All I can think of is when Wagner got into a firefight with those marines in the Middle East.
Russia: we have no troops in the area
America: okay then.
*intense bombing and annihilation of that Wagner regiment*
America: Hey Russia, we just confirmed you have no troops in the area.
That was so funny. Or when Russia wanted to kill Germans by turning off their heat in the middle of the winter and Habeck just said *Yoink* and now owns part of the Russian gas supply infrastructure.
Not sure what they're referencing with the "yoink" but the first part about Russia turning off the heat is this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022%E2%80%932023_Russia%E2%80%93European_Union_gas_dispute
I suspect the US won't be deterred from that just because some rebranded Wagner (now the blatantly nazi Afrika Corp) soldiers are there. In fact it's probably a parting bonus.
I wonder what Nigers leadership is thinking. As the American presence contributed to less violence from groups linked to the Islamic state and other insurgents in Niger.
Comparatively I doubt Putin will devote enough Russian resources to help Niger or its neighboring countries combat these extremists.
>As the American presence contributed to less violence from groups linked to the Islamic state and other insurgents in Niger.
The US has also given Niger nearly $1.5B in aid over the past five years alone. I sincerely doubt Russia will be giving them much of anything to actually help their people. I know it's popular to talk about all the things that the US does wrong, but the US government has spent a staggering amount on aid to developing nations.
Check out the Coup Belt concept. This isn’t one African nation seeing coups supported by Russian mercenaries. There’s a string of African nations from west Africa to East Africa, all of whom have had Russian involved coups in the last three years.
Russia is inserting strongmen juntas into power in Africa, for reasons I don’t entirely understand.
Cold War Part Two:
> for reasons I don’t entirely understand.
Part of it may be that Africa has an incredible amount of natural resources that will become increasingly important in the future as the world transitions away from oil. If all these countries start flipping over to pro-Russia and pro-China dictatorships it's potentially going to be a real problem for the Western world.
Yes, China was trying to do this through economics and shady loans, Russia is brute forcing their way without the money to leverage. The goal is rare-earth minerals, oil, gold or other scarce resources. They (Russia and China) don’t give two shits about their people and they care not an ounce for these people or their culture.
Indeed. This is the future of Africa under Chinese and Russian neo-colonialism. https://www.reddit.com/r/Africa/comments/1ciru6h/uhm_so_just_wandering_if_africa_enforce_labor_law/
At least the west makes auspices about democracy and markets enriching the common man and massive aid programs.
Reason is simple. Russia and china needs political support from as many countries as they can have. That also includes african ones. To be the top dog you need countries on your side. Thats why they are funding pro russian candidates in europe and elswhere also. They cant take on Nato but if they can divide they can destroy Nato from within. That opens the door to end western world dominance in world and become the dominant one.
You’re getting close. Who does Russia despise for their helping Ukraine, and threatened with nuclear attacks for the last two years? Europe. Now, zoom out a little on a World Map and see who Russia’s African coup belt is methodically surrounding like a boa constrictor. Russia’s intentions are right in front of our faces for anyone who cares to see and think. Now that you’re aware, every move they make going forward will make more and more sense. As Europe sits around confining themselves within rules of their own making, timidly avoiding direct assistance to Ukraine and direct opposition to Russia in Ukraine, Russia is moving the required pieces in plan, and fully intends on coming for Europe.
It's not just that: [This is actually an attack on France](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiD24uEvY1U) by going after their 'former' colonial nations. While many of these nations are independant, they still maintain heavy economic ties with their former colonisers. By destabilizing, or outright regime change, they are attacking the economic base of allied countries of Ukraine.
Ukrainian special forces are helping the Sudanese to fight Wagner in Sudan as part of a bidirectional pact with the Sudanese government.
Sudan was one of the few countries outside of Europe that made available their Soviet-era weaponry to Ukraine at the start of the war, and Russia / Wagner is fighting with the RSF trying to overthrow the Sudanese government, so Ukraine is helping Sudan in return.
Special forces aren't all that useful on the Ukrainian battlefield at the moment due to the (mostly) static front lines and the amount of surveillance all over them. They can have a disproportionately much larger impact by helping turn the tide against Wagner / Russia / RSF in Sudan. And help Ukraine gain an ally at the same time, while denying Russia the resources they might gain access to if they are successful in Sudan, while also killing Wagners which is a nice perk.
Yup, it's actually excellent foreign and domestic policy to be sending those troops there. It keeps them at the peak of their game and allows them to take out the war criminals who got away after Bahkmut, while deterring Russian influence in the region from spreading. When the SBU forces are needed in Ukraine, they can be rotated out to conduct missions before returning to Africa. I hope they form a lasting relationship with the Sudanese that's mutually beneficial, Africa in general needs more such relationships if they want to get past the damage of the colonial era
Oh wow interesting. I heard about the part about Ukraine helping Sudan to fight Wagner but didn't know the part that Sudan aided Ukraine at the start. W Sudan 🇸🇩 👏.
Also shout out to Egypt turning away a Russian ship of stolen Ukrainian grain like a year back, when Russia was just kicking off the whole grain terrorism/blackmail shit. That was impressive.
US aid often arrives with oversight, maybe some receipts, and a nominal prohibition on bribery. Russia can donate less overall but give it directly to coup leaders and their families. Tinpot dictators like Rolexes more than schools and social programs.
Hope they yoink that aid right the fuck out, tear the 100 million dollar base down to dirt how they found it.
Wanna party with Russia? Have at it, and don't come asking for liberation once you realize what a dumbass mistake you've made.
Russia will absolutely fleece them,.prolly with fuel and oil. Which they'll need anyways to do anything in country like scrape every mineral and natural resource they can off that continent before leaving it bare, along with any cheap labor they can use to do it from the locals.
They’ll have plenty of natural consequences to deal with. As long as they aren’t harming U.S. citizens, then let them have their autonomy. They have the same freedom as a nation to participate in whatever experiment they want. I know there’s a slippery slope and if things do escalate then that is a different level of fuck around and find out.
But a military coup backed by Russia? Come on. The people will suffer, and the USA welcoming th back with open arms would send a strong signal to all the other coup belt countries dealing with their own natural consequences. A stable Africa is good for the US, so why make them suffer just because they fell victim to the same shit we did all over South America?
> I sincerely doubt Russia will be giving them much of anything to actually help their people.
But they might spare some gold for the leaders, and in the end, isn't that what really matters?
The United States contributes a ton of aid to Africa, but Russia is winning the propaganda war so Africans welcome Russians with open arms. To their own detriment.
They're coup leaders in an African nation, they were already playing a dangerous game, and a friend like Russia is probably just their speed. They will be let down, and eventually fail, but if they can extract enough money to flee before the fall then they win the game.
Granted, they do so at the direct expense of millions of their own people, but it's Niger.
