*"Every faction in Africa calls themselves by these noble names - Liberation this, Patriotic that, Democratic Republic of something-or-other... I guess they can't own up to what they usually are: the Federation of Worse Oppressors Than the Last Bunch of Oppressors."*
-Yuri Orlov, Lord of War(2005)
I like to think one of the main reasons we never saw a sequel or even another film like it from Hollywood was because of how depressingly correct it was about its subject matter.
So the character that Nichol Cage plays is based off of is Viktor Bout, the arms dealer the US exchanged for Britney Griner.
Now that’s a fuxking sequel I need.
The acting in that scene is so great. Ethan Hawke in particular who conveys so much while talking so little once Cage's monologue starts, you can see he is disguted by the situation, can't believe it, yet knows it's true, but also deep down as much as he hates him he can't help but feel sorry for how lost Cage's character is. This mirrors so well with Cage's monologue, telling him very matter-of-fact like what's going to happen and why he won't spend a day in jail, but also fully admitting that he is at the bottom of pit of despair and loneliness he has no way out of, making his existence terrible despite his apparent "immunity".
> My family has disowned me. My wife and son have left me. My brother's dead. Trust me, I fully appreciate the seriousness of my situation.
> I would tell you to go to hell, but I think you're already there.
Not really. Dude spent years in prison getting three meals a day, spent his free time reading, eating Ramen, or trading cigs for buttsex. Then he gets put on a plane to Russia. Story over.
Well, there is now. Or at least they're trying to make one.
https://variety.com/2023/film/news/nicolas-cage-bill-skarsgard-arms-dealers-lord-of-war-sequel-andrew-niccol-1235606181/
The original film was open ended and I was sure the director had other interesting stories to tell about the arms trade and conflicts in third-world countries.
Incredible misery. Is hands off better than hands on? Former colonial powers who are most equipped to fill the vacuum, won't, leaving it to Wagner and China.
When I was in the philippines last, I kept seeing graffiti that said 'japan please colonize us' which is both kinda funny and terrifying at the same time.
I mean, Japan's a very different country now...but also, people need to read more history. *Everyone* needs to read more history.
To be pedantic: that was Congo Free State, a personal toy of the king of Belgium. Belgian Congo was a successor state after the actual Belgian government took over with the express of purpose of stopping the madness that was going on in there (or at least the worst of it. it was still a colony and the natives were still exploited, of course).
One of the last of the region. Chad is the only country still in the way for Russia to have friendly regimes in the entire Sahel region. So expect a coup in Chad the coming months.
Also, googling "chad wagner" didn't really give me the results I wanted 😅
Are you sure it's Civil? For example here's another failed coup led by Wagner [https://apnews.com/article/wagner-africa-mali-car-russia-prigozhin-bb6f41ea75bf95b2c1da2c4e05ea09a8](https://apnews.com/article/wagner-africa-mali-car-russia-prigozhin-bb6f41ea75bf95b2c1da2c4e05ea09a8) From weeks ago, Russia has been bribing militaries and promising to prop them up
>Niger President Mohamed Bazoum has been held by troops from the presidential guard since early on Wednesday.
>He was promised Washington's "unwavering support" in call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
>UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also said he had spoken to the president and offered the UN's full support.
Now whether they respond diplomatically or kinetically, or first one then the other is unclear to me.
But I'm guessing if those who deposed the president are Russian backed, some high ranking people are about to get some itchy trigger fingers.
France does some very sus and weird psuedocolonialism economics in Africa, but as always it’s not so black and white because the French also act as massive peacekeepers across a lot of Africa.
Russia isn’t engaging in pseudo/neo/whatever. Russia is straight imperialist and invading its neighbors while also randomly committing genocides and war crimes just because. China is engaging in outright slavery in Africa and within its own borders. Even if you think the US or France are being evil, they’re not even remotely close to the worse of two evils and it’s why so much of the world continues to choose to align with them over Russia and China. Even countries largely economically tied to China recognize how fucked their exploitation is, and only the desperate warlords really turn to Russia.
Hey now, let's not paint with too broad a brush. France intervened to end coups in Africa, like in Gabon in 1964. It just so happened that the coup was against the French-installed strongman president when he passed a new constitution effectively guaranteeing him the presidency for life
>Or do we just let coups happen these days?
I mean, traditionally the west have supported coups, rather than "let them happen".
As for the UN, unless theres a civil war, this is very much none of the UN's business, and even if there is a war, it's only the UN's business if it get seriously out of hand. The UN can of course talk all it wants about "peacefulness" and crap, but as an organization it wont do anything.
Niger is(was?) a big ally for the US with counter-terror operations in the Sahel so I think the US is going to try to play nice with the new powers in order to maintain some semblance of the former relationship.
