Other than the sand squabble, things looking up for Djibouti

FEATURE: "Location Gives Tiny State Prime Access to Big Riches," by Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times, 30 May 2008, p. A6.

Fascinating story.

Hundreds of millions in FDI flow suddenly.

Hmm. Maybe because the U.S. military now makes Djibouti, through its Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa presence at Camp Lemonier, an "outpost of relative stability in the Horn of Africa"?

Gold miners from India, geothermal experts from Iceland, Turkish hotel managers, Saudi oil engineers, French bankers and U.S. military contractors, so notes the NYT, are suddenly popping up all over this tiny country.

Big news is Dubai World investing to take the port from 300,000 containers per year to 3 million.

The military-market nexus? You bet.

And no rounds fired in anger by CJTF-HOA in five years.

Perpetual war, my ass.

Comments

[Hugh]

Perpetual security. 100 years in Iraq not out of the question.

[Jarrod Myrick]

Kurdistan's the model, Dubai's the dream.

[Michael]

I wonder what Eritrea's doing on its other borders while it's making faces at Djibouti?

[Fred]

Not a round fired? That can't be right, if a CJTF-HOA Spooky supported the Ethiopians against the Somalian Islamic Courts a few years ago.Hell, that's just a nitpick. I agree with the point of the post, anyway- HOA is a success.

[Anonymous]

Fred: Tom doesn't count the special forces who co-locate with CJTF-HOA as part of the same command. sounds like they operate pretty separately from his article, The Americans Have Landed.