Change Is in the Air in Africa
Discover more from Simplicius's Garden of Knowledge
Change is in the air.
Under cover of the Ukrainian war, vast sweeping changes are in order for the global architecture which has secured Western hegemony for the past century and a half.
The events currently playing out in Africa and the ‘global south’ dare to eclipse the significance of the Ukrainian war, which acts merely as the frosting to the revolutionary layer cake of anti-imperialist sentiment bursting forth around the world.
Africa has had enough, and is self-assembling along geopolitical lines. The U.S. stooges of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) seek to keep the status quo going while rival blocs are ready to strip the Western powers of their self-proclaimed birthright to the African land—and its resources—once and for all.
This new revolt of the global south follows in the footsteps of previous movements, notably that of Gaddafi, who pushed for pan-Africanism and sought to replace the French Franc with an African currency based on the classical Libyan gold Dinar.
This was revealed in hacked Clinton emails from 2011 (released in 2015). One of them featured Clinton Foundation employee Sydney Blumenthal (a proxy for a CIA agent, it was later learned) telling Hillary the following:
The vaults of the Libyan Central Bank in Tripoli. This gold was accumulated prior to the current rebellion and was intended to be used to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar. This plan was designed to provide the Francophone African Countries with an alternative to the French.franc (CFA).
Blumenthal goes on to intimate that:
“French intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current rebellion began”, and that this “influenced President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to commit France to the attack on Libya”.
Now, with that in mind, listen to this new report below about the current African developments:
In 2011, when Libya had to be cut down by the West to stop Africa’s break from colonialist vassalage, Russia was tragically too weak to yet act against the united Western powers led by NATO. Not to mention, it happened during Medvedev’s brief tenure as president, with Putin taking a backseat in the prime minister role. In fact, it led to one of their only public clashes, where Medvedev even censured Putin for his ‘too-provocative’ comments regarding NATO’s barbaric “medieval crusade” against Libya:
The UN resolution, which Russia abstained from voting on, authorised military action in Libya to protect civilians from pro-Gaddafi forces.
Mr Medvedev told Russian news agencies: "Under no circumstances is it acceptable to use expressions which essentially lead to a clash of civilisations, such as 'crusade' and so on.
"It is unacceptable. Otherwise, everything may end up much worse compared to what's going on now."
Mr Putin had said UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which was adopted on Thursday, was "defective and flawed" as it "allows for everything".
As can be seen, a cowed Medvedev abstained from blocking NATO’s military intervention against Libya in the UN Security Council.
Now things are different. Putin is back in control and knows the score precisely. A wave of pro-Russian fervor is sweeping the globe and Africa in particular, leading to a boldness like never before to topple the colonialist powers once and for all.
The Economist is in dismay over Nigerien citizens’ support of Russia and the junta in general:
It’s clear that Russia’s David vs. Goliath performance in the Ukrainian war against the combined powers of the West is seen by the world as a reinvigorating and animating inspiration. When African countries see Russia leading the charge with its opening salvo against the West, they feel secure in marching behind their ‘big brother’.
The true war has always been about Europe’s main hegemonic weapon: its currency and banking system, which it uses to enslave lesser countries and control other ‘great powers’. But things are now converging with remarkable synchronicity to wrest back control from the West. In only a little over a week, a historic BRICS summit will take place and is set to become a linchpin in upturning the world order.
As can be seen from these recent reports, everyone in the ‘global south’ is clamoring for a new currency to replace the dollar and other Western units. The only question is whether there will be enough resolve and gusto to really push the initiative forward.
Just listen to this recent Lula speech regarding the upcoming BRICS summit:
There were reports that India and Brazil were resisting the expansion of BRICS and wanted to ‘slow-roll’ the entry of any new members. Here, Lula somewhat refutes these rumors by stating that if a country passes admission requirements, they will be admitted. For the record, India too has refuted claims that it’s seeking to block BRICS expansion.
Remember when such things were just dubious rumors on unsound sites in the corners of the web? Now, more and more we hear it straight from the horse’s mouth—these major leaders want a new currency, and some of the most geopolitically significant countries in the world are seeking to join BRICS. This is now established fact.
Of course, there are still major hurdles for all of this, and I’m not trying to downplay them or overly lily-gild the developments. But I believe the pressure-front is building and it’s clear that things have taken on an irreversible momentum.
For instance, in the video posted at the top, you can see one of the African interviewees stating that there are still many that cling to the French Franc and dislodging them could be difficult. We often like to impose our own pre-conceived idealisms onto other countries and cultures, which often amounts to little more than wishful thinking. In the end, the people themselves have to rely on their own agency and determinism to decide their path forward, and their destiny.
Likewise, such non-black-and-white analysis applies to the current situation inside Niger. Here’s the most detailed writeup I’ve found on the situation, which goes into the nuances, some of which are not convenient for the easy, palatable types of understandings people in the West prefer. From
:
For instance, the author points out how we assume that the Nigerien junta leader Tchiani overthrew ex-president Bazoum as a rebellion against French occupation and Western colonialism. But it turns out that Tchiani’s upcoming removal could instead have been the main expedient.
The article also gives an update on the prospects of ECOWAS military intervention in Niger. The author believes that it’s unlikely due to lack of popular support in Nigeria, which controls ECOWAS by proxy.
Another take was the following, which states that the main driver for military intervention would potentially be the stark acknowledgement by individual ECOWAS state leaders that if they don’t “make an example of” Niger’s junta, then they themselves could be next to fall victim to ousters by their anti-colonialist populace, which regards them as Western stooges:
For now, the U.S. has signaled that military intervention should be a “last resort”.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to address the military takeover in Niger ought to be an option of last resort, US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Monday.