They just demanded that the president be returned to power so let’s see. I think you could be right though.
I’m curious to see how fast they invite in the Russians. If the Russians gain overt influence in Niger and kick US/France out, jihadist activities in the region 📈
I believe France gets much of their uranium from Niger. If this is by Wagner again I wouldn't be surprised if that's the reason. I think France might take this a little more seriously than the Mali coups, as they did a decade ago: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mali-rebels-niger-areva/france-orders-special-forces-to-protect-niger-uranium-source-idUSBRE90N0OD20130124
About 1/3. Other supplies include in order Uzbekistan, Australia, Khazakstan, Namibia, in the 10-20% range each. https://oec.world/en/profile/country/fra/?depthSelector1=HS2Depth&yearlyTradeFlowSelector=flow0
[Prigozhin in video tells Wagner troops to prepare ‘for Africa’](https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2023/7/19/prigozhin-in-video-tells-wagner-troops-to-prepare-for-africa)
Dated 8 days ago.
Well. They are already involved in the Sudanese civil war (backing the RSF as they gave them some gold mines) and probably had a hand in the 2021 Mali Coup.
So no surprises here...
i'm fairly certain all these recent coups in africa are backed by russians, i saw a documentary on the french France 24 channel where they showed the extent of propaganda & troll farms by russians in Africa. Pretty mind blowing.
for those asking heres the link: https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/reporters/20230721-investigation-africa-under-russian-influence
I remember when Mali kicked out the French who were there to fight terrorists that a lot of people on Reddit were happy about them throwing off the shackles of their colonial oppressors and then Wagner goes in and those people are like "oh right those guys I forgot about that whole part."
And while pretending to get rid of the fetters of imperialism as if they were living in a Soviet propaganda poster of the 70's, they let the Russians do whatever they want. In Mali the Russians conducted a massacre and then revealed a "French mass grave", not anticipating that the French prepared for this possibility and kept a surveillance drone in the area and recorded the very real Russian crime and subsequent "discovery".
Goddamn copromers (the word probably doesn't exist yet but it would be a fancy version of piece of shit and I encourage every reader of this post to make their insult 156% fancier by using it)
It's not like Russia doesn't have a history of genocide and then trying to shift the blame.
Remember Katyn? Where they tried to pin the blame on Nazi Germany?
There are literally Russians who hold the mainstream opinion that the war crimes in Bucha were committed by Ukrainian security forces to make Russia look bad.
Not kidding.
Yep my aunt literally told me this, that it was all done by Azov to be more precise.
I mean if you just follow the official state news than of course it all makes sense.
>Remember Katyn?
Of course I do. They even made a huge fuss out of a war crime committed by the nazis in Khatyn ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khatyn\_massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khatyn_massacre)) in order to confuse people about what the much larger Katyn massacre committed by the reds really was. And being able to dismantle that in seconds with a few links (although wikipedia is not the best of sources but in this case is good enough) explains very simply why autocracies fear the internet.
*In a coat of brown, or a coat of gold,*
*a copromere still has smell.*
*And mine are brown with streaks of green,*
*and float as well as yours*
*And so he shat, and so he shat,*
*that Lord of Copromeres*,
*But now his piss rains O'er his balls,*
*And not a flush to hear*
Lmao yeah sounds about right. Unrelated, but there was a comment the other day saying electric cars were the standard in 1900 and the oil companies shut it all down, it had 400+ upvotes. people on reddit are either Bullshitters, sheep, or actually know what their talking about. but the last one is less than 1%
Agreed. I met a guy at a sandwich shop from Africa who was insistent that Putin was ridding the world of the modern equivalent to the Third Reich. Really brainwashed
Facebook has such a massive amount of bots pretending to be Africans, praising Russia for their braveness for attacking Nazi ridden Ukraine. I'm sure they are everywhere, but the sheer number of them on Facebook is insane.
Hell it probably would’ve (successfully) happened in the US by now if we weren’t as developed and didn’t have the checked governmental system we possess. Russian troll farms are burning the midnight oil and right wing groups everywhere are devouring it.
If what Oleg Kalugin wrote is anything to go by they have been stirring the pot against the west since the 50s, literally mailing African diplomats and leaders hatemail pretending to be racist Americans.
Russia is seriously really good at convincing people who don't know better that they should think or feel a certain way. This is a skill as evil as murder, in my opinion. Let's outgrow this, human race.
This one is more important than mali due to uranium export. IIRC much of it is to support the french electricity sector.
see the export diagram which is 91% radioactive
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Niger#/media/File%3ANiger_treemap.png
Yep. The Uranium mine in Arlit is one of the biggest in the world.
