Green Beret | PhD Student @Yale | America’s Cold War in Africa | RT/Like ≠ Endorsement
Joined October 2012
- Tweets806
- Following1.4K
- Followers3K
- Likes5.4K
Pinned Tweet
Kennan’s realistic approach to Washington’s Africa strategy
Revisiting George Kennan’s writings offers an alternative lens for understanding Washington’s contemporary approach to great-power competition in Africa.
My latest with @EngelsbergIdeas.
engelsbergideas.com/essays/k…
Amidst the ongoing annual debate in the U.N. General Assembly regarding the U.S. embargo on Cuba, worth revisiting this interesting cable from Carter's Deputy National Security Advisor regarding the centrality of African affairs in the bilateral relationship.
Fascinating piece on African urbanization from @adam_tooze.
adamtooze.substack.com/p/cha…
Worth pairing with @JDevermont’s refreshingly honest post mortem on his proposed urbanization initiative during the Biden administration.
poststrategy.substack.com/p/…
Sam Wilkins retweeted
Now that "Nixonmaxxing" is back in the news, perhaps this is a good time to share some of my research on what the 37th President thought about U.S.-Africa policy.
Thanks to the White House taping system, we know quite a bit...
(Thread🧵)
“What you’re seeing now with Nixonmaxxing is a real-time rethinking of Richard Nixon.”
@jimbyron_ @foxnewsnight
9/ The Nixon administration's official policy towards southern Africa, NSSM-39, reflected these perspectives. It asserted that "the whites are here to stay and the only way constructive change can come about is through them."
history.state.gov/historical…
10/ These views were hardly confined to one political party, however.
As I wrote for @EngelsbergIdeas , towering figures of the Democratic establishment, such as former Secretary of State Dean Acheson and George Kennan, author of the containment doctrine, also advocated for warmer relations with southern Africa’s notorious white-minority regimes.
engelsbergideas.com/essays/k…
8/ Similar views held sway at the NSC. According to Roger Morris, who covered African affairs at the NSC during this period, then-Colonel Alexander Haig “would quietly pretend to beat drums on the table as African affairs were brought up at NSC staff meetings.”
4/ In another utterance, Nixon told Kissinger to “leave the n*****s to Bill” Rogers, then serving as Nixon’s Secretary of State, "and we'll take care of the rest of the world."
issforum.org/FRUS/PDF/FRUS7.…
6/ Nixon told his Ambassador to the United Nations that "the Africans just can't run things. Now that's a very fundamental point in the international scene."
nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NS…
7/ Nixon's own Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs later wrote that the President was “largely indifferent to Africa.”
In one memorable exchange with Patrick Buchanon, then an influential Special Assistant to President Nixon, Buchanon demurred the Assistant Secretary's request for a presidential speech on Africa policy with a flippant “why should he? We only got 8 percent of the black vote.”
Now that "Nixonmaxxing" is back in the news, perhaps this is a good time to share some of my research on what the 37th President thought about U.S.-Africa policy.
Thanks to the White House taping system, we know quite a bit...
(Thread🧵)
“What you’re seeing now with Nixonmaxxing is a real-time rethinking of Richard Nixon.”
@jimbyron_ @foxnewsnight
2/ In one recording, Nixon laughs while then-Governor Ronald Reagan notes “…to see those monkey from those African countries [Nixon laughs], damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes.”
prde.upress.virginia.edu/con…
3/ After meeting a group of African leaders, Nixon told Kissinger, "you see, Henry - you see these poor, child-like Africans. God almighty, you think what the world, you know? We did our best."
history.state.gov/historical…
Sam Wilkins retweeted
China’s exports are flooding Africa’s biggest markets, putting local industries under pressure as South Africa, Nigeria and Morocco face a defining test in building competitive industries or becoming dumping grounds for Chinese goods.
buff.ly/qtjHqwY
Sam Wilkins retweeted
Fascinating and very necessary report by @peer_schouten on how the war in Eastern #DRC also is about regional trade control-with excellent graphs, such as the two below, showing how Eastern DRC has become an economic lifeline for its neighbouring countries diis.dk/en/research/congos-r…
Interesting piece on “How Africa rebuts online lies to protect democracy.”
csmonitor.com/Editorials/the…
A special moment as we gathered friends, family, teammates, and mentors to celebrate my promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. It takes a village and I would not be here without their love and support.
DOL
