US and France discover a coup in Africa they don’t like?
In late July 2023, when Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown, the United States and France immediately sprung into action, condemning his ouster and demanding that the pro-Western leader be reinstated.
Many African activists highlighted the overwhelming hypocrisy of this response and of Western rhetoric about promoting “democracy”.
In the past century, the US and European powers have legitimized, supported, and even organized dozens of coups across the Global South, in order to advance their economic and geopolitical interests.
There are myriad examples of democratically elected governments led by anti-colonial leaders who were overthrown and in some cases killed by the Western powers.
One of the most well-known historical episodes was that of Patrice Lumumba, the founder of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Congo had been a Belgian colony. Under brutal King Leopold II, Belgium committed genocide there, killing off half of the Congolese population.
Lumumba helped lead an independence movement against European colonialism, and was democratically elected the DRC’s first prime minister in 1960.
US President Dwight Eisenhower ordered the CIA to assassinate Lumumba. With help from the spy agency, Belgium sponsored a coup to remove him.
The democratically elected Congolese leader was kidnapped and murdered. His body was subsequently dissolved in acid. Just a few teeth were left behind.
This is how Western governments treated anti-colonial leaders during the first cold war. They sponsored coups to remove them and subsequently installed and propped up right-wing, pro-imperialist dictatorships that ruled for decades with an iron fist.
The Western response to the July 2023 coup in Niger was completely different.
Immediately, the French government denounced the new nationalist government led by the military. Emmanuel Macron’s office vowed a strong and swift response, writing, “The President will not tolerate any attack against France and its interests”, specifically emphasizing its business interests in Niger.
While sponsoring unelected coup regimes in Pakistan and Peru, the US State Department also quickly released a statement condemning the new military government in Niger.
"The United States welcomes and commends the strong leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Heads of State and Government to defend constitutional order in Niger”, it wrote.
Referring to Niger’s toppled pro-Western leader, Washington called “for the immediate release of President Mohamed Bazoum and his family and the restoration of all state functions”.
The US added that it “welcomes the dispatch of the special representative of the ECOWAS Chair to Niger” and “will remain actively engaged with ECOWAS and West African leaders on next steps to preserve Niger’s hard-earned democracy”.
By instrumentalizing ECOWAS to give “multilateral” cover to an intervention in Niger, the US and France are returning to the strategy they employed when they used NATO to wage war on Libya in 2011.
At the moment, the Western powers are also doing the same to justify another military intervention in Haiti, re-creating an international alliance ostensibly led by Kenya to occupy the Caribbean nation.
In late July 2023, when Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown, the United States and France immediately sprung into action, condemning his ouster and demanding that the pro-Western leader be reinstated.
Many African activists highlighted the overwhelming hypocrisy of this response and of Western rhetoric about promoting “democracy”.
In the past century, the US and European powers have legitimized, supported, and even organized dozens of coups across the Global South, in order to advance their economic and geopolitical interests.
There are myriad examples of democratically elected governments led by anti-colonial leaders who were overthrown and in some cases killed by the Western powers.
One of the most well-known historical episodes was that of Patrice Lumumba, the founder of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Congo had been a Belgian colony. Under brutal King Leopold II, Belgium committed genocide there, killing off half of the Congolese population.
Lumumba helped lead an independence movement against European colonialism, and was democratically elected the DRC’s first prime minister in 1960.
US President Dwight Eisenhower ordered the CIA to assassinate Lumumba. With help from the spy agency, Belgium sponsored a coup to remove him.
The democratically elected Congolese leader was kidnapped and murdered. His body was subsequently dissolved in acid. Just a few teeth were left behind.
This is how Western governments treated anti-colonial leaders during the first cold war. They sponsored coups to remove them and subsequently installed and propped up right-wing, pro-imperialist dictatorships that ruled for decades with an iron fist.
The Western response to the July 2023 coup in Niger was completely different.
Immediately, the French government denounced the new nationalist government led by the military. Emmanuel Macron’s office vowed a strong and swift response, writing, “The President will not tolerate any attack against France and its interests”, specifically emphasizing its business interests in Niger.
While sponsoring unelected coup regimes in Pakistan and Peru, the US State Department also quickly released a statement condemning the new military government in Niger.
"The United States welcomes and commends the strong leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Heads of State and Government to defend constitutional order in Niger”, it wrote.
