Where this was said
Has Anything Improved? Somalia's Compounding Crisis
At 26:55 · chapter starts 26:00
Keating offers a cautiously grim assessment. The good news: the Somali federal government is no longer in immediate danger of collapse — something that could not be said at multiple points over the past two decades. The bad news: everything else. Al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia still control vast territory outside the major cities. The World Food Programme has warned that the country is on the verge of famine. [1] — Josh Keating "World Food Programme warns Somalia near famine: The World Food Programme has warned that Somalia is on the verge of famine, worsened by US …" 24:29 That crisis has been deepened by the Trump administration's dismantling of USAID and by rising food and fuel prices caused by the US-Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Armed groups like al-Shabaab have historically weaponized food insecurity for both recruitment and as a literal weapon of war — meaning the humanitarian and security crises are inseparable.
At Quantico, Trump said US politicians had wrongly convinced themselves 'our job is to police the far reaches of Kenya and Somalia.' While he said it, the US was doing exactly that. The Somalia campaign is the forever war Trump promised to end.