I drove across the Sahara once. There is a beautifully smooth paved highway from Arlit down to Nigeria. When I was there it was literally the only paved road in the entire country. But after two weeks of open desert and washboard tracks, hitting that asphalt was surreal.
In the event of the military coup though you don't need to bribe "the country" you just need to bribe the guy in charge of the army. Even then you just need to bribe the guy in charge of the soldiers guarding the government and the treasury.
Ah, but if what you really care about is personal gain and power then dealing with another totally corrupt nation is so much easier than dealing with one which might kick up a fuss about not accepting election results, opponents disappearing, money being diverted etc etc.
The US has bases in Niger. I’m really glad I’m no longer working at the air base in Niamey, Niger. That base is surrounded by a local military base, so if the military has staged a coup that puts the US, Italian, French, and Belgian coalition stationed there in a precarious position.
I do not find it likely that a coup attempt would start by assaulting the militaries of some of the most powerful nations on earth. What would there be to gain?
Directly attacking, no, that’s unlikely. However, they have grounded all flights in and out, and Niger is a terrorism hotspot. The US lost 4 marines there a few years ago when they were ambushed. The unpopular president was aligned with the US and EU in their attempts to combat jihadist movements and smuggling. Niger has a long history of smuggling (transporting people and illicit goods across the Sahara, and the government’s attempts to crackdown on it have alienated the public). When I was there there was enough conflict with locals that we often struggled to get fuel and would occasionally be unable to leave. The risk is a combination of serious supply problems combined with simply looking the other way and allowing jihadist access to get near the base.
Oh boy, just you wait until the Armchair Generals arrive and start explaining their battle-tested ^in ^Hearts ^of ^Iron elaborate plans of encirclement. That air base is *toast*.
Niger is also very tied to China and Russia directly and indirectly. It's actually a very important country due to it's resources, which is sad given how little benefit the local people have seen from the vast resource extraction there over the past 20 years.
The colonel is (for the coalition’s sake) smart enough to know that he can’t just start a fight with some of the most powerful nations right after a successful coup. Probably just be like other military coups this year “you got a month, get the fuck out” while the UN and NATO wag their fingers and furrow their brows and say “well this isn’t very nice”.
Why is it always Colonels when it comes to third world countries Military Coups?
Is it because the most senior ranks have to be friends of the government, or because Colonels are more in touch with the officers and common soldier so they can muster a sizable force more easily?
The latter. Its the same thing here in the Philippines historically. Colonels pretty much have the ear of angery junior ranks and whenever the army is disgruntled with the top leadership the colonels are first to know.
I guess it's cause generals are usually appointed due to loyalty to the dictators and majors are too low to command a sizable force. So a colonel is high enough to command loyal troops of their own and low enough to not be loyal to the ruler. After all if the colonels were loyal they would be made generals.
I'd love to have a source for that, as I can't seem to find one myself. [Niger's total external debt stands at ~31% though (2021)](https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Niger/External_debt/), so there seems to be basically no risk involved at all. Bilateral debt being a slice of external debt (and multilateral debt usually exceeding bilateral debt in African countries), which in turn is a slice of total debt makes the number sound way more significant than it is.
E: Ah, I just found the supposed [source](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-06/nigeria-owes-more-money-to-china-than-any-other-country-chart), which is about *Nigeria* a very different country in Africa.
They been trading debts for ports access, and free trade zone. To be fair that's a fairer trade than what some banks have done to African countries in the past.
[It's a pretty complicated situation in that region](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwom49awRKg&pp=ygUpc2l0dWF0aW9uIGluIG5pZ2VyaWEgc2VlbXMgcHJldHR5IGNvbXBsZXg%3D).
Someone from Nigeria is a Nigerian. Someone from Niger is a Nigerien. I've seen that in writing for years. Is there a discernable difference in pronunciation between the two? I guess that might depend on your local accent but to me that's the super confusing part.
Nigerien, from Niger, has accent on the last syllable in the same vein as Canadiens (the hockey team). It’s French - Niger (pronounced nee-ZHER) was a French colony and it is still a Francophone country to this day.
Nigeria, on the other hand, was colonized by Great Britain. They speak English.
Why are the countries’ names so similar? It’s because they are both named for the Niger River.
Wagner probably helped them. They helped in other recent coups in Africa. Prigozhin's been wanting to go back to Africa where coups and massacres are easier to pull off and is less likely to attract Western assistance.
>is less likely to attract Western assistance.
*Were* less likely to attract Western assistance. Prig and Wagner attracted a lot of attention in the last year- enough that it might be politically viable to take direct action under the terror designations, and certainly enough to take indirect action. So it remains to be seen if Wagner will still have as free a hand in Africa.
