29 Nov 2024
African Think Tank

Association For Strategic Culture and Research Foundation

African Think Tank
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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
South Africa: The most ideal partner for Russia in Africa.
Central documents are Joint Declaration on the Establishment of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Africa, signed during the working visit of President Vladimir Putin to the RSA timed to BRICS Summit in Durban in March 2013 and the Treaty on Friendship and Partnership concluded within the official visit of President of Russia Vladimir Putin to the RSA in September 2016.
By Lungile Cabangani II
19 April, 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
Russia’s Association of Economic Cooperation with African States (AECAS) complements Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
Financing projects in Africa is one of the important keys and, at the same time, the most difficult issue for major Russian companies attempting to expand to Africa, and the financial instruments at their disposal are insufficient according to Anna Belyaeva, Executive Director of the Association of Economic Cooperation with African States.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
18 August, 2021
Rather than an AU Seat at a G-21: Jeffrey Sachs Should Lead a Knowledge Coalition to Enhance Power to Reduce if not Stop the Exploitation of Africa
Power exists to bolster interests. Under Western competitive ideology as opposed to Yoruba “Omoluabi” (character plus integrity imbued with a we sharing spirit) or Zulu “Ubuntu” (I am because you are spirit), it would be naïve to expect that granting a seat to the African Union would see to the protection of African interests.
By Babafemi A. Badejo
25 August, 2021
EU And United States Must Decide If Farmaajo Is A Friend Or A Foe
On Wednesday February 22, 2017, at an inauguration ceremony attended by over 1200 people including two presidents, a prime minister and more than 100 diplomats, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, the ninth President of Somalia, promised to restore Somalia’s dignity and bring peace and reconciliation to the country.
By Ismail D. Osman
17 September, 2021
Europe’s Priorities to Cushion Africa
In Africa, we have the paradox that 6 out of 10 of the most quickly growing countries, most dynamic economies are African economies but at the same time, 36 most vulnerable countries are also in Africa. It is a very heterogeneous continent. And all countries will be affected but for most, if we do not give debt relief, and I mean much more than just freezing payments, we are going to go into a crisis of external debt, and this we cannot afford.
By Josep Borrell
21 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
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
What Would Happen to the World Without the United States?
Would NATO be able to survive in a world without the United States? Theoretically, yes, but only if the European great powers—the United Kingdom, Germany and France—put the maximum political, economic and military effort into it. The remaining countries in the bloc will have to increase their defence contributions by more than the two per cent on which Washington insists today to some four or five per cent.
By Dr. Andrey Kortunov
30 September, 2021
What Does An EU Indo-Pacific Strategy Entail?
The EU strategy currently appears to be pointed more towards building on established partnerships and developing new ones with like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific to ensure its role and growing presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
By Premesha Saha
4 October, 2021
New U.S. travel rules excludes foreigners vaccinated with Russia's Sputnik V
Associated Press news report headlined - Russians flock to Serbia for Western-made Covid-19 Vaccines – described families from Rostov-on-Don located in southern Russia, wanted to visit the West, looked for a vaccine that would allow them to travel freely - a quest that brought them to Serbia.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
13 October, 2021
European Union Pivot to Asia
Effective solutions to global challenges can only be developed and implemented in dialogue with Asian states.
By Israel Rafalovich
16 October, 2021
Global Energy: Transformation for Development
Vladimir Putin is the President of the Russian Federation. He took part in the plenary session of the Russian Energy Week International Forum held on October 13-15, in Moscow.
By H.E. Vladimir Putin
16 October, 2021
What Next After Sudan Changes Guards At The Crossroad?
Besides the search for peaceful political pathways, Sudanese authorities need to address the deep-seated economic deficiencies and tackle common problems (basic infrastructure) facing people in micro levels of the society. This also relates many African countries.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
27 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
Why France And Germany Won’t Join China’s ‘Africa Quad’
Chinese President Xi Jinping invited the leaders of Germany and France to join a ‘quad’ of cooperation with African countries during a virtual summit on 5 July 2021. But why did Beijing suddenly propose this partnership? And is the move likely to bear fruit?
