29 Nov 2024

African Think Tank

Association For Strategic Culture and Research Foundation

African Think Tank

Mozambique Might Require Foreign Military Assistance To Clean Up Its Hybrid War Mess

Chronically impoverished and formerly civil war-torn Mozambique has the potential to become the world's fourth-largest natural gas exporter due to its vast offshore reserves in the extreme northeastern part of the country, but this Southern African state's ambitious plans are at risk of being derailed by the ever-intensifying Islamist-driven Hybrid War in that strategic corner of its territory, one which might ultimately require foreign military assistance to resolve after the national armed forces proved themselves incapable of containing this threat.

By Andrew Korybko

30 November, 2020

Ghana Is Getting Nothing For Being The Pentagon’s Puppet In West Africa

Ghana recently ratified a military agreement with the US.

By Andrew Korybko

18 December, 2020

Will U.S. Sanctions Against Ethiopia Provide Russia with Regional Opening?

The U.S. has recently imposed sanctions against some Ethiopian officials who Washington blames for alleged human rights abuses in the country’s restive Tigray Province. The background context is that members of the previously most important party of the former Ethiopian ruling coalition, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), recently split with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s new Prosperity Party ruling coalition over serious domestic political differences related to his vision for the country.

By Andrew Korybko

6 June, 2021

Is There Any Hope Left For The Horn Of Africa?

The high hopes that many had for a radical improvement of the situation in the Horn of Africa just a few short years ago have been shattered by a combination of internal and international conflicts centered on Ethiopia, but it might be premature to predict that the region won't ever recover since Prime Minister Abiy could drastically turn everything around once more should he have the political will to do so.

By Andrew Korybko

6 June, 2021

Russia and China: Geopolitical Rivals and Competitors in Africa

Interview by Kester Kenn Klomegah

By Lipton Matthews

4 August, 2021

Foreign Competition In Guinea: The Scramble For Natural Resources

Guinea has struggled with political instability and endemic corruption since its independence from France in 1958. Despite the country’s poor infrastructure, there is a significant foreign presence in Guinea. Countries are mostly competing for its mineral resources, such as gold, diamonds, bauxite, and iron ore. The United States, along with other foreign powers, vies for access to these resources and for the ability to influence the country’s government.

By Jessica Pickering

22 September, 2021

AUKUS Threatens to Damage NATO

The creation of AUKUS is only further confirmation—as if more was needed—that the Biden administration intends to wage a new cold war in Asia with China as its target.

By James W. Carden

27 September, 2021

Forget Kalashnikov? Russian Foreign Policy After Realism

The short-lived rise of liberal idealism in Russia at the end of the Cold War quickly crashed into the realities of that very world, in which there is no place for the weak, and the resulting vacuum of power and domination is quickly occupied by stronger players. It is hardly surprising that realism then emerged as the platform for the revival of Russia as a great power.

By Ivan Timofeev

28 September, 2021

The Great Games of Diplomacy: Russia Sees Neocolonialism as An Investment Barrier in Africa

Some argue that the best way to fight neocolonialism is to invest in order to jostle for economic influence. Nevertheless, Russia has sought to convince Africans over the past years of the likely dangers of neocolonial tendencies perpetrated by the former colonial countries and the scramble for resources on the continent.

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

30 September, 2021

The China Cold War Will Unstick America’s Glue

Can an America that off-shored much of its manufacturing capacity to China, for short-term profit, afford the de-coupling?

By Alastair Crooke

2 October, 2021

The US Risks Turning Ethiopia Into An Enemy With Its Latest Provocations

'Humanitarian imperialism', information warfare, and the weaponization of economic and financial instruments are the means to this end.

By Andrew Korybko

7 October, 2021

Analyzing the American Hybrid War on Ethiopia

Ethiopia has come under unprecedented pressure from the U.S. ever since it commenced a military operation in its northern Tigray Region last November.

By Andrew Korybko

19 October, 2021

Morocco And Algeria On The Edge Of The Precipice

Algeria’s hostility toward Morocco since its independence in 1962 is considered a real enigma by many foreign observers. In reality, it is explained by the nature of power in Algeria, which, lacking democratic or at least historical legitimacy, sees this hostility as necessary for its internal hegemony and continuation.

By Dr. Mohamed Chtatou

29 October, 2021

Should China and Russia Form an Alliance?

