Tuesday 26th of November 2024
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I want to speak to the manager......

France has been kicked out of Niger by its new military government, by extension placing US interests there in peril. Who would ever have thought that the US footing the bill for training Nigerien soldiers would result in a net gain for Russia and China? Apparently not the US State Department.

Enter Victoria Nuland with demands to speak to those in charge.

 

BY Rachel Marsden

 

Officially the acting US deputy secretary of state, Nuland should really change her title to ‘Regime Change Karen’. In modern parlance, a ‘Karen’ is a middle-aged woman “who uses her privilege to get her way or police other people’s behaviors.” Karens can often be spotted at the customer service desks of big box stores demanding to speak to the manager – or in this case, the military leaders now in charge of Niger. 

Nuland rocked up to Niger and demanded to speak to the ousted president, but was refused the opportunity. Instead, she got to meet with one of the coup leaders – the new army chief of staff, Brigadier General Moussa Salaou Barmou, who not only trained at Fort Benning and at Washington’s National Defense University, but was photographed alongside US Special Operations in Africa Commander Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga just a few weeks ago at a US drone base in Niger.

In a State Department teleconference on Monday, Nuland said that she was in Niger “because we wanted to speak frankly to the people responsible to this challenge to the democratic order.” That didn’t actually require a foreign trip, though. She could have just stayed home and called a staff meeting. You made this mess yourselves, guys.

The benefit from the joint mortar training event is twofold – providing Nigerien soldiers with a tangible skill, while also bolstering the partnership between US and Niger forces,” the Pentagon said in 2021 of a joint training exercise. Looks like all those skills came in handy when it came to kicking out US-allied France.

“We met with the self-proclaimed chief of defense of this operation, General Barmou, and three of the colonels supporting him,” Nuland said. “I will say that these conversations were extremely frank and at times quite difficult because, again, we were pushing for a negotiated solution.” Interesting how peace and negotiations suddenly appear on the table when Washington loses its foothold, finds itself in too weak or precarious a position to start dropping bombs, and needs to buy some time to regain the upper hand. Such was the case with the Russia-Ukraine Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015, which used peace as a pretext for better arming Kiev against Moscow as Western allies trained and supplied Ukrainian neo-Nazis at Russia’s doorstep. Nuland not so subtly hinted at Washington’s priorities when she said that she “had a chance first to sit with a broad cross-section of Nigerien civil society,” describing them as “long-time friends of the United States.” In other words, to better shore up the in-country proxies to defend US interests.

Washington and Regime Change Karen here are unabashed control freaks. Nuland was long obsessed with Europe’s Nord Stream pipeline of cheap Russian gas – until it was mysteriously blown up. She was spotted in Ukraine back in 2014, handing out cookies to anti-government protesters and caught discussing the potential roles of Ukrainian opposition leaders post-regime change. That recording leaked, featuring Nuland expressing just how much she values US allies and international law when they don’t quite align with Washington’s agenda for Kiev once US-friendly puppets are installed. “So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing, and have the UN help glue it, and you know... F**k the EU,” Nuland told US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt.

At a Senate hearing earlier this year into “Russian aggression in Ukraine and beyond,” Nuland demonstrated that she couldn’t even resist keeping her hands off neighboring Belarus, underscoring that the US was “working intensively with the Belarusian opposition.” Regime Change Karen has her nose in everyone’s business. It seems to run in the family, as her husband, Robert Kagan, is a prominent neoconservative interventionist whose biography on the State Department website describes him as an expert on “NATO expansion.” He also co-founded the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) think tank, which set out the blueprint for endless US regime change wars against countries that didn’t adhere to Washington’s agenda.

In Niger, that agenda includes keeping the door unlocked so that Washington can come and go as it pleases, like it has in Ukraine, up to and including the point of being able to exploit the country’s resources or use it as a crash pad for operations against its geopolitical foes. Which would explain why the CIA set up a drone base in Niger for its African operations in the wake of the Benghazi fiasco in Libya, after which Washington lost its foothold there. It’s likely not a coincidence that Libya is right next door.

