OBLONG MEDIA GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE is where independent minds meet to dissect politics, society, power, and global affairs without fear or filters. This is not mainstream media.
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AFRICOM is ready to begin this year’s annual special operations training for African military leaders, dubbed ‘Flintlock.’ The program is labeled as part of America’s counter-terrorism strategy on the continent, yet its graduates often have goals other than fighting jihadists. Most recently, two-time Flintlock grad Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba seized power in Burkina Faso, ousting President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré in January. Reporting on Damiba’s deep ties to the US military establishment, journalist Nick Turse writes, “In 2010 and 2020, he participated in an annual special operations training program known as the Flintlock exercise. In 2013, Damiba was accepted into an Africa Contingency Operations Training…
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What these two outlets’ pieces on this subject show is that newly inaugurated Nigerian President Tinubu might invade Niger out of desperation to distract from economic and political problems at home despite telling the world that this is to defend democracy in that neighboring nation. The corrupt confluence of his domestic interests and the West’s geopolitical ones greatly raises the odds that this could soon happen, though it remains to be seen whether it’ll succeed and how strong the blowback might be. The fast-moving developments since last week’s patriotic military coup in Niger strongly suggest that “West Africa Is Gearing…
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The main goal of the bloc is to find ways towards development without domination by superpowers, be it the US or China Western pundits are arguing that BRICS nations “risk becoming vassals of China,” claiming that other members of the group (Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa) are comprehensively dominated by Beijing in terms of economic clout and influence. According to one recent Financial Times article, this has made BRICS a proxy for China’s own rivalry with the US, with Beijing dragging its partners into the confrontation. The author goes on to describe the group in highly condescending terms, saying it’s built on…
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Since the overthrow of Niger’s US-friendly government, West African nations of the ECOWAS bloc have threatened an invasion of their neighbor. Before leading the charge for intervention, ECOWAS chair Bola Tinubu spent years laundering millions for heroin dealers in Chicago, and has since been ensnared in numerous corruption scandals. Hours after Niger’s Western-backed leader was detained by the country’s presidential guard on July 28, Nigerian President and chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Bola Tinubu leapt into action, warning that the group of nations “will not tolerate any situation that incapacitates the democratically-elected government.” “As the Chairperson of…
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The last two years of Awolowo as Premier of Western Region was concentrated on efforts to write his name in the book of Legends. He incorporated: Western Hotels which invested in:1) _Premier Hotel,2) _Lafia hotels in Ibadan3) _Lagos Airport Hotel respectively. He set up:Western Nigeria Development Corporation to finance mega corporations. This was established in 1958.It encouraged plantation development with six agricultural plantations covering 20,517 acres in collaboration with Cooperative societies, eleven additional plantations covering 8,468 acres with crops ranging from Cocoa , Rubber, Oil Palm, Citrus, Cashew and Coffee had been put in place all over the region. WNDC,…
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The Pentagon has warned that a political impasse over top commander appointments may jeopardize troop readiness The US Army and Marine Corps are both without a top leader for the first time in history because of a political row in Washington, potentially undermining efforts to recruit troops and ensure that they’re ready to defend the nation, the Pentagon has warned. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin claimed on Friday that the US Senate’s failure to confirm military nominations for over 300 pending officer posts, including chiefs for the country’s two ground combat forces, is disruptive and could hinder relations with allies. Senator…
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Turnover hit all-time highs last year and continues to grow despite Western sanctions on Moscow Economic cooperation between Russia and the United Arab Emirates has been on the rise despite Ukraine-related Western sanctions on Moscow, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The outlet cited the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as saying that the flow of Russian oil and precious metals into the emirates have recently soared while microchips and civilian drones were being supplied to Moscow. The report also quoted Goldman Sachs’ Jared Cohen as stating that the UAE is profiting from its position as a “geopolitical swing state.” Apart from soaring…
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Washington is seeking to incite a new major conflict because global hegemony is slipping out of its grasp, Vyacheslav Volodin has said The United Nations must condemn the US for purchasing weapons for Taiwan because these “provocative actions” risk triggering a major conflict involving China, the speaker of the Russian State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, has said. Writing on Telegram on Saturday, Volodin claimed that “Washington is preparing Taiwan to follow the fate of Ukraine” and chided US President Joe Biden for “making yet another mistake” by planning to provide military aid to the self-ruled island using some of the money earmarked for Ukraine. The speaker of…
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The British Monarchy is one of the world’s more malignant forces and we are thoroughly entitled to say so. Quite contrary to its micromanaged image of a kindly benefactor, serving the best interests of the people, it is the apotheosis of rot, corruption and evil, an outdated institution harking back to the middle ages, steeped deep in scandal, nepotism, toxic entitlement. Accountability is absent. Its preening pageantry is bombastic yet dull. It is a bastion of elitism and intolerance, yet, despite being evidently malignant, criticising it is frowned upon. You haven’t seen reactionary patriotism until you’ve seen a nation mourning a…
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There seems to be no limit to the crimes and anti-humanitarian practices committed by the Kiev regime. In addition to torture, extrajudicial execution and human rights violations, Ukraine is also being denounced by insiders for involvement in an international child trafficking scheme. Several criminal networks are operating in Ukrainian territory, profiting from the conflict by exporting children on the black market. There are several cases of crimes against children in Ukraine being talked about in social media recently. In one of them, a scheme for the sale of babies was revealed. Criminal activities were taking place in private clinics in Kiev and…
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Civilian targets were affected in the Saturday night shelling Ukrainian forces have reportedly fired cluster munitions into Donetsk city, striking a private residence, a university and other civilian targets. Four rounds of 155mm cluster bombs were fired into the center of the city on Saturday night, triggering fires in three districts, the Joint Center of Control and Coordination (JCCC) for the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said.