By Lucas Engel, Reed Piercey, Deborah Brautigam
3 November, 2021
Why Russians Are Complaining How to Engage with Africa
In order to raise the economic influence, Russians have been making efforts to identify a structured finance mechanism for mega infrastructure projects such as nuclear power and energy, natural resources exploration and to significantly increase trade with Africa
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
11 November, 2021
Russia’s Cooperation Agreement with African Union: Economic and Geopolitical Implications
In the joint declaration, after the first summit, Russia and African Union have set goals and tasks for the further development of cooperation in all areas: politics, security, the economy, science and technology, culture and humanitarian sphere.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
18 November, 2021
What Went Wrong With Russia’s Sputnik V Vaccine Rollout?
In August 2020, Russia was the first country to announce the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. Since then, a relentless publicity blitz has promoted the attributes of the Sputnik V vaccine. However, Sputnik V has struggled to gain mass acceptance inside Russia, let alone in other countries where it is marketed as an alternative to vaccines developed by Western and Chinese pharmaceutical firms.
By Paul Stronski
24 November, 2021
China: The Upcoming Global Superpower
China holds 17.7% of the world’s total wealth, the second largest share held by any country. It has the world’s largest banking sector, with assets of $40 trillion and the world’s top 4 largest banks all being in China. In 2019, China overtook the US as the home to the highest number of rich people in the world, according to the global wealth report by Credit Suisse. It has the highest number of rich people in the world’s top 10% of wealth since 2019. There were 658 Chinese billionaires and 3.5 million millionaires.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
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
Russia-Africa Relations: “Geopolitical Arena with Many Players Operating”
Russia has to upgrade or scale up its collaborative engagement with Africa. It has to consider seriously launching more public outreach programmes, especially working with civil society to change public perceptions and the private sector to strengthen its partnership with Africa. In order to achieve this, it has to surmount the challenges, take up the courage and work consistently with both private and public sectors and with an effective Action Plan.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
8 December, 2021
Burning Ambition: Egypt’s Return To Regional Leadership And How Europe Should Respond
Egyptian foreign ministry officials interviewed for this paper describe the last decade of Egypt’s regional positioning as “defensive” in nature as the country contended with domestic issues.
By Hafsa Halawa
11 December, 2021
Ten Contradictions that Plague Biden’s Democracy Summit
President Biden’s virtual Summit for Democracy on December 9-10 is part of a campaign to restore the United States’ standing in the world, which took such a beating under President Trump’s erratic foreign policies. Biden hopes to secure his place at the head of the “Free World” table by coming out as a champion for human rights and democratic practices worldwide.
By Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J. S. Davies
14 December, 2021
Africa-China Relations Could Serve as Bulwark against Imperialist Hegemony
Note: These remarks were prepared and delivered in part for a webinar held on Sunday December 12 entitled “China/Africa Relations: Challenges of Cooperation and Development.” The event was sponsored by the International Manifesto Group and the Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA).
By Abayomi Azikiwe
14 December, 2021
Europe Unveils U.S.$340bn Response to China's Belt and Road Initiative
The aim of the EU programme -- called Global Gateway -- is to help underpin the global recovery by mobilising investments in digital, clean energy and transport networks, as well as boosting health, education and research systems across the world. Low and middle-income countries were already facing a US$2.7 trillion infrastructure investment gap before the pandemic, according to World Bank estimates.
By Cable News Network
15 December, 2021
Ethiopian Offensive Prompts Retreat by Western-backed Rebels
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has returned from the frontline in the battle to halt the advances of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
By Abayomi Azikiwe
23 December, 2021
Collective Sanctions Isolating Mali in the Sahel Sahara as Russia Rides the Wave of Anticolonialism
Over the past few years, Russian authorities have in their speeches expressed anti-colonial sentiments and openly declared unflinching support for fighting against what they referred to as neocolonial tendencies in Africa. Russia is particularly against France in French-speaking African countries in West Africa including the entire Sahel and Central African Republic.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
27 December, 2021
Africa in Review 2021 (Part II) : Regional Conflict and the Role of Imperialism
During the coup in Conakry in May 2021, the presence of AFRICOM troops were strongly in evidence. These military leaders could not act with this degree of impunity absent of the full backing of transnational corporations, international finance capital and their security apparatuses. Stability and security will only be realized once the resources, land and labor of African people are retaken and used for the benefit of the majority.