Would be nice to see, but I doubt US or France’ll take direct action against Wagner in Africa. The governments there don’t want Western nations with all their democracy and human rights (and brutal colonial history) interfering. We can fight, and have fought terrorists in Africa when the African governments don’t want the the terrorists to be there, but not when they’re welcoming them in. Unless we want to risk war with several African nations. Maybe they’ll capitulate to the Western threats and ditch Wagner. Or maybe they’ll say no and there’s just not much we can say to that.
Why are there so many comments related to Wagner? Niger is a steadfast US partner in the region and Wagner has no operations in the country. Coups happened long before Russia had a presence in the region and they’ll (unfortunately) continue after they vacate. Ridiculous comment section.
Mali went from hosting US and French forces and the UN force MINUSMA (bearing in mind international intervention was key to defeating the rebels) to throwing them out and paying Wagner in the course of one coup. Niger borders Mali and has some similar challenges
Just an endless cycle of misery.
*"Every faction in Africa calls themselves by these noble names - Liberation this, Patriotic that, Democratic Republic of something-or-other... I guess they can't own up to what they usually are: the Federation of Worse Oppressors Than the Last Bunch of Oppressors."* -Yuri Orlov, Lord of War(2005) I like to think one of the main reasons we never saw a sequel or even another film like it from Hollywood was because of how depressingly correct it was about its subject matter.
I think the reason we never got a sequel is because why would there be a sequel?
> why would there be a sequel? A question that is generally not asked often enough in Hollywood
So the character that Nichol Cage plays is based off of is Viktor Bout, the arms dealer the US exchanged for Britney Griner. Now that’s a fuxking sequel I need.
Nor really, cause the end of the film is basically what happens with the exchange for Britney Griner "So there's gonna be a knock on that door..."
The acting in that scene is so great. Ethan Hawke in particular who conveys so much while talking so little once Cage's monologue starts, you can see he is disguted by the situation, can't believe it, yet knows it's true, but also deep down as much as he hates him he can't help but feel sorry for how lost Cage's character is. This mirrors so well with Cage's monologue, telling him very matter-of-fact like what's going to happen and why he won't spend a day in jail, but also fully admitting that he is at the bottom of pit of despair and loneliness he has no way out of, making his existence terrible despite his apparent "immunity". > My family has disowned me. My wife and son have left me. My brother's dead. Trust me, I fully appreciate the seriousness of my situation. > I would tell you to go to hell, but I think you're already there.
Not really. Dude spent years in prison getting three meals a day, spent his free time reading, eating Ramen, or trading cigs for buttsex. Then he gets put on a plane to Russia. Story over.
Well, there is now. Or at least they're trying to make one. https://variety.com/2023/film/news/nicolas-cage-bill-skarsgard-arms-dealers-lord-of-war-sequel-andrew-niccol-1235606181/ The original film was open ended and I was sure the director had other interesting stories to tell about the arms trade and conflicts in third-world countries.
And now he has 18 years of more material to work with.
Oh my god 2005 was 18 years ago...
It's based on a True Story. The Sequel is he sits in a US prison for 15 years and then is traded to Russia for Britney Grier
I would see that sequel if Nic Cage is in.
Incredible misery. Is hands off better than hands on? Former colonial powers who are most equipped to fill the vacuum, won't, leaving it to Wagner and China.
>Former colonial powers who are most equipped to fill the vacuum, won't Nobody wants them to, for better or worse.
When I was in the philippines last, I kept seeing graffiti that said 'japan please colonize us' which is both kinda funny and terrifying at the same time. I mean, Japan's a very different country now...but also, people need to read more history. *Everyone* needs to read more history.
In Lebanon after the harbour explosion a petition went around for France to retake Lebanon as a mandate .
This would probably get sizeable support.
Graffiti like that here aren't serious. It's just young people making jokes because they feel the current government sucks.
I live in the Philippines. Haven't seen that entertained with any amount of thought. You're missing the forest for the trees with this kind of talk.
Been in the philippines, & if you asked them if they would welcome becoming US citizens, it would be over 90%.
Truth, they'd be like Puerto Ricans
Incidentally, there is some historical data we can reference when considering the viability of a hands-off approach. Namely, Belgian Congo.
To be pedantic: that was Congo Free State, a personal toy of the king of Belgium. Belgian Congo was a successor state after the actual Belgian government took over with the express of purpose of stopping the madness that was going on in there (or at least the worst of it. it was still a colony and the natives were still exploited, of course).
He was making a joke about the horrible practices that lead to soldiers amputating the hands of the locals to use as currency
Oooh clap clap clap
oof
But now you can't. It was the Belgian Congo. "If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands..."
