Representatives from 48 African countries attended the Africa Seeks Solutions congress at St. Petersburg Mining University, including universities, mining and metallurgy companies, and geological organizations.

The Nigerian representative Paul Omaji said “the creation of the Russian-African consortium of universities is the most important mechanism for achieving this great goal,” said Omaji, who was elected president of the consortium.

Moscow “continues to create its own legacy, a legacy of helping people in need. This is a partner who understands our problems and Africa’s predicament,” he stated.

Russian investment in African mineral extraction, defense, education, infrastructure and telecom has soared in the last year, with over a dozen projects currently in operation, along with dozens more in development.

Yandex subsidiary Yango also announced a $300 million investment in West Africa, particularly Ivory Coast. The ride sharing service also does food delivery, much like Uber in the US, but also provides FinTech and education business infrastructure. This is one of the biggest consumer services investments in Africa.

Hmmm. I was told on the news that Russia was isolated in the international community.

Of course, this is only African countries….A larger conference focused on SE Asia is later this year.

#ThisIsIsolation #FeelsCrowdedInHere #TheNextBillion

If anything brings Russia and China to blows, it'll be Africa, imo.

A little dated, but pretty sure the debt has grown.

(12-15-2023 09:59 AM)VA49er Wrote:  If anything brings Russia and China to blows, it'll be Africa, imo.
A little dated, but pretty sure the debt has grown.

And here the USA is, spending three decades in a foreign policy designed to drive Russia and China together. We should be triangulating Russia against China at every opportunity, but we don't.

We should recognize that we are in Cold War II, that this time the enemy is China not Russia, and that this one will be fought economically, not militarily. And Africa is going to be one of the battlegrounds--where we are currently losing badly. Just like Reagan won Cold War I economically, we are going to have to win Cold War II that way. Therefore we need to reorient completely our foreign policy--and a lot of domestic policy, too.

Well, the race for African assets is on. Russia is making its case, and it’s a strong case backed in decades of cooperation and assistance from the Soviets.

Russia has inherited a lot of bad things from the Soviets, but their legacy in 3rd World relations is not one of them. They retain a very high public perception in Africa, much of Latin America, and elsewhere.

The former colonial powers have little chance of competing, and for better or worse, the US is lumped in with those powers there.

(12-15-2023 10:37 AM)Todor Wrote:  The former colonial powers have little chance of competing, and for better or worse, the US is lumped in with those powers there.

And that is something that the USA absolutely must do whatever it takes to overcome. We have the ability to finance large capital projects on more favorable terms than China offers, and the engineering and construction capability to build them. We need to use that leverage wisely.

They thought apartheid was bad

Just wait until China is finished.


Omg omg. I forgot send a billion to ukraine

(12-15-2023 10:49 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-15-2023 10:37 AM)Todor Wrote:  The former colonial powers have little chance of competing, and for better or worse, the US is lumped in with those powers there.

And that is something that the USA absolutely must do whatever it takes to overcome. We have the ability to finance large capital projects on more favorable terms than China offers, and the engineering and construction capability to build them. We need to use that leverage wisely.

I’m afraid we haven’t and we likely won’t. Africa just sat there for decades waiting to be tapped and we blew them off. So and so country has a dictator, or we want them to completely overhaul every financial law they have to favor us, or they don’t support gay rights enough, they don’t protect the endangered cricket species, or something. But it was always something. I’m sure they all remember this.

Our foreign policy is a bad parody of the 1950’s Cold War game and we aren’t catching up with anyone anywhere.

After we realize the entire continent is lost, we’ll spend a decade arguing if it was republicans or democrats who dropped the ball, another decade deciding what to do, 5 more years deciding how many trillion to borrow to try to get back in the game, and yet another 5 rewriting every proposal to ensure all of the money gets funneled into whichever politically connected company might be able to bid on something.

Then we’ll realize we need more translators because they are all already speaking Mandarin and Russian.