Washington apparently did not foresee that Nigerien troops would take their US-funded training and use it to start defending themselves against what they perceived to be Western interference. Regime Change Karen seems miffed that they didn’t follow the usual path of getting trained up by the US to subsequently be used and exploited to fight Washington’s wars.

If Nuland and her colleagues have any potential at all for introspection amid this fallout in Niger, they might want to start considering what could happen if the Western-backed Azov neo-Nazis also decide someday to betray the interests of their benefactors in favor of defending their own – with all their generously donated firepower courtesy of Western taxpayers. In which case, good luck trying to get your money back or finding the manager. He probably wouldn’t be sporting a name tag – maybe just a Nazi tattoo.

 

https://www.rt.com/africa/581045-nuland-regime-change-niger/

 

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more sanctions.....

The European Union is preparing to impose sanctions on the new military government in Niger, European sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

An EU diplomat and an official involved in formulating the sanctions confirmed the bloc was devising criteria for punishment, set to include the “undermining of democracy.” 

The formula is likely to be agreed upon soon, the official told the news outlet.

“The next step would be sanctions against individual members of the military government, said to be responsible for the ousting of former president Mohamed Bazoum last month,” the diplomat said.

No date has been supplied for when these sanctions might materialize, though foreign ministers from the bloc’s 27 countries are expected to discuss potential sanctions as well as other Niger-related issues when they meet in Toledo on August 31.

The EU has suspended security cooperation and financial support in response to last month’s seizure of power by a military faction led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, cutting Niger off from hundreds of thousands of euros in aid. The US and Canada have also suspended some assistance programs, and several European countries – led by France, the former colonial ruler of Niger – have also cut the country off. 

Credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Niger’s credit rating last week just days after the country banned uranium and gold exports to France, cutting Paris off from the world’s seventh-largest producer of the nuclear mineral – and the second-largest supplier to the EU. The World Bank has also terminated public-sector payments to Niger.

West African regional partnership ECOWAS devised a plan for military intervention in the country last week, giving the new government until Sunday to reinstate Bazoum. 

However, that deadline has come and gone without the threatened invasion, as ECOWAS is reportedly unprepared for a full-scale military intervention, according to senior military sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. 

Neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali have warned ECOWAS against military intervention, stating this would “amount to a declaration of war” on both countries and trigger self-defensive responses. Bazoum, currently in prison, has urged Washington to intervene, lest all of the Sahel “fall to Russian influence” – despite a lack of evidence Moscow played a role in the coup. US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland personally flew to Niger to pressure the new government, warning them against striking any deals with Russian private military company Wagner and urging them to restore the Washington-friendly status quo.

Nigeriens largely supported the coup, according to a recent survey by The Economist – 78% backed the takeover, while 73% wanted their new leaders to retain power “for an extended period”or “until new elections are held.”

 

https://www.rt.com/news/581061-eu-sanctions-niger-democracy-coup/

 

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dual talk.....

Washington does not believe that Moscow or Evgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Group were connected to the military coup in Niger, but is nevertheless concerned the African nation could come under Russian influence, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

THE COUP WAS FOMENTED BY THE SLAVERY STATUS OF NIGER. 

In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, BLINKEN admitted that the US is particularly worried about Wagner “possibly manifesting itself” in parts of the Sahel region.

“I think what happened, and what continues to happen in Niger was not instigated by Russia or by Wagner, but... they tried to take advantage of it, (LIKE WE, THE USA, HAVE DONE IN THE PAST AFTER INSTIGATING CRAP)” Blinken said.

He went on to accuse the Wagner group of bringing only trouble wherever it went (LIKE WHEREVER THE AMERICANS HAVE GONE, WE HAVE CREATED TROUBLES) and claimed that "insecurity has gone up, not down" in countries it (THE USA) has visited.