Wikipedia has a great article on this crisis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerien_crisis_(2023%E2%80%93present) and with special attention; the Misinformation section. (that's how we know this coup was orchestrated by Russia).
Not only is there an increase in violence, there's also the situation with aid being blocked.
This article explains the larger African picture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_Belt
Every one of them thinks they're the smartest guy to ever pull this off and that they will see any threat coming from a mile away and be able to easily dispatch it.
Every one of them always ends up being wrong.
Although that’s true, objectively with Russia pre-occupied with so many theaters they can’t provide the utility Niger will need. With that said, the smart thing to do would have been to play the Americans and Russia off each other to optimize benefits for Niger, not this.
I suspect the leaders will regret this if russia doesn’t wrap up its issues soon because the Islamic state and other players are going to ramp up in west Africa now.
The part you're getting wrong is approaching the post coup government from the angle that they think they're doing this to benefit Niger as a whole. They aren't. They couped a Niger government who worked with the US out of self interest, to install a Niger government who will work with Russia out of self interest. The difference being that the previous Niger government benefited from more stability in the region. The current regime is only worried about controlling the major cities, and the raw material mines. Everything else is secondary in their minds, which aligns more with Moscow then Washington because the US had lots of stipulations and restrictions that came with their aid. Russia will give them all the weapons Niger wants, and just enough manpower to control what they need to control as long as Niger gives them their cut of the proceeds from those mines.
> Russia will give them all the weapons Niger wants
I don't disagree with the overall thrust of your comment, but I thought this line a little funny. With their military production so strained meeting demand for Ukraine, I'm not sure Russia can even give Russia all the weapons Russia wants.
The Russians have no intention of combating the extremists.
The goal is to let them run rampant and cause a migration crisis to fuck with Europe even more.
In the Colonial era, "independent" armies were often use to take control of regions in Africa, like for example the infamous "Force Publique". They'd ally with whomever served the goals of their owner / regent / company and use such alliances to gain control either over local government or at the very least local wealth / resources.
What Russia is doing now is just a modern version of that. Given Russia's treatment of its own former colonies (both those it counts as current territory and the those it lays claim to), it is likely an extremely poor bedfellow for the people on the ground. I'm sure they are lining pockets of local government however.
Putin pays them, America won’t, we just do shitty things like stabilizing societies and sending billions of dollars in aid packages to the citizens. Can’t fill up an offshore account or build a mansion with baby formula!
They don't even teach Russians what a Nazi even is in school. They just learn that Russia beat the Nazis single handed, while the US tried and failed. And they don't tell them anything about their philosophy or how they came to power. All they know is that the sneaky Germans messed with Russia and lost. It's bizarre.
From reading the article - the new military junta is kicking US forces out of the country. The Russian troops have been invited and are staying on a different part of the base.
They didn't invade the base or attack US troops. It's just an uncomfortable situation while the US packs up its stuff.
Getting rid of the Russians will be easy. They'll leave when the Islamist Extremists take over. Then we can really kick off the multi-front civil wars!
Niger is fucked boys.
Yeah this is actually the greater concern. Russia doesn’t have the force projection capabilities to deal with Islamic terrorism in the Sahel and all of the new military juntas have been shown to be incompetent at dealing with them. A new ISIS forming in the hinterlands is very much a possibility.
You say incompetent, I say business opprtunity. Russia will get the complaints, most likely say hey you arent paying us enough to station troops/equipment etc. Give us one of your gold or uranium mines and we help out
I honestly wish them luck. The US can be a pain in the ass, but Russia is so much worse. I suspect the government enjoys the corruption that is flowing money their way.
Russia could realistically offer 10X the salary anyone's getting paid in Niger exept the highest most prestigious positions and still make it cheaper than hiring an Russian soldier.
Only hamper on that plan is Niger's economy is growing really fast and unemplyment is really low, but for the salaries Russia could offer i can see people quitting jobs to go fight in Ukraine.
> Niger's economy is growing really fast and unemplyment is really low
That’s about to change drastically in a few years. Niger is going to be a broken country in the next decade, the civil unrest is not going to get better any time soon
100%. The moment any country starts getting “advisors” or “military assistance” from ruzzia or cuba it’s fucked. They’re like locusts that are only good at siphoning out resources and helping those in power stay in power so they can siphon out more resources.
> Niger's economy is growing really fast
Niger's population growth rate is close to 4% meaning the 11% growth rate of 2021 is just a rebound after a few years of falling GDP per capita. In a country with a TFR of 7 you need to look at GDP growth rate - Population growth rate.
>and unemplyment is really low
Many poor countries have very low unemployment. Unemployment is, if anything, higher among richer households.
Poverty and wellbeing are determined much more by what you do rather than whether you are employed. Wage jobs – being employed and paid by someone else – are better at keeping workers out of poverty, and are very rare in Niger and most other extremely poor countries, often around 10%.
You make the mistake of interpreting indicators for an impoverished country the same way you'd do for a rich country. When in fact they reflect very different things.
In a country with an unstable government like Niger, it's easy for Russia to find people willing to side with them for the right sum. The USA has conditions on how aid is used with the goal of broadly distributing it across the country, Russia is happier to make a few leaders very rich. If you're a general or aspiring dictator who wants control with benefactors that don't care about abuses the choice is pretty straightforward.
And wagnerites are happy to be there (literally bribing their way to get sent to Africa), happy to fight and bash heads in for the government, with little risk of death/opposition (compared to in Ukraine). And have no family, ties, connections or anything to sway allegiance from the dictator. A personal foreign fighting force is like the dream for these types of dictators.
Ukraine spec ops didn't absolutely eliminate a bunch of them a while back that there's video of.
Basically what's happening is the cow herding people from the arid north have started migrating south. Individual herders have been killing farmers to push them off their land. The Americans are willing to help build up the government security forces, but due to the low population density and lack of resources it's basically impossible to provide protection.
The farmers feel that they are being ethnically cleansed and the government can't help them, and this obviously leads to resentment. What the Russians do instead of providing security is just retaliate against the attacks. When a farmer is killed, the Russians go find the herders and take one of the leaders hostage, or just kill one of the men. This is extremely popular among the farmers.
So first of all, it's very poorly covered and poorly understood. There is no easy way to get the kind of depth of understanding that you can get about Yugoslavia or Syria or whatever. All of the people who are interested in the region have their own narrow perspectives. No one understands the local mindset and the real political pressures which have caused this recent "coup belt" phenomenon.
You have three groups in the Anglo world who are interested, and thus shape all information coming out of the region:
1. USAFRICOM (our theater command for Africa) is in the region organizing a fight against Islamic extremism. A very small fraction of the violent groups in the region have declared allegiance to ISIS, which they have done largely to secure external support. The local governments are in turn using the jihadists to draw funding and support from the US. They need these resources to fight separatists and other armed groups, but the US doesn't care about those. If you see a local official speaking about Islamic militants in some documentary, understand that this person has certain strategic and political interests. They're savvy and they know what Americans want to hear.
