In other words, about two battalions of troops in each. The US military is said to have roughly 1,200 soldiers in Mali, and I’d speculate about the same number in Niger. International Man: The largest American drone base in the world is in Niger, a country most US taxpayers would struggle to find on the map.ĭoug Casey: It is strange that the US, which has no trade to speak of with Africa, has a division of the military called AFRICOM. But that was one of the reasons that the CIA, the US, and NATO overthrew him. This was something that Muammar Gaddafi tried to do. The ideal solution, of course, is to use gold as a currency. Or France to buy a chateau on the Côte-d’Or. A group captures the government, uses it to steal all they can and ship the proceeds off to Switzerland. There’s no question that France is ripping them off, but not nearly as badly as their own parasitic elites. Other than their own backward cultures, the problem is that these countries are chronically and enthusiastically exploited by their ruling classes through their governments. They can’t effectively do that with the CFA.
Why? Because they’d use Modern Monetary Theory, i.e., massive inflation, to generate government revenue. But on the other hand, if the local governments had their own local currencies, they’d likely be even less prosperous than they are today. It’s true that France exploits its ex-colonies by bribing or otherwise influencing local politicians to trade mainly with the mother country and use the CFA. But there are still plenty of de facto slaves there. In fact, it was still legal in Mauretania, where I spent a week or so a few years ago, until 1985. It only ended because Europeans brought forth the Industrial Revolution, making it uneconomic. Of course, it’s also true that slaves, captured by Arabs and other tribes, were about all Africa had that was of any current value. Africa would have developed very differently and much faster. It’s too bad the Europeans conquered and forcefully colonized Africa instead of simply trading peacefully with the natives. But he would’ve had to throw out an instruction book as well-except nobody south of the Sahara would have been able to read it. There’s an old joke, but it’s quite true, that when Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, if he’d just thrown out a wheel, Africans should have been eternally grateful to the Europeans. On the other hand, the Europeans hugely raised their standard of living.
Nobody likes aliens of a different race, language, religion, and culture bossing them. International Man: Fourteen countries in western and central Africa do not have their own currency and use the CFA franc-controlled by France-as their currency.Ī common theme among the coups was resentment towards France, the former colonial power.ĭoug Casey: It’s perfectly understandable that many Africans resent European colonial powers. In Africa, much more than in the West, the purpose of government is for the leader to steal as much money and garner as much power as possible for himself and his cronies. It has absolutely nothing to do with improving the state of the country. If the leadership ever changes, it’s usually because of a coup. And if they have an election, it’s usually one man, one vote, one time.
It’s a fraud.Īll of these governments have constant coups. The idea that democracy has any meaning at all in Africa is ridiculous. They’re just random agglomerations of tribes. Their borders were created in the boardrooms of Europe with absolutely no respect for who lived there.Įvery country on the continent has dozens of different tribes and clans flowing across its borders most are at odds with each other. What is your take on what is going on here?ĭoug Casey: Every country in Africa is an artificial construct. International Man: Since 2020, coups have replaced pro-Western governments in Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, and now Niger with governments more aligned with Russia. Authored by Doug Casey via Doug Casey’s International Man,
0 kommentar(er)
