Well played, Mr Wagner

 

Hate to admit it, but...

It seems the recent military coup in Niger was a very smart move from the Russians. In Swedish media, it´s being reported that the people of this extremely poor African country actually support the coup due to anti-colonialist and anti-French feelings. The French embassy has been stormed, crowds with Russian flags show up at mass rallies, and so on. The Wagner Group may already be moving in to Niger from Mali.

Why is this a master move from Putin´s side? Well, I suppose it´s possible that he was simply lucky - after all, there are always conflicts in Africa! Still...

France has the largest nuclear power industry in the world, with a substantial part of its electricity coming from nuclear power. And their nuclear power plants are dependent on uranium from...you guessed it...Niger. Could the coup be a way to put pressure on France to drop out of the Ukrainian war? 

Note also that another huge producer of uranium is Kazakhstan, probably a Russian ally. Yet another is Russia itself...

We´re not sanctioning the Russians. They are sanctioning us. There is a pattern here: the Russians are hiking the world oil prices, they are bombing Ukrainian ports to stop grain exports (and hence hike food prices), and now a mysterious coup in a French neo-colony directed against uranium supplies.  

And if France intervenes in Niger, only a swift victory followed by BAU will do the trick. A protracted war in Niger between the French and the Nigerien military (and peuple) is probably the last thing the West needs right now!