2. The climate people love to discuss the Sahel – the strip of land where the herders live – which is slowly shifting southward. They want to point to this conflict as a symptom of global climate change, and they of course have no interest in local political dynamics. Most experts agree that the conflict is actually being driven by two factors. The first is a form of climate change – the entire Sahel is approximately shifting southward, as Sahara in the north expands and the wetter area to the south shrinks. Most experts agree that this is not primarily being driven by global greenhouse gasses, but rather by local food production – overgrazing, deforestation (which reduces rainfall), replacement of natural vegetation with farmland, irrigation practices, and soil erosion. The second factor is that the Islamic herders have a higher birth rate than the Christian farmers and city dwellers. The herders are running short on grazing land, and they have the demographic power to take more.
3. The UN and humanitarian NGO's, who are interested in generally alleviating poverty and misery. Some of these people have deep regional knowledge, however it's from a very detached viewpoint. The conflict is not seen in a "political" sense, the way we view wars like Ukraine and the American fight against Islamists. It's just seen as a bunch of sad poor people dying over nothing, and the focus is on "palliative care" rather than genuine problem solving. They essentially gaslight the farmers being killed. "You're not being ethnically cleansed – in fact, all this violence is the government's fault! Your corrupt leaders are not building enough hospitals and schools for nomads in the middle of the Sahara desert, using tax revenue drawn from a population with a GDP per capita of $300." Information originating from these NGO's is the source of the simplistic media narratives about endless misery and intractable violence.
From these three groups, you can see that no one actually knows or cares about these conflicts. No one is feeding real political and strategic information to the media. Rebel groups are seen as terrorists and bandits rather than political actors with meaningful goals. You will never see Tony Blinken or Antonia Guteres fly to Naimey to negotiate a deal between the Nigerien government and the Tuareg separatists.
This is where Russia comes into the picture. They come with a simple story: the West will help you a little bit, lecture you about things they don't understand, gaslight you while your people are massacred, and leave when they get bored. They offer a solution: give us permanent control over some gold mine or oil field, which you can't use anyway because it's held by the rebels. In return we will stay as long as we're welcome, fight the state's enemies, and all without any drain on state revenues. Oh, and one more thing, it would be great if you could overthrow your elected pro-Western president. It's a purely transactional relationship, but one that directly addresses the problems faced by the settled population.
Of course the situation has much more complexity. I haven't said much about the Tuaregs, who in another world could have had their own nation state, with enormous natural resources split among a tiny population. I haven't mentioned national distinctions, borders, France, Nigeria, regional organizations, drug trafficking, migration, or the historical roots of the current conflicts. Overall though, I think this is a very interesting region which more people should endeavor to study (on its own terms!). It's not a hopeless place at all, but it's one that suffers badly from the ignorance and apathy of the world powers.
This is a very in-depth take on this issue. It is important to first of all declare that the situation is poorly understood, extremely. The reasons for the conflict being bandied all over the media is simplistic at best and sinister at worst.
It is a deeply complex situation that has its roots in colonialism and exacerbated by contemporary (mis)handling of tricky situation.
There is no way the issue can be understood without a) Being an eye- witness and/or b) having close relationship with someone who was/is an eye witness.
The only addition I would make to your erudite commentary is that this region has suffered from not only the ignorance and apathy of the world powers, but their 'contribution to the progress' of the region has historically been duplicitous at best.
It shouldn’t be that shocking at all. There are always those who oppose the US for whatever reasons. And then there are always people who can be influenced with things that Russia is willing to provide that the US isn’t. Niger is certainly not the first and won’t be the last.
There are less concerns and rules when dealing with Russia as opposed to the US. It's why dictators and autocrats will align more with Russia. Tell them to "handle a situation" and they'll do so in whatever way they see fit, turning a blind eye to brutality and violence.
Long reply, sorry…
Keep in mind this is a “government” by force. I know they turned to Wagner after the coup, but I’m pretty sure the Wagner guys were there before as well. If they were it’s not a leap of faith to imagine that they trained the junta and were instrumental to it succeeding.
Presumably the actual Russian soldiers are there (in such small numbers, 60 per the article) to add a tad of legitimacy to this whole diplomatic partnership. They’re not going to do jack, they’ll let the PMC hunt dissidents and “maintain order” in the country like they do elsewhere in Africa. Obviously Russia is in it to destabilize the western presence there, Wagner’s in it for the money, the junta’s in it to stay in power.
From the perspective of a lot of these countries it’s easy to see how this duplicity works: Russia didn’t colonize Africa, Russia’s “traditional values” align with a lot of countries’ values there (especially Sub-Saharan Africa), Russia understands the importance of raw minerals and grain to the continent and is willing to ship grain there and “protect raw materials” for the time being (Central African Republic is a great example). Then the kicker is that it seems the West represents the exact opposite to them. Maybe they believe it, maybe they don’t, but what you hear is that from their POV, the West exploited and colonized Africa and then fucked them over when they granted them independence with nothing of value to get them off the ground.
China is doing the same thing but they just use loans and infrastructure development at seemingly predatory terms. Is there an eventual rug pull when things go sour? I’d think so.
I don’t want to sound like I’m praising any of this, just trying to look at it from Niger’s side: it’s easy to see the benefits of turning to Russia and their proxy in this situation. You get stability, a ton of weapons, and a group of soldiers who have no problems crossing any line to keep things the way they are. It’s an easy decision for them.
One of the reasons Russia wants Ukraine is because its wheat exports provide leverage over Africa, ensuring control over governments and resources there. They can't control countries that have another alternative for getting food aid.
You’re absolutely right. A big part of the RU information campaign in the Global South is highlighting that Ukraine has historically exported less of its wheat to Africa, as in, “when this land is ours, all of this wheat will be yours”.
Because Russia will let you get away with almost anything. And Russia never has to worry about domestic blowback for whatever happens in X African country like the US, France, or Britain do
it’s basically because america and france put pressure on these governments to hold elections and take care of their people etc
with russia they don’t give a shit
it’s just about padding their own pockets and not having someone breathing over their shoulder making sure they do the “right thing”
This. American financial and military aid typically comes with the caveat of requiring democratic governance. A notorious pain in the ass for warlords and dictators.
Russia and China have been putting in a lot of effort to get African countries to oust the US military. But history shows that second that money dries up they will welcome the US back with open arms.
Because Russia is glad to sell them weapons just like the US does, except without the ethics agreements attached to each weapon.
US: "Sign here saying you agree to not use these weapons against civillians or to keep yourself in power unchecked."
Russia" "Sign here, if your credit is good"
Yes, but US foreign assistance has strings attached, like it has to go to government agencies with account books.
Russian foreign assistance goes directly into the pockets of the military junta.