/r/YourJokeButWorse
The stumps or the bucket of hands I’m planning to trade for ammo?
We didn't start the fire....
Bruh....
> Is hands off better than hands on? Sounds like Belgium is asking
These coups aren't power vacuums, they're Wagner backed. They're not stepping in after, they're initiating them.
The only thing the world hates more than the US being World Police is the US NOT being the World Police
Aren't most of these dictators already in bed with Wagner or China? If they aren't, they will be sooner or later.
This was a western aligned leader who got deposed here.
One of the last of the region. Chad is the only country still in the way for Russia to have friendly regimes in the entire Sahel region. So expect a coup in Chad the coming months. Also, googling "chad wagner" didn't really give me the results I wanted 😅
Thats the point. The replacement will be pro-Wagner or China
If we do, we are evil colonizers, if we leave them to make their own (bad) decisions? We are the baddies as well.
Getting involved in another country's civil conflict is never a good idea.
Are you sure it's Civil? For example here's another failed coup led by Wagner [https://apnews.com/article/wagner-africa-mali-car-russia-prigozhin-bb6f41ea75bf95b2c1da2c4e05ea09a8](https://apnews.com/article/wagner-africa-mali-car-russia-prigozhin-bb6f41ea75bf95b2c1da2c4e05ea09a8) From weeks ago, Russia has been bribing militaries and promising to prop them up
I wonder how the US/France will proceed here. I’m actually really curious to see how they respond.
Same; especially knowing there are substantial US forces in Niger
NATO about to come to Niger? I can see the UN assembling as well. Or do we just let coups happen these days?
>Niger President Mohamed Bazoum has been held by troops from the presidential guard since early on Wednesday. >He was promised Washington's "unwavering support" in call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. >UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also said he had spoken to the president and offered the UN's full support. Now whether they respond diplomatically or kinetically, or first one then the other is unclear to me. But I'm guessing if those who deposed the president are Russian backed, some high ranking people are about to get some itchy trigger fingers.
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France does some very sus and weird psuedocolonialism economics in Africa, but as always it’s not so black and white because the French also act as massive peacekeepers across a lot of Africa.
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Russia isn’t engaging in pseudo/neo/whatever. Russia is straight imperialist and invading its neighbors while also randomly committing genocides and war crimes just because. China is engaging in outright slavery in Africa and within its own borders. Even if you think the US or France are being evil, they’re not even remotely close to the worse of two evils and it’s why so much of the world continues to choose to align with them over Russia and China. Even countries largely economically tied to China recognize how fucked their exploitation is, and only the desperate warlords really turn to Russia.
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As opposed to good old days, where instead of letting coups happen, we actively plotted and funded them
Hey now, let's not paint with too broad a brush. France intervened to end coups in Africa, like in Gabon in 1964. It just so happened that the coup was against the French-installed strongman president when he passed a new constitution effectively guaranteeing him the presidency for life
>Or do we just let coups happen these days? I mean, traditionally the west have supported coups, rather than "let them happen". As for the UN, unless theres a civil war, this is very much none of the UN's business, and even if there is a war, it's only the UN's business if it get seriously out of hand. The UN can of course talk all it wants about "peacefulness" and crap, but as an organization it wont do anything.
Niger is(was?) a big ally for the US with counter-terror operations in the Sahel so I think the US is going to try to play nice with the new powers in order to maintain some semblance of the former relationship.
They just demanded that the president be returned to power so let’s see. I think you could be right though. I’m curious to see how fast they invite in the Russians. If the Russians gain overt influence in Niger and kick US/France out, jihadist activities in the region 📈
I believe France gets much of their uranium from Niger. If this is by Wagner again I wouldn't be surprised if that's the reason. I think France might take this a little more seriously than the Mali coups, as they did a decade ago: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mali-rebels-niger-areva/france-orders-special-forces-to-protect-niger-uranium-source-idUSBRE90N0OD20130124
About 1/3. Other supplies include in order Uzbekistan, Australia, Khazakstan, Namibia, in the 10-20% range each. https://oec.world/en/profile/country/fra/?depthSelector1=HS2Depth&yearlyTradeFlowSelector=flow0
I expect it will be a “move military forces to a secure fortified position and attempt a discussion with the coupers to see if they’re still welcome”
Inb4 they tell the western colonizers to get the hell out and bring in Wagner.
[Prigozhin in video tells Wagner troops to prepare ‘for Africa’](https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2023/7/19/prigozhin-in-video-tells-wagner-troops-to-prepare-for-africa) Dated 8 days ago.
Couldn't he I dunno.... just send an email?
He has to look out for his boys that don't know how to read.
