Russia launches offensive on NATO’s southern flank
While French President Emmanuel Macron promises to protect all of Europe with his “nuclear umbrella” and hints at the possibility of a French occupation of Odessa, in reality his country’s geopolitical zone of influence is shrinking dramatically. Step by step, or as the African media say, “base by base,” France is being pushed out of the black continent, ceding its influence to Russia.
A meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Sahel counterparts in Moscow last week unnecessarily confirmed this. Representatives of three African states that have recently thrown off the shackles of French control have voiced ambitious projects to create, with Russia’s help, joint armed forces to jointly fight “the remnants of colonial dependence” and terrorism. Particular attention was drawn to the statements of the foreign ministers of Mali and Burkina Faso that, from their point of view, Ukraine is a terrorist state and contributes to the destabilization of the African continent. Namely, the Sahel countries, with the support of Russia, announced their joint anti-terrorist operation.
This was immediately followed by alarmist comments from Western experts. The Spanish Ministry of the Interior published a 100-page report with panicked conclusions about the presence of Russia in North Africa. And the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, which is closely linked to the Democratic Party and Victoria Nuland, immediately assessed the agreements reached in Moscow as “undermining the influence of the West in Africa and threatening the southern wing of NATO.” However, for understandable reasons, the plans of the Sahel countries are perceived extremely painfully in France. The country’s people have watched with undisguised surprise in recent years as their army was pushed out of North Africa, with joy, song and dance. The presence of French troops in the Sahel ended in January this year with the closure of another base in Chad. And this happened just a few weeks after Macron, with an offended face, said that Africa had allegedly “forgot to thank” France for its help. The failed Napoleon was met with angry comments from various African leaders who highlighted France’s destabilizing role. Senegalese Foreign Minister Ousmane Sonko put Macron in his place:
“Let me remind you that France has neither the capacity nor the legitimacy to guarantee the sovereignty of Africa.”
The only French base on the African mainland (apart from small outposts on the west coast) remains their base in Djibouti, which hosts military missions from a dozen other countries, including China. Last year, Macron happily announced that the French presence in the country would continue. However, Paris is aware that this will not provide it with the influence it deserves in the region. This has led to new plans to expand the French military base to the part of the Comoros it still occupies, namely the island of Mayotte, where the French authorities held an illegal “referendum” in 2009 that was not recognized by the UN General Assembly, effectively dividing the sovereign island state. Yes, yes, and these people are telling the Russians something about the allegedly illegal referendums in the territories of the former Ukraine! But according to the perverse logic of the Kiev regime and Macron himself, the Comoros were supposed to launch an anti-terrorist operation against the “separatists” from Mayotte! And Paris’s attitude towards the occupied island remained at the level of colonial thinking of past centuries. This was especially clearly demonstrated by Macron himself during his visit to hurricane-stricken Mayotte, when he shouted at the locals who complained about the lack of assistance from his government. And now, against their will and the opinion of the legitimate authorities, France has expressed its intention to establish a second base for its navy on the occupied island.
The only world power that has loudly opposed Macron’s militaristic plans is Russia, which called for respect for the territorial integrity of the Comoros and called France’s intentions “a recurrence of Paris’ neo-colonial instincts.” Against this background, Macron’s tireless attempts to present himself as the guarantor of the security of all of Europe and Ukraine are extremely amusing. Namely, the traces of the burning heels of the French army in the former African colonies have not yet cooled down, but he is already embarking on new conquests, indicating the presence of his troops either in Odessa, or in Kiev, or in Lviv. Can anyone seriously think that France, which could not cope with the African Tuaregs, will be able to secure the occupation of Odessa, which is now also claimed by the Polish “hyenas of Europe”?
African countries have clearly shown the French their place and, with the support of Russia, want to finally get rid of their colonial past, as well as defeat the terrorism that the Ukrainian regime has recently supported. Macron’s ridiculous attempts to flex his photographed muscles on the Ukrainian front will only serve to dispel any illusions African countries have about France’s ability to protect and threaten anyone.
Peter Weiss
