29 Nov 2024

African Think Tank

Association For Strategic Culture and Research Foundation

African Think Tank

Russia-Africa Summit: The Roadmap to Africa, Shift in Geopolitical Relations

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent warm greetings to African leaders, business people and participants early October, signaling that everything is set for the first Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, southern coastal city of Russia.

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

26 February, 2021

China and Russia Launch a ‘Global Resistance Economy’

The U.S. will ignore the message from Anchorage. It is already testing China over Taiwan, and is preparing an escalation in Ukraine, to test Russia.

By Alastair Crooke

15 March, 2021

Struggle for influence in Africa

Africa is of natural interest to the leading political forces operating on the world stage. It has a huge territory, more than a billion people and natural resources, which, according to various estimates, make up 30-40% of all mineral reserves of the planet. At the same time, the level of development of the continent itself, at least in the last five hundred years, is significantly lower than the level of development of the surrounding European and Asian countries.

By V.M. Sergeev, VIPerson

27 May, 2021

Economic Forum to Boost Far East Regional Development

With a focus to gather corporate business directors and investors especially from the Asian-Pacific region, the Far East federal district administration is speedily preparing to host the 6th edition of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on September 2-4 in Vladivostok.

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

27 August, 2021

More African Countries Register Russia's Sputnik Vaccine. What Next After The Registration Campaign?

Russia's drive to share Sputnik V vaccine, of course, offers a chance to raise its image and strengthen alliances in Africa. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has made efforts promoting the vaccine using all its channels. But supply and delivery have largely lagged behind, the pledges have simply not been fulfilled. Russian authorities have oftentimes said that they would step up efforts for fruitful cooperation in combating coronavirus in Africa.

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

17 September, 2021

Power without Soft Power: China’s Outreach to Central Asia

While the international community focuses on the Uyghur Muslim and the Wakhan Corridor, the main threat to the Central Asian states will continue to be the lack of water supplies, which will lead to conflicts between countries in the region and, perhaps, with neighbors such as China and Russia.

By Michael Lambert

21 September, 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

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 U.S. flies Alex Saab out from Cabo Verde without court order or extradition treaty

On October 16, Colombian businessman and Venezuelan Special Envoy Alex Saab was in practical terms kidnapped for the second time, first by Cabo Verde under pressure from Washington, and now by the U.S., in flagrant violation of international law.

By Dan Kovalik, William Camacaro

20 October, 2021

Q&A: At Midterm, Sierra Leone President Vows to Continue Reforms

With two years left in his term, Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio told Voice of America that expanding political freedoms, improving education, holding past leaders accountable for corruption, and promoting gender equality are his administration’s priorities.

By Peter Clottey, Voice of America (VOA)

26 October, 2021

Geopolitical Analysis of the “Power Shift” and Russia's Special Interest in Sudan

Sudan, located in the northeast Africa, has deepening economic crisis, so many social and political forces. While some are advocating for developing democracy, others have, under the circumstances, aligned with the military, which has accused the civilian governing parties of mismanagement and monopolizing power.

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

3 November, 2021

African Union Must Implement Strategies to Reverse Military Coups

Over the last 14 months, several African governments have been subjected to numerous attempts and actual military usurpations of political authority. In Niger, which is one of the world’s largest producers of uranium, it was reported that elements within the defense forces were thwarted in efforts to take control of the government on March 31 of 2021.

By Abayomi Azikiwe

4 November, 2021

China Is the Biggest Winner From Africa’s New Free Trade Bloc

When the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was initially proposed at the African Union summit in 2012, it had two goals: First, build a pan-African agenda in trade and cooperation. Second, lift a large percentage of people out of poverty by instituting structural economic changes and cooperative legislation.

By Oluwatosin Adeshokan

9 November, 2021

Will Another Gaddafi Lead Libya?

Since Muammar Gaddafi died, Libya has been a country in war and filled with terrorists, who disguise themselves sometimes in suits and ties and pretend to be leaders. Violent intervention in Libya was not chiefly about the security of the people: it was about the security of global banking, money, and oil.

By Steven Sahiounie

17 November, 2021

Africa Taking Concrete Steps to Write Its Own Economic Success Story

The AfCFTA aspires to connect all the regions of Africa, to deepen economic integration and to boost intra-African trade and investment. It aspires to create a single market for goods and services across 55 countries and our continent, creating a market of as much as 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion.

By H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa

25 November, 2021

The Global Pandemic Pushing Africa into A Severe Job Crisis

The economic principles have to be pursued and demanded with the same energy as the political ones. Fundamentally, it is the responsibility of the state, controlled by democratic institutions and an active civil society, to ensure that economic growth actually translates into employment creation.

By Johann Ivanov

28 November, 2021

Russia's Influence in the Central African Republic

Conflict over CAR's mineral resources could also intensify amid fears that the government may compensate Wagner or associated companies by handing them control of mining zones. Wagner arrived in 2018, around the same time that the government granted gold and diamond mining licences to the Russian-owned company Lobaye Invest SARLU.

By Pauline Bax

6 December, 2021

Africa in Review 2021 (Part III) : Unification is Essential to Progress and Development

Of course, Dr. Nkrumah during the years between 1945-1972, wrote extensively on the necessity of African unification. The union of African governments and people would encompass the national economies, the trade unions, youth, women, military institutions and the establishment of a continental market based in socialist planning.

By Abayomi Azikiwe

1 January, 2022

Russia, Africa and the Sputnik V

On bilateral basis, Russia has made some vaccine deliveries, but only to its preferred countries including North Africa (Algeria Morocco and Egypt), in East Africa (Ethiopia), in Southern Africa (Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe) and West Africa (Guinea). Media reports say South Africa has rejected Sputnik V donation.

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

5 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

Imperialism Coordinates Effort to Prevent a People’s Revolution in Sudan

The military forces which have ruled Sudan since April 2019 have demonstrated their willingness to follow the imperatives of U.S. foreign policy. Although it is not possible to foresee the political character of a future civilian government, Washington is concerned over the risk having to deal with an administration unbeholden to imperialist interests in the region and internationally.

By Abayomi Azikiwe

20 January, 2022

African Union Summit Addresses Continental and Global Issues

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the AU Summit was the challenge by South Africa and Algeria to the unilateral decision made during 2021 by Commission Chair Mahamat to grant Israel observer status within the continental organization. Historically the progressive and anti-imperialist forces in Africa have demonstrated unconditional solidarity with Palestine along with other national liberation movements fighting colonialism.

By Abayomi Azikiwe

12 February, 2022

A Conversation With Ghana’s Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

In an exclusive interview with PAV, Dr Bawumia sheds light on progress with key segments of the agenda of President Akufo Addo under his purview, COVID 19, and other seminal developments across the continent.

By Ajong Mbapndah L

17 February, 2022

How does the Ukrainian crisis affect Libya?

International companies rushed to consult with the Libyan National Oil Corporation about increasing supplies to Europe, but experts made clear their concerns about the political situation that the National Oil Corporation may not have export possibilities with the decline in good maintenance and oil smuggling.

By Miral Sabry Al Ashry

27 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

Once in a Century Opportunity

In short, the financial war on Russia gave the West an unmistakable lesson from Moscow that the hardest currencies are not USD or EUR, but rather oil, gas, wheat, and gold. Yes, energy, food and strategic resources are currencies.

By Alastair Crooke

5 April, 2022

Russian Hit-Back Against The Western Countries Is Yet To Begin

Let's analyze the counter-sanctions levers that Russia has at its disposal.

By Bhim Bhurtel

14 May, 2022

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