Nigeria, Feb. 6 -- Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger - three rogue states that have formed an Alliance of Sahelian States (AES) to resist external pressure from ECOWAS on military rule - have just won the biggest diplomatic jackpot beyond their wildest imagination.

Not even a sorcerer would have guessed that, as a reward for their delinquency, this trio would receive support, endorsement actually, from the dominant power in the world since World War 2 - the United States. But much better than prodigals, they are about to receive flowers for their waywardness.

According to the BBC, Nick Checker, head of the US State Department's Bureau of African Affairs, would visit Mali's capital, Bamako, to convey the United States' "respect for Mali's so...