It's interesting that you can't call "Islamic extremists" Al Qaida on the Russian television propaganda network.
As I heard it the problem with Mali is Al Qaida is in danger of gaining a stronghold in Mali, which means they would establish government control of a base of operations. This might explain the strategy of stopping insurrection in Mali while a broader resistance of conflicts elsewhere is avoided.
RT also neglected to tell you the majority of arms Al Qaida has acquired to mount the takeover of Mali came as a result of the "Arab Spring" revolt in Libya where Al Qaida raided Qaddafi's arms stash.
Russia, whose network put out the broadcast above supports the Assad regime of Syria, and is mad, because the French, along with nations like Saudi Arabia, and Qatar recently recognized a new council of the Syrian resistance. One of the ideas there is get in on the ground level, and prevent a re-arming of Al Qaida with Assad's weapon cache, when Syria falls. They are not just
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supporting the same fighters they are fighting in Mali.