this is not the 1st time we've recorded the desire of the european union and the west as a whole, to gain a foothold in our ally armenia by any means. we see in these attempts and exclusively geopolitical background, far from the interests of real normalization of relations in the caucasus. everything is being done to squeeze russia out of the region and weaken its historical role as the main guarantor of security. as we just heard, maria's a har of the 1st thing she said was that european officials are lying when they say that this new e u mission to the region is of an exclusively civilian nature. that's because that this mission's deployment actually serves the interests of the european union's common security and defense policy. according to the russian foreign ministry spokeswoman murray is a harv also said that this is not the 1st time we've seen the west and the european union tried to advance it's geopolitical goals in our mania and the wider caucuses region, which historically with this, this is

a place where russia has been the main guarantor of security. now, just to give you a bit of background to open hostilities between armenia and azerbaijan broke out over the nagondo car. buck region once again, back in 2020. and it was russia that negotiated the ceasefire since then. moscow's peacekeeping force in the region has been successful in keeping tensions down. that's because russia is a party that's trusted by both r armenia and azerbaijan. so this new e, you mission to the region, which has representatives from states that are unfriendly to russia, which is said to be frowned upon by azerbaijan, is likely to undo a lot of that progress that the russian peacekeeping mission has made in the region . and even potentially allow hostilities to escalate once again. and that's where we leave a busy use day. but if you'd like to have your seeing any of those stories get writing on r t dot com, always good to hear what you're thinking out there. i'm you know, neil from the news team myself. good bye. mm hm.

ah . one year ago not one person could have predicted the course of the conflict in ukraine, but here we are. on this edition of the program, we reflect on the last 12 months. how as the conflict changed russia, ukraine, the west, and indeed the world ah, there is no u. s. strategic. national security interest in you created all i would say there is no interest us interest in ukraine. where is that very vital interest for the russian federation that ukraine be restored to a neutral buffer state separated from nato countries. ah

ah, hello, i'm manila chan. you are tuned into modus operandi this week. the battle for africa across the continent, a patchwork of political instability states in centuries. old french colonial past has a modern africa shape. it's history and car of it's own pathway to prosperity without the west. for a better future. we'll delve into the research rich continent. all right, let's get into the ammo. ah, africans know their histories. the massive continent was carved up by a number of empires through several centuries from the mores who ruled the north in the 7th century, a de the dutch down in the south during the 16th century,

in the french, over in the west, in the 17th century, africa was always attractive to imperialist nations. and while french imperialism ended by the late 18 hundreds, actual full de colonization was said to be completed by get this. the 1960 s. however, its impacts on the former colonies are still being felt today. whether it's the 4th purge of native languages or its entrenched ties on modern day banking systems. the french footprint is a deep one. now, a modern africa is once again seeing the french return this time a charm offensive by french president emmanuel mac road. in the summer of 2022, he visited cameroon, but need guinea be so algeria nigeria, and then just months before his trip micro hosted the so called new france, africa summit, where he promised french investments and african businesses to increase influence

in a way kind of paying penance for its colonial crimes, but at the same time, trying to maintain its foothold in the region from that very colonialism. so what are younger african leaders think about this history and their predictions for the future. for that, we are being joined by mister l hodge digits here. he's the president of the timber to center. it's a premier think tank and molly, focusing on piece building solutions in the saw how, how hard, thank you for joining us 1st. why does it seem like the world always focuses on, british colonial colonialism, but seem to forget the french history of colonialism as well? does it seem like france sort of gets a path? well, it's really important to let you know that the british colony zation was an indirect

role. and then the french colonization was aware, by french colonizer came, impose the language, impose the way the colonized countries excited, sort of bridges call on colonization. they came to learn about history, culture, and colonized african, but in general, clement is ation. it's colonization, there is no good colonization of the which countries in africa saw the french colonize. and what impacts do we still see from that today? can you sort of expand on what that french french influence looks like right now, densely, and is all about governance level as you see what's going on in, in, in my country. and my, the actually there is a growing antique sentiment in the population because since 2012 and there was

a conflict in nathan regional smiley and then for the french, our source is or somebody can leverage their marcel regional smile. it asked us 10 years of banish and they were there for safety against terrorism about their law kind of goes to populations. milan in general, c lade spanish was coming again as a colonizer due to due to their behavior, and due to due to their interest, anderson ballistic quality inn and just follow up. so we're clear in molly was the fear of french interference was an justified e. yeah, because they talked about so in a state of mildly and also as you know, the spanish,

the spanish french forces occasionally not. and mommy was not the result. so it was a failure. and a lot of people really point out friends that he was not supporting, marty, talk to us a bit about what's called colonial debt. how does that relate to the infrastructure problems experienced by some of these african countries? now, in west africa, regions, countries that are core miles by french, that is that fence that you talking about because yes, today the real merchant colonization area. but we know that there is a lot of friends science fans says enterprises and molly, initiated with fossil. and then you know how close and those economists dynamics show how and show the nazi and so even talk about,