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Arm, train and provide logistical support for Taiwan separatists who will spearhead Washington’s proxy war on China The Biden Administration is implementing a plan to draw Taiwan into a direct military confrontation with the People’s Republic of China. The plan bears many similarities to the strategy that was used in Ukraine where Russia was goaded into invading the country in response to emerging threats to its national security. In this case, Beijing is expected to react to mounting challenges to its territorial integrity by US proxies and their political allies operating in Taiwan. These incitements will inevitably lead to greater material support…
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The former cricket star claims his conviction for illegally profiting from state gifts was politically motivated Imran Khan meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on October 9, 2019 in Beijing, China © Getty Images / Parker Song-Pool/Getty Images Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was issued with a three-year jail sentence by an Islamabad court on Saturday after he was found guilty on corruption charges. The verdict means that Khan, who claims the prosecution was politically motivated, will not be able to contest elections later this year. In a pre-recorded statement released on X (formerly Twitter),…
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France has pledged to uphold military deals made with Niger’s ‘legitimate authorities’ France has said it is standing by five military cooperation agreements with Niger, because the accords were signed with the West African state’s ‘legitimate authorities,’ despite the former colony’s newly installed junta calling for the deals to be revoked. “France recalls that the legal framework for its cooperation with Niger in the area of defense is based on agreements that have been concluded with the legitimate Niger authorities,” read a Friday statement from the French foreign ministry. “These are the only ones that France, and the entire international community, recognizes.”…
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Kiev has lost over 43,000 troops since it launched its push against Russian positions in June, the Defense Ministry reported. Ukraine sustained, the losses of more than 43,000 troops during June and July, as it continued its attempted counteroffensive against Russian positions, the Russian Defense Ministry has estimated. The casualty rate was mirrored by the destruction of a large number of Ukrainian weapons, according to the summary, which was released on Friday. Over 4,900 pieces of heavy weaponry were destroyed over the same period of time, 25 German-made Leopard main battle tanks, seven French-made AMX-10 RC ‘wheeled tanks’ and 21…
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The U.S. has a 1.3 Trillion Dollar project assigned solely to nuclear weapons, which constitutes Big Money for the US-NATO defense contractors. We are at a dangerous crossroads. Western Politicians believe that they can win a nuclear war. With the war in Ukraine, Nazism has reemerged, now they call it Neo-Nazism? The U.S. financial establishment have supported the Nazis since the outset of the Third Reich. Wall Street, The Federal Reserve and the Bank of England supported Adolf Hitler’s election campaign for Chancellor in the wake of the Weimar Republic. They had business interests in Nazi Germany. There were powerful…
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Russia has signed agreements for military cooperation with over 40 African countries, President Vladimir Putin announced on Friday in St Petersburg. He made the announcement during the second and final day of the second Russia-Africa Summit, saying “we are developing partnerships in military and military-technical cooperation with more than 40 African states to strengthen the defence capabilities of the countries. “African states received a wide range of weapons and technology, some for free. Some of these deliveries are provided on a gratuitous basis with the aim of enhancing the security and sovereignty of the countries.” Representatives from African countries have…
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Russian Wagner mercenary boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has hailed Niger’s military coup as good news and offered his fighters’ services to bring order. Reports reveal that Prigozhin has remained active even after allegedly leading a failed mutiny against the Russian army’s top brass last month. A voice message on Telegram app channels associated with Wagner which they said was Prigozhin did not claim involvement in the coup, but described it as a moment of long overdue liberation from Western colonisers and made what looked like a pitch for his fighters to help keep order. “What happened in Niger is nothing other…
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Niger’s coup leaders during a meeting with ECOWAS delegation on Thursday Niger Republic coup leaders on Thursday revoked a raft of military cooperation agreements with France. The decision that could drastically reshape a fight against Islamist insurgents in the region after the ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum last week. Like recent coups in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali, last week’s military takeover in Niger came amid a growing wave of anti-French sentiment with some locals accusing the former colonial ruler of interfering in their affairs. France has between 1,000 and 1,500 troops in Niger, helping to fight an insurgency by…
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I don’t believe that Tinubu does not know the implications of his warmongering stance against Niger Republic. If he does not know, at least the Realists in his team must have worked out the implications by now. It has grave religious and ethnic downside. There is a school of thought encouraging him to go on this warmongering stance. These people including the Oduduwa Republic adherents, the Biafrans, Asari Dokubo and the Ijaw nation, the Bokists, and many other inchoate splinter groups who would move ‘ to their tents’ and declare their own nations when the Tinubu cataclysm erupts. No nation…
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The military government of Niger Republic has cut off ties with Nigeria, its former colonial ruler France, Togo, and the United States. Spokesperson for Niger’s coup leader Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani, Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane said this in a national broadcast on Thursday, according to Radio France International. According to him, “The functions of the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassadors of the Republic of Niger” to France, Nigeria, Togo and the United States are terminated,” Nigeria’s president Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the Chairman of the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) on Thursday sent a delegation led by former military Head of State,…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin invited African leaders and ‘non-Western friends’ to his hometown, St. Petersburg which hosted the second Russia-Africa summit from July 27-28. In the past three years, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has visited several African countries. Lavrov has used the shuttle diplomacy in African capitals to build support and strengthen further political contacts in preparation for the Russia-Africa summit. According to the Kremlin report, the current geopolitical period is “extremely difficult” and consequently only 17 heads of state out of 55 African countries were at the summit. There were, of course, a total of 49 African delegations noted in the report on…
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22 October 2019 The roughly three dozen African heads of state who will travel to Sochi later this week to attend the first-ever Russia-Africa Summit realize that the comprehensive expansion of relations with the Eurasian Great Power gives them a competitive edge in the New Cold War and can help them thwart the many plots associated with the modern-day “Scramble for Africa”. The first-ever Russia-Africa Summit will take place in Sochi this week from 23-24 October and usher in an entirely new era of relations between the Eurasian Great Power and world’s least-developed continent from which Moscow largely withdrew following the end…
