As he began his four-nation visit to Africa on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that the “age of Francafrique is well over.” Analysts use the term to indicate Paris’ continued attempts to plant puppet dictators and establish military bases in the continent even after the end of colonialism.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday that “the financial policy of a certain developed country” was responsible for the financial crisis in Pakistan. In addition to this veiled reference to the US, she noted that West-backed creditors and financial institutions’ policies had caused economic woes in a “large number” of developing countries.
The Philippines’ defence chief, Carlito Galvez, said Thursday that the government’s decision to grant the US greater access to its military bases was “not for engaging in war,” but to enhance its defence capability against external threats, as “the geopolitical situation is becoming more precarious.”
The US has added 37 entities to its trade blacklist for supporting activities by the armies of Russia and China and facilitating human rights abuses in Myanmar and China. Assistant Secretary of the Commerce Department, Thea Kendler, said on Thursday that the listed entities posed “a national security or foreign policy concern” for the US, and were added to the list so the government could “scrutinise their transactions.”
Delegations from Italy, Morocco, Niger, and the US released a statement on Thursday regarding the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS’ commitment to combat the terrorist group in Africa. As part of the coalition’s ‘Africa Focus Group,’ 38 coalition members and observers met in Niamey on 1-2 March to address the threat posed by ISIS and identify gaps in the counter-terrorism strategies of African states. The statement warned that the rise of extremist non-state actors, including separatist movements and private military groups, is destabilising the security situation in several African states and paving the way for ISIS and other violent terrorist groups.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu postponed his trip to the UAE in January because Emirati officials were worried that the visit could ignite tensions with Iran, Axios reported on Thursday. Three Israeli officials told the news outlet that Israel and the UAE differ in their public outlook towards Iran. While Israel and Iran have been arch-foes for decades, Abu Dhabi has maintained a posture of coexistence with Tehran.
On Thursday, the US Department of Justice announced the arrest of two Americans — Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky and Douglas Robertson — from Kansas City for supplying US aviation technology to Russia, including selling equipment to Russian companies and providing repair services for Russian aircrafts. According to prosecutors, the pair hid their client details, lied about their products’ cost, and got paid through foreign bank accounts to evade US sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had been struck by a “terrorist attack” in the Bryansk region along the Ukrainian border after a group of Ukrainian saboteurs opened fire at a civilian car, killing two and injuring a child. “They won’t achieve anything. We will crush them,” Putin stated. While Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak called the incident a “classic deliberate provocation,” Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Spokesperson Andriy Yusov suggested the possibility of anti-government activity by partisans in Russia, saying, “These are people who, with weapons in their hands, are fighting the Putin regime and those who support it... Maybe Russians will begin to wake up.”
The Argentine Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that Foreign Minister (FM) Santiago Cafiero proposed restarting negotiations regarding sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in a meeting with his UK counterpart James Cleverly at the G20 FM Meet in India. Referring to a 2013 referendum, Cleverly tweeted in response, “The Falkland Islands are British. Islanders have the right to decide their own future — they have chosen to remain a self-governing UK Overseas Territory.”