Is Mali France's Gaza? America's Afghanistan?

I wrote yesterday about a concerning situation in Mali, whereupon it seems that Al Qaeda/fundamentalist Islam is taking advantage of a local insurrection to install a base of operations there. France, Mali's former Colonial Overlord, began a military campaign to stop this.

It is not going so well for France. Not well at all. al-Qaeda carved out their own statelet in Mali and is digging in, literally.

"On Friday, France deployed 550 troops and launched air strikes against the Islamists in northern Mali, starting battle in what is currently the biggest territory in the world held by al-Qaida and its allies."

Yet,

"Deep inside caves, in remote desert bases, in the escarpments and cliff faces of northern Mali, Islamic extremist fighters have been burrowing into the earth, erecting a formidable set of defenses to protect what has essentially become al-Qaida's new country. They have used the bulldozers, earth movers and Caterpillar machines left behind by fleeing construction crews to dig what residents and local officials describe as an elaborate network of tunnels, trenches, shafts and ramparts. In just one case, inside a cave large enough to drive trucks into, they have stored up to 100 drums of gasoline, guaranteeing their fuel supply in the face of a foreign intervention, according to experts."

France is home to 4million Muslims, who are not too happy about France's military incursion. Neither is al-Qaeda. They vowed to retaliate. Mali Islamists threaten to retaliate 'at the heart of France'

Meanwhile the largest Jewish newspaper in America is stating the obvious:

Mali is France’s Gaza

"France is now going to war in Mali because it says “we cannot have a terrorist state at the door of Europe,” but when Israel launches a defensive operation to protect its citizens from missile attacks from terrorists in Gaza, all the French newspapers and television commentators scream about Israeli aggression. The distance between Bamako and Paris: 6266km. The distance between Gaza and Israel: 1km."

Israel is dealing with an election coming up on January 22, to elect a Parliament. Israeli liberals on both sides of the pond are shocked that a conservative young Israeli leading his party seems to be surging in the polls to become, if pollsters are right, the second or third largest party in the Knesset. Joel Rosenberg analyzed the situation, saying that The New Yorker argues that this is because--

"...the Israeli electorate is moving sharply to the right because they are exhausted by the conflict with the Arabs; disillusioned with the peace process; increasingly convinced the Palestinians will never make peace; anxious about the instability and anti-Israeli hostility in surrounding nations like Syria, Egypt and Jordan; worried about the Iranian nuclear threat; and convinced that the Israeli left has no fresh ideas and no dynamic leaders"

...and while the New Yorker is liberal and biased, that analysis does make sense.

France had said that the incursion into Mali to root out al-Qaeda would be a short one. Like, Afghanistan short?

While Europe falls apart and America becomes irrelevant, Islam advances. The fundamentalist Muslims have taken more ground. Nation rises against nation and kingdom against kingdom. The ungodly rise up and the Godly are smashed down. That is all as it is prophesied to be. Sin must run its course.

What we can pray for is peace to come to these areas. That leaders be elected who are Godly. That Christians in the line of fire in these nations in civil war be protected by the Holy God of Israel. Or whatever comes to your mind to pray for. Be stalwart and do not fear. This is not our home, but we can share the Good News of Jesus with as many as we can so as many as possible can go home with us when we are called up in the rapture.