“Obama, Oil and AFRICOM” from Daniel Volman in Pambazuka.

No real editorial comment here–lots of key budget numbers relating to AFRICOM, and Defense and State Department military training/assistance/ etc., for African states. Important stuff.

The existence of and significant budgetary “space” for AFRICOM is a fact of life. At the same time, it seems to me that much remains entirely “To Be Determined” as far as how it actually works and interacts with other institutions over the next few years with opportunities for it to be steered various different ways, or to simply proceed on bureaucratic momentum which might well be the worst case scenario in the long run.