Referring to Niger’s toppled pro-Western leader, Washington called “for the immediate release of President Mohamed Bazoum and his family and the restoration of all state functions”.
The US added that it “welcomes the dispatch of the special representative of the ECOWAS Chair to Niger” and “will remain actively engaged with ECOWAS and West African leaders on next steps to preserve Niger’s hard-earned democracy”.
By instrumentalizing ECOWAS to give “multilateral” cover to an intervention in Niger, the US and France are returning to the strategy they employed when they used NATO to wage war on Libya in 2011.
At the moment, the Western powers are also doing the same to justify another military intervention in Haiti, re-creating an international alliance ostensibly led by Kenya to occupy the Caribbean nation.
Niger is a leading producer of uranium, needed for European nuclear energy
One of the principal economic interests that Western powers have in Niger is its uranium.
The anti-poverty organization Oxfam published a report in 2013 detailing how France was making a killing profiting off of the uranium in Niger, which is one of the poorest countries in the world.
The people of Niger, who are known as Nigeriens (not to be confused with Nigerians from Nigeria), have seen almost no benefits from this uranium extraction.
Oxfam cited a Nigerien activist who noted, “In France, one out of every three light bulbs is lit thanks to Nigerien uranium. In Niger, nearly 90% of the population has no access to electricity. This situation cannot continue”.
“It is incomprehensible that Niger, the world’s fourth-largest uranium producer and a strategic supplier for Areva and France, is not taking advantage of the revenue from this extraction and remains one of the poorest countries on the planet”, an Oxfam researcher added.
The statistics have slightly changed in the decade since that report was published.
As of 2023, Niger is the world’s seventh-biggest producer of uranium.
But many Western media outlets have noted with fear how important Niger is for European energy stability.
“Niger coup sparks concerns about French, EU uranium dependency”, Politico warned.
"Niger supplies 15 percent of France’s uranium needs and accounts for a fifth of the EU’s total uranium imports”, the media outlet reported. “In 2021, Niger was the EU’s top uranium supplier, followed by Kazakhstan and Russia”.
Politico added that “the coup in Niger could be a challenge for Europe’s uranium needs in the longer term, just as the continent is trying to phase out dependency on Russia, another top supplier of uranium used in European nuclear plants”.
Nuclear energy is relatively important in Europe. In 2022, it made up around 10% of EU energy consumption, slightly down from a peak of nearly 14% in 2002.
In France, nuclear energy is even more significant. Since the 1980s, nuclear has become one of its top energy sources.
By the 2000s, France’s nuclear power exceeded its use of oil, peaking at nearly 40% in 2005. Nuclear still remained strong in 2021, at 36.5% of total energy consumption (compared to 31% for oil).
Since the coup in Niger, both France and EU leadership have insisted they will not be affected, stating that they have enough uranium in their reserves to last a few years.
But if the nationalist government remains in power in Niger and abides by its alleged pledge to cut off uranium exports, Europe could face economic consequences.
This also comes at a complicated moment for Europe, which has pledged to boycott Russian oil exports and reduce imports of Russian gas.
Russia is one of the world’s top producers of both oil and gas. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the imposition of harsh Western sanctions, Russia was the EU’s biggest energy partner, and the number one provider of oil and gas to many member states.
Some EU officials had proposed increasing nuclear energy production to end the region’s reliance on Russia.
But now one of the top providers of the uranium the EU needs for that nuclear energy has seen a coup led by nationalists who oppose Europe’s neocolonial policies.
This also comes at a moment in which several countries in Europe are going into recession.
Germany, the manufacturing superpower at the heart of the EU, is deindustrializing at breakneck speed, largely because it has lost major sources of the cheap energy that its heavy industry needs.
One of the principal economic interests that Western powers have in Niger is its uranium.
The anti-poverty organization Oxfam published a report in 2013 detailing how France was making a killing profiting off of the uranium in Niger, which is one of the poorest countries in the world.
The people of Niger, who are known as Nigeriens (not to be confused with Nigerians from Nigeria), have seen almost no benefits from this uranium extraction.
Oxfam cited a Nigerien activist who noted, “In France, one out of every three light bulbs is lit thanks to Nigerien uranium. In Niger, nearly 90% of the population has no access to electricity. This situation cannot continue”.
