African states are one-by-one falling outside the shackles of neocolonialism. They are saying “non” to France’s longtime domination of African financial, political, economic and security affairs.
People living in conflict-ridden countries are increasingly viewing the U.N. as promoting the interests of the West and the powerful, writes Jamal Benomar. This wasn’t always the case.
Military officers in Gabon on Wednesday overthrew and arrested the country’s president, whose family ruled since 1967. It is the fourth coup in a former French African colony in the past three years as pressure mounts on Paris.
The military government in Niamey has ordered French troops to leave by Sept. 2. With Macron refusing to withdraw and backing possible ECOWAS military intervention, tensions are rising.
Niger faces a “messy” situation rather than a revolutionary situation. Perhaps, certain Bonapartist elements are discernible — for which, of course, there is plenty of blame to go around, writes M.K. Bhadrakumar.
The animosities toward the French abroad among Nigeriens have been widely reported. But history is only part of the story, and not the largest part. Those who led the coup in Niger are facing forward, not backwards.
Each of these coups was led by military officers angered by the presence of French and U.S. troops and by the permanent economic crises inflicted on their countries, write Vijay Prashad and Kambale Musavuli.
Natylie Baldwin interviews Soviet and Russian specialist Geoffrey Roberts on Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, Europe’s role, Stalin and World War II.
Empires built on dominance achieved through a powerful, expansionist military necessarily become ever more authoritarian, corrupt and dysfunctional, writes William J. Astore. Ultimately, they are fated to fail.
Let’s see how Europeans respond when they are told their peace dividend is henceforth to be spent on the machinery of war — when it’s “howitzers instead of hospitals” now, as a New York Times article puts it.
