POLITIX 08/07/14 By Michael Shank As President Barack Obama hosts the Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington D.C. this week, it’s important for the president to put on the front-burner policies that promote peace on the continent. Instead of prioritizing counter-terrorism, resource extractive or aid-only agendas – which is what has […]
REUTERS 08/06/14 By Michael Shank Africa is the new frontier for the U.S. Defense Department. The Pentagon has applied counterterrorism tactics throughout the Middle East and, to a lesser extent, Central and South Asia. Now it is monitoring the African continent for counterterrorism initiatives. It staged more than 546 military […]
POLITIX 07/01/14 By Michael Shank At next month’s Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington D.C., it’ll be important for President Barack Obama to refrain from prioritizing counter-terrorism, resource extractive or aid-only agendas – which is what has dominated White House policies in the past – and pursue, instead, a more just […]
CDN 01/13/14 By Michael Shank WASHINGTON, January 13, 2014 — As the U.S. Department of Defense announced last week that American soldiers are re-entering Somalia after 20-plus years avoiding the country, the need for new solutions to this crisis is critical. The answer to the rebel group al-Shabaab’s growth in […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 01/13/14 By Michael Shank That the Pentagon admitted, this month, to sending its military back into Somalia after a 20 year absence of explicit involvement (never mind the extensive covert operations in the country), should trouble anyone who cares about security on the Horn of […]
HUFFINGTON POST 01/11/14 By Michael Shank News that the Pentagon is sending its military back into Somalia, after 20 years, shows that America is still missing the point on the Horn of Africa when it comes to preventing violence. Has the Defense Department learned that little in its many misadventures […]
USA TODAY 9/23/13 By Michael Shank Focus on African security missing development needs. Last month, at the beginning of a trip to Somalia, my twitter feed started buzzing with breaking news about explosions in Mogadishu. A local rebel group, al-Shabab, claimed credit. Their tactic was fairly unsophisticated: break the Ramadan […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 08/20/13 By Michael Shank As Doctors Without Borders announced last week that they’re quitting Somalia after 20-plus years in the country due to an increase in violent attacks, the need for new solutions to this crisis is key. The answer to the rebel group al-Shabaab’s […]
WASHINGTON POST 08/19/13 By Michael Shank When pundits and politicos in Washington think of Somalia, the first thing they likely think of is al-Shabaab, the violent rebel group that sprung from the military wing of the Islamic Courts Union that once ran the country. That’s especially true in light of […]
THE DAILY BEAST 08/16/13 By Michael Shank Despite the news that Doctors Without Borders is quitting Somalia after 20-plus years in the country, due to an increase in violent attacks, the biggest war waged in Somalia right now is not between the rebel group al-Shabaab, the fledging government of Somalia, […]