“It is incomprehensible that Niger, the world’s fourth-largest uranium producer and a strategic supplier for Areva and France, is not taking advantage of the revenue from this extraction and remains one of the poorest countries on the planet”, an Oxfam researcher added.
The statistics have slightly changed in the decade since that report was published.
As of 2023, Niger is the world’s seventh-biggest producer of uranium.
But many Western media outlets have noted with fear how important Niger is for European energy stability.
“Niger coup sparks concerns about French, EU uranium dependency”, Politico warned.
"Niger supplies 15 percent of France’s uranium needs and accounts for a fifth of the EU’s total uranium imports”, the media outlet reported. “In 2021, Niger was the EU’s top uranium supplier, followed by Kazakhstan and Russia”.
Politico added that “the coup in Niger could be a challenge for Europe’s uranium needs in the longer term, just as the continent is trying to phase out dependency on Russia, another top supplier of uranium used in European nuclear plants”.
Nuclear energy is relatively important in Europe. In 2022, it made up around 10% of EU energy consumption, slightly down from a peak of nearly 14% in 2002.
In France, nuclear energy is even more significant. Since the 1980s, nuclear has become one of its top energy sources.
By the 2000s, France’s nuclear power exceeded its use of oil, peaking at nearly 40% in 2005. Nuclear still remained strong in 2021, at 36.5% of total energy consumption (compared to 31% for oil).
Since the coup in Niger, both France and EU leadership have insisted they will not be affected, stating that they have enough uranium in their reserves to last a few years.
But if the nationalist government remains in power in Niger and abides by its alleged pledge to cut off uranium exports, Europe could face economic consequences.
This also comes at a complicated moment for Europe, which has pledged to boycott Russian oil exports and reduce imports of Russian gas.
Russia is one of the world’s top producers of both oil and gas. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the imposition of harsh Western sanctions, Russia was the EU’s biggest energy partner, and the number one provider of oil and gas to many member states.
Some EU officials had proposed increasing nuclear energy production to end the region’s reliance on Russia.
But now one of the top providers of the uranium the EU needs for that nuclear energy has seen a coup led by nationalists who oppose Europe’s neocolonial policies.
This also comes at a moment in which several countries in Europe are going into recession.
Germany, the manufacturing superpower at the heart of the EU, is deindustrializing at breakneck speed, largely because it has lost major sources of the cheap energy that its heavy industry needs.
Niger hosts strategic US military bases
In addition to foreign economic designs on West Africa, the US military has a massive footprint on the region – particularly in Niger, where it operates multiple bases.
A 2019 report in PBS noted an increasing US military presence in Africa, revealing that the Pentagon had nearly 800 personnel stationed in Niger. (That figure later rose to roughly 1000.)
General Thomas Waldhauser, the commander of US military forces in Africa, described Niger’s pro-Western government as “a good partner in a very, very bad neighborhood”.
PBS indicated that the US military was creating a base in Agadez, Niger, which “will be the largest installation Air Force personnel have ever built”.
"The U.S. has been operating drone missions out of another base in Niger’s capital since 2013”, the media outlet wrote, adding, “The CIA is also believed to be using another drone base in Northeastern Niger”.
Investigative journalist Nick Turse, reporting in 2023, described this US facility in Niger, Air Base 201, as “the linchpin of the U.S. military’s archipelago of bases in North and West Africa and a key part of America’s wide-ranging intelligence, surveillance, and security efforts in the region”.
What is striking is the neocolonial symbolism of the United States maintaining these high-tech military facilities worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Niger, one of the poorest countries on Earth, where the majority of the population doesn’t even have access to electricity.
“Niger is one of the last strongholds of U.S. security partnerships in the region”, Brown University researcher Stephanie Savell told the media outlet.
Blinken’s visit came just a few months after the State Department’s December 2022 US-Africa Leaders Summit, which brought African heads of state to Washington, DC to meet with Biden.
The State Department wrote that the summit was “rooted in this recognition that Africa is a key geopolitical player”
In addition to foreign economic designs on West Africa, the US military has a massive footprint on the region – particularly in Niger, where it operates multiple bases.
A 2019 report in PBS noted an increasing US military presence in Africa, revealing that the Pentagon had nearly 800 personnel stationed in Niger. (That figure later rose to roughly 1000.)
