27/07/2023
AMERICA'S CURRENT BITTER PILL
America is bitter that Russian president Vladimir Putin is receiving African presidents in his country this month.
It's reported that Washington and its allies tried to talk the African leaders into boycotting the meeting. Even so a large number of them are still either going to Moscow or are sending a representative.
The ongoing war in Ukraine has served as an eyeopener to Africans in the sense that it has laid bare the double standards of Western powers when it has come to dealing with Africa. That's why President Yoweri Museveni calls them "imperialists".
African voices have therefore been louder and louder in recent times with African leaders retorting when Western leaders attempt to deride them for getting "too close" to Russia and China.
The repost has been that while America and Western countries have treated them shabbily, Russia and China have on the other hand, treated them with respect and even defended them from the egoism and gluttony of the West.
Although it's difficult to predict the way the war in Ukraine will end, it's nevertheless clear that whatever is the outcome , relations between Africa and the West will never be the same again.
But perhaps Washington may be the biggest loser - especially if Russia humbles Ukraine - on account of the immense amount and sophisticated weapons of its own it has sent to Ukraine, and the huge amount of money still given to Ukraine. America is indisputably the biggest donor to Ukraine in the war.
In the wider world context, Washington stands to lose influence as a global heavy weight. The picture will become even grimmer when one considers the threat posed by the BRICS union that brings together Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. There is proof that over a score of other countries are lining up to join BRICS. If that happens, the the threat posed by BRICS will even be greater and riskier.
The expansion of BRICS may lead to the organization creating its own currency. If that happens, the US dollar as an international currency may be hardhit. And that is certainly
not good news for Joe Biden's country or at the very least, his leadership.
