I’m reminded of those tweets “whenever China visits we get a hospital. Whenever the UK visits we get a lecture.”
France kept the African countries underdeveloped for decades on purpose by bribing governments and coups in Africa, and stole it's resources for dirt cheap.
It really pisses me off that they keep complaining about refugees coming from Africa and treat them like shit, while they are the main force behind africa's extreme poverty and inequality.
YouTube has good documentaries about france's influence on many African nations if you interested to look up more…
@BlueFire me too. If they didn't genuinely want the Sahel countries to be vulnerable to being client states, they wouldn't have worked so long and so hard to ensure that they were client states.
This is just one greedy exploiter annoyed that another greedy exploiter is getting a foot in the door.
Tone deaf approach… The French really don't understand that everyone sees their game in Africa and it is very hard to look at France as anything other than a bad faith actor.
Out of all the former colonial powers, France is like the one that refused to move on and let go of what it claims as property.
Would it?
Russia needs to actually treat them well as partners to attract them away from France and keep them from going back. It's not in Russian interests to exploit them the way France has.
Russia is also weaker, so if they ever decided to start exploitin harder they could be fought off.
treat them well
Who is them? The general population? Oh my sweet summer child. The Russians just pay more to the higher ups in those countries. They do not give a flying fuck about the people. They want access to the various resources in the region.
they could be fought off.
You want to get rid off a corrupt government by using … checks notes. … your own corrupt government? There will always be another rat that's willing to work with the Russians which the Russians in turn will support in taking over from your guys.
Who is them? The general population? Oh my sweet summer child. The Russians just pay more to the higher ups in those countries. They do not give a flying fuck about the people. They want access to the various resources in the region.
In order to continue to access the various resources they need those governments to be stable and not get coup'd, like just fucking happened. That means more investment, more leniency, and more autonomy.
Russia doesn't have the power or resources to actually be a ruthless imperial power. They have to negotiate, which is far better than France or AFRICOM.
Your vulgar cynicism is noted, but how about you stop assuming everything other than the horrible status quo is worse?
You want to get rid off a corrupt government by using … checks notes. … your own corrupt government? There will always be another rat that’s willing to work with the Russians which the Russians in turn will support in taking over from your guys.
By overthrowing the government, like just happened lol
And guess what? Because Russia is weaker, poorer, and forced to compete against great powers like France? That's suddenly a lot easier.