General Thomas Waldhauser, the commander of US military forces in Africa, described Niger’s pro-Western government as “a good partner in a very, very bad neighborhood”.
PBS indicated that the US military was creating a base in Agadez, Niger, which “will be the largest installation Air Force personnel have ever built”.
"The U.S. has been operating drone missions out of another base in Niger’s capital since 2013”, the media outlet wrote, adding, “The CIA is also believed to be using another drone base in Northeastern Niger”.
Investigative journalist Nick Turse, reporting in 2023, described this US facility in Niger, Air Base 201, as “the linchpin of the U.S. military’s archipelago of bases in North and West Africa and a key part of America’s wide-ranging intelligence, surveillance, and security efforts in the region”.
What is striking is the neocolonial symbolism of the United States maintaining these high-tech military facilities worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Niger, one of the poorest countries on Earth, where the majority of the population doesn’t even have access to electricity.
“Niger is one of the last strongholds of U.S. security partnerships in the region”, Brown University researcher Stephanie Savell told the media outlet.
Blinken’s visit came just a few months after the State Department’s December 2022 US-Africa Leaders Summit, which brought African heads of state to Washington, DC to meet with Biden.
The State Department wrote that the summit was “rooted in this recognition that Africa is a key geopolitical player”
#FreeJulianAssangeNOW
#SAVEJULIAN
#DROPTHECHARGESNOW
TIME TO DROP THE CHARGES AGAINST JULIAN #ASSANGE . HE WASN'T FLYING THE HELICOPTER OR FIRING THE MACHINE GUNS. YOU CAN'T KILL THE MESSENGER BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE THE MESSAGE
#SAVEJULIAN
#DROPTHECHARGESNOW
TIME TO DROP THE CHARGES AGAINST JULIAN #ASSANGE . HE WASN'T FLYING THE HELICOPTER OR FIRING THE MACHINE GUNS. YOU CAN'T KILL THE MESSENGER BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE THE MESSAGE
Gaddafi turned Libya into the richest country in Africa, and he had a vision for Africa as a whole.
Then, NATO lied, and murdered Gaddafi.
The reason NATO collapsed Gaddafi's Libya was because Libya was one of the largest exporters of oil to Europe under a nationalized oil program.
Libya had full sovereign control over their abundance of resources, and productively extracted it to build their country, thus challenging the “legitimacy” of western monopolies
Gaddafi called for all African nations to undergo similar large scale nationalization projects, and break away from dependency on Western financial looting schemes.
What NATO did to Libya has caused one of the worlds largest humanitarian crisis.
Libya today has open slave markets, some of the highest inflation in the world, and a high crime rate.
What NATO did and has caused to Libya is a crime against humanity, and is unforgivable.
When will NATO pay for what they did?
Then, NATO lied, and murdered Gaddafi.
The reason NATO collapsed Gaddafi's Libya was because Libya was one of the largest exporters of oil to Europe under a nationalized oil program.
Libya had full sovereign control over their abundance of resources, and productively extracted it to build their country, thus challenging the “legitimacy” of western monopolies
Gaddafi called for all African nations to undergo similar large scale nationalization projects, and break away from dependency on Western financial looting schemes.
What NATO did to Libya has caused one of the worlds largest humanitarian crisis.
Libya today has open slave markets, some of the highest inflation in the world, and a high crime rate.
What NATO did and has caused to Libya is a crime against humanity, and is unforgivable.
When will NATO pay for what they did?
đź‘Ť1
At least 2,000 people were killed, and thousands more were missing after a massive flood ripped through the city of Derna following a heavy storm and rain.
Pray for Libya!
#Libya
Pray for Libya!
#Libya
Morocco earthquake
About 100,000 children have been affected by the powerful earthquake that struck Morocco last Friday.
Morocco’s strongest-ever earthquake killed more than 2,800 people, but hopes were fading of finding more survivors under the rubble.
#Morocco #PrayForMorocco #MoroccoEarthquake
About 100,000 children have been affected by the powerful earthquake that struck Morocco last Friday.
Morocco’s strongest-ever earthquake killed more than 2,800 people, but hopes were fading of finding more survivors under the rubble.
