SECURITY
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France , ECOWAS : The Blind Leading the Deaf in Mali ’ s Troubled Transition
Lionel Manzi
There is one part that is said loudly and which has led to the current confrontation between Mali and France .
Gone are the days when the west celebrated the wave of coups that were propelled by mass protests – dubbed “ the Arab Spring ” – on the streets of Tunis , Cairo and
Khartoum . Then , the protests were targeting what many in the west considered “ authoritarian regimes ,” and , in the case of Sudan , a “ pariah government ”. Naturally , the framework of analysis from western capitals was as reductionist as one could find : “ People want democracy ” ( read a liberal order ), we were told . The tone in the western mainstream media , where dip-
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