TARGET:
NIGER
The change of Status
Quo in Niger goes beyond any interest in democratic institutions or similar
tales.
By Sidney Hey
What is the worst thing a slaveholder can tolerate, if not the rebellion of his slaves? After the overthrow of the corrupt government of Niger, obedient to the Western metropolis, its elites, and especially those ruling in Paris and Washington, have been shaken into a tantrum by the audacity of this action against “democracy”.
As has happened in
other scenarios, and as seen in Ukraine, Washington has its political monkeys
to manage the crisis and carry out the dirty work that they are unwilling to do,
but very keen to see done.
The visible face of
this African representation has a name and a rank: Bola Tinubu, Nigeria's
president, a corrupt politician, who for decades was a patron of the ranch,
closely linked to the laundering of heroin trafficking money from US mafias. He
worked for major US companies and in 1993 was involved in a drug smuggling case
in the Midwest. How did he get off the hook? As they say in America, Tinubu is “a
good boy” who graciously served US administrations and therefore enjoyed
impunity. He would be the lucky African version of a Manuel Noriega with the
big difference that he was more cunning and managed to avoid being taken out of
the game.
As such, he was an
active collaborator in the implementation of economic and financial reforms
promoted by the IMF, a body politically controlled by the US.
The Anglo-American
media (unsurprisingly) portrays him as a "democrat", concerned about
regional institutionality who is willing to unify the armies of the ECOWAS
countries to invade Niger and re-establish the former government.
As we can intuit,
Tinubu seems to have read from Bush-Cheney's democratic constitutionalism, that
which “democratized” with invasions and torture.
Tinubu's proposal
closely resembles another of the thugs who have sadly gone down in history, who
in 1990, with the complicity of the United Nations, formed an international
Coalition that culminated in an endless war.
Unsurprisingly,
Tinubu's threats stem not from his own indignation or genuine concern for the
continent's “institutionality” but from the concerns of his colleagues in
Washington, London and Paris.
There was no need for a
character like Tinubu to surprise with such threats. Within hours of the coup
d'état in Paris, troops were already being prepared to be sent to regain
control of the country and restore its friendly official. But things were not
so simple and straightforward. As the first reports from Niamey began to come
in, DGSE analysts and their British MI6 colleagues who are always present in
the region warned of demonstrations and a Russian component in the form of
flags among the demonstrators.
But the caution goes
beyond people's sympathies for Russia, but rather, because of the decisive and
substantial political and military support provided by the Kremlin. Rumours of
the arrival of PMC Wagner Group advisory teams in Niger are the real reasons
why the French and Americans have put the brakes on their plans.
Added to this, the support
of neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso and Mali has made things more
complicated than Biden himself expected, and that is why (as was also to be
expected), they are betting on using their favourite weapon: economic
sanctions, although it must be said that they will not have the same effect as
they did in the past against Arab countries. Because there are two powers like
Russia and China that are counterbalancing this mafia and financial power that
serves as an extension of the interests of the White House and the US State
Department.
This is a matter of
interest for the French Defence Ministry and, of course, for partners in
Washington and London. Resources will have to be deployed on the ground and
they will have to do so with great care. They will have to consider the options
and possible consequences of engaging in a new adventure to back up their straw
man Tinubu.
The main target for the
cutting of these tentacles is Paris and it is not unreasonable that the
paratroopers of the 11th Regiment of the SDECE and the 2nd Foreign Legion are
preparing for a lightning raid on Niger's capital. The stakes are too high for
French politicians and especially their businessmen to sit idly by. Billions of
dollars in minerals such as gold, coal and especially the exploitation of a
strategic mineral such as uranium (exploited by the French corporation AREVA)
are the reasons for mobilising all available resources.
In the case of uranium,
this change in the country's political situation could lead the new government
to adopt limitations for this exploitation, or a change in the guidelines
foreseen for the corporations that benefit from it.
Nor would it be
surprising if S.A.S. teams and some US participation are already coordinating
actions and establishing operational bases in one of the African countries in
tune with Washington.
Nigeria is at the top
of the list of candidates to host such an operation.
The situation in Niger
is a serious concern for Washington and it is not about institutionality or
democracy, not at all! Joe Biden and his circle of neoconservatives, committed
to the globalist and hegemonist project, do not want to see this African
country become the gateway to Russia and China and with it, that detestable -for
the entire neocon elite- geopolitical conception called multilateralism.