#Morocco #PrayForMorocco #MoroccoEarthquake
PEGASUS SPYWARE
"Benjamin Netanyahu" This man enforced the Israeli intelligence and the NSO group to create hacking tools to prevent and to counter cyberattacks.
Over the years there have been backlashes on the abuse of the spyware in Isreal.
The Israeli police are reportedly accused of using Pegasus, spyware developed by the NSO Group, to spy on dozens of its own citizens, including senior government officials and protesters demonstrating against Benjamin Netanyahu.
What is Pegasus and what does it do?
Pegasus is a type of spyware that may access a user's phone without their knowledge or consent, gather location and personal information, and take control of the phone's microphone and camera.
The 2010-founded NSO Group promotes itself as developing "technology that helps government agencies pay on thousands of lives around the globe" on its website.
Photos, site searches, passwords, call records, communications, and social media posts are some of the data Pegasus has access to.
The spyware's functionality is disguised in order to avoid discovery.
Researchers have found several examples of NSO Group sophisticated tools using so-called “zero click” exploits that infect targeted mobile phones without any user interaction.
How to perform vulnerability assessment on mobile device?
There are ways to track Pegasus on mobile and one way to do that is by the use of MVT (Mobile verification Toolkit) created by amnesty international.
#pegasus #spyware #cyberattack #mossad #cyebrsecurity #hacking
"Benjamin Netanyahu" This man enforced the Israeli intelligence and the NSO group to create hacking tools to prevent and to counter cyberattacks.
Over the years there have been backlashes on the abuse of the spyware in Isreal.
The Israeli police are reportedly accused of using Pegasus, spyware developed by the NSO Group, to spy on dozens of its own citizens, including senior government officials and protesters demonstrating against Benjamin Netanyahu.
What is Pegasus and what does it do?
Pegasus is a type of spyware that may access a user's phone without their knowledge or consent, gather location and personal information, and take control of the phone's microphone and camera.
The 2010-founded NSO Group promotes itself as developing "technology that helps government agencies pay on thousands of lives around the globe" on its website.
Photos, site searches, passwords, call records, communications, and social media posts are some of the data Pegasus has access to.
The spyware's functionality is disguised in order to avoid discovery.
Researchers have found several examples of NSO Group sophisticated tools using so-called “zero click” exploits that infect targeted mobile phones without any user interaction.
How to perform vulnerability assessment on mobile device?
There are ways to track Pegasus on mobile and one way to do that is by the use of MVT (Mobile verification Toolkit) created by amnesty international.
#pegasus #spyware #cyberattack #mossad #cyebrsecurity #hacking
PEGASUS SPYWARE.
Entreat all those whose phones were taken not to use them after it had been handed back to them . There’s a rumour that the government has purchased Pegasus spyware and in most countries it is been used on protestors a lot. If this is true then it should be treated seriously.
Pegasus has advanced over the years; and now is like an HIV infection; the moment is on your phone, it stays forever even if you do factory reset it. They have nicked named it “VARIANT”.
Get yourselves new phones.
But if you want to know if your phone is infected, kindly install the mobile verification tool kit; a powerful tool developed by Amnesty International.
As the process is on going too, a lot of the demonstrators will receive promising emails to and texts to show support; please ignore any of those attachments. Is likely spywares have been embedded in it.
Also Pegasus can lunch itself with just by a phone call; the malware automatically installs itself on the targeted device.
Pegasus is not the only spyware to infiltrate a phone; there are powerful ones like Finfisher , Mspy and COBALT.
Entreat all those whose phones were taken not to use them after it had been handed back to them . There’s a rumour that the government has purchased Pegasus spyware and in most countries it is been used on protestors a lot. If this is true then it should be treated seriously.
Pegasus has advanced over the years; and now is like an HIV infection; the moment is on your phone, it stays forever even if you do factory reset it. They have nicked named it “VARIANT”.
Get yourselves new phones.
But if you want to know if your phone is infected, kindly install the mobile verification tool kit; a powerful tool developed by Amnesty International.
As the process is on going too, a lot of the demonstrators will receive promising emails to and texts to show support; please ignore any of those attachments. Is likely spywares have been embedded in it.
Also Pegasus can lunch itself with just by a phone call; the malware automatically installs itself on the targeted device.
Pegasus is not the only spyware to infiltrate a phone; there are powerful ones like Finfisher , Mspy and COBALT.