Muslim terror in Nigeria equals that of the Islamic State in Syria and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Patrick Poole has a horrifying summary of the escalation of violence in Nigeria by Boko Haram against Christians.

The strategic stakes involved for the U.S. are extraordinary, but you would never be able to gauge that from the absence of any alarm from the Obama administration or from either side of the aisle in Congress.

Nigerian churches, which should be open and inviting, are now having to install crash barriers and metal detectors. And yet within just the past few months, more than 1,000 churches have been ransacked and burned, and hundreds of thousands of Christians are being driven from their homes.

Overall, 1.5 million Nigerians have been displaced by the violence, with 650,000 in the northeast alone.

And it should be noted that Boko Haram has not been the only actor targeting Christians in the north. Muslim militias have been attacking Christian areas for years.

There are considerable national security and other strategic interests for the United States in Nigeria. But as the country teeters on the brink in the face of Boko Haram advances, Washington, D.C. is asleep at the wheel. The risks of inattention and inaction in Nigeria threaten to jeopardize the whole of Africa.

Read more here.