I'll post new info as I hear them in the comments

  • glimmer_twin [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Why would the French want to roll the sitting government now? Have they been particularly adversarial?

        • Alaskaball [comrade/them]
          hexagon
          MA
          ·
          3 years ago

          Burkina Faso has rich deposits of gold, zinc, copper, manganese as well as iron, nickel, limestone, dolomite and phosphates.

            • Llituro [he/him, they/them]
              ·
              3 years ago

              It's easy to forget because of the opulence, but European countries are pretty poor in resources and have been for a while. Industrial capitalism squeezed out most of what was left. This is why the poor countries (Europe, US, Canada, other than oil) refuse to let the rich countries (Africa, South America) gain any power for themselves.

    • NaturalsNotInIt [any]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Two contradictory possibilities:

      1. The US is offering this as an olive branch to get France on board with the NATO/Ukraine bullshit. Horse trading game because France is acting independent. US helps out their empire, France falls in line with the grander Atlanticist vision.

      2. France did this as a message and dick-waving towards the US/UK. I.e. :france-cool: "has its own neo-empire and sphere of influence to play with that we can manage on our own, we don't need to be tied down by the sinking-ship that is NATO"

      IMO 2 is far more likely. Macron wants to show strength and independence with the election coming up. All of his big opponents are anti-NATO/anti-USA to some extent (from Mélenchon to Zemmour), so he has to go that path.