SPURNED SOUTH AFRICAN MODEL CROWNED MISS NIGERIA!

After being crowned Miss Universe Nigeria, African model finally has something to smile about.

She’d accepted a last-minute invite to compete in Lagos after pulling out of Miss South Africa over xenophobic abuse. Chidimma faced a wave of online hate amid claims she wasn’t South African enough due to her Nigerian father and mother, who has Mozambican roots.

At the time, the 23-year-old called it ‘Black-on-Black hate’, but she’s calling for ‘unity’ after winning at the weekend. She’ll represent Nigeria at the international Miss Universe in November but still loves South Africa, where she was born and raised.

BLACK MAN INVENTS REVOLUTIONARY WATER MACHINE

Moses West, an engineer in San Antonio, Texas, has captured global attention with a water-generating machine. This device extracts moisture from the air, cooling it to form water droplets, much like how a refrigerator condenses humidity. By mimicking the natural process of cloud formation, this brother’s machine creates a controlled mini rain cloud to produce clean drinking water.

What truly sets Moses apart is his dedication to helping those in need. He provides water at no cost, targeting struggling communities. His efforts have already made a difference in Flint, Michigan, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas in the wake of Hurricane Dorian.

Continued….. This selfless approach tackles the urgent global issue of clean-water scarcity. According to the UN World Water Development Report, 2 billion people worldwide (26 per cent) lack reliable access to safe drinking water. Moses’s invention can ensure clean water reaches those who otherwise might not have access.

Video Credit: @mosesfoundation / @U_green_Us (IG)

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SAHEL TRIO BLASTS WEST FOR BACKING TERRORISTS IN REGION

The Sahel trio - Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - alleges that terrorist groups in the region are being supported by Western powers.

Bamako was the first to make such accusations back in 2022. Then-Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maïga claimed France had illegally violated Mali’s airspace and provided arms, funds and intelligence to insurgents operating in the country (the very same people Paris claimed to be fighting). He also alleged that France had encouraged regional bloc ECOWAS to impose sanctions against Mali and had worked to divide Malians along ethnic lines. Bamako then requested an extraordinary assembly at the UN to examine these claims. But, with France a permanent member of the UN Security Council, that call went unheeded.

Continued….. Now, Mali - along with Burkina Faso and Niger - is appealing to the UN Security Council once again, this time in response to recent statements by two Ukrainian officials (a spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence and the Ukrainian ambassador to Senegal). These latter two publicly expressed support for a rebel group in northern Mali that recently ambushed and inflicted significant losses on a convoy of Malian soldiers and Russian mercenaries.

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - but also Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria - have all suffered from attacks by terrorist paramilitaries over the past decade. And these groups operate as part of a network that stretches across borders throughout West and Central Africa. Thus, any backing of groups in one country can have region-wide implications.

This important issue is discussed in depth in our recent video: ‘US, Ukraine, France Failed Coup In Burkina Faso | The West Is Trying To Destabilize AES’ - up on our YouTube channel. Here’s a little taster. What do you think?

AFWERKI TO PUTIN: END DOLLAR, END SANCTIONS

Sixty-three years ago this week (on 1st September 1961), Eritrea’s war of independence broke out. The struggle against Haile Selassie’s Ethiopian empire and, later, the Mengistu administration lasted three decades. It finally ended on 24th May 1991, when the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front defeated Ethiopian forces inside Eritrea which also signalled the emd of the Mengistu dictatorship with a coalition of anti-Mengistu troops taking control of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital soon after.

The spirit of resisting imperialism - in all its guises - lives on in Eritrea today. In this clip - from July 2023’s Russia-Africa summit - President Isaias Afwerki calls for a new financial architecture, one not controlled by the dollar. He predicts that the era of sanctions, used as a punitive means of coercion, is ending.

Continued….. Asmara itself has been on the receiving end of sanctions. In 2009, the UN Security Council slapped it with an arms embargo for allegedly assisting al-Shabaab in Somalia and for refusing to pull out its forces from a disputed border with Djibouti. After a UN probe failed to find conclusive evidence of the al-Shabaab links, UN and EU sanctions were lifted in 2018.

Yet the United States imposed fresh sanctions in 2021 following the conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, where the Ethiopian and Eritrean armies joined forces against the U.S.-backed TPLF rebel group. The sanctions imposed on Eritrea in November 2021 excluded the country from the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transactions) system used to conduct international financial transactions.