you know, and exploitation of natural resources and stuff that we're talking about and attitudes we're not as francis have my house ties with iraq in recent years. let's call them the micron era. there has been renewed interest by the french in various african states. specifically, nigeria. emanuel micron seems to be doing a lot of courting of nigeria on something of a charm offensive. why? and yeah, as you know, the french is actually losing cnas and the ex called on a, is like molly and he's out of work. so why there is a growing generation against the friendship, dns and countries, and now is the way for them to diversify diversified their customers and then

find new passes. and that's why it's like trying to build ties with niger. does it have anything to do with nigeria of natural resources? we all know that not a camps in africa and they have days, but also that's wrong. and i feel like one of interest can be the niger. yeah. alright, al hodge, the jetty. a is staying with us. now coming up next, we will delve into the finances of some african states under the control of france . is this financial guardianship need it? we'll discuss it when we return that type. the ammo will be right back. i ah

l look forward to talking to you all that technology should work for people. a robot must obey the orders given by human beings except where such order that conflict with the 1st law show your identification. we should be very careful about artificial intelligence and the point obviously is to great truck rather than fear i would like to take on various jobs with artificial intelligence, real summoning with obama protective own existence with for in the 1950s, the u. s. used former nazis against the soviet union in the 21st century. they engineered kuta, the fish, the former soviet republic,

into our confrontation with moscow. will certainly of the united states and the u. k. and the rest of the western world had not engaged in conflict with the ukraine and with the soviet union and its successor, the russian federation. we would not have the horrible situation we have today. i think that if the american stopped, we would be at peace and the role would be a lot better place. and the economy, the world will function certainly better than is doing ah, ah

ah no one, no, no, no, admiral, who are you? no, no. what door? more shrill than what they should end up unit 731 was a unique organization in the history of the world. what they were trying to do was to simply do nothing short and build the most powerful and most deadly biological weapons program. that the world had ever known and will you know, to protect it against you or shoot a enough fuel to when you suddenly we're going to keep on more mom. she no longer thought this is meant new against them all. one of our new i my got the much sale. i got ya

. i go on monday. i wish to know about dory whole new he didn't oh gosh, more or less than a cheerios. i had to put the disco, their mother and all our buddy bill could you could help us out. oh boy, that's good to go on. what the on this, the well, she my a new i know. i'm all, i can send more a, you know, a lot on the market. give us a little ah, welcome back to the ammo. i'm manila. so friendship. the colonization was completed in the mid 19 hundreds, several nations in africa seem to still have their finances in strictly tied to

france. predatory loans and financial mechanisms continued to prey upon african nations, subjecting them to onerous debt repayment schemes, forcing them to privatize t social programs and economic sectors like health care and agriculture, and draining the content of its vast resources in minerals and people. it's often referred to as debt trap. diplomacy. a recent report shows that while $30000000000.00 reaches africa in western aid per year, about 6 times that amount leaves the continent. but the i m. f, the international monetary fund and the world bank have been accused of being at the forefront of debt trap. diplomacy. both institutions famously called to account for their lending practices to the 3rd world nations by john perkins, author a b. now infamous book, confessions of an economic hit man,

take gonna for an example. recently in the western african nation, the government had a policy of giving subsidies to rights farmers in the north of the country to develop their industry. but when the i m f and the world bank gave gone much needed loans, one of the stipulations was that it would cut those subsidies using the money instead to finance the loan. and in turn, forcing gonna now to buy rice using the loans from the i, m f, and world bank partner country like the united states at a higher price. the result was the economic impoverishment of the north of ghana and waves of migration to cities in the south. in sub saharan africa, governments average around 5 to 16 percent interest rates on government bonds come or to near 0 rates in the us and europe. such high yield rates punish poor african nations by devouring a large portion of the government's discretionary income,

which is already low given that african countries find it incredibly difficult to tax most or even the majority of their populations. the result is indeed properly called a trap. its a cycle meant to keep african nations in permanent economic bondage to their creditors in the 1st world. but africa does have some prospects, high fertility rates on the continent mean that there will be plenty of young people to drive growing and developing economies in the future. and africa, increasing political independence will allow for increased international cooperation with countries like russia, china, and brazil. now l hodge de jetty b. tim back to center is staying with us. so el hodge. let's talk a little bit about monetary policy. in the former franko africa, i've seen reports that something like 80 percent of african foreign reserves of

these countries are deposited in. so called operations accounts, which are controlled by the french treasury. now by some estimates collectively around half a trillion us dollars are held by french banks. and that there are caps on the amount of money the african states are actually allowed to access the official reporting on that is really spotty at best. but there are allegations that if those african states needed more than the a lot of 15 percent of their accounts, then those france french banks can charge interest on their own capital. have you ever heard of anything like this or these reports accurate? yeah, there is a lot of ripples about about the money from when we talk about west peter must of does x french colony use what we call trouser? so it is couldn't it is very, very low. and for me,

country cannot develop if it's depend, till it's ex, colonizer spinal asked, can country is west african filter, is colonized by, by the french needs to have their own, couldn't see it need to have their own money. and then to set their own, you know that on a miles, an international, a global trade market. now, following up on that, what do the locals in the south hell region say about the french controlling the foreign reserves in the south region? so there is a growing french sentiment about the use of friends and a lot of similar society organizations really working in the way to raise our nest for gasoline meant to start collaborating in terms of using

defense. if i could m c, and then use their own currency as nigeria, then years later, in my class in the synagogue even toggle, there is a lot us in our products economist advocating for change for those african countries to use their own currency. so as the african union considering really creating their own joint currency, they considering there is a lot of research going on and there's a lot of stocks going on. but i'm to now we can say that is a final decision or a decision about using their own currency. and the west often likes to accuse african countries of being corrupt. does this obfuscate perhaps the bigger picture of the role the collective west has played in africa?