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Imperialism extends its destabilization efforts against China and Russia across the continent This year’s 60th anniversary commemorations of the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on May 25, 1963 are occurring at an important inflection point in international relations. Africa and its people were essential in the rise of western colonialism and imperialism due to the highly profitable character of the Atlantic Slave Trade over a period extending from the 15th to the 19th century. In the beginning decades of the 21st century, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) are seriously threatened by…
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Niamey will respond to any “aggression” by the West or ECOWAS, the generals said Niger’s National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland has denounced a military pact with France and warned neighboring African states not to intervene in its affairs, according to AFP. The junta assumed power in a military coup last week. In a televised address on Thursday night, a representative of the putschist government said that Niger will “immediately” suspend all military cooperation agreements with France, including the deal under which Paris has deployed around 1,500 troops in the Sahel country. Earlier in the day, on the 63rd anniversary of Niger’s independence…
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23 November 2022 Why do Americans hate Putin? Tucker Carlson thinks he knows. Here’s what he said: “… Democrats in Washington have told you it’s your patriotic duty to hate Vladimir Putin. It’s not a suggestion. It’s a mandate. Anything less than hatred for Putin is treason. Many Americans have obeyed this directive. They now dutifully hate Vladimir Putin. Maybe you’re one of them. Hating Putin has become the central purpose of America’s foreign policy. It’s the main thing that we talk about. Entire cable channels are now devoted to it. Very soon, that hatred of Vladimir Putin could bring the United States…
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26 May 2017 TIME Magazine’s Bill Powell is a gifted journalist. Anyone who reads the LinkedIn recommendations for the former Newsweek bureau chief will assuredly be impressed. Dozens and dozens of senior editors and journalistic colleagues are there, as are people like Dorinda Elliott, who is the Editorial and Communications Director at Harvard’s prestigious Paulson Institute. Yes, Bill Powell is an American storyteller. And his latest piece for Newsweek hits like an expertly wielded meat clever. “Inside Putin’s Campaign to Destroy U.S. Democracy”, that’s the expertly stylized headline Newsweek’s bosses must have desperately needed this week. Reading the introductory paragraphs on how Vladimir Putin more-or-less rescued…
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27 December 2014 The Role of National Public Radio (NPR) On Friday, December 26th, National Public Radio aired two superbly done pieces of anti-Russia propaganda, which could as well have been written by the U.S. CIA, or by Voice of America, it was so skillfully deceiving. One of these propaganda-pieces, on “Morning Edition,” presented Eleanor Beardsley alleging that the anti-immigrant political parties in Britain and France are anti-U.S. and pro-Russian because they are supposedly all “far right”; and the other piece, on “All Things Considered,” presented Corey Flintoff alleging that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin “seized Crimea” (as if he hadn’t…
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The US president’s son did not pay tax on $4.4 million earned from foreign sources in 2017 and 2018 Court documents stemming from Hunter Biden’s failed plea-bargain deal on federal criminal charges have revealed that US President Joe Biden’s son brought in income of more than $4.4 million, mostly from China and Ukraine, while paying no taxes in 2017 and 2018. In 2017 alone, Hunter Biden netted nearly $2.3 million from foreign sources, including over $1.6 million from his Chinese business interests and $500,000 in director’s fees from a Ukrainian energy company, according to a filing released on Wednesday by US District…
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The country will not submit to threats, no matter where they come from, the junta’s president has said Supporters of Niger’s ruling junta gathered in the capital, Niamey, on Thursday to protest sanctions imposed on the country in the aftermath of last week’s coup, as well as to oppose foreign meddling. The mass rally is taking place as the country marks 63 years of independence, in response to a joint call by junta leader General Abdourahamane Tiani and a coalition of civil society groups. One participant was reportedly seen carrying a sign that read “Long live Niger, Russia, Mali, and…
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Italy is walking a fine line in the African nation, Antonio Tajani has revealed The government in Rome has no evidence of Moscow’s involvement in the military coup in Niamey, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told the daily La Repubblica on Thursday. The turmoil in Niger took both the US and France by surprise, he also revealed. “We have no information of Russia’s involvement in the Nigerien events, or the preparation of the coup,” Tajani told the outlet when asked whether Moscow was playing some kind of game in the Sahel nation. He dismissed the Nigerien protesters carrying photos of Russian President…
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Special counsel Jack Smith did not seek pretrial detention in the latest round of charges against the ex-president Former US president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to four felony charges related to his contesting the 2020 election results on Thursday. The former president, joined by his attorneys in a Washington DC courtroom, pleaded not guilty to all charges before US Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. Trump was indicted on Tuesday on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an…
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In the era of American unipolarity, the states of Africa were exposed to the West. Poor, desperate, and unstable, many African nations were forced to rely on their former colonial overlords as well as the US, for various forms of assistance. This was especially true during the ‘war on terror’ era, when Islamic insurgencies threatened the security of their populations. French and US Special Forces would be deployed to fight terrorists in West African States, for example in a horrific kidnapping in a hotel in Mali in 2015. However, this assistance, be it financial or military, came at the cost…
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1. A leader is a servant to all. If you don’t have the heart to serve others without looking for a reward, you are not yet a leader. 2. If you can’t withstand criticism and can’t withstand and survive the havoc of hate speech, you are not yet a leader. 3. If you don’t have the power of forgiving and forgetting, you are not yet a leader. 4. If you stop doing good because nobody recognizes your kind gesture, you are not yet a leader. 5. If you see your followers making mistakes, but you keep quiet saying, “If they…
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When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, some analysts alluded that Africa was the beautiful bride and price for the war. The invasion was to have implications for African stability. Before the Ukraine invasion, a renewed scramble for Africa had started with deepening military and business interests from China and Russia in Africa. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are some of the most recent cases of the renewed tussle for control of Africa among world powers. Unfortunately, coups, military and economic aids, nay booby-traps, election gerrymander, and subtle support for sectarianism and ethnic profiling appear to be the major turfs…
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General Salifou Mody, one of the Niger officers who seized power in a military coup last week, visited Mali on Wednesday, according to the Mali presidency, amid speculation of a possible interest in the Wagner mercenary group, which has a presence in the country. Mali’s transitional president, Assimi Goïta, hosted Mody and a large Nigerien military delegation on Wednesday, according to pictures and a statement posted on Facebook by the Mali presidency. Mody called the meeting “part of a complex regional context,” the Mali presidency said, and thanked Malian authorities “for their support and accompaniment since the seizure of power by the…
