Africa: A New Step to Russia’s Global Leadership

Galima Galiullina, PhD

For VT

Russia has chosen the perfect time to start a new geopolitical throw. While Republicans and Democrats staged fistfights in the basement of the Capitol, and Europe became confused about the consequences of Brexit and the endless influx of refugees from the countries torn by NATO and ISIS, Vladimir Putin invited all of Africa to Sochi in the person of 43 leaders and 10 thousand specialists and officials. A truly royal reception hosted for Putin in Saudi Arabia and the UAE was actually a prelude to big changes, not only in the Middle East, but also on the African continent.

Orthodoxy and Islam: a geopolitical alliance for peace

Demonstration to the whole world of the status of Vladimir Putin as the most respected world leader by Muslims of the modern time has an ideological basis.

Well known Islamic theologian Sheikh Imran Nazar Hossein said: “Vladimir Putin is the Will of Allah to establish peace on Earth.”  In his lectures delivered around the world, the theologian explains the purpose of the alliance between Orthodox Christians and Muslims to defeat those who sow enmity and war in the modern world.

Vladimir Putin spoke that Orthodoxy and Islam have much in common. Most important: both Orthodox Christians and Muslims recognize the supremacy of the moral law given from outside by God, Allah, the Universal Mind. A person cannot change it in relation to his own needs, otherwise the law ceases to be an imperative, that is, ceases to be a moral law, and simply becomes a human law.

But a society in which not only every new generation, but also every social group changes moral laws in accordance with its needs or even perversions, each time formalizing it with state acts – such a society is gradually being destroyed, it cannot exist for long. We are witnessing this process in Western countries.

Currently, 45% of the African population are Muslim. 18% of Muslims live in Arab countries. Almost half of all Muslims live in northern Africa. The Green Belt covers most countries in West Africa, namely tropical Africa.

The forecast of Islamization: in 20-30 years, Africa will be Islamic. These trends are increasingly apparent in the developed countries of Africa, for example, in South Africa.

The peoples of the Middle East and Africa are tired of endless wars. The unprecedented war against Islam after September 11, the war for natural resources, the destruction of entire states (Iraq, Libya), rampant terrorism, poverty and diseases have exhausted the African continent.

The country of Congo alone has lost 6 million people as a result of a fierce battle for coltan between multinationals. The horrific exploitation of child labor in coltan ore mines leads to the fact that every kilogram of rare earth metal is worth the life of two children. Controlling access to coltan resources today is a matter of the future. The 21st century has already been called the golden age of rare-earth metals, so the greed of multinational corporations knows no limits. Congo subsoil stores half of the world’s proven reserves of uranium and 80% of global reserves of coltan. With such a wealth of resources, the average life expectancy of a resident of Congo is just 47 years.

The brutal colonial policy of the West towards African countries, which acquired the character of a constant war for resources, and the triumphal victory of Russia in Syria, prompted the leaders of the black continent to turn their eyes to Russia. At least three countries – Angola, Algeria and Sudan, remember cooperation with the USSR, where engineers, doctors, teachers trained in Soviet universities are still alive. The USSR has left a good memory of itself, and in the conditions of the hopeless non-alternativeness of the unipolar world, the black continent is ripe for change.

The first steps towards Russia ended in failure. When Sudan decided to establish military-political cooperation with Moscow, President Omar Al-Bashir was eliminated as a result of a coup. The traditional accusations of the massacre of their own people and the famine brought the military to power.

The President of the Central African Republic, a country of total poverty, achieved an audience in Moscow and asked Lavrov for military assistance. The answer was yes. President Faustin-Arkange Touadera plans to achieve the complete lifting of the arms embargo in order to properly arm the national army. Currently, he complains, terrorists are better armed than the army. Recovery of national sovereignty requires a strong army and a reliable ally.

Thus, for the supporters of peace and peaceful cooperation, an ideal situation has developed on the global chessboard. Neglecting the obvious risks to prevent Moscow from increasing penetration into the region, the collective West has almost lost its face in the eyes of the whole continent. Russia, which has an excellent product, which is urgently needed by the African brothers for liberation from the colonial yoke, is ready not only to sell arms, but also to train military.

In 2017, Russia sold twice as many weapons to African countries as in 2012. Between 2013 and 2017, Russia supplied 39 percent of imported weapons to Africa, compared with 17 percent from China and 11 percent from the United States. In 2018, 40% of external arms sales by Russia were to Africa.