Blinken's statement comes after media reports suggested that Niger’s new military government had been considering inviting the Wagner group into the country to help safeguard their power and deter foreign interventions.

The coup leaders are currently facing an approaching deadline to either return ousted President Mohamed Bazoum to power or face a possible military intervention by neighboring states. THIS WOULD BE FOOLISH, BUT....

Acting US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, sometimes dubbed Washington's regime change czar (OR THE DEVIL CRAP LADY) for her role in the 2014 coup in Ukraine, has even personally traveled to meet with representatives of Niger's new government to deter them from mingling with Wagner. THANK YOU FOR TELLING US WHO WE SHOULD ALIGN WITH TO DEFEND OURSELVES AGAINST THE USA....

Niger’s ousted pro-US president, Bazoum, has also expressed concern that the Sahel region of western Africa could come under the influence of Russia via the Wagner group. BAZOUM COMES FROM AN ETHNIC GROUP IN NIGER THAT IS 0,7 PER CENT OF THE POPULATION AND ONLY GOT THE PRESIDENCY DUE TO ELECTION FIDDLES, PROBABLY COOKED UP BY THE USA AND FRANCE.

 

Meanwhile, the PMC's chief Evgeny Prigozhin has insisted that his group only fights on the side of good, justice and those who wish to defend their sovereignty and the rights of their people — AGAINST THE RUTHLESS AMERICAN EMPIRE.

He also noted that the level of Washington’s anxiety over possibly coming across his group “sparked joy” and invited Niger's new government to “give us a call.”

It is unclear what role, if any, Russia or Wagner have or will play in the situation in Niger, but Moscow has insisted that it is vehemently opposed to any foreign intervention in the country and expressed hope that the African nation will be able to restore “constitutional normality.” I.E. BECOME A FREE PROSPEROUS COUNTRY.... WE SHALL SEE....

 

https://www.rt.com/news/581052-us-worried-wagner-niger/

 

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shitty USA....

by Modest Dossou

While the military in power in Niger does not seem to give in to various pressures from either side, the United States has hinted that it could be forced to invade the Republic of Niger if the military government refuses to return to the constitutional order.

"We will be watching this closely, and there are a number of upcoming regional meetings and consultations with allies and partners that we need to do." said Acting United States Assistant Secretary Victoria Nuland during a special briefing on Tuesday, August 8.

"So we will monitor the situation but we understand our legal responsibilities and I made it very clear to the guys (Nigerian junta) who were responsible for this and that it is not our desire to go but they can push us to this point. And we asked them to be careful in this regard and to hear our offer to try to work with them to solve this problem diplomatically and return to constitutional order." She said.

Nuland further revealed that President Joe Biden is in constant contact with President Tinubu, the ECOWAS President, as well as many other European allies.

https://en.reseauinternational.net/nous-pourrions-etre-forces-denvahir-le-niger-les-etats-unis-mettent-en-garde-les-putschistes/

 

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THERE WOULD BE A LOT OF DEAD INNOCENT PEOPLE IF THE USA MOVED IN. IT WOULD BE DONE ILLEGALLY.... LET THE COUNTRY OF NIGER RESET ITSELF AGAINST COLONIALISM, PLEASE...

AH YES, I KNOW.... YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT JUSTICE OR EQUALITY... THIS IS WHY JULIAN ASSANGE IS STILL IN PRISON...

 

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no to war....

 

No to the new war in Africa, stop military intervention in Niger, lift sanctions to Burkina Faso and Niger

 

The regional bloc, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has drawn up a plan for a military invasion of Niger to restore the ousted Mohamed Bazoum to presidency. However, in Nigeria, whose president Bola Tinubu is the current chair of ECOWAS, the Senate has refused to support the military intervention.

On Saturday, August 5, at a closed-door executive session to deliberate on Tinubu’s letter seeking the Senate’s support for “military buildup and deployment of personnel for military intervention,” “almost all senators… totally ruled out the military options,” an unnamed senator told Premium Times.