By Abayomi Azikiwe
31 December, 2021
St. Petersburg – Venue for Second African Leaders Summit
In their first joint declaration, emerging from the Russia-Africa summit, at the initiative of African participants a new dialogue mechanism—the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum—was created. The declaration stipulated that all top-level meetings take place within its framework once every three years, alternately in Russia and in an African state. It says further that the foreign ministers of Russia and three African countries—the current, future and previous chairpersons of the African Union—will meet for annual consultations.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
20 January, 2022
The State and Future of Africa
The creation of $650 billion in new Special Drawing Rights last year was a step in the right direction but more needs to be done to enable African and other developing countries to access the SDRs that are not needed or being used by developed or emerging economies. It is also clear that public debt vulnerabilities will dominate macro-economic policy management in Africa over the next few years.
By His Excellency, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo
27 January, 2022
African Enslavement and the Rise of Capitalism in North America and Beyond
A series of rebellions by the enslaved and the Civil War in the U.S. led to the demise of the system of involuntary servitude. However, the dominance of world capitalism has intensified the economic exploitation of a global proletariat.
By Abayomi Azikiwe
4 February, 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
European Union targeting Comprehensive Partnership with Africa
Long before this summit, European Union members and business investors have been making consistent efforts at capitalizing on and exploring several emerging opportunities offered by the newly introduced African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which provides a unique and valuable access to an integrated African market of 1.3 billion people. In practical reality, it aims at creating a continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business people and investments in Africa.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
13 February, 2022
The Horn of Africa States – A New Regional Block
After a nearly two decades old antagonistic relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea, it ended with a seemingly unexpected rapprochement between the two countries in July 2018.
By Dr. Suleiman Walhad
16 February, 2022
Can Africa Unite?
The AU and the EU, both together and individually, must focus their efforts on the appropriate vehicles for attaining this goal. For its part, the AU will need to establish stronger institutions capable of nurturing economic growth and ensuring that its gains are widely shared. As recent coups in West Africa show, many African countries have a long way to go to establish good governance and thereby provide for their populations.
By Malado Kaba
19 February, 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 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
African Students Further Expose the Racist Character of the Ukrainian State
As western media outlets seek to build sympathy for the NATO-backed regime in Kiev, Africans and others oppressed groups are facing targeted discrimination and violence.
By Abayomi Azikiwe
3 March, 2022
Many Africans Reject Washington’s Position on Ukraine Crisis
Since the post-World War II period national liberation movements and independent countries in Africa have developed solid diplomatic and economic relations with the former Soviet Union and today’s Russian Federation.
By Abayomi Azikiwe
14 March, 2022
Spain Abandons Former Colony in the Western Sahara Endorsing Morocco Domination
Algeria, which has been a longtime advocate for liberation movements on the continent, has continued to demand that the UN abide by its legal obligations with respect to the SADR. Algiers routinely challenges on a diplomatic level those entities which support the continued colonization of the Western Sahara.
By Abayomi Azikiwe
27 March, 2022
Libya crisis: Mass graves, rape, and violations make life hell for migrants
Now the United Nations is investigating a published report that also documented incidents of rape, murder, and torture. There are investigations into mass graves in the desert city of Bani Walid. Three people were buried in this cemetery, and there are graves containing the bodies of migrants in a smuggling center in Libya. Many East African women have also testified that they were raped and sexually assaulted and that they set fire to the women's breasts and burn them.
By Miral Sabry Al Ashry
4 April, 2022
Derry Delegation Visits Detroit to Commemorate 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday
This massacre became known as Bloody Sunday where the Catholic residents of Derry were protesting against the discrimination and oppression instituted by a British occupation of the territory which extended back several centuries.
By Abayomi Azikiwe
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
United Nations Secretary General Holds Talks in Moscow and Kyiv on Ukraine War
Obviously, the U.S. and NATO actions indicate that the Biden administration and its European allies are not interested in a speedy conclusion to the war in Ukraine. The sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the EU has created a crisis in Western Europe where several leading states such as Germany are continuing, out of necessity, to purchase oil and natural gas from the Russian Federation.
By Abayomi Azikiwe
3 May, 2022
Top stories
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