Trump’s recent White House meeting with Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, got little attention here. But from an African perspective it set human society back almost to the time of the Crusades.
Category: Global Relations
Deep Effects
Fear, uncertainty and a growing distrust of America spread across sub-Saharan Africa last night as it grew more and more evident how crippled a number of African countries might become as a result of Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran Nuclear Dear.
Africa? But we’re talking about Iran, right?
Tiptoe in The Tulips
Collusion? Vengeance? Contrariness? Or just stupidity?
These four questions, which hover over practically every action by high American officials today, are perfectly illustrated with an example in Uganda. Following citings for massive bribery issued by New York prosecutors against Uganda’s foreign minister, the Trump administration holds high-level meetings with the accused to praise him.
Collusion? Vengeance? Contrariness? Or just stupidity?
Africa Straight
You might not have noticed the cheering but there are some serious praises coming out of Africa for Trumpism.
Africa’s despots, dictators and iron-fisted rulers rather seem to like our new president. Trump and they struck quite a few bar buddy poses at DAVOS.
Seeking Backers
Each constantly starved for attention, an American and an African leader in DAVOS today separately made news with their patently disingenuous pitches: the American Trump that he wants free trade, and Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa that he wants free elections.
Nobody believed either. So what’s the point?
Radioactive Backslide
The rapid deterioration in the peace of the eastern Congo is because western powers – especially the United States – are withdrawing their involvement and letting giant digital multinationals once again fund The Congo War.
NewAge Advertising
A couple things worth taking away from the funny video ad produced by a property consortium in Namibia. (Keep in mind that Namibia was among the first countries Trump trashed early in his presidency when he congratulated the leaders from “Nambia” at an important global conference.)
Apology from America
To my colleagues and friends in Africa:
We’re very, very sorry.
Trump’s denigrating, vulgar remarks yesterday do not reflect the vast majority of us Americans. We apologize for them and we’re horribly, unthinkably ashamed. Unfortunately a small very radical minority currently controls America. So, unfortunately, at this moment in time those remarks do represent “America” and it makes most of us Americans sick to the stomach. Ashamed isn’t a strong enough word.
Most Americans feel as aggrieved as you must.
#1 – Trump Diplomacy
Diplomacy with North Korea, now Pakistan and other Middle East actors has arguably always been more important for the U.S. than diplomacy with Africa. My better knowledge is with the diplomacy of Africa, and what I saw happening over the course of 2017 remains terrifying.
There’s no reason to suppose it’s much different in other parts of the world. The #1 story in Africa for 2017 is the wreck of U.S. diplomacy in Africa.
Donald Descent
The Mideast has not exploded because of Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem, but the effect on the U.S. is substantial and getting worse.
In response to our UN Ambassador’s childish threat that she’ll be “taking names” when the UN General Assembly votes on the resolution she vetoed last week, many African countries responded quickly but much more maturely. Their actions reflect not just how much of the world discounts the U.S., but how they now see us as the evil power in the world.
End of What?
Anything happen this year?
Sorry. Perhaps a poor attempt for just a bit of relief. End-of-the-year analyses are coming out. I sit in a little world of Africa news and things, but I expect all the little worlds feel the same thing I do: the universe is tanking. Now if you’re sitting at a big desk on Wall Street you see it otherwise, because the rich world is doing just fine. But time’s have changed. The world is starting to move as one, and how Africa or Taipei or the Ukraine or Latvia goes, so eventually does the whole world, even eventually the rich.
Stick it to ’em!
Here’s the thing: we should all be upset with USFW’s reversing a ban on importing elephant tusks, but it’s not quite the story you think. As described below I could see a Hillary administration doing the same thing.
What Ryan Zinke did (please let’s stop pinning everything on the moron Donald Trump who doesn’t even know the difference between African and Indian elephants) will definitely set back wildlife conservation in Africa, but in the panoply of so many other anti-conservation actions in the last few years, it’s minor. It’s the panoply which is major, which makes every minor move that much worse.
You need to focus on the facts. Stick with me.
Welcome All
The new Trump Travel ban is not as sweeping or as legally flawed as his previous, but it does nothing to increase security. Yet it has two major impacts impulsive Trump acting on his own was unable to accomplish:
Stops many refugees from entering America. Throws red meat to a deplorable base of supporters.
Worse than Thought
More and more fireworks followed the sunsets around the world until the Trump administration corrected the misspelling or conflation or whatever, and Nambia ceased to exist in the official record. It was the briefest country ever to exist on earth.
It’s not uncommon for Americans to conflate multiple African countries. It is quite uncommon that conflation makes it onto a prepared document. It’s unheard of these are then actually delivered by a Head of State.
Does it matter?
Democracy’s Suicide
The presidents of Tanzania and the United States are blood brothers in their defiance of law. I don’t think Tanzania and the U.S. are organically connected politically, but clearly both are being effected by social waves of discontent in the same way.
In both Tanzania and the U.S., two so different societies half-way round the world from one another, both leaders came to power democratically with support from people who now think it’s fine to undermine democracy.