VIETNAM GENERAL REVEALS SECRET TO DEFEATING U.S.

In July 1968, revolutionary would-be assassin Võ Thi Thang was sentenced to 20 years of hard labour by the US-backed South Vietnamese government during its war against the Soviet-backed North. Her response, with a smile, was: “Twenty years? Your government won’t last that long!” Seven years later, her prophecy came to pass, as the last of the Americans hastily retreated from the South’s capital, Saigon - paving the way for the reunification of the country into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Continued…. Vietnam embodies the saying, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog that matters.” In a brutal, 20-year conflict that killed more than a million Vietnamese between 1954 and 1975, North Vietnam fought against the US and the South - and won. In this clip, People’s Army general Võ Nguyên Giáp reveals the secret behind his side’s success: high morale among the troops and widespread support from the people.

Vietnam - then a poor, largely agricultural country - showed that colonialism can be fought back against successfully. So did Angola, South Africa and Kenya. It’s a lesson we can still learn from. Flag independence gave way to neocolonialism, and the imperialist powers that looted Africa 100 years ago still do so today. But an educated, patriotic populace can break those chains. Don’t you think?

RUSSIA’S AMBASSADOR CALLS OUT GERMAN HYPOCRISY

On 12 January, Germany said it would intervene on Israel’s behalf in the gen*cide case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its military onslaught in Gaza. Stating the accusations had no basis, it accused South Africa of ‘politicising’ gen*cide. This stand sent shock waves, with many criticising Germany’s horrific history.

However, Namibia was most vocal in denouncing Germany’s intervention. The southwestern African state of 3 million was a German colony between 1884 and 1919. German colonial forces systematically killed about 100,000 Herero and Nama people between 1904 and 1908 following a popular uprising over land seizures and forced labour. 

Continued….. Today, it’s the same Germany that defends Israel’s military onslaught. That’s why Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya stated in this video clip that Germany doesn’t have any moral right to teach others about the importance of national reconciliation, having started two world wars, k*lled millions of people in the Holocaust and committed mass crimes in Africa.

ALGERIANS STILL ANGRY WITH FRANCE

Sixty-two years after gaining independence from France, many Algerians still feel that there’s been little progress in terms of justice for the victims of French imperialism.

Over the 132 year occupation, France committed unspeakable crimes - including massacring tens of thousands of anti-colonial protesters at the end of WWII. French forces committed further atrocities during the war for independence, in which Algerian historians say 1.5-million Algerians were killed. Paris also conducted 17 nuclear tests between 1960 and 1966 - and the region they took place in suffers from higher cancer rates than the national average. It took France till 2007 to reveal the location of landmines to the Algerian government.

Continued….. France has also looted countless cultural treasures from Algeria - as well as skulls of fallen fighters.

Although Algeria’s formal relations with France have improved a little in recent years, they came under renewed strain when Emmanuel Macon recently supported Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara - with Algiers firmly backing the region’s independence movement. The Algerian ambassador in Paris was recalled over the spat, and Algeria’s president has rescheduled a planned visit to France.

In this clip, a 92-year-old Algerian war veteran and a museum-collections expert share their grievances regarding the ex-coloniser. Do you think their wishes will be fulfilled?

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SHOWDOWN: NIGERIA’S DANGOTE VS GLOBAL OIL GIANTS

There is a pretty straight line from colonial exploitation to modern-day neocolonialism. Few African countries process their own raw materials - rather, the value is added elsewhere, and the finished products reimported, much to the benefit of foreign-owned companies. Multinational companies hold enormous economic and political power in post-independence African countries, a colonial hangover that’s seen them take part in illicit capital flight, pay low royalties and low rates of tax, provide little in the way of local employment and spur the destruction of local industries.

When Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, announced that Nigeria would be moving up the value chain and that he would be building a 20-billion dollar, 650,000-barrels-a-day refinery that would meet domestic needs and export to the rest of Africa,

Continued……ending the country’s age-old reliance on global oil giants, local importers and state regulators - who for decades have lived comfortably in those giants’ pockets - lost it.