But these seemingly tempered words belie the West’s true intentions. It’s merely an attempt to appear diplomatic and conscientious, when what they really mean is that first attempts at negotiating the junta’s surrender will be made, by way of an increasing regime of threats and coercion, and if that should fail, military options will be brought to the table. It’s standard U.S. “diplomacy.”
Niger CNSP (junta government) spokesman Colonel Amadou Abdramane claims that French forces have already attacked Nigerien security troops:
Rumors abound that Wagner is controlling the border checkpoints between Niger and some of its neighbors, while France and U.S. control the rest:
💥💥💥Several sources say the Wagner group controls key border areas of Niger on the border with Chad, Libya, Mali and Burkina Faso.
Meanwhile, border areas with Algeria and Benin reportedly remain under U.S. and French control.💥💥💥
The U.S. in the meantime expresses dumbfounded puzzlement as to why African countries could possibly side with Russia. Here’s Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller:
The poor, confused colonist has no idea why Africans would want to buy Russian flags. Well, Matthew, why don’t you let them educate you themselves:
The problem with Western/European elites is they think everyone in the global south is stupid. For instance, during the Ukrainian grain deal shenanigans a few weeks back the Euro-technocrats really tried to foist this nonsensical logic onto Africans, thinking they would fall for something so utterly cretinous and nakedly dishonest:
Can you believe it? He really tried to gaslight Africans into believing that Russia is ‘enslaving them’ with free grain! While, conversely, Europe’s theft and gluttinous hoarding of their grain is meant to be some sort of munificence or altruism, one supposes.
This is why Africans now reject the desperate deceit from Europe, which is culminating in a last gasp for control over their erstwhile empires from the age of imperialism.
Meanwhile Putin offers a new and better path to the world. During yesterday’s security conference as part of the Arms expo, he preached cooperation amongst all the countries under the West’s cudgel.
Likewise, Shoigu echoed my earlier thoughts in that Russia’s grand ongoing victory against the decadent West is spurring a revival of the world’s revolutionary impetus just as the USSR’s WW2 victory had done for anti-colonialism:
And many African and ‘global south’ delegations were in attendance at the expo today:
The West has desperately been trying to come up with ways to woo the global south back into their fold. The big problem is, when you rule by fear and an iron fist alone, you will never secure the respect of your ‘subjects’. And at the first sign of a protector, your subjects will invariably gain the courage to squirm away from your grasp.
The only true way to carry out geopolitical relations in a lasting way is via mutual respect between countries; not only for each other’s security interests and interests in general, but for one another’s cultural values and the Westphalian sanctity for borders and non-interventionism.
Instead, the West uses only bullying tactics, threats, intimidation, and fear-mongering lies. It’s all they know because they’re so used to running the world as a clannish mafia. For instance, they tried to give junta supporters cold feet by claiming critical pipeline projects were in danger in the wake of the Niger takeover. But this was refuted and debunked; From Rybar:
🌍 Western media and some Russian telegram channels began to replicate rumors about alleged threats to various oil and gas projects in Niger because of the coup. The most frequently mentioned are the Trans-Sahara gas pipeline and two oil pipelines: Niger-Benin and Niger-Chad.
There is an active opinion that the actions of the new military government in Niger and, as a result, sanctions from ECOWAS and Western countries, will hit hard on their implementation, and may even affect the closure of these expensive projects.
📌 However, as the @africaintel channel correctly noted (https://t.me/africaintel/4891), the fate of these projects has not changed in any way after July 26th. For example, the government of Benin has stated (https://t.me/africaintel/4627) that the oil pipeline from Niger will not fall under sanctions, and its construction continues at the same pace.
As for the other two projects, they have done without a sane construction plan before. There has been no news about the Niger-Chad oil pipeline since 2019. And on the Trans-Saharan gas pipeline, despite talks about its construction since the 1970s, only in 2022 was a memorandum of understanding signed.
🔻Such information campaigns about the “threat to the implementation of expensive and important projects for Africa” are nothing more than another attempt by Western countries to put pressure on the new authorities in Niger and take a better position in the negotiations.
Now, Putin is also set to meet Erdogan in late August to discuss the grain deal, among other things. This means the next few weeks will be quite eventful.
The BRICS summit has the potential to be epochal in nature, if the chief members can find enough commonality to make agreements on key issues. I’m not necessarily expecting a full-blown gold-backed currency announcement, but at least some concrete proposals would push the dial forward. Something that can be taken back by each country to be discussed so that solid plans towards implementation can then be worked out.
And we await with bated breath the potential induction of new members, or at the least some concrete announcement of an outlined pathway to entry for the purported 23 new prospective aspirants.
The West still retains powerful levers of control and large amounts of influence with the smaller occupied nations that are—as a rule—led by installed puppets ever-faithful to the Western order. So they will do everything in their power to play spoiler, but it’s clear which way the wind’s blowing, and everything the West now does is an uphill battle.
The upcoming BRICS summit will be the perfect barometer by which to gauge how much of this influence remains over the West’s subordinates. If there are controversies or a disappointing result by way of some nation(s)—like India, for instance—playing spoiler, then we’ll be able to say that the Western order has not given up the fight just yet. But if the results are even more promising than expected, it could be the quintessential unbolting of the lid on Pandora’s box, which would initiate the final stage of the coup de grâce against the centuries-old Western imperialist hegemonic order.
If you enjoyed the read, I would greatly appreciate if you subscribed to a monthly/yearly pledge to support my work, so that I may continue providing you with detailed, incisive reports like this one.
Alternatively, you can tip here: Tip Jar
Change Is in the Air in Africa
First!
Thanks for the update! That map of Russian military agreements with Africa must be keeping western analysts up at night.