DBWI: Military under Col. Obama launches coup in Kenya

Just another African coup...

NAIROBI (AFP) Soldiers of the Kenyan Armed Forces have staged a coup d'etat in Nairobi, overthrowing the democratically elected government of President Mwai Kibaki. The coup's leaders, a junta of top military officials led by the charismatic Col. Barrack Hussein Obama, have stated that their purpose is "to save the nation from economic and political collapse" and that their long-term goal is the "eventual restoration of peace and democracy in Kenya".

The administration of the deposed President Kibaki has been marked by political chaos and economic instability and Col. Obama has been widely seen by the Kenyan population as the only hope for the country. Prime Minister Odinga of the former government, now an exile, arriving in Johanesburg Airport, has declared that "despite this facade of democracy, Col. Obama is a noted "radical Islamosocialist" and he will turn Kenya into an Islamosocialist dictatorship".

The African Union has condemned the putsch and has called for Col. Obama and the military to step down and return authority to the previous government. There has also been talk of suspending Kenya's membership if the situation does not change or changes for the worse. The United States and the European Union have also expressed condemnation of the coup. Col. Obama is expected to make a speech within the next few days announcing his plans for the future of Kenya.
 
OOC: A bit ASB, aren't we?

-Case in point: You have the son of an agnostic ex-Muslim father and an atheist mother who was raised atheist (and converted to Christianity later), whose father was a government official, and who likely wouldn't be a prominent figure with the butterflies unless as a member of the government like his father becoming the real life version of the strawman the Neocon's make him up as.
 
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OOC: This seems like another one of those "alternate history" WIs that are really nothing but fronts for a personal political bias. Just my 0.02.
 
OOC: This seems like another one of those "alternate history" WIs that are really nothing but fronts for a personal political bias. Just my 0.02.

OOC: Possibly true, but seeing as how I have the same political biases, I think I'd rather play along. :D Actually it's not totally ASB. Obama's parents lived in several different countries, all you have to do is have Obama born in one of those other countries (and no, I'm not one of those crazies who thinks that he actually was). From there butterflies take over.

IC: Yup, just another African coup. It seems like every week there is some random African country getting overthrown. Although this particular junta seems like it could have staying power. This Colonel Obama character is charismatic, and seems to have built an interesting power base during his meteoric rise through the Kenyan military ranks. Anybody know much about his background? I heard his mother was American, is there any truth to that? I wonder how that bit of information will play in the international community. Honestly, all I know is what I've heard on TV over the past few hours.
 
OOC: My take on it is that people have a set of personality traits (brains, charisma, ambition maybe in Obamas case). Those will help him stand out no matter what.

IC: I'm worried about his supporters calling him messia.
 
OOC: My take on it is that people have a set of personality traits (brains, charisma, ambition maybe in Obamas case). Those will help him stand out no matter what.

OOC: Firstly, personality traits come from environment and raising, which in this world would be very different. Secondly, even if that was the same, then Obama would be republican (little r not big r), maybe atheist, and following in his papa's political foot steps by going into politics and maybe seeking to become president. Not leading a God dang coup as a Republican wet dream.
 
I think he just doesn't have the political experience to rule a nation (granted, I've never heard of him before, so I just glanced at his Wikipedia article :)). I mean, he seems like the type of person to just use charisma and empty words to gain power, but then end up failing.

I expect him to be gone within a year without plentiful bribes to other military leaders.
 
OOC: My take on it is that people have a set of personality traits (brains, charisma, ambition maybe in Obamas case). Those will help him stand out no matter what.

OOC: Totally agreed, especially if it makes a good story. And I suspect this DBWI has more to do iwth that than with political biases.

IC: If Obama has such broad popular support, why could he at least compete in _one_ election? The fact that he is not trying to use the vote first makes him highly suspect, IMO.

From what I've seen, this "Islamo-" label, however, is pure smear politics, with no basis whatsoever. I've heard other critics say "He's not really a Muslim." He seems quite secularist to me, maybe using religion to attract people to his cause, but little more.
 
From what I've seen, this "Islamo-" label, however, is pure smear politics, with no basis whatsoever. I've heard other critics say "He's not really a Muslim." He seems quite secularist to me, maybe using religion to attract people to his cause, but little more.