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First published on February 14, 2015 The objectives of the US military presence in Africa are well documented: counter Chinese influence and control strategic locations and natural resources including oil reserves. This was confirmed more than 8 years ago by the US State Department: In 2007, US State Department advisor Dr. J. Peter Pham commented on AFRICOM’s strategic objectives of “protecting access to hydrocarbons and other strategic resources which Africa has in abundance, a task which includes ensuring against the vulnerability of those natural riches and ensuring that no other interested third parties, such as China, India, Japan, or Russia, obtain monopolies…
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The weaponization of US currency has pushed many nations to look for alternatives, a top banker has said Alternative payment mechanisms in mutual trade will be addressed at the ongoing Russia-Africa summit, one of Russia’s top bankers said on Thursday. Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the event in St. Petersburg, Andrey Kostin, the CEO of Russia’s second-largest bank VTB, said that the US dollar had been weaponized, which is why nations will gradually move away from using it in trade. “Structural changes are bound to happen. African countries are also acting on this. They have already started to…
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The continent will be part of a multipolar world with completely new economic relations, Igor Morozov has told RT The unipolar world is collapsing and a multipolar world is being formed with the participation of Africa, where a newly-minted middle-class will drive consumer demand in the near future, the head of the Coordinating Committee for Economic Cooperation with African Countries (AFROCOM), Igor Morozov told RT on Friday. Last year alone, 19 African countries applied for BRICS membership because they wanted completely new economic relations, Morozov revealed on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa summit. After the US and the…
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The five emerging nations already outpace the G7 in economic growth, Aleksandr Babakov claims Russia together with fellow BRICS members and other African countries is discussing the creation of a new global currency that could challenge the US dollar’s dominance and become analogous to the euro for non-Western states, State Duma Deputy Speaker Aleksandr Babakov has said. In an interview with Russian media on Wednesday, Babakov stated that having passed the test of Western sanctions, Moscow is ready to take on a new role in the world order and, together with partners, undermine the hegemony of the US. Claiming the Russia-Africa…
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It’s full-blown fake news to claim that Niger is now a global epicenter of terrorism, but the MSM is expected to maximally amplify this false narrative in an attempt to scare the public into supporting the planned NATO-backed Nigerian-led ECOWAS invasion of that country. This approach risks discrediting itself, however, if it triggers the wrong memories from the so-called “Global War on Terror” by reminding the public of how skeptical they eventually became of it by the end of Bush Jr.’s rule. Few people across the world ever heard of Niger before last week’s patriotic military coup in this landlocked…
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The continent is developing at a much faster pace than the West, Konstantin Kosachev has said Russia is trying to forge ties with Africa because it holds a lot of potential and is in a good position to shape the future of mankind, Konstantin Kosachev, the vice speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament, said in an interview released on Monday. Speaking to the AIF newspaper, Kosachev was asked to comment on why Russia is attempting to befriend African nations, including by hosting a major international forum. The senator responded by describing Africa’s potential as “extremely huge.” He said it was “developing faster…
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The foreign minister insisted “pressure” must be put on Niamey’s coup leaders to restore democracy, but ruled out a military approach Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has warned against Western military involvement in Niger, which is now under the control of a junta following a coup last week. “I think we must put pressure on democracy to be restored, but any Western military initiative should be excluded because it would be seen as a new colonization,” Tajani told Rai News on Wednesday. The minister’s comments came after the junta accused France of plotting to “intervene militarily” to free ousted President…
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The Ukrainian leader’s constant demands and unwillingness to heed Washington’s advice has reportedly angered officials on several occasions Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s conduct is a source of annoyance in Washington, CNBC reported on Wednesday. Zelensky angers his American backers by ignoring their orders and issuing ever-greater demands, anonymous officials told the network. Zelensky lashed out at NATO leadership before the bloc’s summit in Lithuania last month, claiming it was “unprecedented and absurd” that the US-led bloc hadn’t offered Ukraine a timeline for membership. His outburst “did not really resonate well in Washington,” an anonymous source “with knowledge of the matter” told the American broadcaster. “The US administration was…
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Before the region became the center of Ukrainian nationalism, local Russophiles were annihilated in some of Europe’s first concentration camps Galicia, a historical region in the West of Ukraine, is currently the center of the country’s nationalist movement. However, things were once very different. A little over a hundred years ago, representatives of opposing Russophile and pro-Ukrainian political movements competed for the loyalty of the local Ruthenian population, also known as Rusyns. Galicia’s Russophiles welcomed the beginning of the First World War as a step toward an anticipated reunion with Russia. However the Ukrainian movement remained loyal to Austria-Hungary. With…
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This week marks a sad anniversary which is significant, instructive, and unfortunately, topical One hundred years ago, on August 1, 1923, the All-Ukrainian Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic) adopted a joint resolution on the beginning of the process of Ukrainianization. It sounded quite positive: ‘On Measures to Ensure the Equality of Languages and Assistance to the Development of the Ukrainian Language’. At first glance it seemed like there was nothing to fear – after all, it was about ‘equality’. But literally in the very first paragraphs of this decree, discrimination…
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The Brazilian president has voiced concern over the apparently “imminent extradition” of the WikiLeaks co-founder to the US Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has described the detention of Julian Assange as an attack on democracy and freedom of the press. The WikiLeaks co-founder is set to make a “final” appeal to the High Court in the UK, after his latest motion to block a US extradition request was rejected. “I look with concern at the imminent extradition of journalist Julian Assange. Assange has done an important job to denounce the illegal actions of one state against another,” Lula said in a tweet on Saturday. Assange’s…
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The WikiLeaks founder is facing 175 years in prison if convicted of espionage charges A delegation of Australian lawmakers called for the United States to end its attempts to extradite and prosecute Julian Assange during a meeting with US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy in Canberra on Tuesday. The ‘Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group’ informed Washington’s chief diplomat in Australia that its citizens had expressed “widespread concern” at the continued detention in Britain of the WikiLeaks founder, who is an Australian national, as well as attempts to extradite him to the United States to face espionage charges. In 2010, Assange’s WikiLeaks platform published…
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that the WikiLeaks founder caused “serious harm” to US national security US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has confirmed that Australia has raised the case of Julian Assange’s continued prosecution, but declared that Washington will not cease seeking the extradition of the former WikiLeaks boss and intends to try him for espionage. Speaking alongside Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Brisbane on Saturday, Blinken said that while he understands “the concerns and views of Australians,” Assange’s alleged actions “risked very serious harm to our national security, to the benefit of our adversaries, and put named human sources at grave…
