I have to argue against your assessment that the ksa does not support Islamic militant movements, under Bandar bin sultan they had a strong policy for favoring such groups including isis, a successful policy which seems to have led to his removal. Otherwise they have a strong history of non-state support of islamists.
The goal to extract the west from Africa fits well with both Russian and Chinese geopolitical goals, and ksa has had an agenda to “islamize” Africa for decades.
NONE of this is anything but baseless conjecture, but in my opinion Africa is the next geopolitical theater, much like the middle east was during the 2000s and eastern Europe and the pacific are now.
China would be well placed to make their maneuvers in areas where the west has fewer natural advantages and their arguments against colonialism bear weight, even the pacific seems less friendly to Chinese geopolitical aims than africa right now.
Your points are well-made, yet they lean heavily on historical precedent while missing recent dynamics. Although past foreign interference is notable, current geopolitics require fresh evidence to assert foreign involvement. Africa is indeed a growing geopolitical theatre, but the narrative isn’t solely about external actors - the agency of African states and citizens plays a crucial role. Dismissing them risks oversimplifying the complex reality.
I completely agree there is no evidence to support the claim of interference here.
We’ll see. I think the 2010s had a number of staged “coups” and perhaps we’re getting back to the era of organic political upheaval. Wouldn’t that be nice?
I have to argue against your assessment that the ksa does not support Islamic militant movements, under Bandar bin sultan they had a strong policy for favoring such groups including isis, a successful policy which seems to have led to his removal. Otherwise they have a strong history of non-state support of islamists.
Russia supported the taliban: https://www.voanews.com/a/extremism-watch_afghan-lawmakers-russian-support-taliban-no-secret/6192205.html and the taliban claims Chinese support as well which fits given post-us withdrawal activity.
The goal to extract the west from Africa fits well with both Russian and Chinese geopolitical goals, and ksa has had an agenda to “islamize” Africa for decades.
NONE of this is anything but baseless conjecture, but in my opinion Africa is the next geopolitical theater, much like the middle east was during the 2000s and eastern Europe and the pacific are now.
China would be well placed to make their maneuvers in areas where the west has fewer natural advantages and their arguments against colonialism bear weight, even the pacific seems less friendly to Chinese geopolitical aims than africa right now.
Your points are well-made, yet they lean heavily on historical precedent while missing recent dynamics. Although past foreign interference is notable, current geopolitics require fresh evidence to assert foreign involvement. Africa is indeed a growing geopolitical theatre, but the narrative isn’t solely about external actors - the agency of African states and citizens plays a crucial role. Dismissing them risks oversimplifying the complex reality.
I completely agree there is no evidence to support the claim of interference here.
We’ll see. I think the 2010s had a number of staged “coups” and perhaps we’re getting back to the era of organic political upheaval. Wouldn’t that be nice?