you are absolutely dead on. It is, indeed, the race for Africa - her minerals, water, oil, gas, whatever. Sigh!
_________________ The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. - FDR
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Wed Jan 16, 2013 7:13 am |
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Leorising
GT Truther
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:11 am Posts: 119 Location: Middle Georgia
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Re: France expected to more than triple Mali troop numbers
Mali is the 3rd largest gold producer in the world... here's the rest of the list.... Natural resources: gold, phosphates, kaolin, salt, limestone, uranium, gypsum, granite, hydropower note: bauxite, iron ore, manganese, tin, and copper deposits are known but not exploited http://www.indexmundi.com/mali/natural_resources.htmlleo
_________________ The fate of all mankind I fear is in the hands of fools. - King Crimson
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Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:02 pm |
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Bluebonnet
Site Admin
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2009 8:59 am Posts: 6532 Location: Friendswood, TX
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Re: France expected to more than triple Mali troop numbers
Thanks, Leo. Kaolin, huh? Technology draws bead on hydraulic fracturing Posted: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 2:15 pm | Updated: 2:45 pm, Tue Jan 15, 2013 Quote: J.R. Ewing never mentioned ceramic proppant on "Dallas." Nor is it part of the plot in "Promised Land." But that's Hollywood. Drilling in the vast shale fields of Texas, North Dakota and elsewhere in the United States may not look much different from the drilling many people remember from earlier booms, but the technology used to break apart shale rocks - and hold the cracks open, allowing fossil fuels to flow into the well - has created a new wave of entrepreneurs. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing allow companies to pull oil and natural gas from dense rock formations by blasting chemicals, sand or ceramic beads, along with millions of gallons of water, deep underground to break up rock and release the hydrocarbons trapped inside.
Most drillers still use sand, especially in shallow or low-pressure wells. But a growing number of companies have formed to produce tiny ceramic beads, known as ceramic proppant, for use in the wells, based on research showing the beads can penetrate farther into the rock and hold up better under pressure, increasing the productivity of wells.
Count Gary Davis, a real estate developer and investor from Austin, as among the new evangelists for ceramic proppant.
Davis and a group of investors bought 400 acres in West Central Texas and set out to prove that the beads, traditionally made from specialized types of clay found in only a few parts of the world, could instead be made from clay found almost anywhere.
Another company, Oxane Materials, is hoping the advantages of its product, developed in a lab at Rice University using nanotechnology, will outweigh its higher cost.
The competition is tough, especially as drillers try to control costs; even market-leader Carbo Ceramics reported a slight drop in sales during the third quarter of 2012, although CEO Gary Kolstad said sales were up for the year.
He quotes studies showing that ceramic proppant can increase initial production and ultimate recovery rates by more than 20 percent.
snip Read more here: http://www.mywesttexas.com/business/top_picks/article_3eba1ca0-b770-5fb5-8767-308cb70c40ba.htmlIt always comes back to the oil industry, doesn't it? I also found out that the State of Georgia in the US is the world's largest producer of kaolin. Also, I found out that there were 15 companies involved in kaolin production in the 1990's. There are now only 6 companies due to consolidations and buy outs. Some things never change!
_________________ The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. - FDR
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Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:16 am |
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