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For starters, in 1917, some Russians calling themselves Bolsheviks, drunk with Carl Marx’s Communist philosophy of Socialism led by Lenin overthrew the ruling Tsah Nicolas II and undertook a revolution that gave birth to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). That overthrow was done by workers calling themselves Bolsheviks. Communism is a Marxist ideology that everything in a communist country belongs to the state. Private ownership of property is forbidden in such a country as opposed to Capitalism where everyone is free to own property and leads a lissezfair kind of economics. All private property in Russia and USSR generally was nationalised.
That Communist revolution threatened the existence of capitalism on which the rest of the countries in the world run their economics.
The Bolsheviks had the agenda of exporting the communist revolution all over the world by instigating and aiding the workers and peasants to upraise but they could not pursue it then because the world was engulfed with the 1st World War in which they switched from the side of the Allied powers to the Central powers led by German.
Two decades later their bid to extend the communist revolution was interrupted by the occurrence of the 2nd World War in which Adolf Hitler’s German invaded their country in 1941.
So after the 2nd World War, the Soviet Union then led by Joseph Stalin embarked on sovietisation of Eastern Europe and spreading communist internationally through sponsoring civil wars, anti- colonial struggles,, military coups all of which was part of the Soviet Union’s policy of Communist International (Comintern).
This Soviet policy was responded to by resistance from the leading capitalist powers led by the USA including Britain and France. They countered USSR’s effort by equally sponsoring governments and populations that were resisting the spread of communism to their countries. That divided the world into blocs, namely the East led by USSR and West blocs led by USA. Proxy wars were fought between the two sides in Asia and Africa.
In some countries in Africa the two blocs sponsored opposite liberation groups like in Angola where USA supported UNITA led by Jonas Savimbi and the USSR supported MPLA, all fighting against Portuguese colonial rule in Angola. In countries like South Africa where the liberation struggle was led by communists, the West supported the status quo.
This was the cold war. In some areas the two super powers almost directly fought like in Korean War 1952, in the Vietnam war etc.
That very expensive Cold War which also involved a very serious Arms race between the two superpowers and their respective allies ended when USSR got economically exhausted and disintegrated, a process that saw the independence of former USSR states like Russia and Ukraine.
Now that Cold War has has resumed. The World is being divided into two antagonistic blocs. One led by the USA and it’s NATO allies, and the other led by Putin ruled Russia. This has stemmed from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in what he luxuriously calls the special military operation. The USA & it’s allies have opposed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the extent of arming Ukraine to defend herself. Ukraine by aid of the arms and other forms of support from US and it’s allies in NATO has so far successfully defended herself. It has so far not fallen to Putin’s Russia.
Upto now US and it’s allies’ relations with Africa has been characterised with pressuring African governments to uphold and respect their people’s human rights to the charging of dictatorial governments, as most African rulers obtained their power through violation of people’s human rights and they keep that power by those means. They have been hesitantly submitting to US’s demands of respecting human rights. However, when Putin invaded Ukraine, and the US and it’s allies chose not to directly interven like they did when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait coupled with their choice of not directly supporting the Syrian upraising in which Putin’s Russia is directly defending Syria’s ruler, Bashar Al-Assad from getting overthrown, the African dictators have interpreted it as a sign the deteriorated ability of the US and it’s allies and many have as such chosen to support Russia which they think wont interfere in their abuses of human rights and misrule as in their view the new international power.
Now a Putin’s Russia sponsored military coup has taken place in Niger. A regional groping in West Africa known as ECOWAS has condemned the coup and is organizing to reverse it militarily.
The pro- Russia military juntas leading the neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali have vowed to defend the Niger junta and arming every separatist group in Nigeria to fight to secede. Russia’s foreign ministry has warned ECOWAS not to dare militarily reverse the coup.
French special forces attacked and rescued seven of its agents that the Junta in Niger had detained. The Niger junta according to their statement refer to the rescued french agents as terrorists.
As heavy Nigerian troop movements is reported towards its borders with Niger, Putin’s mercenaries in Mali and Central African Republic are being reinforced by flying in more Wagner Privete Military Company’s troops. Russia says the over 1000 Wagner troops flied into Central African Republic are meant to secure a national referendum in which the citizens there are to determine whether the pro-Russia sitting president there stands for a third term.
Do ordinary Africans ignorance and guilibility have a bearing on their rulers’ moves that are driving us to a bloodbath?
JEMBA ERISA
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