Efforts to sabotage the project, the largest single-train refinery in the world, which began operations in January of 2023, got underway. The Dangote refinery, which represents a threat to the West’s lucrative refinery-products market share, has been struggling to acquire enough feedstock of Nigerian crude. Some of Europe’s largest refineries, like Shell and TotalEnergies, are owned by International Oil Companies (IOCs), and have for decades had a stranglehold on Nigeria’s oil industry. They essentially refused to sell crude to the Dangote refinery, insisting on a $6 premium above market price - forcing it to source crude from Brazil and the United States at a higher price.

It appears the objective is to ensure the Dangote refinery fails, guaranteeing that Nigeria continues to export raw crude and import refined products, making it dependent on IOCs, as it has been for decades. African Stream’s Erick Gavala takes a deep dive into this high-stakes showdown. Your reactions in the comments are appreciated.

AFWERKI: CONFLICT IS WEST’S WEAPON

Exactly 63 years ago this week, Eritrea began its war for independence from Ethiopia.
On September 1, 1961, resistance fighters started a campaign to liberate Eritrea from Ethiopian rule in a conflict that would last almost 30 years.

Here, Eritrea President Isaias Afwerki argues that conflicts in Africa serve external interests at the expense of Africans.

Indeed, divide and conquer proved an invaluable strategy for the colonisers as they set foot on the continent. Communities’ differences were amplified, stoking conflict, and in the dysfunction, European imperialism was cemented.

Continued….. With a formula that’s worked for decades, there was little reason for the West to give up stoking division. We see it today in the fights between Nigerians and South Africans or between Algerians and Moroccans. While entities like Israel and the US benefit from increased weapons sales or aligned policies, the division is instead detrimental to the building of a dignified Africa.

He proposes a different approach to solidarity, cooperation, and economic development among African nations, claiming that Africans are ready for this as they are tired of marginalisation.

Ending the cycle of intervention and sinister plots to destabilise Africa’s nations and people.

973 INDIGENOUS CHILDREN DIED IN U.S.-RUN SCOOLS

Hundreds of Indigenous children in America died while in the ‘care’ of US government-run boarding schools between 1819 and 1969. Often forcibly removed from their homes, they were kept in overcrowded dormitories and subjected to physical, mental and sexual abuse. A recent report released by the US interior secretary found that 973 Indigenous children died as a result. Marked and unmarked graves were discovered at 65 of more than 400 boarding schools. The findings show that many of the children died from sickness and abuse during the 150 year period. They received English names, and were subjected to military drills as well as forced manual labour, including farm work and brick-making.

Continued…. Over two-centuries after the abuse started, US Catholic bishops recently formally apologised for the church’s role. However, the apology, which was offered in June 2024, did not refer specifically to sexual abuse, even though at least 122 priests, sisters and brothers at 22 Catholic-run boarding schools have been accused of sexually abusing the Native American children under their care. So far, there’s been no proper apology from the American government for the horrific abuse. What’s your reaction to the findings?

EGYPTIAN STUDENTS BOYCOTT COCA-COLA

The younger generation is increasingly taking a moral stand against Israel’s military onslaught that has k*lled more than 40,000 civilians in the Gaza Strip, according to official reports. However, a Lancet medical journal report estimated more than 186,000 Palestinian casualties as of early July.

In this video, Egyptian students walk past what appears to be a Coca-Cola ambassador handing out cans. Pro-Palestine supporters around the world boycott it for several reasons, such as the company’s long record of supporting Israel. So much so that in 1997, the Government of Israel Economic Mission honoured Coca-Cola at the Israel Trade Award Dinner for its continued support of Israel for the last 30 years. Additionally, an Israeli-owned bottling company that works for Coca-Cola operates a factory in an Israeli settlement in Occupied East Jerusalem, considered illegal under international law.

KFC and Pizza Hut’s West Asia profits have also dropped by half due to boycotts.

Continued….. Plus, McDonald’s admitted to missing a revenue target in the fourth quarter of 2023. Its Israeli franchise gave thousands of free meals to Israeli troops last October, the month the country launched its bombardment of Gaza.

The revenue losses are another win for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that seeks to isolate Israel. International boycotts also helped bring apartheid to a halt in South Africa during the 20th century.

This is not the first boycott of Coca-Cola. From 1967 to 1991, the Arab League officially boycotted the carbonated drink for building a bottling plant in Occupied Palestinian territory. The recent boycott of Coke and other US soft drinks has catapulted sales for a 100-year-old local soda brand, Spiro Spathis.

Video credit: @nourhabib12 (TikTok)