Wagner Group Defeated in Mali

The Russian Wagner Groups just took a beating in Mali and there are rumors that Ukraine may have been involved. It's complicated, hopefully this video helps to break it down.

[_c_y_p_]

The enemy of your enemy is not always your cozy little fuzzy buddy, especially when there is Russians Africans, gold, gems and uranium involved.

[minuit]

France did not abandon Mali and never intended to fight the Tuaregs as is implied in the video and in the comments. The French army intervened at the request of the Malian authorities at the time to prevent Bamako from falling into the hands of an Azawad/Islamist coalition allied by circumstance. On the ground, the French army negotiated the withdrawal of the independence fighters from the conflict and its withdrawal from the armed struggle to concentrate on the fight against the Islamists. Assimi Goïta and his Malian soldiers did not accept being kept out of the negotiations and accused France of being neo-colonialists who wanted to divide Mali. Goïta took power, demanded that the French leave and called on the Wagner militias to replace them to resume the war against the Tuaregs. This is a reversal of alliance.

[mxtt]

I appreciate you making the distinction between known terrorist groups and ethnic groups fighting for their own independence

[tonyhawk]

And people were always saying the French fight easy wars in africa, they make it look easy, big difference. I read a book about how Wagner came to be and many are veterans of the Russian VDV or Marines infantry and Special Forces, they are not all simple canon fodder as it is sometimes depicted.

[emjizone]

3:30 @PrestonStewart *No!* Don't try to insinuate that France viciously left Mali in a difficult under-defended position against its will and that only then did Mali, seeking aid, turn to Russia to fill a gap they didn't expected, because *the exact opposite is true* : The Malian *choice* of collaborating with Russia *precedes* the end of the French presence in Mali.

*_Wagner_** promoted itself to the Malians* as a supposedly “non-colonial” alternative to French forces *while French forces were still present in Mali*, with placards, chants, paid influencers, threats to opponents, etc., *teaching them to hate the French as colonizers*, and Malians accepted this teaching, made the choice to believe this pitch and protested against the French presence in *THEIR* country. *Only then* did France decide to let the Malians take responsibility for *their* political choice, move its forces out of Mali *as they asked* and let the Malian work with _Wagner_ (somewhat submit themselves to the Kremlin) *as they asked.*

Mali decided on this change *on its own.* It could just as easily have asked France, or anyone else, to eliminate _Wagner_ on its territory, considering this criminal organization a threat to its sovereignty, but it *decided* otherwise and *that's its right.*
*France did not betray Mali.*

It's extremely important to note that before all this, *Russia was the outside force supplying arms and aid to the rebels in the desert along with Algeria.*
So now, *Russia has sent **_Wagner_** to fight the threat it has itself created.*

[jthencl]

I've seen the graphic videos online, and my god. It's like the Ambush on US troop in Niger, but at a Battalion level. One Wagner mercenary tried to fight back but he was gunned down

[amarured]

OOOOKEY it's time I share my crazy "Tuareg encounter story" from my childhood.
(Is a core memory of mine. Gotta put my hand in the fire for the Tuaregs here!)

When I was 12 I went on an adventure trip through Morocco with my parents that kinda went sideways once:

We were on a trip through the mountains near the border to Algeria.

And pretty far down towards the Western Sahara.

(Sidenote: Morocco is a pretty safe and "liberal" country. At least compared to literally every country around it.)

And it is BEATUTIFUL!!

BUT:

The “authorities” in some of the rural we found ourselves on a long stretch of desert road towards the mountains.

There we encountered a "police" traffic stop in the middle of nowhere.

There was exactly one car in front of us.

The police stopped it and proceeded to immediately cut open their tires and extort their money.

When my stepfather saw they were (LUCKILY, FOR WHATEVER REASON) not really interested in us, we quickly drove away!!

After this somewhat disturbing experience, we looked for a different route back.

Had to go through the mountains.

So there we are. A little family. Alone in the mountain passes.

In contrast to most passes in morocco, those passes were quite wide streets.

And the view down the cliffs towards the desert was STUNNING!

U could see for miles!

And there was no car, no nothing up there!

Absolutely NO ONE on these streets.

NO car passed us for all this time.

If there would have been someone coming,

you could have seen them for miles!

So we parked. Got out. And went to take in the view.

YET SUDDENLY as we turned around:

A Tuareg literally SPAWNED IN!!!

He had a white and blue traditional gown with a dark blue turban covering his whole face.

Hands behind his back.

Looking at us.

NO Idea where tf he was coming from!

Open space for hundred of meters!

Still, he silently snuck up on us.

He didn't speak and didn't move.

He did not respond either.

Then, he made a rather elegant gesture to follow him.

And as he turned around, we saw he was holding a literal SWORD behind his back!

He walked slow and calm.

My stepfather followed him and kept a safe distance between him and us.

WE HAD to follow him, btw.

It was the only way back to the car.

As we got back to the car, we had a freaking "movie moment" I WILL NEVER FORGET!!!

Behind every freaking rock, suddenly there appeared a blue robed Tuareg with rifles that looked like old hunting rifles.