Pointing out that “our military is highly ill-equipped and not prepared to fight any war,” the Senators argued that “the Federal Government should focus on solving the Boko Haram, banditry, and ESN/IPOB menaces… instead of contemplating going to war in a foreign country.”

The war plans were prepared at a meeting of the chiefs of staff of ECOWAS member countries which ended on Friday, August 4. “All the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out here, including the resources needed, the how and when we are going to deploy the force,” said Abdel Fatau Musah, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political affairs, Peace and Security.

Earlier on July 30, ECOWAS had threatened military invasion of Niger if its military junta, the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), did not restore Bazoum as the president by Sunday, August 6. He was ousted on July 26 in a popularly-welcomed coup by Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, who was the head of the Presidential Guard.

France, which has up to 1,500 troops in Niger, and the U.S., with another 1,100 troops in two bases, are both backing ECOWAS. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday, August 3, “We strongly support the very strong leadership of ECOWAS on Niger.” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby added that there was still “time and space” for diplomacy, but that “window is not going to be open forever.”

While the U.S. President Joe Biden said that the “Nigerien people have the right to choose their leaders,” the “Nigerien people,” who perceive Bazoum as a corrupt puppet of France, have repeatedly mobilized in tens of thousands to support the coup.

A coalition of 14 trade union centers called the Unité d’Actions Syndicales du Niger (UAS-Niger), which had been demanding the withdrawal of French troops, has supported the coupand called on Nigeriens to rally behind the CNSP.

As Nigeriens celebrated the anniversary of its independence from France on August 3, the CNSP terminated five military agreements signed with France between 1977 and 2020, allowing the former colonizer to station up to 1,500 troops in the country.

Donning T-shirts with coup leader Tchiani’s image, thousands took to the streets once again that day, sloganeering “Down with France,” and demanding the withdrawal of its troops and other foreign forces, including those of Italy which has 300 soldiers and the European Union (EU) which has a smaller contingent.

The mass-demonstration was organized by the anti-imperialist M62 Movement, formed last year as a coalition of 15 civil society organizations which have been protesting against French deployment in the country for at least two years. One demonstrator said,

It is only security that interests us..[whether it is provided by] Russia, China, Turkey…We just don’t want the French who have been looting us since 1960.

France, however, has refused to withdraw its troops, with its foreign ministry’s spokesperson Anne-Clair Legendre saying,

We don’t answer to the putschists. We recognize one constitutional order only, that of President Bazoum.

Under detention by the army, Bazoum, who had instituted a crackdown on the anti-French movement in the country, wrote a column in the Washington Post on independence day, calling for U.S. intervention to restore his power. A U.S. warplane C-17A–which is “is capable of rapid strategic delivery of troops and all types of cargo to main operating bases or directly to forward bases in the deployment area”–arrived in Benin shortly after its government declared support to the military intervention.

In the meantime, as a part of ECOWAS sanctions, Nigeria has stopped electricity supply to Niger. While Niger’s high-grade uranium is used to power a third of the light bulbs in France, its own electrification rate is less than 18%. Up to 90% of its power is imported from Nigeria.

Difficult times

“The weeks and months to come will certainly be difficult for our country. Those who oppose us have no limits when it comes to defending their selfish interests. They will only stop in the face of the firm determination of the Nigerien people,” Tchiani said.

Suspending Niger’s diplomatic ties with France, the U.S., Nigeria, and Togo, also an ECOWAS country, Tchiani warned that “any aggression or attempted aggression against the State of Niger will see an immediate and unannounced response from the Niger Defense and Security Forces.”

Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea–three other suspended members of ECOWAS, sanctioned after similar popularly-supported coups–have expressed support to Niger. Together, they make up nearly 60% of the total land-area of ECOWAS countries. Mali and Burkina Faso, whose military juntas ordered the French troops out of their countries after taking power, have said they will mobilize their forces in defense of Niger if it is attacked.