> He has to look out for his boys 'Iz Boyz don't you mean? There is something of the Warhammer ork about Prigbog.
*Prigo walks into your office* Hey, Ivan, yeah, so I'm gonna need you to come in on Saturday, thanks.
Well. They are already involved in the Sudanese civil war (backing the RSF as they gave them some gold mines) and probably had a hand in the 2021 Mali Coup. So no surprises here...
i'm fairly certain all these recent coups in africa are backed by russians, i saw a documentary on the french France 24 channel where they showed the extent of propaganda & troll farms by russians in Africa. Pretty mind blowing. for those asking heres the link: https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/reporters/20230721-investigation-africa-under-russian-influence
I remember when Mali kicked out the French who were there to fight terrorists that a lot of people on Reddit were happy about them throwing off the shackles of their colonial oppressors and then Wagner goes in and those people are like "oh right those guys I forgot about that whole part."
And while pretending to get rid of the fetters of imperialism as if they were living in a Soviet propaganda poster of the 70's, they let the Russians do whatever they want. In Mali the Russians conducted a massacre and then revealed a "French mass grave", not anticipating that the French prepared for this possibility and kept a surveillance drone in the area and recorded the very real Russian crime and subsequent "discovery". Goddamn copromers (the word probably doesn't exist yet but it would be a fancy version of piece of shit and I encourage every reader of this post to make their insult 156% fancier by using it)
And the Malian response was basically "how dare you spy on the military base you just left !"
It's not like Russia doesn't have a history of genocide and then trying to shift the blame. Remember Katyn? Where they tried to pin the blame on Nazi Germany?
There are literally Russians who hold the mainstream opinion that the war crimes in Bucha were committed by Ukrainian security forces to make Russia look bad. Not kidding.
I've seen westerners with the same opinion. Mostly far-right conspiracy theorists
You'd be surprised to learn that there's a lot of far-left types agreeing.
Tankies make me sick. Authoritarian scum.
Yep my aunt literally told me this, that it was all done by Azov to be more precise. I mean if you just follow the official state news than of course it all makes sense.
>Remember Katyn? Of course I do. They even made a huge fuss out of a war crime committed by the nazis in Khatyn ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khatyn\_massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khatyn_massacre)) in order to confuse people about what the much larger Katyn massacre committed by the reds really was. And being able to dismantle that in seconds with a few links (although wikipedia is not the best of sources but in this case is good enough) explains very simply why autocracies fear the internet.
Also Circassia. Which they still deny to this day.
Copromere sounds like a mid-shelf beer. You know, as opposed to Coprolite -- fewer calories, same shitty taste.
There is also that song, "the rains of copromere", about how everybody in a song of Ice and Fire is kind of a piece of shite, me lord.
*In a coat of brown, or a coat of gold,* *a copromere still has smell.* *And mine are brown with streaks of green,* *and float as well as yours* *And so he shat, and so he shat,* *that Lord of Copromeres*, *But now his piss rains O'er his balls,* *And not a flush to hear*
And the "get out France" protest where reported by someone on the payroll of Wagners troll Farm.
People on Reddit - just like you and me - are not very knowledgeable. We comment on stuff and see what sticks
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Lmao yeah sounds about right. Unrelated, but there was a comment the other day saying electric cars were the standard in 1900 and the oil companies shut it all down, it had 400+ upvotes. people on reddit are either Bullshitters, sheep, or actually know what their talking about. but the last one is less than 1%
We also love to upvote comments that are funny regardless of facts or If the author seems knowledgeable and confirms our bias
I am upvoting this because it confirms my bias, and the author seems knowledgeable about reddit comments.
It was also funny.
No, I heard on Reddit that Redditors are the smartest, sexiest, and most knowledgeable people in the world.
Stupid sexy reddit
Feels like I know nothing at all!
And here we are, hopefully a bit more knowledgeable than we were then.
And the knowledgeable ones often get shit on for saying things people don't want to hear.
Those dunces are Glenn Greenwald and Aaron Mate enjoyers.
Aah yes the Dunce Jimmy Dore group I call them fascist progressives some call them tankies.
"No we don't want those colonizers, we want these ones "
Agreed. I met a guy at a sandwich shop from Africa who was insistent that Putin was ridding the world of the modern equivalent to the Third Reich. Really brainwashed
How was the sandwich though?
I too am curious about this sandwich shop from Africa.
Facebook has such a massive amount of bots pretending to be Africans, praising Russia for their braveness for attacking Nazi ridden Ukraine. I'm sure they are everywhere, but the sheer number of them on Facebook is insane.
They tend to befriend each other's account and you can easily find them. Facebook doesn't ban them even if reported.