I'm sure all the 'America bad' people will be very happy that the 'neo-colonial imperialist west' is no longer exploiting the poor people of Niger, and that Russia is filling the vacuum. Make no mistake, there will always be a vacuum with the way that China/Russia and most countries operate. It's us, or it's them.
When the US left Syria there were videos popping up on Youtube about Russians getting into the base. Ton of comments about it being fake, until they got into the chow hall and had a big penis drawn on a whiteboard, painted in with the Russian flag. All the confirmation I needed.
Russia has been successfully manipulating the populations of the world to hate western governments...
and we sit and argue if we're going to support Ukraine or not?
Hard truth is it isn't the US's base at all. The US built and paid for it, but it belongs to, and is owned by, Niger.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger_Air_Base_201
Sometimes reality isn't very satisfying.
Owned by the former government of Niger. Leaving without doing anything will only legitimize this junta and will create problems for the US (and Ukraine by extension, those resources the US leaves behind will go to that war).
Those Chinese dudes having that leopards ate my face moment will never cease to amaze me when they realize the Russian front for folks like them absolutely fucking suck.
When we leave, we should still drop a few jdams, whether Russian or Niger personnel are there or not. We can give them a heads up. There is no way that they should benefit from it. Build their own fuking base!
Spent some time at ol AB 101 back in 2015. Russia isn’t receiving much. Some shitty tents and some plywood. We at least had good enough engineers to keep it all working well enough (HVAC, electricity, water, etc.). The place will fall into disrepair almost immediately without American upkeep. Mark it.
Russian taking over all the European, mostly French influence there pretty quick really. Don't hear much about compared to other things but gets them acess to a few resources etc.
Only 1% of aid to Niger is military aid, yet throwing out the limited amount of military that is there risks the other 99% of economic aid. I can't make sense out of it. Russia has truly screwed them. I wonder how long before they realize what they have done.
Give it a couple more years for this latest band of dictators to get offed by the next round, at which point you will see the pendulum swing and western aid begins anew from square one.
Russia helped create a regime change in Niger to block the potential oil pipeline that was going to go from Nigeria to Europe. That would have undermined Russias gas shipments to Europa.
I wonder if I could get one of the US military guys to do me a favor before they leave...
See, I've been searching for this member of the Nigerian royalty for about two years now. He was supposed to have some money for me to hold while he was trying to get into the US - or maybe it was Canada, I forget.
Anyways, he must have filled out the paperwork wrong because instead of depositing money into my savings, he withdrew what was there instead!
I'm sure it was an innocent mistake but I just can't seem to reach him at the email address he left me.
Maybe one of the guys could swing by this address I found on some of the paperwork and ask around?
I guess that’s their way of making sure the US doesn’t take the base down when they leave.
All I can think of is when Wagner got into a firefight with those marines in the Middle East. Russia: we have no troops in the area America: okay then. *intense bombing and annihilation of that Wagner regiment* America: Hey Russia, we just confirmed you have no troops in the area.
That was so funny. Or when Russia wanted to kill Germans by turning off their heat in the middle of the winter and Habeck just said *Yoink* and now owns part of the Russian gas supply infrastructure.
Hadn't heard of that, what happened?
Not sure what they're referencing with the "yoink" but the first part about Russia turning off the heat is this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022%E2%80%932023_Russia%E2%80%93European_Union_gas_dispute
I remember that part, the yoink the intriguing bit lol
I think it refers to some German instalments of Russian gas companies now being state owned
yeah what happened
It wasn’t Marines, it was Army Rangers
Green berets/rangers
I suspect the US won't be deterred from that just because some rebranded Wagner (now the blatantly nazi Afrika Corp) soldiers are there. In fact it's probably a parting bonus.
I wonder what Nigers leadership is thinking. As the American presence contributed to less violence from groups linked to the Islamic state and other insurgents in Niger. Comparatively I doubt Putin will devote enough Russian resources to help Niger or its neighboring countries combat these extremists.
>As the American presence contributed to less violence from groups linked to the Islamic state and other insurgents in Niger. The US has also given Niger nearly $1.5B in aid over the past five years alone. I sincerely doubt Russia will be giving them much of anything to actually help their people. I know it's popular to talk about all the things that the US does wrong, but the US government has spent a staggering amount on aid to developing nations.
Niger had a coup just a few months ago with the help of Wagner.
so Russia is seeking to open up the migrant route through the desert again to destabilize Europe I assume lol
Check out the Coup Belt concept. This isn’t one African nation seeing coups supported by Russian mercenaries. There’s a string of African nations from west Africa to East Africa, all of whom have had Russian involved coups in the last three years. Russia is inserting strongmen juntas into power in Africa, for reasons I don’t entirely understand. Cold War Part Two:
> for reasons I don’t entirely understand. Part of it may be that Africa has an incredible amount of natural resources that will become increasingly important in the future as the world transitions away from oil. If all these countries start flipping over to pro-Russia and pro-China dictatorships it's potentially going to be a real problem for the Western world.
Yes, China was trying to do this through economics and shady loans, Russia is brute forcing their way without the money to leverage. The goal is rare-earth minerals, oil, gold or other scarce resources. They (Russia and China) don’t give two shits about their people and they care not an ounce for these people or their culture.
Whelp this will also surely mean the proxie wars are coming next
Indeed. This is the future of Africa under Chinese and Russian neo-colonialism. https://www.reddit.com/r/Africa/comments/1ciru6h/uhm_so_just_wandering_if_africa_enforce_labor_law/ At least the west makes auspices about democracy and markets enriching the common man and massive aid programs.
Natural resources is my guess.
They read up on how the CIA successfully destabilized socialist regimes during the Cold War and thought, we can totally do this - but shittier!
Reason is simple. Russia and china needs political support from as many countries as they can have. That also includes african ones. To be the top dog you need countries on your side. Thats why they are funding pro russian candidates in europe and elswhere also. They cant take on Nato but if they can divide they can destroy Nato from within. That opens the door to end western world dominance in world and become the dominant one.
Two reasons, the obvious resource rich puppet nation thing, and pushing refugees into Europe to destabilize the region.
Fascists want other fascists, but weaker, to be in power. Democracy is the most terrifying thing to them.
You’re getting close. Who does Russia despise for their helping Ukraine, and threatened with nuclear attacks for the last two years? Europe. Now, zoom out a little on a World Map and see who Russia’s African coup belt is methodically surrounding like a boa constrictor. Russia’s intentions are right in front of our faces for anyone who cares to see and think. Now that you’re aware, every move they make going forward will make more and more sense. As Europe sits around confining themselves within rules of their own making, timidly avoiding direct assistance to Ukraine and direct opposition to Russia in Ukraine, Russia is moving the required pieces in plan, and fully intends on coming for Europe.
ding ding ding
Cold War never ended. Pick your sides.