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Anthony Albanese has said that his government “remains firm” in demanding that Washington drop its case against the WikiLeaks founder Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that he would continue to press the US to cease its prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has rejected previous pleas from Canberra. “This has gone on for too long. Enough is enough,” Albanese told reporters. “We remain very firm in our view and in our representations to the American government and we will continue to do so.” Albanese has made similar declarations before. He told Australia’s…
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The former US president has been charged on four counts relating to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election Former US President Donald Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury regarding his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election on Tuesday. The Republican 2024 frontrunner faces four charges: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. The indictment also lists six unnamed co-conspirators, including four lawyers, a justice department official, and a political consultant. The charging document alleges that by disseminating false claims…
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Tory MPs are urging a “bespoke response” to the visa scheme expiration More than half of the Ukrainians who came to Britain on a refugee resettlement scheme will have to leave by September 2025 unless the government acts now to give them long-term “clarity,” several Conservative members of Parliament and NGOs said on Wednesday. An estimated 182,100 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK since February 2022, using the Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes for Ukraine, set up to allow them a three-year stay. With no end in sight to the conflict and most of those displaced unwilling to return, parliamentarians are urging…
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It’s expected that maximum pressure will be exerted on Nigeria by the West behind the scenes over the coming week ahead of ECOWAS’ ultimatum expiring. France and the US recognize the threat that the patriotic military coup in Niger poses to their hegemonic interests, which is why they’re ready to pull out all the stops in reversing this possibly game-changing development. For all its potential, Nigeria has largely failed to liberate itself from Western influence, hence why it’s likely to do their bidding. Last week’s military coup in Niger could be a game-changer in the New Cold War if the junta…
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Ever since the Nigerien military under the command of General Abdourahamane Tchiani took power on July 26, there has been an exponential increase in tensions between Niamey and its former colonial masters in Paris. This has gone to the point where France is now seriously considering invading the West African country. The exploitation of “former” French colonies has continued unabated for over half a century even after they were granted a semblance of independence and Paris has been the main beneficiary of this one-sided relationship. Combined with France’s inability to deal with various terrorist insurgencies in the region, this unadulterated neocolonial…
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The most important line of the movie is “God’s children are not for sale”. Sound of Freedom is a movie based on the true story of Tim Ballard, a government agent who quits his job in order to rescue children from sex traffickers in Colombia. Directed by Alejandro Monteverde, Sound of Freedom is not your typical Hollywood movie. It was released by Utah-based Angel Studios, a company specializing in “faith-based” productions. The movie was actually completed over five years ago, in 2018, and was slated to be distributed with 20th Century Fox. However, when the studio was bought by the Walt…
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The reaction to the unprecedented indictment of President Trump was predictable. Most of Trump adversaries responded with unrestrained jubilation. The former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey reacted to the news with delight. Yes, this is the former head of the foremost law enforcement agency in the U.S. What a fall in standards. Now that a fall in standards has been mentioned, we examine a tweet from Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi claimed that the Grand Jury has acted upon the facts and the law.null So let’s look at the facts first. President Trump has denied the affair with…
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Russia’s Wagner Group has intervened in the affairs of several African countries, providing military and security support while expanding Moscow’s influence across the continent. The Wagner Group, a thousands-strong private military force, has in recent years become one of Russia’s most influential foreign policy tools. It has played a significant role on the battlefields of Syria and Ukraine and, recently, has worked to expand its footprint in Africa. The group has operated in several African countries since 2017, often providing its clients with direct military support and related security services alongside propaganda efforts. What is the Wagner Group? Founded by…
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March 26, 2022 Days after reports detailing a failed assassination attempt on the Ukrainian President surfaced, Kyiv’s top intelligence agency again claimed that mercenaries hired by Moscow continued their hunt for Zelensky and other high-ranking politicians. The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense revealed this in a Facebook post on March 20. “Another group of militants linked to Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a Russian propagandist close to Putin and owner of the Liga (Wagner), began arriving in Ukraine today,” the intelligence agency claimed. “The main task of criminals is to eliminate the top military and political leadership of Ukraine. On February…
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Oct. 2, 2007 Academi, formerly known as Blackwater, is an American private military contractor founded on December 26, 1996, by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. It was renamed Xe Services in 2009, and was again renamed to Academi in 2011, after it was acquired by a group of private investors. On Sept. 16, 2007, a convoy of Blackwater contractors guarding State Department employees entered a crowded square near the Mansour district in Baghdad, Iraq. But versions of what caused the ensuing bloodshed diverge. Employees from the firm claim they were attacked by gunmen and responded within the rules of…
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Reports suggest that Western weapons sent to Ukraine are being redistributed to terrorists around the world, particularly in Africa. According to the interim President of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traore, Western military equipment ends up in the hands of African terrorists instead of supplying Ukrainian forces, thus generating instability and insecurity for Africa, and further increasing the need for cooperation with Russia. In an interview with Russian media, Traore showed neutrality about the current conflict in Eurasia, saying he is more concerned about the domestic situation in his own country. For Traore, Burkina Faso is at war against terrorist groups, which are indirectly…
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4 November 2022 Russia’s ambassador insists he has evidence of UK aiding a Ukrainian drone attack on Putin’s fleet in Black Sea Diplomat Andrei Kelin has said Britain is involved ‘too deep’ in the Ukraine War and warns of consequences Russia said it lodged a ‘strong protest’ over Nord Stream and Black Sea attacks which it accuses UK of aiding Britain denies direct attacks on Russia as ‘false claims on an epic scale’ but is open about support for Ukraine The UK is ‘too deep’ in the Ukraine war, Russia‘s ambassador warned – while insisting that Putin will not use nuclear weapons in an attack…