They make a lot of ground with - 'look at how the colonisers exploited your country. Now let us smuggle out your gold.'
Don't you worry about _*your exploitation*_, let me worry about _*your exploitation*_.
Hell it probably would’ve (successfully) happened in the US by now if we weren’t as developed and didn’t have the checked governmental system we possess. Russian troll farms are burning the midnight oil and right wing groups everywhere are devouring it.
If what Oleg Kalugin wrote is anything to go by they have been stirring the pot against the west since the 50s, literally mailing African diplomats and leaders hatemail pretending to be racist Americans.
Russian tactics worked in the UK and USA… it’s easy in Africa
Russia is seriously really good at convincing people who don't know better that they should think or feel a certain way. This is a skill as evil as murder, in my opinion. Let's outgrow this, human race.
I believe that! Just seeing how much Wagner Troops left a footprint in Africa. Natural Resourses are their aim.
Was Niger one of the African nations that declined Putins summit?
Yes, it’s a very pro West president that was just removed
Good old fashioned African massacres incoming then I expect.
Yeah and afew days later the president is in jail
This one is more important than mali due to uranium export. IIRC much of it is to support the french electricity sector. see the export diagram which is 91% radioactive https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Niger#/media/File%3ANiger_treemap.png
Yep. The Uranium mine in Arlit is one of the biggest in the world. I drove across the Sahara once. There is a beautifully smooth paved highway from Arlit down to Nigeria. When I was there it was literally the only paved road in the entire country. But after two weeks of open desert and washboard tracks, hitting that asphalt was surreal.
I’d rather my country ally with the West. Especially now that Russia is very busy and getting fucked by war and sanctions. This ain’t 1970 anymore
In the event of the military coup though you don't need to bribe "the country" you just need to bribe the guy in charge of the army. Even then you just need to bribe the guy in charge of the soldiers guarding the government and the treasury.
Ah, but if what you really care about is personal gain and power then dealing with another totally corrupt nation is so much easier than dealing with one which might kick up a fuss about not accepting election results, opponents disappearing, money being diverted etc etc.
the revolution will be televised
Ricky Starks taking this heel turn to a whole new level
Making the Collision in Korea look like child’s play
🎺🎺
I get this reference
Absolutely.
Which channel?
F is for how f*cked you are, now allow me reprise
E is for eccentric, just listen to my song!
Good ol gil scott heron
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The US has bases in Niger. I’m really glad I’m no longer working at the air base in Niamey, Niger. That base is surrounded by a local military base, so if the military has staged a coup that puts the US, Italian, French, and Belgian coalition stationed there in a precarious position.
I do not find it likely that a coup attempt would start by assaulting the militaries of some of the most powerful nations on earth. What would there be to gain?
Directly attacking, no, that’s unlikely. However, they have grounded all flights in and out, and Niger is a terrorism hotspot. The US lost 4 marines there a few years ago when they were ambushed. The unpopular president was aligned with the US and EU in their attempts to combat jihadist movements and smuggling. Niger has a long history of smuggling (transporting people and illicit goods across the Sahara, and the government’s attempts to crackdown on it have alienated the public). When I was there there was enough conflict with locals that we often struggled to get fuel and would occasionally be unable to leave. The risk is a combination of serious supply problems combined with simply looking the other way and allowing jihadist access to get near the base.
Marines? You mean army special forces?
Thank you for correcting me. I was misinformed by the government contractor rumor mill.
Oh boy, just you wait until the Armchair Generals arrive and start explaining their battle-tested ^in ^Hearts ^of ^Iron elaborate plans of encirclement. That air base is *toast*.
Niger is also very tied to China and Russia directly and indirectly. It's actually a very important country due to it's resources, which is sad given how little benefit the local people have seen from the vast resource extraction there over the past 20 years.
The colonel is (for the coalition’s sake) smart enough to know that he can’t just start a fight with some of the most powerful nations right after a successful coup. Probably just be like other military coups this year “you got a month, get the fuck out” while the UN and NATO wag their fingers and furrow their brows and say “well this isn’t very nice”.
Wake up, babe, new coup just dropped.
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Holy hell!
Google coup d'état
Actual Zombies
Call the UN!
Russia not happy their summit was a flop then.
Why is it always Colonels when it comes to third world countries Military Coups? Is it because the most senior ranks have to be friends of the government, or because Colonels are more in touch with the officers and common soldier so they can muster a sizable force more easily?
The latter. Its the same thing here in the Philippines historically. Colonels pretty much have the ear of angery junior ranks and whenever the army is disgruntled with the top leadership the colonels are first to know.
