[ZenGum]

You know, Mali, in Africa, between Timbuckbloodytu and the Sahara, and where the radical Islamists have seized the north and may take the South. That Mali.

Don't worry, the French are coming!

For all the crap we give them, they've done a lot of operations in West Africa in the last decade.

This one looks more substantial - a few thousand French troops, a similar number of African regional troops to arrive "a bit later".

Is this going to be a Libyan in-and-out, a Somlian in-and-bugger-off, an Iraqi in-and-ease-out-slowly or an Afghan in-and-bleed?