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Congress and the courts have shirked their duty, letting bureaucrats make and interpret the laws. There are two competing conceptions of American governance: the version students are taught in the classroom, and the one that exists in the real world. Grade-school civics teaches that Washington is designed to operate under a system of checks and balances, constrained by the Constitution and empowered by the consent of the governed. In practice, however, power has become concentrated in the executive branch and largely wielded by unaccountable career bureaucrats. The notion of a “deep state” isn’t a conspiratorial talking point but a manifest…
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Child trafficking and exploitation reaches into the highest levels of authority, both secular and religious. No, thankfully the malady has not yet overtaken the entirety of the West, but it certainly has seized hold of the element within it that sets the tone and shapes minds. The precise matter that currently exercises the establishment is not motherhood so much literally as symbolically, insofar as the powers that are dismissed with undisguised contempt is the inviolability of motherhood’s most precious issue, innocent children. That is close enough. The opinion dictators’ unhinged reaction to the newly released film “Sound of Freedom” highlights a seeming…
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Nineteen months after the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, many people are still wondering: what is the war really about? Ukraine considers it exclusively defensive against Russian aggression. For the Western bloc (as they inconsistently try to demonstrate) the war is a defense of Western values and countering the military threat from Moscow. For Russia, this war is a serious geopolitical challenge, in which it is necessary to protect the fraternal people and eliminate the ultra-right neo-Nazi forces that seized power at all levels in 2014 and are acting with a tough anti-Russian policy. However, as always happens…
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The West African bloc has a history of successful military interventions to restore constitutional order within the region.A Nigerien soldier with ECOMOG, the military arm of the Economic Community of West African States, adjusts a rocket launcher in the village of Lomo Nord, in central Ivory Coast, February 14, 2003 [Issouf Sanogo/AFP] On July 26, members of Niger’s presidential guard deposed President Mohamed Bazoum in a coup, the fifth successful one in nine attempts in West Africa since 2020. This has prompted the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to impose sanctions and issue a one-week ultimatum to the…
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The strategy to increase President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s (PBAT) legitimacy by lobbying to make him the chairman of The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) might backfire if he doesn’t skillfully navigate the drifting of the treacherous Niger Republic time-bomb with wisdom and discernment out of the Bermuda Triangle. It’s so unfortunate that the responsibilities of the ECOWAS chairman has quadrupled overnight. His actions and inactions will be observed closely and analyzed in real-time by the NeoCon and the BRICS nations. The Niger Republic situation will test his sagacity and wherewithal to manage crisis. PBAT should come to terms…
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One of the coup leaders claims Paris has sought and obtained permission to “intervene militarily” in the country’s political crisis Niger’s deposed government has authorized France to conduct strikes on the presidential palace in order to release President Mohamed Bazoum, the military junta that seized power last week claimed on Monday. The junta had earlier warned against foreign attempts to free Bazoum, who has been held hostage at the palace since Wednesday, when the putsch took place. In a statement on Monday, Colonel Amadou Abdramane, one of the coup leaders, claimed that France, an ally of the country in fighting…
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Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, the Niger head of state has banned Uranium and Gold Exports to France, Forges Alliance with Russia” The junta in Niger announced that it was suspending the export of uranium and gold to France with immediate effect, APA reports citing BBC. Niger is the world’s seventh largest producer of Uranium. Niger accounts for 15-17 percent of the uranium used to generate electricity in France. It should be noted that according to the statement of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France has suspended financial support programs for Niger until the constitutional structure is restored in the African…
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‘No Trust or Confidence in a Unitary System of Government’: Lt.-Col. Gowon’s Broadcast on the Assumption of Office, 1 August 1966 This is Lt-Col. Y. Gowon, Army Chief of Staff, speaking to you. My fellow countrymen, the year 1966 has certainly been a fateful year for our beloved country, Nigeria. I have been brought to the position today of having to shoulder the great responsibilities of this country and the armed forces with the consent of the majority of the members of the Supreme Military Council as a result of the unfortunate incident that occurred on the early morning of 29th July…
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Burkina Faso and Mali have denounced the ECOWAS sanctions against the junta in Niamey In the first-ever joint communique on Monday, the military governments in Mali and Burkina Faso warned the West and other African states against intervening in neighboring Niger. Bamako and Ouagadougou would consider any such move as an attack on their own countries, they said. “Any military intervention against Niger would amount to a declaration of war against Burkina Faso and Mali,” said point four of the joint communique, which a Burkinabe military spokesman deliberately repeated three times during a state television broadcast. In case of an intervention, the…
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When Zik, the spirit man, left Onitsha province, Awka District, to Umuahia and appointed Dr. M. I. Okpara as the premier and late Dr. Akanu Ibiam as the Govenor of Eastern Region of Nigeria, people did not have much qualms about Ibiam. After all, they said, the post of a Governor was a ceremonial one. In the case of Okpara, some people were skeptical about his eligibility for the position of premier which was an executive position. In the first place, people did not know much about him like Dr. J. O. J. Okezie and others associated with known Zikists…
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In Three Years (July 2020-July 2023), Deployed Criminal Security Forces And Other Government Extortionist Agencies Seized N2.2 Trillion ($2.7B) From Easterners At Gunpoint As Against N600B ($800M) Collected At Gunpoint By Non State Criminal Entities Involving: Police/Military Roadblocks N670B, Police Custodial Extortions N200B, ‘Crime Proceeds’ Converted By Police N60B, Squandered Govs’ Security Votes N400B, Extortions By Militant Government Agencies N700B, Military/Police House Burnings/Lootings N150B, Police Security To VIPs/Institutions N30B, Non State Ransoms/Robberies N400B And Other Crime Proceeds From Criminal Entities N200B-Totaling N2.8Trillion ($3.5B) …Grand Research Finding: Deployed Security Forces And Other Government Agencies More Criminal And Atrocious Than Non State…
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Mr Ekpa is a Nigerian-Finnish citizen who has been linked to the growing insecurity in the region. Leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has accused the Nigerian government of sponsoring Simon Ekpa to cause unrest in Nigeria’s south-east Mr Ekpa is a Nigerian-Finnish citizen who has been linked to the growing insecurity in the region. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, counsel to the IPOB leader, disclosed this in a statement on Monday, which was sent to PREMIUM TIMES. Mr Ejiofor said Mr Kanu made the remark when the IPOB leader’s legal team visited him at the facility of the State…
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DNA which stands for Deoxyribo-Nucleic Acid, is defined as nucleic acid that contains the genetic code. If you have SEX with a man, his DNA lives in you forever. Workman noted that a research by university of Seattle USA has proven that:- There is now a greater understanding of why God asks us not to have SEX before we get married This research proves that any man that a woman has SEX with, leaves a part of his DNA in the woman. The man who has had more SEX with her, leaves more of his DNA in the woman. So…