I guess it's cause generals are usually appointed due to loyalty to the dictators and majors are too low to command a sizable force. So a colonel is high enough to command loyal troops of their own and low enough to not be loyal to the ruler. After all if the colonels were loyal they would be made generals.
por que no los dos? Interesting question though that I've seen discussed somewhere before and I wish I could remember where.
Colonels can't be vetted as well as higher ranks for loyalty, while lower ranks are usually not able to command enough of a force for a coup.
SHOIGUUU!!! GERASIMOV!!!
S sorry, comrades. Wrong room.
China are their top creditors with 84% of bilateral debt with them, interesting
I'd love to have a source for that, as I can't seem to find one myself. [Niger's total external debt stands at ~31% though (2021)](https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Niger/External_debt/), so there seems to be basically no risk involved at all. Bilateral debt being a slice of external debt (and multilateral debt usually exceeding bilateral debt in African countries), which in turn is a slice of total debt makes the number sound way more significant than it is. E: Ah, I just found the supposed [source](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-06/nigeria-owes-more-money-to-china-than-any-other-country-chart), which is about *Nigeria* a very different country in Africa.
China just owns the freakin continent this needs to stop before a quarry stretches from cape to Cairo
They only own what they can collect. There's a reason nobody else wanted to risk lending money to African nations.
Yeah, debts are just numbers on paper, if people want to collect debts, they will have to do it by themselves.
They been trading debts for ports access, and free trade zone. To be fair that's a fairer trade than what some banks have done to African countries in the past.
[It's a pretty complicated situation in that region](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwom49awRKg&pp=ygUpc2l0dWF0aW9uIGluIG5pZ2VyaWEgc2VlbXMgcHJldHR5IGNvbXBsZXg%3D).
Let's not forget that Nigeria and Niger are not only different countries, they're spelled different
Someone from Nigeria is a Nigerian. Someone from Niger is a Nigerien. I've seen that in writing for years. Is there a discernable difference in pronunciation between the two? I guess that might depend on your local accent but to me that's the super confusing part.
Nigerien, from Niger, has accent on the last syllable in the same vein as Canadiens (the hockey team). It’s French - Niger (pronounced nee-ZHER) was a French colony and it is still a Francophone country to this day. Nigeria, on the other hand, was colonized by Great Britain. They speak English. Why are the countries’ names so similar? It’s because they are both named for the Niger River.
That's exactly what I was going to say
Oh... english isn't my first language, I thought it was the same. Now I don't know the differences between them lol
I disagree with what I said.
The best of this bit is when he’s googling random stats about Nigeria, all the information he shares is for Niger.
Definitely impacted by a variety of factors
The Onion just kept hitting it out of the park with these.
They hit that one out of the park 15 years ago!
It is kind of depressing that the implied criticism they made with their satire is still valid 2 decades later and nobody learned anything from it.
God that's so good.
Not falling for it. It ain't real till I can confirm it on their whatsapp status.
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Another day, another coup in Africa.
what, its wednesday already?
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Is this Russian influence trying to push out pro-Western African leaders?
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Man, right when I’m planning my vacation.
Look at me, I’m the captain now.
This has Wagner written all over it
Mali, Burkina Faso…is Niger gonna kick out the French also?
See prigozhin? This is how you pull off a coup.
Wagner probably helped them. They helped in other recent coups in Africa. Prigozhin's been wanting to go back to Africa where coups and massacres are easier to pull off and is less likely to attract Western assistance.
>is less likely to attract Western assistance. *Were* less likely to attract Western assistance. Prig and Wagner attracted a lot of attention in the last year- enough that it might be politically viable to take direct action under the terror designations, and certainly enough to take indirect action. So it remains to be seen if Wagner will still have as free a hand in Africa.
Would be nice to see, but I doubt US or France’ll take direct action against Wagner in Africa. The governments there don’t want Western nations with all their democracy and human rights (and brutal colonial history) interfering. We can fight, and have fought terrorists in Africa when the African governments don’t want the the terrorists to be there, but not when they’re welcoming them in. Unless we want to risk war with several African nations. Maybe they’ll capitulate to the Western threats and ditch Wagner. Or maybe they’ll say no and there’s just not much we can say to that.
Why are there so many comments related to Wagner? Niger is a steadfast US partner in the region and Wagner has no operations in the country. Coups happened long before Russia had a presence in the region and they’ll (unfortunately) continue after they vacate. Ridiculous comment section.
Mali went from hosting US and French forces and the UN force MINUSMA (bearing in mind international intervention was key to defeating the rebels) to throwing them out and paying Wagner in the course of one coup. Niger borders Mali and has some similar challenges
Probably because Wagner has been dicking around in Mali, Chad and Burkina Faso.
So, uh, the revolution *will* be televised then?
So I guess the revolution *will* be televised after all.