Nigeria Clarifies What Really Happened With Trump’s Airstrikes | The Nigerian foreign ministry is fact-checking Donald Trump.
https://newrepublic.com/post/204748/nigeria-trump-us-airstrikes
Nigeria Clarifies What Really Happened With Trump’s Airstrikes | The Nigerian foreign ministry is fact-checking Donald Trump.
https://newrepublic.com/post/204748/nigeria-trump-us-airstrikes
39 comments
From the article:
>The Nigerian government took the time to debunk President Trump’s claims of Christian genocide in Nigeria after he announced the bombing of Africa’s most populous (and most oil-rich) nation.
>“The United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump [announced](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115782683955516402) on Truth Social Christmas night. “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.”
>The issue with right-wing claims of Christian genocide in Nigeria is that terror groups and militias are killing everyone, Christians and Muslims alike. The Nigerian government, which says it provided intelligence to the Trump administration before the strikes, clarified what they were really about.
>“Nigeria reiterates that all counter-terrorism efforts are guided by the primacy of protecting civilian lives, safeguarding national unity, and upholding the rights and dignity of all citizens, irrespective of faith or ethnicity,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a statement. “Terrorist violence in any form whether directed at Christians, Muslims, or other communities remains an affront to Nigeria’s values and to international peace and security.”
When the Nigerian government sounds more professional (and more mature than a 5 year old) than the U.S. government…
MAGA will never believe it.
So while these airstrikes were joint coordinated with Nigerian officials, local authorities pushed back against Trump’s claims that “Christian persecution” and the “slaughtering of Christians” were uniquely the problem and the rationale behind these bombings.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed that Christians in Nigeria are facing widespread oppression and disproportionate killings. They’ve used this argument to justify threats of military escalation, air strikes and sanctions.
But, as you might expect, the situation is more nuanced and complex.
The fact of the matter is, both Christians and Muslims are being killed. A larger portion of the victims of these armed groups are actually Muslim, and also because these attacks are being orchestrating in majority Muslim regions.
Data not only shows that Muslims are being explicitly targeted more than Christians, but also that these deaths pale in comparison to the total number of civilians who are being killed as a result of armed conflict and who have no religious affiliations. Meaning that there really isn’t evidence of the disproportionate targeting of Christians.
Do these terrorist groups attack Christians? Yes, but not only Christians.
Even when it comes to the sub-conflict between Fulani Herders and some Christian farming communities, the violence is predominantly rooted in non-religious factors and motivations.
This whole narrative of global Christian persecution and “genocide” is no doubt linked to this administration’s promotion of white nationalist/supremacist talking points.
The government is stacked with appointees and staff members who amplify extremist rhetoric, push racist conspiracy theories, and pander to white supremacist and Christian nationalist sympathies. This can’t go without mentioning Stephen Miller, who is one of the loudest mouthpieces for the Trump administration and has almost single-handedly helped center its messaging around white nationalist grievances.
These officials have also adopted harsh rhetoric that is openly hostile towards non-white groups; including minorities, immigrants, Muslims, and marginalized segments of society.
It’s not just the Trump administration either. These narratives are also heavily promoted by right wing “influencers” on social media, Christian nationalist/evangelical networks and Republican lawmakers.
It’s become a unifying cause and rallying point for conservatives; a persistent theme that Republicans often fall back on to provoke hostility, fear and outrage from the far right.
They come to believe that their very identity is under attack, which is then used to justify extremist, anti-immigrant attitudes and military interventionism.
So, when the Trump administration frames the violence in Nigeria as a direct attack against Christians, It can also conveniently ignore the fact that Muslim, and many non-christian civilians are frequently the victims and targets of armed terrorist groups in the region.
This is no coincidence. Because if Republicans can control the narrative in a way that distinguishes Christians as the only casualties of targeted violence in places like Nigeria, they can also justify their continued efforts to scapegoat and demonize minority groups, non-white immigrants, and/or vulnerable communities of people with disparate religious, ethic and cultural backgrounds.
It emboldens them, gives them the excuse they need to carry on touting their racist, xenophobic conspiracy theories and their hostile rhetoric aimed at Muslims, African immigrants and racially or religiously diverse groups of people. They then go on to identify these out-groups as existential threats to “whiteness,” Christianity, and even “western civilization” itself.
I trust the Nigerian narrative more than the White House’s.
Slightly off topic but there’s a hilarious, and I do mean hilarious, situation that is ongoing in America. The first wave of ‘persecuted’ white South Africans got off the plane in America, presumably glad to be alive. The next day they went to wherever you go to affirm your refugee status. The Department in charge of refugee status said ‘there’s nothing happening in South Africa that could have caused you to flee, you don’t qualify.’ (This is back when Trump believed any old shit that Musk told him. ) So now, there’s five hundredish white South Africans who are pretty much destitute in America. Having renounced citizenship of their own country they can’t go back. Having been denied refugee status they can’t claim government assistance and they’re not allowed to work. Tiny violin.
