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Only a few weeks ago China gave a hero’s funeral to one of its dead from Mali. In all, 21 blue berets have died there recently.

There will be a jumble of unfamiliar terrorist groups to reckon with, too. Groups in and near Mali that may be added to the Canadian lexicon include the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, which has been at war with fellow Tauregs from Ansar Dine, which imposes strict Sharia law, and Ansar Dine’s offshoot, the Islamic Movement of Azawad. Another part of this sinister tableau is a branch of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which styles itself the Movement of Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.

Casting a pall over everything is the Islamic State. It has established a strong presence just to the north of Mali and is directly connected to or the inspiration for so many of the recent attacks in France, Belgium, Turkey and Lebanon. A further complication is that the UN estimates there are 475,000 internally displaced people.

And that is the good news. The Central African Republic, which lies further inland, and where Muslims are at war with Christians, has it own list of terrorist groups and is generally regarded as even more hazardous for peacekeepers than Mali.

Sending troops in harm’s way will not be the only reckoning for the Trudeau government. Everything that Canada is doing or will be doing militarily in the Middle East, eastern Europe and to help the French in Africa will cost big money.

Whether the prime minister likes it or not, the terrorist attacks in Nice and so many horrors elsewhere are going to demand an increase in defence spending.