They were not threatening us. Or pointing at us. Just standing there eerily. Surrounding us. Everywhere.

We were REALLY

Our silent “Guide” could apparently tell!

He removed his face cover.

And revealed:

A really warm grin!

It was a weathered, older man.

I remember it very clearly because his genuine smile really deescalated the situation a little!!

He then proceeded to tell my stepfather something in Arabic about "the police" (as he could somewhat decipher).

And then OFFERED his fucking sword to my stepfather as protection!!!!

(WHICH HE UNFORTUNATELY RECLINED!! AND THE WHOLE THING ALSO PROBABLY WOULD HAVE GONE BY WAY FASTER IF HAD JUST TAKEN THE SWORD INSTEAD OF TRYING TO EXPLAIN TO HIM THAT HE DOES NOT WANT IT 😅)

The Tuareg then tried to explain to us the way out of the mountains and apparently said he "protect us from the police."

Rather shook from this experience,

we made a pretty fast exit out of the mountains!

So NOT ONLY did these armed Tuareg not harm us, or extort us for a quick and easy score in the middle of nowhere.

They seemed genuinely worried about us “stupid tourists” getting into trouble.

And tried to assist.

Not really your typical "extremism group" behavior if u ask me.

We later learned that these Tuareg we met have lived in this area for generations and were being prosecuted by the Moroccan and Algerian government.

And basically all they wanted was to be left the f*** alone and also maybe not get kicked out of the rural souks if they come there to sell their fabrics and clothes.

Would therefore never put them into the same boat as other extremists!

(Disclaimer: Experiences may vary. And times may have changed.)

[doomedoptimism]

It's insane to think that Ukraine could even possibly have this kind of reach. They have a population less than Canada, with a fraction of the GDP, and are fighting for their very existence against one of the worlds top super powers. I find them to be an enormous inspiration about what it means to be free and fight for something that truly matters. Meanwhile, I can't believe how much Russia has sacrificed already and lost in both men, material, and reputation, over nothing but ego and a fear that the West would (for some stupid reason) have decided to invade Russia, despite the fact they had almost nothing we wanted and were more than capable of destroying the planet on the way out. It's insane.

As for the specifics of each faction here, I would hazard a guess that there are really no good guys in that conflict. Anytime you have a conflict with multiple warring factions, you know that the suffering of the civilians is immense, as each time the balance of power swings, it leads to more death and reprisals on the civilians caught in the middle. If Ukraine is there, it's really just to find another way to stick a finger in Russia's eye, but sadly I don't think they will be helping the people of Mali in any meaningful way.

[phillywiki]

Wagner still not using Air support while moving in with infantry is crazy. They chased them all the way north into the Algerian Borders this is somewhere even the French after a decade in Mali never were able to reach yet Wagner still didn’t realize what they were facing. I pray they learned their lesson and move forward accordingly Mali has been suffering from these groups for too long

[davidgoulding]

Great work! Love the presentation of your videos my man!
Always appreciate the work you do!
Thanks and keep up the great work

[heberje]

On Monday, 48 hours after the battle, Andriy Yusov, spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence service (GUR), made a statement that did not go unnoticed. During a broadcast on a local TV channel, he suggested that his services were collaborating with the rebels operating in northern Mali

[emiliospowerballer]

3:40 Actually, France didn't leave a power vaccuum there, but rather the Malian government. Operation Barkhane was a massive success and all of the Northern Malian territory was swept from the French Forces which fought Islamic extremists. The French cobducted a mini blitz within a short span of time. What lead to the rise of militants was bad management and incompetence of the Malian government handling the area.

It was a succesaful operation from the French.

[TheASSedoTV]

Ukrainian here. When I heard you mentioning possible Ukrainian involvement I thought “come on, man, stop pulling in this subject here”. But then when I remembered that our GUR service recently blew up a russian base in Kuweires in Syria, I kind of changed my mind…

[chozer]

Its a devastating defeat for wagner and russia. Since russia took control after pringles died

[satrapish]

I was with the French army in Mali. It is strange they suffered so many casualties from the Tuaregs. The French in 10 years had les then 60 casualties. If you move with vehicules in a Y formation there is stil plenty of time to reorganize when the contact starts

[blackburnheart]

Ukranians teach the rebels how to use vodka as bait to lead Wagner to the killing zone.

[Comm.DavidPorter]

It's pronounced "Twah-reg, " not "Too-reg." I have only met a few Tuaregs, but they were impressive men; tall, handsome and intelligent.

The Sahara is not for sissies. It's amazing that this tribe has survived for millenia in that harsh environment. I would not want to have to go up against them.

[williammashtalier]

Very informative, thank you for getting this video out so fast! <3

[virabhadra]

Hey man. Your channel is great. So refreshing to hear a rational, take on world events.

Your camera's auto focus has trouble deciding what is more interesting—your face or the blue-lit shelving behind you. I'd suggest configuring a distance-based manual focus setting or softening/dimming the blue light(s), but those are just guesses because I'm actually an idiot irl. 🤡📚

[Arcain]

“The three is us are left. We continue to fight” goes unbelievably hard ngl