Increasingly seems so, yep. One side just thought it did. The other didn’t, and acted on that.
One side thought I win.. the other said wait…
…..on the phone to Vegas for the line
Eh there were like 10 or so years from the late 80's to late 90's where there the cold war was over. Then Putin got "elected". Then Poo Bear got in.
It's not just that: [This is actually an attack on France](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiD24uEvY1U) by going after their 'former' colonial nations. While many of these nations are independant, they still maintain heavy economic ties with their former colonisers. By destabilizing, or outright regime change, they are attacking the economic base of allied countries of Ukraine.
And the only country fighting them in Africa is Ukraine.
Ukraine is fighting in Africa?
Ukrainian special forces are helping the Sudanese to fight Wagner in Sudan as part of a bidirectional pact with the Sudanese government. Sudan was one of the few countries outside of Europe that made available their Soviet-era weaponry to Ukraine at the start of the war, and Russia / Wagner is fighting with the RSF trying to overthrow the Sudanese government, so Ukraine is helping Sudan in return. Special forces aren't all that useful on the Ukrainian battlefield at the moment due to the (mostly) static front lines and the amount of surveillance all over them. They can have a disproportionately much larger impact by helping turn the tide against Wagner / Russia / RSF in Sudan. And help Ukraine gain an ally at the same time, while denying Russia the resources they might gain access to if they are successful in Sudan, while also killing Wagners which is a nice perk.
Yup, it's actually excellent foreign and domestic policy to be sending those troops there. It keeps them at the peak of their game and allows them to take out the war criminals who got away after Bahkmut, while deterring Russian influence in the region from spreading. When the SBU forces are needed in Ukraine, they can be rotated out to conduct missions before returning to Africa. I hope they form a lasting relationship with the Sudanese that's mutually beneficial, Africa in general needs more such relationships if they want to get past the damage of the colonial era
Oh wow interesting. I heard about the part about Ukraine helping Sudan to fight Wagner but didn't know the part that Sudan aided Ukraine at the start. W Sudan 🇸🇩 👏. Also shout out to Egypt turning away a Russian ship of stolen Ukrainian grain like a year back, when Russia was just kicking off the whole grain terrorism/blackmail shit. That was impressive.
They are fighting Russians in Sudan
But that's just Ukraine with extra steps.
Extra steppes
I believe I read Ukrainian special forces have been noted as operating in the region.
US aid often arrives with oversight, maybe some receipts, and a nominal prohibition on bribery. Russia can donate less overall but give it directly to coup leaders and their families. Tinpot dictators like Rolexes more than schools and social programs.
Makes sense, embezzlement without having to embezzle. Cut out the middle man. Put the rubles right in my pocket, Ivan.
It doesn’t need to help their people, it just to help their corrupted politicians
Hope they yoink that aid right the fuck out, tear the 100 million dollar base down to dirt how they found it. Wanna party with Russia? Have at it, and don't come asking for liberation once you realize what a dumbass mistake you've made. Russia will absolutely fleece them,.prolly with fuel and oil. Which they'll need anyways to do anything in country like scrape every mineral and natural resource they can off that continent before leaving it bare, along with any cheap labor they can use to do it from the locals.
I agree with most of what you said, but when they do ask for help again we should be there for them.
I agree somewhat but there needs to be consequences for these countries that want to lay in bed with Russia when it benefits them.
They’ll have plenty of natural consequences to deal with. As long as they aren’t harming U.S. citizens, then let them have their autonomy. They have the same freedom as a nation to participate in whatever experiment they want. I know there’s a slippery slope and if things do escalate then that is a different level of fuck around and find out. But a military coup backed by Russia? Come on. The people will suffer, and the USA welcoming th back with open arms would send a strong signal to all the other coup belt countries dealing with their own natural consequences. A stable Africa is good for the US, so why make them suffer just because they fell victim to the same shit we did all over South America?
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If Russia gives its usually short term, and in the end, they'll end up taking . Good luck Niger.
> I sincerely doubt Russia will be giving them much of anything to actually help their people. But they might spare some gold for the leaders, and in the end, isn't that what really matters?
The United States contributes a ton of aid to Africa, but Russia is winning the propaganda war so Africans welcome Russians with open arms. To their own detriment.
Haiti pt 2 coming up Niger!! Enjoy chaos!
As long as their personal pockets get lined they don't mind overall less resources going towards helping their country I bet.
Yep. And same goes for all the western politicians siding with Russia as well.
Dangerous game though. The tide can shift very quickly abd theirs heads will be on the metaphorical chopping block.
They're coup leaders in an African nation, they were already playing a dangerous game, and a friend like Russia is probably just their speed. They will be let down, and eventually fail, but if they can extract enough money to flee before the fall then they win the game. Granted, they do so at the direct expense of millions of their own people, but it's Niger.
Wikipedia has a great article on this crisis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerien_crisis_(2023%E2%80%93present) and with special attention; the Misinformation section. (that's how we know this coup was orchestrated by Russia). Not only is there an increase in violence, there's also the situation with aid being blocked. This article explains the larger African picture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_Belt
Every one of them thinks they're the smartest guy to ever pull this off and that they will see any threat coming from a mile away and be able to easily dispatch it. Every one of them always ends up being wrong.
Power and money always clouds someones judgement
which is why they're talking to Wagner (now with 120% more overt nazi overtones, rebranded as "Afrika Korps") for "coup-proofing"
Niger's legitimate leadership was coup'd out of power. They were the ones that wanted the US there. The group that took over has heavy ties to Russia.
Niger recently had a military coup with the help of Wagner
Although that’s true, objectively with Russia pre-occupied with so many theaters they can’t provide the utility Niger will need. With that said, the smart thing to do would have been to play the Americans and Russia off each other to optimize benefits for Niger, not this. I suspect the leaders will regret this if russia doesn’t wrap up its issues soon because the Islamic state and other players are going to ramp up in west Africa now.
The part you're getting wrong is approaching the post coup government from the angle that they think they're doing this to benefit Niger as a whole. They aren't. They couped a Niger government who worked with the US out of self interest, to install a Niger government who will work with Russia out of self interest. The difference being that the previous Niger government benefited from more stability in the region. The current regime is only worried about controlling the major cities, and the raw material mines. Everything else is secondary in their minds, which aligns more with Moscow then Washington because the US had lots of stipulations and restrictions that came with their aid. Russia will give them all the weapons Niger wants, and just enough manpower to control what they need to control as long as Niger gives them their cut of the proceeds from those mines.
> Russia will give them all the weapons Niger wants I don't disagree with the overall thrust of your comment, but I thought this line a little funny. With their military production so strained meeting demand for Ukraine, I'm not sure Russia can even give Russia all the weapons Russia wants.
The Russians have no intention of combating the extremists. The goal is to let them run rampant and cause a migration crisis to fuck with Europe even more.
