Forum Replies Created
-
We have an Alliance of Sahel States (AES)
BREAKING! The presidents of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso signed a charter on the creation of a confederation.
The primary objective of the 1st Summit of the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS, AES in French), involving the leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, was to adopt a draft document for the creation of an AGS confederation, according to the Nigerian Press Agency (NAP).
The summit, held in Niamey, is chaired by Niger’s leader, Abdurahmane Tchiani. Presidents Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso and Assimi Goita of Mali are also in attendance.
On Saturday, General Abdourahamane Tiani, the military leader of Niger, stated that the people of his country, along with those of Mali and Burkina Faso, have “irrevocably turned their backs” on the West African bloc, ECOWAS
The last colonists are now being pushed out …
The German armed forces will give up its airbase in Niger, which was used as a military transport hub, by August 31, as the sides failed to extend the agreement concerning the base, German media reported, citing the German Defense Ministry.
The talks broke down after the new Nigerien authorities had refused to grant German soldiers with immunity from prosecution, the NTV news outlet reported, citing a document the ministry had presented to the parliament.
Germany expects to withdraw its troops from the country by the end of August.
The German military has used the base in Niger’s capital, Niamey, since 2013 as a supply center for its armed forces in neighboring Mali, which were stationed there as part of a UN peacekeeping mission.
Nigerien authorities have also terminated military agreements with France and the United States, which led to the French and US forces’ withdrawal from the country.
More than half of Gaza’s vegetation land has been damaged or destroyed, preventing the Strip’s ability to feed itself.
South Africa – I came across this old documentary by John Pilger (rip). Note the date 1998 – four years after the freedom election.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVwEHdDHs78
He compares a very rich enclave (Sandton I think) with a very poor almost squatter black community. This is a bit rich as this is common in Africa and just think of favelas in Brazil, think of India. Our world is not fair and not even the New South Africa could get free of poverty in their 30 years of rule. But hear what Nelson Mandela said himself – they made ‘accommodations’ with the west (that would be with the mine owners and filthy rich business owners). I’ve always known this. But to today, they blame the ordinary white South African walking the same streets for ‘owning all the wealth’.
Just as the Americans will never be forgiven for the slaughter of the American Indians and the zionist israelis will never be forgiven for the slaughter of the Palestinians, so the white South African will never be forgiven for the more or less 50 years of apartheid. The ANC government (now a GNU) is race-mad. The current GNU (government of national unity) is one hell of an experiment and they’ve already started beating one another up in parliamentary circles. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-06-28-effs-marshall-dlamini-sentenced-for-assaulting-constable-in-parliament-he-remains-an-mp/ (paper more to the right side but those descriptors do not make sense these days).
The expectation is that they may be able to seat a parliament after this weekend. The proportional representation of the two biggest parties has somehow disappeared and now what is left of the ANC wants to give the DA (second in the elections) fewer government seats and if that does not work, they will try to invite the very small parties to have a seat each.
In the meantime, “New faces, old scandals: The familiar staleness of South Africa’s 2024 National Assembly” https://mg.co.za/editorial/2024-06-28-new-faces-old-scandals-the-familiar-staleness-of-south-africas-2024-national-assembly/ (paper more to the left).
Race Madness … there are reasons why the ANC lost their majority badly during the elections. One can be thankful for small mercies and say it looks a lot worse in Kenya. Why does the Kenyan violence persist? That is a new essay.
Pilger has some pieces about the mines which are not in white South African hands but in white British and US hands. The ordinary white South African these days would be a poorer person, struggling to make a living, like the rest of the country. The difference is that they are legislated out of the workplace (300 race-based laws). They cannot even have a small business because they have to have a black partner.
As Pilger says, nothing much has changed apartheid-wise. What he does not say is that it was only flipped from one color to another. The black folks still sing .. Kill the Farmer, Kill the Boer. https://x.com/ConCaracal/status/1806627046233166046
I do not know what the state was of white farm murders at the time the documentary was made. Currently, it is out of control.
Two more issues not in the documentary, kinda updated:
– the impoverished white population living in shanty towns or squatter camps is approaching 700,000 by some of the highest counts I saw. Of course, that number is highly contested. Others say there are only a few thousand. With my eyes there are many more than a few thousand as I traveled from the North to the South, showing my children the country, just before the turn of the century. There are 4 to 5 million whites still left in South Africa and they are not leaving. There is no European right of return and most do not even know where in Europe they came from except perhaps by last name traced back throughout marriages. They are Africans – they integrated. The jews have long since left and so have most of the Brits.
– the Marikana murders, where the police opened fire directly into protesting mine workers – Cyril Rampahosa was a director at this mine. This was in 2012 – 18 years after apartheid was abolished.
https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/marikana-massacre-16-august-2012
I enjoyed the Pilger documentary although there is a lot that I can take issue with. Let’s see if these folks can come up with a functioning state apparatus where they don’t beat one another up.