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When a dog wags its tail, it is no news, but if ever a tail is seen wagging the dog, then that becomes the greatest news item the world over. The reason is simple, the dog, (with its body mass constituting more than 99.9% of itself, less the insignificant percentage left to its tail), obviously has everything to its advantage, (brain power and physical power), to control and wag its tail at its pleasure. The point being made with the illustration of the dog and its tail is that, as far as the power equation is concerned, as it is…
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In July 2013, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, then Egypt’s army chief, sacked his benefactor and Egypt’s first democratically elected president, President Mohammed Morsi, in a military coup, installed himself as military ruler of the country and suspended the country’s constitution. 11 months later, at the end of May 2014, the General proclaimed himself the elected ruler of Egypt, winning 93% of the votes in an election with a pre-determined outcome in which he was the only candidate with any chance of being declared winner. The African Union, which had previously decided that coup plotters should not use the benefit of their…
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A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, has delivered judgement in Favour of the widow of late Igbo leader and Ikemba Nnewi Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and her Children in the case involving the management and control of some of the assets of Ojukwu Transport Ltd( OTL) the family company of which her husband was a Director prior to his death. The suit filed by Bianca Ojukwu in 2012, on behalf of the claimants being her two sons, Afamefuna and Nwachukwu who were infants at the time, against Ojukwu Transport Limited (OTL) and seven others ( brothers of the late…
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Former Minister of Power and Chairman Geometric Power Group, Prof Bart Nnaji has said that the 188-megawatt Geometric Power Plant in the Osisioma Industrial Layout, Aba, Abia State, will commence electricity generation within two months. Starting with one of its four General Electric brand turbines, the second will come on stream once the performance of the first turbine is declared satisfactory by the team of engineers led by KSE Energy of Turkey and Engineer Ben Caven, a former executive director of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) reputed to be the only person to have run the generation, engineering and…
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“If you want to stop a coup, remove the cause.” – Brigadier (later General) Murtala Mohammed (1938-1976) in September 1974 These are not the best of times for democratically wired Nigeriens. What are the real issues? While only time will tell, when parrots jabber, eagles are quiet. Perhaps why when many Nigerians became agitated over the 378 km long Kano to Maradi rail line traversing Jigawa and Katsina States, better-informed Nigerians maintained a stoic silence because the very Hausawa of Katsina exiled by Sokoto Caliphate in the early 1800s are those still holding sway in Maradi. Understandably, that brief disquiet…
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“…..Oh, those Russians.” – Last stanza of Rasputin track featured in Boney M’s album, Nightflight To Venus (1978) The French are landlords in West Africa but President Vladimir Putin’s Wagner Group are increasingly challenging them. Virtually every coup crime scene in the Sahel has Russian fingerprints. Hear, the reaction to President Bazoum’s removal by the Moscow generalissimo, Yevgeny Prigozhin in a voice message on Telegram, “What happened in Niger is nothing short than the struggle of the people of Niger with their colonizers. With colonizers who are trying to foist their rules of life on them and their conditions keeping…
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I grew up in Owerri Nchi-Ise to see every Owere man or woman as a brother or sister. This was in the early sixties. My schoolmates at Township School Owerri were practically family members as we ate at each other mother’s kitchen after school. We had few non- indegenes living in Owerri. We were bonded to each other with great love and affection. We were the pride and envy of visitors and residents in Owerri who even wished, they hailed from Owerri and always happily elated whenever called Owere Nchi- ishii. They worshiped and adored us and were even afraid…
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Earlier this month I reported that my Medicare account has been billed by three separate labs for expired Covid tests sent to me as “totally free, paid for by the Government. Please Do Not Return.” “Paid for by Government” means paid for by Medicare. I now have 24 expired Covid tests for which Medicare has paid. Since reporting this a few days ago I have now received Medicare notices that FIVE more labs have sent me AT MEDICARE’S EXPENSE Covid test kits. These kits have not arrived, but the bill to Medicare has. One is from Chicago Care Lab Services, W. Pratt Blvd, Chicago,…
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“Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.” William Shakespeare, 1564-1616 Hit the ground running was the advice given by most of our erudite young columnists as soon as Tinubu was declared winner of the February Presidential Election. Apart from the fact that it was neither original nor new, few of the purveyors of that idea had stopped to ask if it was appropriate – given the circumstances and the individual being addressed. Tinubu, as elected Governor of Lagos State in 1999, was 24 years younger than his age is today. He started so slowly that he was openly insulted…
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On Tuesday, 13 June, 2023, I was at the University of Ibadan where I delivered a public lecture titled “The task before Nigeria’s 16th Head of State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu” at the 31st Anniversary of the Resurrection Morning Star Society, Chapel of Resurrection of the university. Following is an abridged version of the lecture: “Tinubu is an enigma. To borrow from the words which the self-styled “evil genius” and self-conceited military president-cum-dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), employed while describing the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Tinubu has been “the issue” in Nigerian politics since the current Fourth Republic kicked off in…
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For the first time since Independence in 1960, Nigeria’s economy expanded slower than its population between 2015 and 2020. Nigeria’s GDP per capita declined by 0.02 per cent, 4.16 per cent and 1.78 in 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively; in 2018, 2019 and 2020, it declined by 0.68, 0.38 and 4.57 per cent respectively. Nigeria’s annual GDP growth rate also declined from 6.22 in 2014 to 3.10 in 2022. Under Buhari, Nigeria’s economy fell into recession twice. The exchange rate of Naira to US dollar in 2015 was N197 but today the rate on the black market where most Nigerians…
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“Friends speak the truth to each other. Good friends speak the bitter truth” – Israel’s President Herzog, in address to the US Congress, July 19, 2023. Herzog stunned the US Congress (National Assembly) by confessing that his country is now practising the same apartheid for which South African whites were globally condemned in the last century. American elected officials who had gathered, expecting another denunciation of Palestinians as terrorist, were shocked into silence. That took courage. Nigeria needs that sort of courage from anybody seeking to advise you on how to run your government – if the courts give you…
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State Department inspectors have flagged concerns about the billions sent to Kiev The US is struggling to keep track of billions of dollars it has sent to Kiev since February 2022, the effectiveness of which may be reduced by government and private corruption in Ukraine. This was the most recent finding of the US State Department’s Office of the Inspector General. The redacted version of the State Department OIG report, published this week, notes that “corruption in the Ukrainian government and private sector poses risks to the effectiveness of US foreign assistance over the longer run.” Concerns about corruption are well-documented, the OIG…
