“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

In 5 weeks irrigation season will be over. I can tuck all the equipment away until next spring. Then take a bit of a break.

African Theater

A little history.

African coups expose and unravel a web of Western meddling Russia Times Sept 1, 2023

When former US president Barack Obama took office in 2009, Paris insiders said that, given his focus on containing China, Obama delegated much of Africa to the French and Brits – who promptly screwed things up. And Obama was still talking about those screwups in 2016 when he told The Atlantic in an interview that he “had more faith in the Europeans, given Libya’s proximity, being invested in the follow-up,” in the wake of the French- and UK-backed coup against Gaddafi.
Gabon coup leaders appoint new ruler

Obama underscored, in the same interview, just how easy it was to “purchase France’s involvement in a way that made it less expensive for us and less risky for [America]” – just by allowing Sarkozy to take credit for the coup. The idea that France or a French president can be “purchased” seems relevant here.
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What’s particularly interesting about Paris’ outrage over the coup against Bongo is that the French really didn’t seem to care about democracy – or the appearance thereof – as long as Bongo stayed in power....
So, why are the Westerners only bothering now? Well, as far as they were concerned, the Bongo clan – Ali, who’s been in power since 2009, and his father, Omar, before that – were considered to be firmly in the Western stable. French multinationals in particular, like TotalEnergies and Eramet have exploited the country’s energy and minerals – in particular manganese, which is essential in steel production and considered critical by the West.

No respite for France as a 'New Africa' rises The Cradle Pepe Escobar Sept 1, 2023

Africa still lags far behind its Eurasian cousins on the road toward breaking the shackles of neocolonialism.

The continent today faces horrendous odds in its fight against the deeply entrenched financial and political institutions of colonization, especially when it comes to smashing French monetary hegemony in the form of the Franc CFA - or the Communauté Financière Africaine (African Financial Community).
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It is absolutely impossible for anyone across the Global South, Global Majority, or “Global Globe” (copyright Lukashenko) to understand Africa's current turmoil without understanding the nuts and bolts of French neocolonialism.

The key, of course, is the CFA franc, the “colonial franc” introduced in 1945 in French Africa, which still survives even after the CFA - with a nifty terminological twist - began to stand for "African Financial Community".

The whole world remembers that after the 2008 global financial crisis, Libya’s Leader Muammar Gaddafi called for the establishment of a pan-African currency pegged to gold.
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The whole world also remembers what happened in 2011. The first airstrike on Libya came from a French Mirage fighter jet. France's bombing campaign started even before the end of emergency talks in Paris between western leaders.
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The CFA racket makes the Mafia look like street punks. It means essentially that the monetary policy of several sovereign African nations is controlled by the French Treasury in Paris.
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Even after some mild “reforms” were enacted since September 2005, these nations were still required to transfer 50 percent of their foreign exchange to Paris, plus 20 percent V.A.T.

And it gets worse. The CFA Central Banks impose a cap on credit to each member country. The French Treasury invests these African foreign reserves in its own name on the Paris bourse and pulls in massive profits on Africa's dime.

The hard fact is that more than 80 percent of foreign reserves of African nations have been in “operation accounts” controlled by the French Treasury since 1961. In a nutshell, none of these states has sovereignty over their monetary policy.
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Across the “FranceAfrique” spectrum, France still, today, controls the currency, foreign reserves, the comprador elites, and trade business.
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France de facto controls the overwhelming majority of infrastructure in Francophone Africa. It is a virtual monopoly.

“FranceAfrique” is all about hardcore neocolonialism. Policies are issued by the President of the Republic of France and his “African cell.” They have nothing to do with parliament, or any democratic process, since the times of Charles De Gaulle.

The “African cell” is a sort of General Command. They use the French military apparatus to install “friendly” comprador leaders and get rid of those that threaten the system. There’s no diplomacy involved. Currently, the cell reports exclusively to Le Petit Roi, Emmanuel Macron.
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France has for decades made sure there’s very little intra-Africa trade. Landlocked nations badly need neighbors for transit. They mostly produce raw materials for export. There are virtually no decent storage facilities, feeble energy supply, and terrible intra-African transportation infrastructure: that’s what Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects are bent on addressing in Africa.