Without the right cyber security technologies, any country is vulnerable to penetrating state secrets and business processes. In fact, this is the modern basic need for national sovereignty – to reliably protect your information space. Russian companies – global leaders in digital security – are able to protect African businesses from cyber threats and ensure the digital sovereignty of African states. The key to success is in creating partnerships between African and Russian companies and in training national personnel in the field of information security.

Modern Russian technologies will help to transfer antediluvian (literally with bare hands and basins) methods of mining valuable ores into highly efficient production.

Russia, which in Soviet times did not enter the global value chain, can now even lead the creation of such chains.

China, which has long penetrated the depths of the black continent, silently recognizes the need for Russians to participate in grandiose One Belt-One Way initiatives and joint efforts to develop infrastructure on the African continent. However, to see the role of Russia in Africa only as a muscle will be very far from reality.

Most African leaders can agree with the words of the President of Zimbabwe. “Zimbabwe is under the yoke of sanctions imposed by Western countries,” Mnangagwa told Putin in the Kremlin. “However, during these days of isolation, you, Russia, have remained with us as a reliable partner.” It seems that the time has come for the West to reconsider its own concept of sanctions, which form an economic and political stranglehold for the naughty turned into a soapstone for the initiators of the sanctions.

Earlier this year, The Financial Times, jealously watching Russia’s incredibly fast penetration into the jungle and deserts of the continent, which they always regarded as their patrimony, wondered: “The Kremlin is eagerly preparing its first Russia-Africa Summit this year. As the most striking example of the continent’s reach, it’s clear that its success can be judged by the number of heads of state who will travel north.”

Honesty is the best rule of the game, even geopolitical

Let’s take a look at the contents of the forum program:

– The economic sovereignty of Africa: problems and solutions;

– Cooperation between Russia and Africa in the diamond industry;

– Minerals of African countries for the benefit of the peoples living in it;

– Russia – Africa: new formats of cooperation. Possibilities of special economic zones on the example of the project of the Russian industrial zone in Egypt;

– The image of the future of the African continent: sovereignty and traditional values ​​as important elements of a development strategy;

– Mining in Africa: new Russian technologies and high efficiency;

– Russian geology in Africa: heritage and a look into the future;

This is only part of the sessions: https://summitafrica.ru/programm/

The legacy of the USSR in relation to the oppressed peoples of the world can be clearly traced even in the titles of the sessions.

“Moscow has made this legacy a central pillar in its advancement in Africa, contrasting with the history of engagement with the former colonial powers.” says FT.  At the summit in Sochi the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “Russian-African relations have a rich history, although, unlike the former world powers, Russia was not infected with the crimes of slavery and colonialism.  In the middle of the last century, our country has actively contributed to the achievement of national independence and sovereignty of African countries. Many African leaders are well aware of this.”

With the assistance of the USSR and Russia, more than 100 educational institutions were built in Africa. Approximately 500,000 Africans completed training. About 100 thousand received diplomas from Soviet and Russian universities, 250 thousand studied at joint educational centers in the African countries themselves. Another 150 thousand specialists were trained during the construction and operation of large industrial enterprises created with Russian participation.

The France Press agency lists the good deeds of the USSR in Africa as if it were reading out the list of crimes of Soviet politicians and the military in court: “Although Moscow is trying to build new relations, she does not get used to the region. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union had close ties with various African states, supporting independence movements aimed at ousting Western colonial powers. Juan Lawrence, president of Angola, studied at the elite Lenin Military-Political Academy in the late 1970s, and it was the Soviet Union’s support for Egypt in the 1956 crisis in the Suez Canal that forced Britain, France and Israel to abandon their military operations.” African people keep warm memories about those times.

The legacy of the USSR: seeds germinate today

The ideological focus of the Summit shows that modern Russia will continue to respect the peoples of the black continent, since the Russians themselves have tested with bitter experience and realized how important it is to protect sovereignty and their own traditional values. Evaluate the name of one of the sessions: The image of the future of the African continent: sovereignty and traditional values ​​as important elements of a development strategy

Even in choosing priority business projects for future financing, the organizers proceeded from the most urgent needs of the continent’s population. No one knows how many caravans perished in different ages in the deserts of Africa under the scorching sun, not finding water. Russian companies will ensure that clean water becomes available.

