France will begin evacuating its nationals from Niger on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said, after a coup there last week toppled the country’s pro-Western leader.
The decision to move citizens out was prompted by attacks on the French embassy in the capital Niamey, and the closure of Niger’s airspace which made regular departures impossible, the ministry said in a statement.
France had earlier on Tuesday said that it was preparing an evacuation “in the face of a deteriorating security situation in Niamey” but gave no time frame.
The foreign ministry said France was offering to evacuate other European nationals wanting to leave.
Italy also said on Tuesday it would offer a special flight to repatriate its nationals from Niamey.
“The Italian government has decided to offer our fellow nationals present in Niamey the possibility to leave the city with a special flight for Italy,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani tweeted.
The ministry said it was “not an evacuation” but “a special flight for those who want to leave the country”.
Niger President Mohamed Bazoum, 63, was detained by his own presidential guard in a third coup in as many years in the Sahel, following putsches in neighbouring fellow former French colonies Mali and Burkina Faso.
Former colonial power France and the United States have between them deployed 2,600 soldiers in Niger to battle jihadists.
Oh Western support for imperialism is still alive and well, Ukraine has shown that. At the outset of the conflict you had people saying that Ukraine shouldn’t have sought closer ties to the West because it would inevitably piss off Russia; or, that the US/West should negotiate a peace treaty. They brought up how during the Cold War, American imperialists agreed that Ukraine should stay in the Russian sphere of influence.
All of that thinking is just imperialism. If you say country X should not seek certain international ties because it will piss off country Y, you’re defending the idea that X is Y’s possession and it must have Y’s approval to exercise any self determination. They aren’t sovereign if they can’t make their own decisions. Similarly, to advocate for the US to negotiate a peace treaty completely ignores Ukraine and doesn’t even ask what Ukraine wants. If the US brokers peace and Ukraine doesn’t want it, it’s imperialism in the form of daddy US knowing better and doing what’s best. This happened with the Cold War, where the American imperialists didn’t even bother to consider what Ukraine wanted when deciding which sphere of influence it should be in.
The hilarious, depressing part is that a lot of the people who argue these points also call themselves anti imperialist. Anti imperialism is fighting back against a global power who says you’re historically part of their empire and have no distinct culture, not suggesting you make peace with them and give them some of your land. Some people have made the logical fallacy that because the US has done bad and pro imperialist things, anything which the US dislikes must be good and anti imperialist. They don’t recognize that if the US dislikes what Russia’s doing, that doesn’t mean Russia is in the right.
I don’t expect you to fully agree with me, but I hope we at least agree that what I’ve described is also imperialism. It’s a general test to see if someone actually dislikes imperialism or if they just dislike the West and give a pass to non Western imperialism. I sincerely hope you’re the former.
We disagree on the definition of imperialism. You are using this word to mean “of empire”. Whereas I use this word to describe an economic system, the highest stage of capitalism.
I agree that these actions are “of empire”, so we don’t really disagree on most of what you’re saying. I just wouldn’t use the word imperialism for it because of the difference in definitions we have.
Fair enough! And like I said, I’m really glad to hear that. I find that while we disagree often, it makes me consider things from a different perspective, which I really appreciate. Your consistency is the main reason why it’s enjoyable.
Consider also: https://www.hexbear.net/post/281425