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The former US president suggested that Joe Biden is not fit for purpose in his role as Commander in Chief Former US president Donald Trump took aim at Joe Biden at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania on Saturday, branding his successor in the White House “the most corrupt president in American history.” “We have somebody that’s not at the top of his game,” Trump said of Biden to a fiercely loyal crowd at the Erie Insurance Arena. “Never was at the top of his game. We have a guy who is a dumb son of a b*tch.” Trump, the frontrunner to land the…
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Gems have up to now been largely spared from international restrictions Sanctions on exports of Russian diamonds that have been debated by the G7 countries for more than a year may send gem prices soaring globally, CNBC reported on Friday, citing analysts. So far, importing Russian rough diamonds has been banned by the US. At the same time, Washington still imports gems extracted in Russia if they have been substantially altered in other countries. The UK, Canada, and New Zealand followed suit, adopting similar measures against Russian mining giant Alrosa. The European Union and G7 have been seeking new ways…
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The trade in precious stones has so far avoided sanctions The EU wants to tighten economic sanctions on Russia by imposing further restrictions on trade in precious stones. According to a statement from the European commissioner for financial stability, Meirid McGuinness on the website of the European Parliament, Brussels is looking for ways to restrict the trade in Russian diamonds and their use, to reduce Moscow’s export revenues. The comments came in response to a query from MEP Tomas Zdechovsky, who claimed that “significant quantities” of uncut gems are being exported through EU channels and worldwide. Zdechovsky submitted his query on May…
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State companies should develop joint standards in the gemstone mining industry, the head of Alrosa says Russia and Africa account for more than 90% of the global diamond mining market and should develop a joint roadmap for sustainable business development, the head of Russian mining giant Alrosa has said. Pavel Marinychev urged countries and producers to work together and establish common approaches in the gemstone industry. “State-owned diamond companies in Russia and Africa should decide on an appropriate common sustainable development agenda and common standards in the field of responsible business. Standards that are basic, and not imposed on us,” Marinychev…
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Those who think Simon Ekpa is working to get Nnamdi Kanu released are deliberately being naive at best and moronic at worst. The reason you have his supporters believing that destroying the Southeast and killing and maiming Easterners will force the FG to release a man they are holding in far away Abuja is the same reason we had adults believing that Ralph Uwazurike using his armed hoodlums in MASSOB to stop Igbos from participating in the 2006 census would give us Biafra. It was also the same reason seemingly educated adults believed that Kanu getting Ndigbo to boycott the…
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“For some time I have been disturbed by the way the CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the government.” Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), 33rd U.S. President,(1945-1953), (in an editorial titled “Limit CIA Role to Intelligence“, The Washington Post, Dec. 22, 1963, p. A11). [The CIA] “has become so removed from its intended role… I never had any thought that when I set up the CIA that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and dagger operations… The last thing we needed was for the CIA to be seized upon as…
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A new report finds that DOD uses ‘security cooperation’ programs for ‘secret wars,’ recommends that Congress rein them in. U.S. military forces have been engaged in unauthorized hostilities in many more countries than the Pentagon has disclosed to Congress, let alone the public, according to a major new report released late last week by New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice. “Afghanistan, Iraq, maybe Libya. If you asked the average American where the United States has been at war in the past two decades, you would likely get this short list,” according to the report, Secret War: How the…
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Military leader of the CNSP calls for change in the domestic and foreign policy of the landlocked West African state. A new leader has emerged in the uranium-rich West African state of Niger just two days after the elected head-of-state, President Mohamed Bazoum, was toppled by his special forces. The presidential guard on July 26 took over the residence of Bazoum and other key government buildings including the national media. Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane spoke for the newly established National Council for the Safeguard of our Homeland (CNSP), saying that the president had been detained. Abdramane later claimed that the government had been…
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There is this allegory or tale that in the animal kingdom, the tortoise, reputed to be very mischievous, stole from every other animal. The tortoise acted with impunity and went scot-free each time he was confronted by his hapless victims. On a good day, basking on the euphoria of his previous successful escapades, the tortoise went and stole from the lion. The lion, being a no-nonsense animal, went berserk, searched everywhere and caught the tortoise. Early in the morning, the lion tied the tortoise on top of a very tall tree on the road leading to the market square for…
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African populations are eager for partners and reform in the international system, the United States should embrace change. When Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi made a swing through east and southern Africa last week, his agenda was unsurprising. He sought to evade isolation by shoring up relations with Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, signing a flurry of agreements aimed at enhancing cooperation and trade, though whether these deals yield much in the way of results remains to be seen. He seized on the opportunity to align himself with Ugandan leadership in support of its new, draconian laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community, finding common ground in a…
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There are basically two economies in the world and every nation on the face of the earth fall under either of them. These are: The rich and prosperous nations of the world belong to the Knowledge Economy while the the poorest and poverty stricken nations of the world belong to the Religion Economy. The Knowledge Economy is one that engages the brain, asks relevant questions, and proffer solutions to problems. The Religion Economy is one that blackmails God and dumps every responsibilities on Him. The Knowledge Economy tasks the brain, the Religion Economy numbs the brain. Japan, for example, is…
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Tinubu’s macroeconomics gets a reality check from Nigeria’s micropolitics. This time last month, the Bola Tinubu administration was riding a wave of popular approval. Following his inauguration on May 29, the new president hit the ground running with a string of measures and pronouncements that seemed to indicate that he had a clear vision for his presidency. For many people, it wasn’t so much the substance of the moves (more on which in a moment) as an apparent decisiveness that stood in sharp contrast to the ponderousness and foot-dragging of the Buhari years. Yet, over the past couple of weeks, a cross-section…
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The Israeli parliament’s new legislation limiting Supreme Court oversight of government policies has raised alarm over deepening societal divisions and potential democratic backsliding. Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has passed the first part in the planned overhaul of the country’s judiciary system. What does this new legislation do, and why is it so controversial? The Knesset passed legislation that abolishes the “reasonableness doctrine,” which the Supreme Court of Israel has employed to evaluate government policies. It is a practice used by high courts in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, among other countries. The doctrine operates exactly as it sounds: the…
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