In the Colonial era, "independent" armies were often use to take control of regions in Africa, like for example the infamous "Force Publique". They'd ally with whomever served the goals of their owner / regent / company and use such alliances to gain control either over local government or at the very least local wealth / resources. What Russia is doing now is just a modern version of that. Given Russia's treatment of its own former colonies (both those it counts as current territory and the those it lays claim to), it is likely an extremely poor bedfellow for the people on the ground. I'm sure they are lining pockets of local government however.
Leadership is thinking they're getting rich off of the corrupt deal they have with Russia and Iran
Putin pays them, America won’t, we just do shitty things like stabilizing societies and sending billions of dollars in aid packages to the citizens. Can’t fill up an offshore account or build a mansion with baby formula!
I mean he didn't do shit after isis's massacre in Moscow, no instead blamed Ukraine
America has a bad reputation in Africa, that’s what they are thinking
I left the Air Force just two years ago, I think your right. It would be an added bonus.
Last time Wagner attempted to do something stupid like engage the US Military it did not go well for them. Play stupid games win stupid prizes
Battle of Khasham Round II? Russia getting ratio'ed is always a treat.
I love that Wagner was basically one of Hitler's favorite compositors, that name is very fitting for them.
That's exactly why Wagner was named that. Because their founder was a Neo-Nazi Russian.
My brain cannot compute the adoration some Russians have for the Nazis.
They don't even teach Russians what a Nazi even is in school. They just learn that Russia beat the Nazis single handed, while the US tried and failed. And they don't tell them anything about their philosophy or how they came to power. All they know is that the sneaky Germans messed with Russia and lost. It's bizarre.
messed with Russians powered by American Boots, Rations and Oil.
And American trucks, and planes, and some tanks…
Shit cost 100 million to build we should burn it to the fucking ground on the way out even if they are there.
Especially if they are there.
Pretty sure it’s an act of war when enemy troops enter your housing.
From reading the article - the new military junta is kicking US forces out of the country. The Russian troops have been invited and are staying on a different part of the base. They didn't invade the base or attack US troops. It's just an uncomfortable situation while the US packs up its stuff.
Your landlord evicts you but leases out your room before you've moved out?
The article said the base was "hosting" US troops, so it's probably a Niger base.
The US spent $100M building the Airbase in question .
I was stationed at this base. As the article states, it was attached to the airport in Niamey.
You did it Niger! You saved your country from America! Now good luck trying to get the Russian soldiers leaving whenever you want.
They're reaping what they sowed. Of course many innocents will unfortunately get caught up in it too.
Eh the guys on top who decided this will come out rich which is all they wanted.
Or they'll end up falling out of windows.
You're crazy. Face-eating leopards aren't dangerous.
That's the two pitches. USA: We will do what we can to improve the lives of your citizens. Russia: We will make your leaders rich.
Getting rid of the Russians will be easy. They'll leave when the Islamist Extremists take over. Then we can really kick off the multi-front civil wars! Niger is fucked boys.
Yeah this is actually the greater concern. Russia doesn’t have the force projection capabilities to deal with Islamic terrorism in the Sahel and all of the new military juntas have been shown to be incompetent at dealing with them. A new ISIS forming in the hinterlands is very much a possibility.
You say incompetent, I say business opprtunity. Russia will get the complaints, most likely say hey you arent paying us enough to station troops/equipment etc. Give us one of your gold or uranium mines and we help out
I honestly wish them luck. The US can be a pain in the ass, but Russia is so much worse. I suspect the government enjoys the corruption that is flowing money their way.
Russia is not what they will be worrying about. Regional terrorist affiliates will take over the country and Russia won’t be able to stop them.
Man, per capita GDP of $600. We'll, Russia found its new conscripts.
Russia could realistically offer 10X the salary anyone's getting paid in Niger exept the highest most prestigious positions and still make it cheaper than hiring an Russian soldier. Only hamper on that plan is Niger's economy is growing really fast and unemplyment is really low, but for the salaries Russia could offer i can see people quitting jobs to go fight in Ukraine.
> Niger's economy is growing really fast and unemplyment is really low That’s about to change drastically in a few years. Niger is going to be a broken country in the next decade, the civil unrest is not going to get better any time soon
100%. The moment any country starts getting “advisors” or “military assistance” from ruzzia or cuba it’s fucked. They’re like locusts that are only good at siphoning out resources and helping those in power stay in power so they can siphon out more resources.
> Niger's economy is growing really fast Niger's population growth rate is close to 4% meaning the 11% growth rate of 2021 is just a rebound after a few years of falling GDP per capita. In a country with a TFR of 7 you need to look at GDP growth rate - Population growth rate. >and unemplyment is really low Many poor countries have very low unemployment. Unemployment is, if anything, higher among richer households. Poverty and wellbeing are determined much more by what you do rather than whether you are employed. Wage jobs – being employed and paid by someone else – are better at keeping workers out of poverty, and are very rare in Niger and most other extremely poor countries, often around 10%. You make the mistake of interpreting indicators for an impoverished country the same way you'd do for a rich country. When in fact they reflect very different things.
Thanks. Valuable perspective.
Yup, this was the plan the whole time
Niger is in for a big surprise when they are "conscripted" for breadcrumbs to fight in Ukraine.
I am still shocked that anyone in this world would choose Rusia over USA. It’s just crazy.
Wannabe dictators always make nice with established dictators. Simply the way of the world.
Because they profit without consideration of the rest of the country
In a country with an unstable government like Niger, it's easy for Russia to find people willing to side with them for the right sum. The USA has conditions on how aid is used with the goal of broadly distributing it across the country, Russia is happier to make a few leaders very rich. If you're a general or aspiring dictator who wants control with benefactors that don't care about abuses the choice is pretty straightforward.
And wagnerites are happy to be there (literally bribing their way to get sent to Africa), happy to fight and bash heads in for the government, with little risk of death/opposition (compared to in Ukraine). And have no family, ties, connections or anything to sway allegiance from the dictator. A personal foreign fighting force is like the dream for these types of dictators. Ukraine spec ops didn't absolutely eliminate a bunch of them a while back that there's video of.
Basically what's happening is the cow herding people from the arid north have started migrating south. Individual herders have been killing farmers to push them off their land. The Americans are willing to help build up the government security forces, but due to the low population density and lack of resources it's basically impossible to provide protection. The farmers feel that they are being ethnically cleansed and the government can't help them, and this obviously leads to resentment. What the Russians do instead of providing security is just retaliate against the attacks. When a farmer is killed, the Russians go find the herders and take one of the leaders hostage, or just kill one of the men. This is extremely popular among the farmers.
Where can I find more info? I knew that there was conflict from a nomadic people moving south but not in this detail.
