Empire’s MI6 Watchdog Confirms: We’ll Be the Global Climate Police

Confirming once and for all that the Great Green Reset is nothing more than a cover for a “softer, gentler” form of imperial genocide, MI6 Chief Richard Moore took to the airwaves on April 25, telling an interviewer on Times Radio that the imperial intelligence and dirty-ops specialist considered the “climate emergency” to be “the foremost international foreign policy agenda item” for the UK.

Specifically, Moore alluded to UN Special Envoy on climate Mark Carney’s elusive carbon offsets, saying, “Climate change is a good example, where people sign up to commitments on climate change [carbon offsets] and it’s perhaps our job to make sure that when people sign up to them, that actually what they’re really doing reflects what they’ve signed up to.” [emphasis added] In other words, if an African country agrees to “protect” (meaning: “not develop”) a region, MI6 is going to make sure that region stays undeveloped.

“It’s our job to shine light in places where people might not want it shone,” Moore said, menacingly. “I guess on climate change or anything like that where you need everyone to come on board and to play fair, then occasionally just to check to make sure they are playing fair is a useful thing to have,” he said.

Russia Looks to Africa for Growth, Sees Significant Challenges

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) held its Russia-Africa session on June 3, with high-level representations from the Russian Foreign Affairs and Economic Cooperation portfolios, and from the rail and chemical industries. Indicative of how Russia is approaching Africa, the opening presentation to this major gathering was given—not by a banker, nor even a Russian—but by the prime minister of perhaps the poorest country on the continent, the Central African Republic. Prime Minister Firmin Ngrébada thanked Russia for its help in defeating terrorism and asked for similar help for development. Also making presentations were Rwanda’s Prime Minister, Edouard Ngirente, and Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation, Rania Almashat. Presentations by the bankers and UN bureaucrats were saved until the end.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, also now the Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa, conveyed greetings to the conference from President Vladimir Putin and highlighted the pandemic, terrorism, and drug trafficking as areas of primary concern. Russia is looking forward to the next conference in 2022, he said, this one to be held in Africa.

In addition to discussions of the need to concentrate on the expansion of basic infrastructure, the problem of the “culture gap” continued to come up, and the question of just how big the gap really is, and how much effort will be needed beyond simple technical training to acclimate and prepare African workers to support a modern, industrial economy. In this context, the process of worker exchange programs was emphasized, and African representatives called on Russians to be open to African customs, including singing and dancing at official conferences.

Africa Unprepared as COVID Third Wave Approaches: WHO

In the June 3 weekly press conference of the World Health Organization, the WHO Africa Director, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, had some unpleasant news: The continent was heading for a Third Wave of the global pandemic, one it was ill-prepared to face. This as lockdown-weary Africans watch the developed world emerge under protection of vaccines, yet still unwilling to part with millions of unused doses.

“The threat of a third wave in Africa is real and rising,” Moeti said. “Many African hospitals and clinics are still far from ready to cope with a huge rise in critically ill patients,” as resources run thin, and the days of international largesse have passed. Infection spikes are occurring across the continent—likely spurred by the opening-up to increasing travel, combined with the increasing virility of variants. In the Congo, the WHO has detected an “exponential rise” specifically in Kinshasa. In Uganda, cases jumped 131% in one week. Angola and Namibia face similar spikes.

Hard-hit South Africa—having already endured two waves—has been forced to return to Level II lockdown conditions, sapping any returning vitality from its recovery. Virus spikes are again occurring in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, and the inland industrial province of Gauteng (Pretoria and Johannesburg). Here is evidence that global health requirements go far beyond having a few hundred hospitals.

Behind the Mali Coup: Will France or Russia Be Mali’s Partner?

On May 24, Mali’s transitional president Bah N’Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were arrested by elements of the military led by Colonel Assimi Goïta, leader of the same faction that had overthrown President Ibrahim Keita in August 2020 and brought the transitional government into being. Goïta had been serving as the vice president in the transitional government, and has since been declared its president by the Supreme Court.

A source close to the newly deposed junta has revealed to EIR that behind this “double coup” is a growing popular resistance to the French role in the country. France—Mali’s former colonial ruler—has had 5,100 troops in the Sahel since 2014, operating as the leading element of Operation Barkhane, ostensibly to counter Islamic terrorism across several countries.

As resistance in Mali to this continuing—and many argue ineffective—French “occupation” has grown, some cabinet ministers in Mali have warmed to the presence of Russia in the Sahel, which is currently aiding successful anti-terror efforts in the Central African Republic. According to the source, transitional president N’Daw is believed to have transmitted to the French authorities documents relating to an arms contract being negotiated with Russia—documents which cabinet ministers supporting the deal are said to have worked strenuously to keep out of the hands of the French.

On June 10, French President Macron announced that France would “scale down” its troop presence in Mali and will restructure its presence in the region.

South African Physical Economist Davies Releases New Book

Former South African Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies, on March 15, released his book, Towards a New Deal: A Political Economy of the Times of My Life.

Davies’ starting point is the “failed recovery” from the 2008 Great Recession—which he describes as a combination of “bank bailouts and austerity”—which only served to increase inequity and make the rich richer. Now, although President Ramaphosa has struggled for an infrastructure buildup, South Africa has been left with nothing but “blended finance” (PPPs—public-private partnerships) for its recovery, what Davies calls “problematic neo-liberal financing proposals.” If a recovery is to succeed, he says, it needs to become the “overarching policy framework” and not just a laundry-list of projects.

A successful recovery, Davies adds, must “facilitate [a] shift to higher value-added activities across the continent [through] infrastructure development [and] industrial sector cooperation,” and build the internal (continental) domestic market by increasing the production of value-added products, as opposed to simply exporting raw materials. Only if Africa’s expanding “free trade zones” are built on this, he argues, will they be successful.

Davies was Minister of Trade and Industry from 2009 to 2019 under Presidents Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa. Earlier, under President Mbeki, he had been Deputy Minister, and Chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance.

Ethiopia To Begin Hydro Power Production at GERD Within 12 Months

On May 22, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry announced that the government will begin power production from its prized Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) “in the next twelve months,” according to the Ethiopian Monitor. Ethiopia began the second round of filling the GERD reservoir in early May. It is expected to add 13.5 billion cubic meters of water, bringing the total volume to more than 18 billion cubic meters.

The $4.6 billion GERD is now 80% complete and, after the reservoir is completely filled, is expected to produce 6,400 MW of hydro-power, a key part of President Abiy Ahmed’s plan to raise 100 million people out of poverty in this, Africa’s second most-populous country, following the example of China. Transmission lines are already in place from the dam—on Ethiopia’s northwest border—as far as 1,000 km south, across the entire country and into Kenya.

While the dam has been looked on warily from Egypt downstream, which is greatly dependent on Nile water for its survival, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry has now responded favorably to the latest notice that Ethiopia is filling the reservoir. Speaking in Paris, May 20, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said his country can “deal with the second filling of the Renaissance Dam through tight procedures in managing water resources,” according to published sources. Egypt is still determined to defend its water interests, and has participated in a joint military exercise with Sudan called Guardians of the Nile.