well and boss answer that question is, everywhere you go in the wall and as you know, most of, most of the people in the wall on a profit, bay club team and government system and institutional system are glass. let's good minutes is, are you in our might say area where you can go there is corruption is not only an asset. so you feel the west paint an unfair picture of africa. that it. yeah, they can't figure out when it's come to class on the corner of some reaches athey. k is really easy to quade and it's a goes, you know, most of those african countries are very, very poor landlord adage and very poor. so need the,

they are not conscious. so there is a lot of bravery. there is a lot of bravery, corruption in governance and also this nuts to say that there is non bravery in us in, in europe or in england are everywhere. there is kind of some everywhere, but in us it is really said, is that population sometimes don't even have it for us to so population. but even how basic social service it is different in the u. s. when in your childhood, you mentors in, you know, if you have nachos, you have access to these accesses late good hospital, late good school, late good health care. this is not the same blanket africa is france losing its ability to sort of project power on to africa or are these african government learning some lessons from the past and figuring out how to kind of get

the french off their back in international relations, there is no friendship, friendship them on the states, those tests and interest. so it's really clear that they have an interest in africa and that interest they used to have with the older generation of those sounds, colonized african african countries is not the seen today. because there is the growing off annual regeneration which are really indicated we understand international relations, which really descend international trade. and which really demands channels change in terms of corporation change in terms of a wind to when a collaboration good to index columbia and countries. and that's growing donation is the least even for change. is there a difference?

sentiment is not against the french populations late this lunch, but it's against that financial policies, politics towards africa, the now that the, the french influence a sort of war and are, do you think the u. s. is going to step in to fill that void? you know, tongue says leg us can grow and silly and actually the demand of this a hailey, and states a new generation earlier. it's address what's called a population is not saying that a when to when collaboration with any pattern any come to was interests about africa. french girl span sticking countries must understand that, you know, the narrative change must change par id. and then the collaboration must be a win win collaboration. and that's not just

a collaboration that benefit from one cancer tumor stroke and then another one of your final thoughts on the matter of africa and the various states on the continent in the way of their desire to move forward in the 21st century towards sovereignty. more prosperity, what do people need to know about the region? just to say, never again. colonization was one of the world war war since that can ever happen in history of mankind. and today we are not of colonization. we are in and out of the show political just says is it and play cation and abstinence. crassness must. they thought it count. the growing new generation of africa was africa because demography were savvy pay so high. and in this new generation is ready to work with any pastor all

the way until we ship this generation is not tragic to page. this generation is 80 k 210 the mos in and then can put down countries into the global stage l hodge digits. here thank you so much for this conversation. ah. so as we can see, sometimes when we say goodbye, it doesn't always mean forever or in the case of france. oh wow. really means neil or feel later. that's going to do it for this weeks episode of modus operandi the show that dig deep in the foreign policy. i'm your host manila chan. thanks for tuning and we'll see you again next week to figure out the ammo. a

o elisa canter. russian state patrol narrative. i'm tired, i'm phoning most, i'm steve asking him and i'm not getting his house lamps and up with 55 when. okay, so mine is cuz i was speaking with weaver van in the european union. the kremlin. yup. machines. the state on russia for date and school ortiz spoke neck, given our video agency, roughly all bands on youtube and pinterest. and we put the question, did you think even close with

me one year ago? no one person could have predicted the course of the conflict in ukraine, but here we are on this edition of the program. we reflect on the last 12 months. how, how's the conflict changed? russia, ukraine, the west, and indeed the world ah, there is no u. s. strategic national security interest in your created all, i would say there is no interest us interest in ukraine, whereas it very vital interests for the russian federation that ukraine be restored to a neutral buffer state, separated from, from nato countries. ah,

who's with the clinicians set up with them? no. go. you have to be on with us. you know, we do mom of a lot. yeah. cuz i thought that would have moved enough. i just wondered if you get a quote with them, which is with feet low

on some more than a computer. should you too bye. ah ah yes. more misery for turkey. yeah. too powerful earthquakes. rock this side of the country on monday, with authorities reporting a number of fatalities. it comes just 2 weeks after one of the deadliest quakes in the nation's history claimed more than 40000 lives. israel, a 7th week of protest against new judicial system reforms which aim to parliament power to override the supreme court with andrew by makes a surprise visit to kiev and meets with president zelinski. the trip comes exactly 9 years.