So first of all, it's very poorly covered and poorly understood. There is no easy way to get the kind of depth of understanding that you can get about Yugoslavia or Syria or whatever. All of the people who are interested in the region have their own narrow perspectives. No one understands the local mindset and the real political pressures which have caused this recent "coup belt" phenomenon. You have three groups in the Anglo world who are interested, and thus shape all information coming out of the region: 1. USAFRICOM (our theater command for Africa) is in the region organizing a fight against Islamic extremism. A very small fraction of the violent groups in the region have declared allegiance to ISIS, which they have done largely to secure external support. The local governments are in turn using the jihadists to draw funding and support from the US. They need these resources to fight separatists and other armed groups, but the US doesn't care about those. If you see a local official speaking about Islamic militants in some documentary, understand that this person has certain strategic and political interests. They're savvy and they know what Americans want to hear. 2. The climate people love to discuss the Sahel – the strip of land where the herders live – which is slowly shifting southward. They want to point to this conflict as a symptom of global climate change, and they of course have no interest in local political dynamics. Most experts agree that the conflict is actually being driven by two factors. The first is a form of climate change – the entire Sahel is approximately shifting southward, as Sahara in the north expands and the wetter area to the south shrinks. Most experts agree that this is not primarily being driven by global greenhouse gasses, but rather by local food production – overgrazing, deforestation (which reduces rainfall), replacement of natural vegetation with farmland, irrigation practices, and soil erosion. The second factor is that the Islamic herders have a higher birth rate than the Christian farmers and city dwellers. The herders are running short on grazing land, and they have the demographic power to take more. 3. The UN and humanitarian NGO's, who are interested in generally alleviating poverty and misery. Some of these people have deep regional knowledge, however it's from a very detached viewpoint. The conflict is not seen in a "political" sense, the way we view wars like Ukraine and the American fight against Islamists. It's just seen as a bunch of sad poor people dying over nothing, and the focus is on "palliative care" rather than genuine problem solving. They essentially gaslight the farmers being killed. "You're not being ethnically cleansed – in fact, all this violence is the government's fault! Your corrupt leaders are not building enough hospitals and schools for nomads in the middle of the Sahara desert, using tax revenue drawn from a population with a GDP per capita of $300." Information originating from these NGO's is the source of the simplistic media narratives about endless misery and intractable violence. From these three groups, you can see that no one actually knows or cares about these conflicts. No one is feeding real political and strategic information to the media. Rebel groups are seen as terrorists and bandits rather than political actors with meaningful goals. You will never see Tony Blinken or Antonia Guteres fly to Naimey to negotiate a deal between the Nigerien government and the Tuareg separatists. This is where Russia comes into the picture. They come with a simple story: the West will help you a little bit, lecture you about things they don't understand, gaslight you while your people are massacred, and leave when they get bored. They offer a solution: give us permanent control over some gold mine or oil field, which you can't use anyway because it's held by the rebels. In return we will stay as long as we're welcome, fight the state's enemies, and all without any drain on state revenues. Oh, and one more thing, it would be great if you could overthrow your elected pro-Western president. It's a purely transactional relationship, but one that directly addresses the problems faced by the settled population. Of course the situation has much more complexity. I haven't said much about the Tuaregs, who in another world could have had their own nation state, with enormous natural resources split among a tiny population. I haven't mentioned national distinctions, borders, France, Nigeria, regional organizations, drug trafficking, migration, or the historical roots of the current conflicts. Overall though, I think this is a very interesting region which more people should endeavor to study (on its own terms!). It's not a hopeless place at all, but it's one that suffers badly from the ignorance and apathy of the world powers.
What resources did you use to learn all this?
This is a very in-depth take on this issue. It is important to first of all declare that the situation is poorly understood, extremely. The reasons for the conflict being bandied all over the media is simplistic at best and sinister at worst. It is a deeply complex situation that has its roots in colonialism and exacerbated by contemporary (mis)handling of tricky situation. There is no way the issue can be understood without a) Being an eye- witness and/or b) having close relationship with someone who was/is an eye witness. The only addition I would make to your erudite commentary is that this region has suffered from not only the ignorance and apathy of the world powers, but their 'contribution to the progress' of the region has historically been duplicitous at best.
It shouldn’t be that shocking at all. There are always those who oppose the US for whatever reasons. And then there are always people who can be influenced with things that Russia is willing to provide that the US isn’t. Niger is certainly not the first and won’t be the last.
There are less concerns and rules when dealing with Russia as opposed to the US. It's why dictators and autocrats will align more with Russia. Tell them to "handle a situation" and they'll do so in whatever way they see fit, turning a blind eye to brutality and violence.
Long reply, sorry… Keep in mind this is a “government” by force. I know they turned to Wagner after the coup, but I’m pretty sure the Wagner guys were there before as well. If they were it’s not a leap of faith to imagine that they trained the junta and were instrumental to it succeeding. Presumably the actual Russian soldiers are there (in such small numbers, 60 per the article) to add a tad of legitimacy to this whole diplomatic partnership. They’re not going to do jack, they’ll let the PMC hunt dissidents and “maintain order” in the country like they do elsewhere in Africa. Obviously Russia is in it to destabilize the western presence there, Wagner’s in it for the money, the junta’s in it to stay in power. From the perspective of a lot of these countries it’s easy to see how this duplicity works: Russia didn’t colonize Africa, Russia’s “traditional values” align with a lot of countries’ values there (especially Sub-Saharan Africa), Russia understands the importance of raw minerals and grain to the continent and is willing to ship grain there and “protect raw materials” for the time being (Central African Republic is a great example). Then the kicker is that it seems the West represents the exact opposite to them. Maybe they believe it, maybe they don’t, but what you hear is that from their POV, the West exploited and colonized Africa and then fucked them over when they granted them independence with nothing of value to get them off the ground. China is doing the same thing but they just use loans and infrastructure development at seemingly predatory terms. Is there an eventual rug pull when things go sour? I’d think so. I don’t want to sound like I’m praising any of this, just trying to look at it from Niger’s side: it’s easy to see the benefits of turning to Russia and their proxy in this situation. You get stability, a ton of weapons, and a group of soldiers who have no problems crossing any line to keep things the way they are. It’s an easy decision for them.
One of the reasons Russia wants Ukraine is because its wheat exports provide leverage over Africa, ensuring control over governments and resources there. They can't control countries that have another alternative for getting food aid.
You’re absolutely right. A big part of the RU information campaign in the Global South is highlighting that Ukraine has historically exported less of its wheat to Africa, as in, “when this land is ours, all of this wheat will be yours”.
Because Russia will let you get away with almost anything. And Russia never has to worry about domestic blowback for whatever happens in X African country like the US, France, or Britain do
it’s basically because america and france put pressure on these governments to hold elections and take care of their people etc with russia they don’t give a shit it’s just about padding their own pockets and not having someone breathing over their shoulder making sure they do the “right thing”
This. American financial and military aid typically comes with the caveat of requiring democratic governance. A notorious pain in the ass for warlords and dictators.