Yeah, I kind of get that idea too. It's hard to gain power in that part of the world without at least paying lip service to Islam. As long as he has to do that he might as well go full on and use it to his advantage. He doesn't seem to be as crazy as some of the real jihadists.
 
:( Yeesh. Kenya used to be up there, then the election fiasco, now this. President Mwai Kibaki has apparently fled to Ethiopia.

Charisma... what good does that do a nation?


Here's a pic of the guy... might have shaved the mustache though.

EDIT: Didn't see the reference to Kibaki.
 
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IC: If Obama has such broad popular support, why could he at least compete in _one_ election? The fact that he is not trying to use the vote first makes him highly suspect, IMO.

IC: What, do you think an unknown colonel, one promoted not more than two years ago, one without any significant military victory or ties to the dominant political families in Kenya, would have a chance to win the election? It would be like, I don't know, someone two years into the U.S. Senate campaigning for president. His candidacy would never be taken seriously. And surely, someone in the Kenyan media would have looked into his background and ties to other nations.

Anyway, Col. Obama is clearly the pleasant face covering someone else's power play. Maybe one of the provincial commissioners plotted against the president?
 
Come on the Colonel is half American and apart from his officer training at Sandhurst I saw he spent sometime at Fort Benning "training with US officers" .

This has got to be part of the US War on Terror watch out Sudan not that anyone would be sorry if the government there was over thrown.
 
Yes, but what has Kenya done to the U.S. to deserve this? :confused:
And about having to pay lip service to Islam- no way- Kenya is some 85% Christian!
 

ninebucks

Banned
This is completely ASB, Barack Obama could never attain any politic power in Kenya because he is half-White.
 
Yes, but what has Kenya done to the U.S. to deserve this? :confused:

You think this guy is a US puppet? To attack Sudan, if I read you right? Honestly, assuming Obama can hold on to power, he is going to have his hands full building the country back up without starting a foreign war against a larger country. Honestly, the Great Worldwide American Conspiracy explanation only goes so far.

Sponsoring your own dictator to stage a coup is just so Cold War, anyway. It's never worked. America doesn't retain many of the lessons it's taught, but I think it's learned _that_ one. And I _really_ don't see U.S. President Clinton propping up someone like him in order to pursue such a blatantly neoconservative foreign policy. Bush, maybe. Not Clinton.

And about having to pay lip service to Islam- no way- Kenya is some 85% Christian!

Yes, I should clarify. I don't think Obama's religion is entirely an act, but he was raised Muslim, and being perceived as a good Muslim did win him some advantages locally early on. (Newsweek just ran a feature on his rise to power.) All I was objecting to was the "Islamosocialist" label being thrown at him (whatever that means!). For every opponent denouncing him as an "Islamo" something, there is at least one more saying he is not truly a religious man. You can't have it both ways.

In the end, I think there's no conspiracy here, whether American, Islamist, or whatever. ISTM that this is just another coup, just another step in Kenya's descent into instability.
 
I don't belive that this is a US plot- "Yes, but what has Kenya done to the U.S. to deserve this? " was me asking why the US would want to stage a coup- they would have no reason to! I don't think this is a US plot! I never mentioned Sudan- the guy above me did.

Kenya, yeesh, it used to be something special... now it's any other hellhole. What is this? Fourth coup in Africa this year?
 
OOC: Firstly, personality traits come from environment and raising, which in this world would be very different. Secondly, even if that was the same, then Obama would be republican (little r not big r), maybe atheist, and following in his papa's political foot steps by going into politics and maybe seeking to become president. Not leading a God dang coup as a Republican wet dream.


OOC: It's the nature vs nurture problem of course and it doesn't apperar solved. Still, I belive his intelligence would be unaffected, looks more or less the same (and thus charisma) and he would most likely be in good health. As would his energy, making him go to a ivy-uni and pass it. As for the rest of the personality, it would be more affected by his upbringing. In this case making him a military man and a beliver in violent power siges. What I'm saying is that OTL Obama is likely to end at the top,and that nurture says where and how rather then if he does or not.
 
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