In history, China has formed alliances with Russia more than with any other countries. The two countries formed alliances three times, respectively, during the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, and the People’s Republic of China.

By Zhao Huasheng

1 November, 2021

Why Turkey is Keen to Project Power in the Gulf of Guinea

In 2005, Turkey began its new policy approach to Africa. The “Africa opening” doctrine is key to Ankara’s approach to political and economic relations on the continent. With the appropriate mix of soft power tactics, Turkey has made important inroads into the Gulf of Guinea area.

By Dr. Theodore Karasik

4 November, 2021

Does Russia Influence Africa On the UN Security Council?

Research suggests that the links are overstated, especially compared to Africa's voting patterns with other council members.

By Priyal Singh, Gustavo De Carvalho

11 November, 2021

FW De Klerk: A Negotiator Before Defeat

It was De Klerk who began to take the screws out of the edifice of apartheid and open the pathway to negotiations with other parties. Serving in the governing white National Party, which had introduced apartheid in 1948, De Klerk held ministerial positions till becoming party head in February 1989. Between 1984 and 1989, he served as education minister, overseeing the notorious Bantu education program.

By Binoy Kampmark

14 November, 2021

The New Era Of Great Power Competition And The Biden Administration: Emerging Patterns And Principles

Geostrategic Interactions. Russia and China present distinct competitive threats to the United States around the globe. In many regions, Russia often poses the more immediate challenge, whereas the repercussions from Chinese economic investments manifest themselves subtly and will likely undermine U.S. strategic interests more gradually.

By Thomas F. Lynch III

27 December, 2021

Debunking The West’s Top Ten Lies About Chinese-African Relations

The present analysis will identify and subsequently debunk the West’s top lies about Chinese-African relations. What comes next is a list of lies followed by the motive behind each. Then they’ll be discredited with the facts.

By Andrew Korybko

11 January, 2022

Information operations: An understudied facet of Russian influence in Africa

Russia’s Evolving Information Operations

By Miriam Roday, Sarah Daly

20 January, 2022

Russia and the Maghreb: Future Geostrategic Perspectives?

Today, the Maghreb is not a fundamental interest for Russia, but rather a source of economic and political opportunities. The Russian redeployment in the Maghreb, which began during Vladimir Putin's second term in 2004 and has been over the last decade, relies on new vectors, distinct from the old anti-imperialist aura from which the Soviet Union had benefited in Algeria and Libya.

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

23 February, 2022

How Russia Will Counterpunch the U.S./EU Declaration of War

One of the key underlying themes of the Russia/Ukraine/NATO matrix is that the Empire of Lies (copyright Putin) has been rattled to the core by the combined ability of Russian hypersonic missiles and a defensive shield capable of blocking incoming nuclear missiles from the West, thereby ending Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.)

By Pepe Escobar

6 March, 2022

Why Did U.S. Prioritize Containing China Over Russia?

These calculations seemingly changed sometime around last fall, when everything began to get much more intense in Europe. A decision had apparently been made to not sincerely negotiate with Russia in good faith and, if anything, perhaps even provoke the Kremlin into taking the kinetic action that U.S. intelligence subsequently claimed that it was preparing to authorize.

By Andrew Korybko

17 March, 2022

The Total War to Cancel Russia

The stated aims are “demilitarization” and “denazification” of a future neutral Ukraine – but geopolitically reach way beyond: the aim is to turn the post-1945 European collective security arrangement upside down, forcing NATO to understand and come to terms with the concept of “indivisible security”. This is an extremely complex process that will reach the next decade.

By Pepe Escobar

11 April, 2022

Western Sanctions Against Russia Creates Food Deficits Globally

On an international geostrategic level, the Soviet Union and the U.S. found themselves on the opposite sides of the political spectrum. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, the Soviet Union supported the national liberation movements and those independent governments seeking to build an anti-imperialist and socialist orientation.

By Abayomi Azikiwe

13 April, 2022

Support ASCARF

ASCARF is a tax-exempt Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) that supports Public Benefit Activities (PBA). ASCARF appreciates your donations to develop the mission into global online Research Center. All accumulated funds to be forwarded to our Public Benefit Activities and outstanding authors. Thank you in advance!

Views expressed are of individual contributors, rather than the ASCARF's, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Some publications may contain information not suitable for users under 16 years of age.