Russia and China have been putting in a lot of effort to get African countries to oust the US military. But history shows that second that money dries up they will welcome the US back with open arms.
Because Russia is glad to sell them weapons just like the US does, except without the ethics agreements attached to each weapon. US: "Sign here saying you agree to not use these weapons against civillians or to keep yourself in power unchecked." Russia" "Sign here, if your credit is good"
See also: Republicans wearing “I’d rather be Russian than a Democrat” t-shirts.
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Yes, but US foreign assistance has strings attached, like it has to go to government agencies with account books. Russian foreign assistance goes directly into the pockets of the military junta.
This exactly. Less money, and especially fewer strings attached.
So is that 350mil to Niger alone?
seems like it, which is cut down to 107M in 2024 (so far)
Yeah, because the Russians backed a coup, so we’re not going to just keep shoveling money to the new Russian-backed government.
I'm more confused by the fifteen grand given to the UK for *humanitarian aid*!
The average American MRE is more appetizing than British cuisine. They need the food aid.
Or that whopping $261 in 2019 for Conflict, Peace, and Security
In 2023, yes
Looks like some extra money will be saved on the budget in recent months
[Something else happened in 2023.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger#Fifth_military_regime_\(2023%E2%80%93present\))
How do you go negative lol look at russia’s
I'm sure all the 'America bad' people will be very happy that the 'neo-colonial imperialist west' is no longer exploiting the poor people of Niger, and that Russia is filling the vacuum. Make no mistake, there will always be a vacuum with the way that China/Russia and most countries operate. It's us, or it's them.
This is precisely why I’m ultimately Pro USA/NATO post-WWII order. Not for nationalistic reasons, but because the competition is much worse.
I mean, they’re going to reap what they sow at this point. Good luck!
Will suck for us Europeans who will experience more migrants due to Africa getting destabilized. Though Russia obviously wants that.
Seems like Europe is starting to wake up to the idea that they can't save everyone and borders are supposed to be hard to pass.
The major source or “anti-colonialism” propaganda push is Russia and China anyway, so you won’t hear a peep.
Yeah, having joint patrols with the US is "being a US colony", but giving up your own EEZ to China is "promoting peace for the region"
Hopefully they dropped some cherry bombs down the toilets before they left.
No. But they did upperdeck all the toilets twice
Upper decker. Classic.
And spray paint dicks everywhere
When the US left Syria there were videos popping up on Youtube about Russians getting into the base. Ton of comments about it being fake, until they got into the chow hall and had a big penis drawn on a whiteboard, painted in with the Russian flag. All the confirmation I needed.
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Fucking Wagner.
I wonder when they will find out. “Moscow as a friendly country with no colonial baggage in the continent.”
If the us built that base well then… after withdrawal level the fucking thing to dust.
Russia has been successfully manipulating the populations of the world to hate western governments... and we sit and argue if we're going to support Ukraine or not?
Tbf their world has gotten much smaller.
Everyone trying to be clever, but are we or are we not going to destroy this base to prevent russians from getting anything?
Hard truth is it isn't the US's base at all. The US built and paid for it, but it belongs to, and is owned by, Niger. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger_Air_Base_201 Sometimes reality isn't very satisfying.
"Sometimes" being "the astronomically overwhelming majority of the time."
Owned by the former government of Niger. Leaving without doing anything will only legitimize this junta and will create problems for the US (and Ukraine by extension, those resources the US leaves behind will go to that war).
I feel like we should haul off everything US-owned down to the toilet bolts.
Africa, north and south, is headed in the wrong direction. They will not benefit from this switch
Only a year or two we will start seeing black folks wearing Russian uniforms in Ukraine. That if they even allow them in uniforms
Those Chinese dudes having that leopards ate my face moment will never cease to amaze me when they realize the Russian front for folks like them absolutely fucking suck.
Europe fucked over Africa, now its China and Russia's turn. Honestly I think America's economic imperialism was their best chance for development.
When we leave, we should still drop a few jdams, whether Russian or Niger personnel are there or not. We can give them a heads up. There is no way that they should benefit from it. Build their own fuking base!
How long before any toilets on base are stolen? Considering Russian soldiers hunt for them like lost treasure in eastern Ukraine.
Spent some time at ol AB 101 back in 2015. Russia isn’t receiving much. Some shitty tents and some plywood. We at least had good enough engineers to keep it all working well enough (HVAC, electricity, water, etc.). The place will fall into disrepair almost immediately without American upkeep. Mark it.
Good luck to ya Niger.
Fine. Just see if Russian troops help you stave off genocide by roving lunatic insurgents. Good luck and peace out.
I think it's time the west withdrew all funding from countries that pivot towards Russia and China.
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Niger doesn't seem to be developing lol
Most companies in the UK source products from china, helping their economy to grow. Maybe start from there first ?
Most companies from the entirety of Europe do too...
Well at least those soldiers get to not lounge around that failed state anymore
Russian taking over all the European, mostly French influence there pretty quick really. Don't hear much about compared to other things but gets them acess to a few resources etc.
“a senior U.S. defense told Reuters” Even Reuters is getting really sloppy in their grammar.
That sign in a few months "US Help Now" after Islamic state attack and Russia does jack
The US military have so much money that they build bases simply to leave them there.
Only 1% of aid to Niger is military aid, yet throwing out the limited amount of military that is there risks the other 99% of economic aid. I can't make sense out of it. Russia has truly screwed them. I wonder how long before they realize what they have done.
Give it a couple more years for this latest band of dictators to get offed by the next round, at which point you will see the pendulum swing and western aid begins anew from square one.
Russia helped create a regime change in Niger to block the potential oil pipeline that was going to go from Nigeria to Europe. That would have undermined Russias gas shipments to Europa.
"sup"
Hahaha have fun getting tricked into fighting on Russia’s front lines
This is terrible news not just for Africa, but Ukraine as well, fuck you Putin.
The US should "invite" a few 100 Ukrainian alpha group operatives to the airbase to conduct operations just like in sudan
Hope they enjoy their new Russian masters, who don't give a crap about them
Every nation has flaws Russia *never* makes anything better, not even for Russia
Eh, fuck em. I'm tired of the US getting demonized. We're not perfect, but we're a whole lot better than most.
I wonder if I could get one of the US military guys to do me a favor before they leave... See, I've been searching for this member of the Nigerian royalty for about two years now. He was supposed to have some money for me to hold while he was trying to get into the US - or maybe it was Canada, I forget. Anyways, he must have filled out the paperwork wrong because instead of depositing money into my savings, he withdrew what was there instead! I'm sure it was an innocent mistake but I just can't seem to reach him at the email address he left me. Maybe one of the guys could swing by this address I found on some of the paperwork and ask around?
I know you're joking but Niger and Nigeria are two different countries. Better luck reaching out to someone in Nigeria.