The main outcome of the Russia-Africa Summit – the geopolitical chancre tormented by colonialists and slave traders of all stripes of Africa will be destroyed by the progressive alliance of Russian and African brothers.  The economic outcome of the Summit concluded contracts worth $ 800 billion.

Europeans will have to reconsider their attitude towards the nascent alliance, because for them, in the sun rising over Africa, there are kind rays of hope. When the process of economic, cultural, political revival of the countries of Africa and the Middle East, who were trampled down and bombarded in the Stone Age by democratic bombs, the flow of refugees, now a disaster for Europe, will begin to dry out. Because even if there are only smoking ruins from your house left, but there is a hope to rebuild it again, your home is closer to your heart.

The chagrin of the former “partners”

In December, US National Security Advisor John Bolton announced a new strategy to fight Russia and China in Africa, accusing Moscow of bribing African countries. “The predatory practices that spur economic growth in China and Russia in Africa threaten the financial independence of African countries and pose a significant threat to US national security interests,” he said. “Western analysts, including myself, really only realized this when there were suddenly large concentrations of Russian armed people,” says Alex Vines, head of the African program at Britain’s Chatham House.

“It was like:” Oh my God, what did we miss and why did we miss it?” Vines describes the events as a nightmare: “Moscow sent airplanes with weapons to the country, as well as five military personnel and more than 200 private military contractors to train hundreds of elite troops. Valery Zakharov, a former Russian intelligence officer, is the National Security Advisor to the President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archangel Tuader, and Russia is creating a team in the Ministry of Defense of the Central African Republic. During a visit to Russia this month, the CAR Secretary of Defense told state media that there was a “chance” for Moscow to open a full-fledged military base in the country. Russians are looking for areas where they can unnerve Western opponents, some of them are really shocked by what is happening.” This is the level of analytics shocked by the British expert.

Russia raises the scale of national interests to global

Russians are still ashamed to recall an episode of a conversation between former Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev and US President Nixon. Mr. Yes remains in the memory of the Russians as an obsequious traitor to national interests, because of which Russia lost not only land in the East, but also geopolitical weight in the world. The name of Kozyrev surfaced recently at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club. The President was reminded of a long-standing conversation between Andrei Kozyrev and former US President Richard Nixon. The minister, in particular, said that Russia has no national interests, but only universal interests. Nixon only shook his head at this. Vladimir Putin reacted emotionally: “This is because Nixon has a head on his shoulders, and Kozyrev has only a skull box.”

Today, the scale of Russia’s national interests is growing to a global level. The basis for this is the state of the modern world, in which justice and honesty have become a museum rarity, and the greed and treachery of the powers that be have plunged entire nations into despair and loss of hope.

The demand for the Russian concept of relations between peoples in the global world is growing every day. The concept of liberal capitalism and a monocentric world could not stand even a short historical probationary period. For thirty years of the existence of a world without the USSR, Africa has become a continent burning and full of suffering and injustice. America, trying to achieve complete control of the planet, found that the club’s policy brings nothing but hatred. Europe found that the whole history of noble families did not save the elite from degeneration.

The Russia-Africa Summit unexpectedly answered the most acute question: where is Russia going? What is its main strategic goal? After all, the leaders of African countries came not for money, and not for weapons, they hoped to find in Russia a strong and fair defender from gangs of robbers and rapists.

The Russian operation in Syria, for tactical reasons, to save the country from the flow of returning terrorists and to help Assad to save the country grew into a geopolitical triumph. The strength and crushing power of the latest Russian weapons has cooled the ardor of those who, using the example of Syria, planned to convince the world of the lack of an alternative to a unipolar world.

Experts note that Russia is taking leadership in the intellectual sphere on strategic issues. The world entrusts with Russia the mission of building a new, fair world order. For this, Russia has a great experience of the past, and there is a real leader. Putin’s leadership is particularly pronounced against the backdrop of the startling absence of at least one decent leader in the western political horizon. Europe and the United States found themselves in a situation where the next election reveals the complete hopelessness of the participants to carry out work to unite the nation and form constructive relations of this nation with other nations.

So today Russia gives hope to the world to maintain peace and lay justice at the foundation of international relations.

Galima Galiullina, PhD

Washington