U.S. President Barack Obama was to be sworn into office for a second term on Sunday. His first term began with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which he inherited. This time he is set to begin his term with a new war in Mali, courtesy of France. If it were up to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, he would have forgone all of them. Obama doesn't like wars. But apparently wars like Obama. The French media, which has been extremely patriotic since the start of the fighting in Africa, hasn't spared Obama any of its criticism, despite the fact that the same media described him as a "star" when he visited Paris on the eve of the 2008 elections. "It is time for Obama to decide," wrote Michel Colomes in an op-ed for Le Point. "The only positive thing about the tragic conclusion of the hostage situation in In Amenas in Algeria is that it will finally dissolve Obama's over-caution," he wrote. The French can't understand why America, which made the war on terror its main objective, hasn't yet offered to step in and lend a hand. Officials in Paris remember that when the U.S. offers help, it is a bit more substantial than handing over data collected by a satellite. On Saturday, the Los Angeles Times exposed a disagreement between the Pentagon and the White House on whether the U.S. should intervene. Presumably, after Chuck Hagel's appointment to the post of defense secretary is approved, the White House and Pentagon will see eye to eye. The American method Let's bring the British movie "Land and Freedom" back to American and Algerian movie theaters, if not for the plot then at least for the name. The fighting in Mali and the hostage situation in Algeria have now proved just how naïve countries can be. The U.S. has a tendency to see things in black and white. Sometimes this can be a good thing. Several years ago, Washington decided to help in Mali, in its own way. The U.S. transferred weapons and ammunition to the army there and hosted African military officers for training workshops on American bases. Some of those officers took the American guns and defected to the Islamist camp in 2012. Every child on the African continent knows that to protect democracy in Africa, the army has to be weak. Mali, just like the Ivory Coast back in the day, was seen as the exemplary government of the continent. President Amadou Toumani Tour managed to turn Mali into a sort of democracy. Last March, he was unseated by Captain Amadou Sanogo. Sanogo brought Mali to complete collapse. Incidentally, Sanogo carried out his putsch after completing a training program in the U.S. The Algerian method Algeria also doesn't come out smelling like roses from this Mali situation, and not only because of the way it chose to free the hostages in In Amenas, without taking prisoners. Algeria is an expert at double games: While the Algerian government was coordinating military action in Mali with Paris, the local media, which is considered close to the regime, was criticizing French neo-colonialism. The gas field hostage situation has now pulled Algeria into the Mali fighting, against its will. Algeria, may I remind you, is the origin of Islamic terror in all the Maghreb and the Sahel states. As a country whose defense budget is bigger than that of all the Sahel states put together, Algeria has a certain responsibility. But Algeria has found a creative way of combating terror: The terrorists were swept southward, mostly to neighboring countries. Hundreds of Islamist terror attacks were recorded in the area between 2001 and 2012 938 in Algeria, 35 in Niger and 41 in Mali. Algeria deals with terror with full force and without compromise; the lives of hostages aren't necessarily taken into consideration (like the seven French monks who were killed in March 1996 in Tibhirine during a rescue operation). But this time the entire world was watching closely. Algeria had found a creative way to resolve the problem of Islamic terror, by cultivating a group belonging to the Touareg tribe called Ansar Dine, which seeks independence even though their ideology is based on Shariah law. Ansar Dine turned its back on Algeria and later joined forces with AQIM, the Al-Qaida chapter in the Islamic Maghreb (established in Algeria in 2006) and launched a war to capture all of Mali. The Algerian version of "Land and Freedom." Francois Hollande in the role of George W. Bush George W. Bush was whacked from all directions. He was the U.S. president who launched the unjust war in Iraq (because of oil), and who forgot to come home from Afghanistan. France also took part in the trend of Bush-bashing back then. And here we are, today, with France fighting in Mali to eradicate Islamic terror, and God forbid not because of the oil and gas fields in Algeria, or the uranium in neighboring Niger. Mali corner of Afghanistan French President Francois Hollande won the last election in France. He promised to bring the boys home from Afghanistan. The Socialist president never mentioned Mali. From his perch in the Elysee Palace, Hollande sees reality a little differently today: France is isolated. The European Union is only united when accepting a Nobel Prize. Hollande can take comfort in his country's media: The editor-in-chief of the weekly L'Express, Christophe Barbier, has voiced complete support of the Algerian rescue effort and said that it was necessary to act "fast and strong" against the terrorists. The rightist Le Figaro welcomed the French operation in Mali, and 75% of the French public also supports it. Incidentally, Hollande has welcomed Algerians' actions. But between us, Hollande didn't invent the "realpolitik," Bush didn't invent war and Obama didn't invent peace.
