Forum Replies Created
-
A sensible and varied panel review likely outcomes to the Niger standoff. Please ignore Frenchie’s BS after the 19th minute…
IMO what France does is beyond reckless, threatening the lives of its Ambassador, his family, their troops and other dependents in this distant theater. It has become quite emotional and heated for both sides. Yet France can only lose the standoff, left hanging without US, Nigerian (ECOWAS) or EU support. Prolonging this ordeal, unless they intend to go kamikaze and go solo, only heightens the coming humiliating withdrawal.
Even if they intend to sacrifice the life of the esteemed local Ambassador Itte, as perhaps the US did to Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi, Libya, to back then justify wider involvement of AFRICOM, the mood, alliances, and solidity of the popular Junta have shifted, making it a futile mission…
The next few days may settle this issue one way or the other. The concession of the interviewed French Ambassador on this show that they will have to go (duh!) indicates a face-saving process is under way. Public outcry and the contemptuous behavior of French authorities to date may not allow the Junta to offer them this easy way out. Likely Frenchie will eat the first slice of Batiushka’s delicious humble pie on behalf of all Exceptionals!
And the primary vehicle delivering this serving, after Nigerien steadfastness, is the same USA who served it to Perfide Albion in the 1956 Suez Crisis. The Guest of Honor this time being Frenchie.
Even the Big Guy Brandon got 10%!Niger. Ambassador still in hiding. All vehicles in or out of embassy being searched. Electricity, water, food deliveries remain off. Security slightly lowered for embassy (?!). Civil society now joining in the festivities.. huge rallies, sit-ins, ladies banging on loud instruments (😅). French bases similarly beset by public.
Niger authorities highlight interference by France in internal affairs (coordination via Bazoum’s satellite phone, foolishly revealed by Macron himself).
Remember Sept 03 (tomorrow) is the deadline given for Frenchi troops to leave…
This CV offers clues why France, Agent Tinubu, and Borrell all kneeled in the last days….
Who is Colonel General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov?? He’s now in Mali, making his steady way through Syria, North Africa, the Sahel, Central Africa and other points of interest.
- Career soldier (paratrooper), Hero of Russian Federation, active since Soviet times; in Kosovo, Chechen wars
- 60-year-old Muslim from north Caucasus Russian Republic of Ingushetia, neighbor of Chechnya
- From a peasant family of 12 children; graduated from same school that was later scene of the Beslan massacre
- Graduated from the General Staff Academy, 2004
- In June 1999 at Kosovo, he led a task force on a swift 500-km-long march, securing Pristina International Airport ahead of NATO troops, leading to standoff with NATO (this is a BAD mofo!!)
- Deputy Chief of the Intelligence Directorate of the Volga-Urals Military District, 2004
- Political head of Ingushetia, 2008 — 2019
- Member of ruling United Russia party
- Putin appointed him Dep Defence Minister, July 2019
- During Prigozhin’s coup attempt, he was in Rostov-on-Don when Wagner forces reached the city. Subsequently, Prigozhin published a Telegram video of him meeting with Yevkurov. Afterwards, Belarus president Lukashenko praised him for mediating the end of the rebellion.
- Yevkurov is under sanctions by USA, EU, UK, New Zealand, Canada, Ukraine, Australia, and Japan
So this appears the ideal point man in the largely Muslim Sahel — a career military officer who is also an experienced politician, carrying the personal imprimatur of Putin with a senior Defense Ministry rank and portfolio. A hard man who solves thorny problems. It is unlikely he will hang around as replacement for Wagner — his skill set is needed in many places at the same time; he is there to say Hi 🙋♂️, reassure, coordinate, and ease transition to the new Bosses of the bilateral security arrangements — the Russia state. And Frenchie and others on their way out can suck eggs, their crooked thumbs, or whatever eases their agony.
Joe Brandon is not the only one experiencing elder-abuse and wandering amiably off-stage chasing ghosts after gatherings and speeches. 90-year-old Paul Biya of Cameroon is in worse shape. This is why Cameroon, another Francophone located between Gabon and Niger in West Africa, is trending in “the Junta Watch” photo above with Ibrahim Traoré checking his wrist for the time.
No comment, except Thank God for Borrell’s helpful existence:
——–
🇬🇦 Gabon coup leader will not rush to elections
The leader of a coup said on Friday that he wanted to avoid rushing into elections that “repeat past mistakes”.
Brice Oligui Nguema said in a televised address on Friday evening that the junta would proceed “quickly but surely” but that it would avoid elections that “repeat the same mistakes” by keeping the same people in power.
“Going as quickly as possible does not mean organising ad hoc elections, where we will end up with the same errors,” he said.
Nguema has pledged to return the country to democracy, but has refused to provide a timelines for fresh elections. He added that the country’s state institutions would be made more democratic and their suspension was only “temporary”.
#Gabon
@africaintel
Oh Mr P, it is not all dastardliness in Laurel Canyon! Some weren’t abused as kids and have hope! Several Saker commentators were from there, including our Bones, rockin and rolling currently on both Smoothie’s and also here (every blue moon or so).
Here’s a gem: Niger’s Uranium in the U-Cranium 😅🤣 I can hazard this one as not X-rated!
Lavrov working the telephone to defuse war in the Sahel and Juntas belt. Morocco is the Anglo-French poodle who offered France its airspace to wage war on Niger.. and similarly closely linked to the deposed Bongo of Gabon. But it may be playing a stabilizing role in Gabon..
This poor and confused kingdom has a lot of trade at stake with Russia, including reselling oil to Europe and other new ventures. Its people are great but its elite are particularly odious, lots of Muslim Brotherhood and secret societies. It’s becoming increasingly isolated among Francophones. Can Russia talk sense via shared prosperity??
Its really going belly up for Frenchie in Afrique!
An allegation that Gen Yunus-Bek Yevkurov has assumed command of Russian Wagner forces in Africa, with HQ in Mali and Libya… Remember the Chef’s HQ was in CAR, his point of departure from Africa on his last fateful flight.
Mali is very interesting — I have been meaning to comment on the significant fight in the UNSC in last days, where its sanctions were removed through the veto of Russia.. western lawfare in the UN is being unrolled. DPRK, Libya and others next!
So unrestricted Russian military aid can now openly flow through Mali to the entire Sahel. And it makes sense for one of Russia’s HQs to be in Mali, a highly strategic land at the heart of the western Sahel. Mali is a cultural beacon throughout West Africa and even beyond (i.e. blues), and a proud history with once having the prestigious king Mansa Mousa in medieval times.
Bazoum is really toast, thanks to more French blundering… and Oh Boy, who else has these “special communication devices?” Besides Angela Merkel, Hunter, and the Comedian? And what Russian technology can help catch them in flagrante?
Remember the little toad Abdel-Fatau Musah of ECOWAS? He was in same meeting with Borrell, begging the EU for help! Imagine the abjectness of one’s state that one goes to a sinking Jungle Borrell and a demented Europe being openly devoured by Uncle Sam, an EU themselves being displaced in Francophone Africa! The little toad breathing fire a few weeks ago is now reduced to begging another group of befuddled menials in the same predicament! And Borrell steals Putin’s line about African solutions, lol.
This is beyond farce. The demented leading the blind
Good news re: Niger. After Borrell bleated they would levy (impotent) sanctions from hell, and the police sleuths were released to find certain vagabonds, now Nigeria (= ECOWAS) begins to openly melt! What a dramatic climbdown from Agent Tinubu!! Was he threatened by his own coup, a fine tradition in Nigeria btw?
