A situation is unfolding in Niger, and it’s causing great consternation among western leaders. Several military leaders, including Brigadier General Moussa Salaou Barmou, chief of Niger’s Special Operations Forces, have orchestrated an unfolding coup against the democratically-elected president.
Barmou received military training in Georgia, as well as at the National Defense University in Washington DC, before joining the junta that recently ousted Mohamed Bazoum, Niger’s president. US-trained officers have conducted at least six coups in neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali since 2012. They have also been involved in recent takeovers in Gambia (2014), Guinea (2021), Mauritania (2008), and Niger (2023). So it’s safe to say that the US is silently directing traffic from the shadows.
Since 2012, American taxpayers have spent more than $500 million in Niger, making it one of the largest “security assistance programs” (target for sustained violence and destabilization) in sub-Saharan Africa. American troops train, advise, and assist Nigerien soldiers and have fought and died there. Over the last decade, the number of US military personnel deployed to Niger has jumped from just 100 to over a thousand (1,016). Niger has also seen a proliferation of US outposts, making evident that this is a long-term pet project for the Americans.
Side Items
Pakistani Political Violence: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a political rally in northwest Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan yesterday, killing at least 54 people and wounding nearly 200 more. The Bajur district near the Afghan border was a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, a close ally of Afghanistan’s Taliban government, before the Pakistani army drove the militants out of the area
Pound-for-Pound Champ: Terence Crawford announced himself as the top boxer on the planet this weekend, destroying Errol Spence in a welterweight title fight that was as lopsided as I’ve ever seen. The first undisputed welterweight champion in 37 years, Crawford established his dominance by walking through Spence, knocking him down three times and ending the fight in the ninth round with Spence’s face resembling hamburger helper. Boxing was once the sport of icons and superhumans, but recently it’s become the breeding ground for desperate YouTuber’s, looking to make a quick buck. It’s nice to see some athletes still take the sport seriously