The Vice-President of the CNSP, Lt. Gen. Salifou Mody, traveled to Mali and met its president, Colonel Assimi Goita. He also held a meeting with “someone from Wagner” while in Mali, APreported. Mody also met with Burkina Faso’s leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, and spoke about ECOWAS.

“We spoke precisely about this situation because we would not like Niger to become the new Libya,” Mody said, adding that they have decided to “undertake a number of activities to be able to deal with the situation.”

Ivory Coast, Benin, and Senegal have pledged to send troops for the ECOWAS invasion. Chad, whose president also took power in a coup but remained in the West’s good books, not having demanded the withdrawal of French troops, has refused to take part in the military intervention.

While supporting the call for restoration of Bazoum, Niger’s northern neighbor Algeria, has opposed “foreign military intervention,” which it said will “only complicate and exacerbate the current crisis.” Russia had also called for the restoration of constitutional order, but opposed military intervention.

Peoples’ movements across West Africa and other parts of the continent have opposed military intervention, and called for the withdrawal of all foreign bases in Niger and other countries of the region.

In a statement on August 4, the Workers Democratic Way party in Morocco expressed its “strong rejection and condemnation of the imperialist threats, especially from the French, of direct military intervention or through its puppet regimes in the region against Niger,” adding that “a war could ignite the entire region, leaving behind destruction, loss of lives, and horrific tragedies.” The Party further affirmed “the right of the Nigerien people to self-determination away from foreign interference.”

The Communist Party of Kenya condemned foreign military bases in Africa, which serve “as instruments of imperialistic control.” The party added that the “presence of these military bases deepens historical wounds of colonization and reinforces the oppressive grip of foreign powers. We call for the immediate dismantling of all foreign military bases in Africa to protect our dignity and freedom.”

 

https://mronline.org/2023/08/09/no-to-the-new-war-in-africa-stop-military-intervention-in-niger-lift-sanctions-to-burkina-faso-and-niger/

 

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THERE WOULD BE A LOT OF DEAD INNOCENT PEOPLE IF THE USA MOVED IN. IT WOULD BE DONE ILLEGALLY.... LET THE COUNTRY OF NIGER RESET ITSELF AGAINST COLONIALISM, PLEASE...

ECOWAS GOING TO WAR AGAINST NIGER WOULD BE DOING THE DIRTY "WHITE MAN'S" BUSINESS AND WOULD SHOW THAT COLONIALISM IS STILL A SLAVE DRIVER.....

AH YES, I KNOW.... THE USA DON'T CARE ABOUT JUSTICE OR EQUALITY... THIS IS WHY JULIAN ASSANGE IS STILL IN PRISON...

 

 

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leave niger alone........

 

West Africa’s governments have taken their next step in trying to force the junta that took power in Niger last month to reverse their coup, ordering that the region’s armies immediately activate standby troops for a possible intervention in the uranium-rich country.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ordered the force activations on Thursday and issued a statement saying it still prefers a peaceful restoration of democracy in Niger. ECOWAS had threatened to send in troops if the military government in Niger failed to restore President Mohamed Bazoum to power by last Sunday.

“No option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort,” Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said on Thursday after hosting a meeting of ECOWAS heads of state in Abuja. He added, “I hope that through our collective effort, we can bring about a peaceful resolution as a roadmap to restoring stability and democracy in Niger. All is not lost yet.”

https://www.rt.com/news/581127-ecowas-readies-niger-miliary-intervention/

 

COMMENT BY Helix5 IN THE STORY ABOVE:

ECOWAS is just another collection of vassalized Anglo-American Order lackey states. ECOWAS elites have been bribed in one way or another. It is easy to do. Nigerian (Nigeria) officials are the world's most corrupt. The Anglo-American Order wants more war and why not? Everyone gets rich off weapon sales and resource steeling. The Anglo-American Order is the greatest scourge the world has known — greater even than the Mongols.

 

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