Economic Theater

Escobar: NATOstan Robots Versus The Heavenly Horses Of Multipolarity Strategic Culture by Pepe Escobar Aug 29, 2023

In several ways, Prof. Hudson details, we are living “an outgrowth of World War II, whose aftermath saw the United States establish international economic and political organization under its own control to operate in its own national self-interest: the International Monetary Fund to impose U.S. financial control and dollarize the world economy; the World Bank to lend governments money to bear the infrastructure costs of creating trade dependency on U.S. food and manufactures; promoting plantation agriculture, U.S./NATO control of oil, mining and natural resources; and United Nations agencies under U.S. control, with veto power in all international organizations that it created or joined.”

Now it’s another ball game entirely when it comes to Global South, or Global Majority, of “Global Globe” real emancipation. Just take Moscow hosting the Russia-Africa summit in late July, then Beijing, with Xi in person, spending a day last week in Johannesburg with dozens of African leaders, all of them part of the new Non-Aligned Movement (NAM): the G77 (actually 134 nations), presided by a Cuban, President Diaz-Canel.

That’s the Russia-China Double Helix in effect – offering large swathes of the “Global Globe” security and high-tech infrastructure (Russia) and finance, manufactured exports and road and rail infrastructure (China).

In this context, a BRICS currency is not necessary. Prof. Hudson crucially quotes President Putin: what’s needed is a “means of settlement” for Central Banks for their balance of payments, to keep in check imbalances in trade and investment. That has nothing to do with a BRICS gold-backed supra-national currency.

Moreover, there will be no need for a new reserve currency as increasingly more nations will be ditching the U.S. dollar in their settlements.

Putin has referred to a “temporary” accounting unit – as intra-BRICS 11 trade will be inevitably expanding in their national currencies. All that will develop in the context of an increasingly overwhelming alliance of major oil, gas, minerals, agriculture and commodities producers: a real (italics mine) economy capable of supporting a new global order progressively pushing Western dominance into oblivion.

Call it the soft way to euthanize Hegemony.

Ukraine Theater

Are Ukraine Generals Following Our Lead on the Battlefield? (30 sec)

Top Nato generals meet with Ukrainian military in secret meeting to co-ordinate strategy IntelliNews

Top Nato military officials held a secret meeting with Ukrainians military leaders on the Ukraine-Poland border on August 15 to co-ordinate military strategy, The Guardian reports.

The meeting highlights the closeness of Nato and Ukrainian battle planning for the first time.

The objective of the secret meeting was to collaborate with Ukraine's chief military commander, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, and his entire command team who were present at the meeting.

A five-hour discussion was held to recalibrate Ukraine's military strategy, with a focus on addressing the slow advancement of Ukraine's counter-offensive, devising battle plans for the upcoming harsh winter, and outlining a comprehensive strategy for the ongoing conflict that is projected to continue into 2024.
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Amongst the westerners was Nato's military chief, General Christopher Cavoli of the United States, together with Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the highest-ranking military officer in the United Kingdom. Radakin's growing influence in Washington and Kyiv has positioned him as a crucial figure aiding Ukraine in its efforts to counter Russian forces.
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This summit was not the first instance of such high-level discussions. Radakin's recent visit to Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy without British ministers, laid the groundwork for the border meeting. This prior meeting was designed to enhance the understanding of Ukraine's strategy and identify avenues through which Western assistance could be extended.
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Earlier in August, Milley, together with Radakin, participated in a teleconference with Zaluzhnyi on August 10

Phil Giraldi retired from the operations side of the CIA. He quietly drops gems of techniques to influence politics from his days as an active field officer. His article referenced in the video America’s Domestic Party Politics Fuel the Ukraine Catastrophe (Unz.com) and the Political article in the dicussion Here Are 3 Ways to End the War in Ukraine. One Might Actually Work.

American Politics = Ukraine Catastrophe w/ Phil Giraldi (22:39 min)

Intel RoundTable: Sustainable Peace in Ukraine Possible? Larry Johnson/Ray McGovern (26:01 min) is very good.

The livestream videos this week by Judge Napolitano channel ongoing discussions regarding current Ukraine/Russia conflict. The interviews are generally posted on Monday through Thursday if would like to view them in a more timely manner. The link opens in the LIVE column, occasionally an interview only appears in VIDEOS section.

What is on your mind today?