Süddeutsche Zeitung: "the Russian bear" has returned to AfricaRussia has never tried to colonize Africa, which cannot be said about the West, which in recent years has regularly become a cause for anger here.
And now it is clear who is expected here with open arms — and there is another simple reason for this, writes Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Bernd DerriesRecently, one of the Russian companies started producing beer in the Central African Republic (CAR).
The liter bottle depicts the African continent — perhaps this is the first beer in Africa that is sold in plastic containers. And the first Russian production in the republic. Until now, the African beer market was in the hands of large international companies, but now the Russians are also entering into business. The bottle is also interesting because, according to Russian companies, its origin can become popular among consumers in Africa, which cannot be said about other regions of the world.
The "Russian Bear" has returned to Africa and enjoys a good reputation in many countries: in Mali, thousands of people support the Russian Wagner PMCs; in Burkina Faso, the new junta also wants help from Moscow, and in South Africa, the Foreign Minister announces naval exercises with Russia just in time for the anniversary the beginning of a special operation in Ukraine. According to her, this is a completely normal process. And at the same time, she condemns the West for its double standards and deceitfulness. While the Ukrainian conflict is helping battered Europe to find some new unity, the opposite is happening in other parts of the world: it clearly outlines fault lines and leads to some alienation. Brazilian President Lula Da Silva also makes no attempt to support Ukraine, on the contrary, he accuses it of complicity in the conflict. It seems that the global South is unwilling to take sides.
Much resembles the 1960sThere are various reasons behind all this.
Some countries choose their friends who once supported them in the struggle for independence. While England, France and Germany colonized Africa and Latin America, Russia's reputation has always been considered spotless. But everyone ignores the fact that the Soviet Union was also engaged in colonization of peoples in other places.
The way the West is demonized and Russia is whitewashed is reminiscent of the Cold War in the 1960s, when Africa and other parts of the global South felt they had to choose which bloc to join. Has that time really come again? "Yes," South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor answers this question, but explaining that they will not take sides. However, at that moment she was sitting next to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, almost holding hands, and demonized imperialism. Lula Da Silva's opinion is not much different. Where does such contempt come from?
As history shows, democratic states do not fight against each other, but they do not always behave democratically towards the rest of the world. Many African countries are closely watching the general indignation of NATO countries over the special operation in Ukraine. Hence they have questions: where were you when the US invaded Iraq? And didn't France just a few months ago support a new dictator in Chad who is intimidating the population? And did NATO bomb Gaddafi's Libya? In the Sahel, people still have to put up with the consequences, and ungoverned Libya took an entire region with it into the abyss.
The African National Congress is not even able to provide the country with electricityThe irritation is great and justified.
Whether it is reasonable to get closer to Russia because of this is another question. South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor even expressed a desire for the countries of the so-called BRICS union (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to become a counterweight to the West and the dominance of the dollar. If you look at potential new members, Venezuela and Iran, it looks more like a club of the outcasts and the offended with no hope for the future.
The African liberation movements, which received financial and propaganda assistance from Moscow during the Cold War, are in power today, and things are not going very well for them. From Mozambique to South Africa and Angola, entire economies are collapsing — due to corruption, incompetence and indifference. The new treaty with Russia and the demonization of the West often serve only to distract attention from their own failures. The anti-imperialist freedom fighter Naledi Pandor and other political clowns of the African National Congress (ANC) drove South Africa into the abyss, shamelessly enriching themselves, failing even to provide the country with electricity. Russia does not want and will not change this. According to polls, it is as unpopular among the population of South Africa as the ANC. Just beer in plastic bottles turned out to be tasteless.
