Contemplate the ‘failure’ of Putin’s 45 delegation’s.. the question of the decline of the of attendance to delegations, demonstrates that mollifying the American Hegemon is the wise course for African Nations?
Headline: Putin hosts African leaders in St Petersburg in bid to salvage reputation
Sub-headline: The second Russia-Africa summit, taking place on July 27-28, provides an opportunity for the Russian president to reassure his African counterparts, some of whom are anxious about the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
…
All these achievements on the African continent must be preserved from Moscow’s perspective. The Saint Petersburg summit is, therefore, of the utmost importance. But the targeted model cultivated by Moscow, mainly based on security and informational influence for the benefit of ruling elites, is likely to show its limits in the long term. In Sochi, Putin had pledged to double trade between Russia and Africa, then valued at $20 billion. Four years later, trade is stalling at $18 billion, representing 5% of Europe-Africa trade and 6% of China-Africa trade. As for Russian investment, it represents less than 1% of foreign capital invested in Africa. These figures call into question the extent of Moscow’s political influence with respect to its effective economic presence.
The Economist opening paragraphs set the stage with a vegetable seller, Nassirou mahamadou the local color provided by a ‘stringer’? … Its hard to imagine a privileged Oxbridger consorting with ‘locals’ .
Nassirou mahamadou, a vegetable seller perched on a stool in Niamey, the capital of Niger, does not look like a fighter. Yet at the mention of threats by Niger’s neighbours to use force to reinstate Mohamed Bazoum, the president who was ousted in a coup on July 26th, he swells with anger. “If they come here, we [civilians] are going to war alongside the army.” He is outraged that the Economic Community of West African States (ecowas), the regional bloc, is considering sending troops to battle the junta, even as it has done little to fight the jihadists that he says are the bigger threat. “ecowas has weapons to attack Niger but not to kill the terrorists,” he says. “It’s a disgrace.”
The regional bloc had threatened to use force if Mr Bazoum were not reinstated by August 6th. Yet as the clock ticked down to that deadline, the coup leaders showed no sign of giving up power. Instead they filled a stadium with cheering supporters (pictured), who beheaded a rooster painted in the colours of France, the former colonial power. As the deadline day ended the junta closed Niger’s airspace altogether, claiming that two other African countries had been preparing troops for deployment to Niger. It said Niger’s armed forces were “ready to defend the integrity of our territory”. As this article was published ecowas appeared to be buying time by calling for an extraordinary summit on August 10th.
The Reader needs to prepare herself for this 1,542 word essay. This is a History Made To Measure. This Colonial Rag shared in the ‘values’ of The British Empire e. g.
How Britain stole $45 trillion from India
And lied about it.
There is a story that is commonly told in Britain that the colonisation of India – as horrible as it may have been – was not of any major economic benefit to Britain itself. If anything, the administration of India was a cost to Britain. So the fact that the empire was sustained for so long – the story goes – was a gesture of Britain’s benevolence.
New research by the renowned economist Utsa Patnaik – just published by Columbia University Press – deals a crushing blow to this narrative. Drawing on nearly two centuries of detailed data on tax and trade, Patnaik calculated that Britain drained a total of nearly $45 trillion from India during the period 1765 to 1938.
Headline: French intelligence hits back at Macron over its ‘failure’ to predict Niger coup
Sub-headline: Spy agency says the Elysée was advised to send troops to protect president Mohamed Bazoum but declined for fear of seeming ‘colonialist’
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As for anticipating the putsch, he said: “It was Gen Tchiani who had foiled other previous coup attempts. People trusted him. Who would have thought he would do it? In my opinion, this was a last-minute decision because he was going to be fired.”
“Perhaps we didn’t look closely enough at the very strong anti-French sentiment that existed within the presidential guard – much more than in other parts of the Niger army that were trained by the French, such as the special forces,” he added.
A senior French source told The Telegraph: “Looking at Ukraine, Mali, Burkina Faso and now Niger, nobody saw it coming. Macron is right to be angry. Is this him seizing the moment to change intelligence chief?”
In an apparent bid to bolster its reputation, the DGSE last week claimed that it was aware of Wagner’s plans to launch a rebellion against president Vladimir Putin in June before the CIA. French secret agents claim they received plaudits from their US counterparts for predicting the failed insurgency.
However, Mr Macron has another bone of contention against Mr Emié. Unlike MI6 and the CIA, the DGSE failed to anticipate Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last year, claiming the Americans and British were scaremongering.
What ‘The West’ needs, demands is another losing Theater of War ? For Macron the uranium of Niger is of vital interest. An alliance between Senile Old Joe and Macron, offers Nuland and Sullivan more latitude in their quest for an already fracturing Hegemony.
Rootless cosmopolitan,down at heels intellectual;would be writer.
'Polemic is a discourse of conflict, whose effect depends on a delicate balance between the requirements of truth and the enticements of anger, the duty to argue and the zest to inflame. Its rhetoric allows, even enforces, a certain figurative licence. Like epitaphs in Johnson’s adage, it is not under oath.'
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v15/n20/perry-anderson/diary
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