Getting fact checked by the Nigerian foreign ministry is just.. chefs 💋
Pretty telling that the strikes came 24 hours after a suicide bomber attacked a mosque. The Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Initiative prohably had a bead on the cell responsible but didn’t have the reach to hit them. Which is kind of the whole point of the initiative.
You want to know how to get more Christian attacks in Nigeria? Bomb a heap of Muslims, and tell them it’s because of the Christians. I’m sure that will go REALLY well for the Christians.
Trump is a moron.
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. But what’s the point of doing this when you banned Nigerians from even coming here. I guess what I’m saying is, if you don’t even care enough to allow Nigerians to come here, why do you care about what happens there.
“The issue with right-wing claims of Christian genocide in Nigeria is that terror groups and militias are killing everyone, Christians and Muslims alike. The Nigerian government, which says it provided intelligence to the Trump administration before the strikes, clarified what they were really about.
“Nigeria reiterates that all counter-terrorism efforts are guided by the primacy of protecting civilian lives, safeguarding national unity, and upholding the rights and dignity of all citizens, irrespective of faith or ethnicity,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a statement. “Terrorist violence in any form whether directed at Christians, Muslims, or other communities remains an affront to Nigeria’s values and to international peace and security.”
Nigeria has spent months attempting to clarify this point, as the right has spent months attempting to justify violent U.S. intervention to protect Christians—with Trump threatening to enter Nigeria “gun-a- blazing” just last month.”
– saved you a click.
In a nutshell Trump needs to build support for violence with a base that prefers isolationism. Easiest way to do that is say Christians are being targeted. It’s a half truth, many people are being targeted including Christians.
So basically the US has become a hired gun for other nations, the only criteria is saying something nice about Trump and allowing Hegsith to use huge bombs.
So the strike was good, but the lie about specific christian persecution is red meat for trump’s zombie base.
holy shit. Just holy shit. wtf
“Look at that face!” 😄
*The New Republic* is hardly an unbiased factchecker either.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Trump and white house is lying
Pedophile bombs other country to distract from being a pedophile.
Fixed your headline.
Trump claims to be protecting christians in Nigeria. Yet ask the MAGA crowd if they’d want African immigrants, Christian or not, to come to the US seeking asylum.
A simple search of the internet would have said all of this.
He’s after gas and oil. Trump has no interest in religion or other people.
You know the party line is bullshit just from this quote:
> “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.”
There are Christians getting killed in Palestine.
So anytime a Christian gets killed across the world, orange man will use the US military to go after them? What about all the Christians killing other religions?
I would trust my 8 yr old with a Nigerian prince over the lecher POTUS any day
He is still an idiot and will remain so that it is the pedo ruler of the USA.
Can wait for all the racist prince jokes even though white people were behind those emails.
We all know Trump don’t do anything unless there is some sort of personal gain/reward for himself. He probably got an email from a Nigerian prince and here we are…
“This is not a Christian genocide, because the facts don’t support it,” Good Governance Nigeria researcher Malik Samuel said in November. “If you look at the areas where this conflict is rife, even in the—even if you take Borno state alone, you look at northern Borno, many of these communities are Muslim-dominated. So most of the victims of Boko Haram violence are Muslims.”
Trump is running with this much like he ran with the absurd claims of white genocide in South Africa—and both Christian and Muslims in Nigeria will suffer the consequences.
Man, conservatives have successfully eroded Americas trust in their own government to the point we rather trust a foreign governments account of events over our own. GG America
Trump is so fucking stupid, it’s incredible. He didn’t need to lie, everyone hates ISIS and the strikes were done with approval from the Nigerian government. He could have been honest, taken a win and avoided another controversy but he just can’t help himself. It’s pathological.
“Mr. Trump, Y are u Gey?” The Nigerian President probably.
Foothold to capture Uranium from neighboring countries in the region.
Wait, wait, I’m sorry…the United States, a country FOUNDED on freedom of religion as a core principle,
Is now BOMBING other countries for their treatment of a particular religion????
I heard they’re eating the Christian dogs too.
Looks like there was collateral damage despite the fact that it was a joint coordinated attack with nigerian authorities
Looks like it was a strike designed to create headlines for Trump and make sure his fundie Christians are riled up and ready to fight for him.
Trump is trying to take a short cut to catch up to China in African continent influence.
Only looking for more oil…Robber Oil Barons want the Oil…
Comments are closed.