Africa
-
US Africa Leaders Summit promises more exploitation for Africa, record profits for US mining firms
Recent deals between US Secretary of State Tony Blinken and African heads of state promise eye-popping profits for US mining multinationals and fewer protections for African laborers “toiling in subhuman conditions” to drive the digital revolution. Continue reading
-
NATO will confront Russia in West Africa
Why Mauritania is turning into an alliance outpost in the region – a recent report by Nikolay Dmitrievich Plotnikov outlines the potential for a new NATO front with Russia with Mauritania converted into a NATO alliance outpost in the region. Continue reading
-
The Hope of a Pan-African-Owned and Controlled Electric Car Project Is Buried for Generations to Come: The Fifty-Second Newsletter (2022)
The United States government held the US-Africa Leaders Summit in mid-December, prompted in large part by its fears about Chinese and Russian influence on the African continent. Rather than routine diplomacy, Washington’s approach in the summit was guided by its broader New Cold War agenda, in which a growing focus of the US has been… Continue reading
-
Biden Opens Africa Summit With Sanctioning African Leaders
The Biden administration is holding a summit with some 40 leaders of African countries. The New York Times headline of its reporting on the summit is revealing: Biden Is Bringing Africa’s Leaders to Washington, Hoping to Impress Continue reading
-
Mali’s Break with France Is a Symptom of Cracks in the Transatlantic Alliance: The Forty-Eighth Newsletter (2022)
On 21 November 2022, Mali’s interim prime minister, Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, issued a statement on social media announcing the government’s decision ‘to ban, with immediate effect, all activities carried out by [French] NGOs operating in Mali’. This announcement came a few days after the French government cut Official Development Aid (ODA) to Mali, alleging that Mali’s government is ‘allied… Continue reading
-
Food, Farming, and Africa: An Open Letter to Bill Gates
We, 50 organizations focused on food sovereignty and justice worldwide, want you to know there is no shortage of practical solutions and innovations by African farmers and organizations. We invite you to step back and learn from those on the ground. —Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa Continue reading
-
Africa Does Not Want to Be a Breeding Ground for the New Cold War: The Forty-Fourth Newsletter (2022)
On 17 October, the head of US Africa Command (AFRICOM), US Marine Corps General Michael Langley visited Morocco. Langley met with senior Moroccan military leaders, including Inspector General of the Moroccan Armed Forces Belkhir El Farouk. Since 2004, AFRICOM has held its ‘largest and premier annual exercise’, African Lion, partly on Moroccan soil. This past June, ten countries participated in… Continue reading
-
Ibrahim Traore takes over as Burkina Faso’s leader amid worsening crisis and anti-French sentiment
34-year-old Capt. Ibrahim Traore, who deposed his senior Lt. Col Paul-Henri Damiba in a military coup on September 30, was sworn in as the new president of the transitional government of Burkina Faso on Friday, October 21. Continue reading
-
The Other Russia-West War: Why Some African Countries are Abandoning Paris, Joining Moscow
The moment that Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was ousted by his own former military colleague, Captain Ibrahim Traore, pro-coup crowds filled the streets. Some burned French flags, others carried Russian flags. This scene alone represents the current tussle underway throughout the African continent. Continue reading
-
When Will the Stars Shine Again in Burkina Faso?: The Forty-First Newsletter (2022)
Thursday, 13 October 2022 — The Tricontinental Wilfried Balima (Burkina Faso), Les Trois Camarades (‘The Three Comrades’), 2018. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. On 30 September 2022, Captain Ibrahim Traoré led a section of the Burkina Faso military to depose Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had seized power in a coup d’état in Continue reading
-
Exclusive: How Shell and BP financed Britain’s Cold War propaganda machine
“Handsome” sums were provided by BP and Shell to the Information Research Department (IRD), which was Britain’s Cold War propaganda arm between 1948 and 1977, declassified files show. The IRD used the secret subsidies to fund British covert propaganda operations during the 1950s and 1960s across the Middle East and Africa, where Britain’s oil interests were substantial. Today,… Continue reading
-
The Intricate Fight For Africa: The Legacy of the Soviet Union vs Western Colonialism
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent tour in Africa was meant to be a game changer, not only in terms of Russia’s relations with the continent, but in the global power struggle involving the US, Europe, China, India, Turkey and others. Continue reading
-
Once Led By a Fierce Champion of Anti-Colonialism in Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo Has Effectively Been Recolonized by Western Capital
The United States does the heavy lifting, but Canada provides consistent behind-the-scenes support to enable the plunder of Congo and other nations in the Global South. Continue reading
-
Africa, China, and US Imperialism
This important essay by US scholar Joel Wendland-Liu, originally published on the CPUSA website, provides a serious and detailed comparison of the US-Africa relationship and the China-Africa relationship. Referencing numerous recent studies indicating that Africans – and particularly younger Africans – have a more favorable opinion of China than of the US, the author contrasts the West’s… Continue reading
-
Going to Samarkand
The SCO and other pan-Eurasian organizations play a completely different – respectful, consensual – ball game. And that’s why they are catching the full attention of most of the Global South. The meeting of the SCO Ministerial Council in Tashkent this past Friday involved some very serious business. That was the key preparatory reunion previous to the… Continue reading
-
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov : Member countries of the African Union
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to the questions during a meeting with permanent representatives of the member countries of the African Union and the diplomatic corps, Addis Ababa, July 27, 2022 Continue reading
-
Lavrov is on Blinken’s list of people to call
The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a press availability at the State Department on Wednesday made the dramatic announcement that he intends to speak to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov “in the coming days … for the first time since the war began” in Ukraine on February 24. Continue reading
-
Will Our Children Be Literate? Will They Look Forward to the Future with Dignity?: The Twenty-Eighth Newsletter (2022)
Thursday, 14 July 2022 — The Tricontinental Nú Barreto (Guinea-Bissau), A Esperar (‘Waiting’), 2019. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. The world is adrift in the tides of hunger and desolation. It is difficult to think about education, or anything else, when your children are not able to eat. And Continue reading
-
New Bill That Passed House Reinvokes Old Russian Bogeyman as Pretext For More U.S. Intervention in Africa
Liberal Democrats shamefully all voted for the “Countering Malign Russian Influence Activities in Africa” Act—seems like relic from bygone era Continue reading
-
Black Skin, White Mask
Lt. General Michael Langley is poised to become the first Black commander of AFRICOM—a neocolonial force whose main purpose is to enable Western corporate pillage of Africa. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 