🇺🇸🇸🇴🇹🇷🇪🇹 Follow the Money: Trump’s Airstrikes in Somalia Are Not About ISIS—It’s About China.
1️⃣ U.S. airstrikes in Somalia—framed as targeting ISIS—come just as Somalia’s strategic importance grows.
2️⃣ Turkey signs a defense pact with Somalia (Feb 2024), agreeing to:
🔹 Develop Somali ports & maritime resources
🔹 Train the Somali military & help build a navy
🔹 Deploy its own navy to protect against piracy & smuggling
🔹 Take a cut of Somalia’s maritime revenues
🔹 Sell arms & establish a military base there
3️⃣ Somalia’s resources are worth billions but remain untapped due to political instability:
🔹 $30B in oil & gas reserves
🔹 Rare minerals essential for semiconductors & EV batteries—industries where China dominates
4️⃣ U.S. interest in Somalia’s resources grows:
🔹 A U.S. company acquires offshore oil exploration rights
🔹 China has been investing heavily across Africa, competing for influence
5️⃣ Ethiopia enters the equation, seeking a port:
🔹 Ethiopia currently pays $1.5B/year in port fees
🔹 Signs a 50-year port deal with Somaliland (a breakaway territory not recognized by the UN)
🔹 Agrees to recognize Somaliland’s independence in exchange for access
🔹 Somalia’s government rejects this, considers Somaliland part of Somalia
🔹 Ethiopia threatens military action to secure a port
6️⃣ Trump orders airstrikes in Somalia on “ISIS”—the same type of group the U.S. & Turkey previously armed in Syria to overthrow Assad.
7️⃣ Somali president thanks Trump for supporting its “fight against terrorism.”
8️⃣ But the bigger picture?
🔹 The U.S. is maneuvering to protect access to Somalia’s strategic minerals.
🔹 China dominates the rare earth supply chain needed for semiconductors & EV batteries.
🔹 As Turkey expands its influence, the U.S. moves to counter China and secure its own interests.
💰 It’s not about ISIS—it’s about controlling resources, trade routes, and competition with China.
