While Gori falls to Russian forces, Mauritania’s democratically elected government has fallen to a coup d’etat. It is unclear what this means internationally, but the United States and the European Union have condemned it. The African Union has suspended Mauritania’s membership because of the coup.

Apparently, several parliamentary factions support the coup. There have been demonstrations both for and against it. I know enough about the situation in Mauretania to know that I really don’t know what is going on there. Although it would be nice to know how the fight against al-Qaeda will be affected by recent developments in Nouakchott, it’s possible that nobody knows the real situation, least of all the actual participants.

It looks as though adventurers all over the world will make their moves in the next few months.