America's Long Retreat from The Sahel

How Disgrace & Humiliation in Niger indicate a growingly Moribund Empire

Nigeriens gather to protest against the U.S. military presence in Agadez, Niger on April 21, 2024.

Reuters. SOURCE: https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-plans-withdraw-troops-niger/story?id=109568976

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In my Global Armed Conflict Series at the end of last year, I analyzed the situation in Niger (& the broader Sahel), where French & American weaknesses were beginning to take a toll on their sundry outposts in West Africa (& beyond): 

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Here are the relevant observations made back then regarding the Sahel:

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“A new Security Architecture in the form of the Alliance of Sahel States (i.e. ASS) was recently formed, to provide a novel Collective Security framework for said trio.

With future plans for Confederation now put on the table & being openly discussed by the young Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso (& friends); the uphill battle has begun:

ECOWAS; a de-facto pro-Western consortium of vassals, will seek to impede aforementioned integration as much as possible. Expect also the popping up of various “Jihadist” (translation: CIA-funded crazies) factions to further stir the pot.

Traore & friends, using the vehicle of ASS need to keep their wits about them & be increasingly resourceful & cunning: Western influence in the region has no doubt suffered a mortal blow; however it will take much effort still to expel it in its entirety.”

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With the ASS rapidly turning to Russia & China for assistance in the realms of military & technology, the American presence in The Sahel has become a significant hurdle to further regional integration in West Africa (& beyond).

American meddling in the Sahel goes all the way back to 2013. That year, as part of Operation Juniper Shield, American forces & aircraft were granted permission by Niger authorities to assist the French in their Sahel misadventures. 

France, the critical European meddler in the Sahel, called it quits at the end of 2023, leaving behind U.S. Forces in limbo. 

Initially expected to operate in purely non-combat & supportive capacities, American troops have since long ago eschewed all that:

The Americans today engage in a vast slew of nefarious activities, from aiding & abetting sundry Jihadist outfits (on the one hand) to economic coercion & meddling on the other. The Sahel today has become thus a 'mini-lab' for terrorism.

If anything, the so-called 'Global War on Terror' (henceforth GWOT) & its lasting legacy for Niger & friends is one of the Americans’ fostering strife, anarchy & widespread pandemonium in the region, aided & abetted by their sundry EU satrapies.

That long, disgraceful chapter for the Empire is now coming to a climax as U.S. forces are negotiating a full-scale withdrawal from Niger. This shameful retreat will mean the death of American meddling in the Sahel going forward.

But it means much more than just that. West Africa's Sahel is a treasure trove of vital strategic resources, which America & its network of EU satrapies have long relied upon to subsidize their so-called 'First World' living standards:

Any undermining of the Colonial pipeline means the rapid unravelling of not just the Empire of Lies but the wider Western world & its increasingly service-heavy, industry-lite 'economies' that run on fiat money & related fiction. 

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Nigeriens participate in a demonstration in the capital, Niamey, on April 13 to demand the withdrawal of U.S. military personnel. (Mahamadou Hamidou/Reuters)

SOURCE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/19/us-troops-niger/

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The Americans have tried their best to keep mercenaries, intelligence assets & other vestiges of their Evil Empire in the West African nation using a wide variety of legalistic excuses. That era, however, is rapidly coming to an end.

It has been well over a decade now, & the Evil Empire's fortunes have waned to the point where its sundry weaknesses are apparent for all to see. Even its most ardent supporters are gradually beginning to point out the obvious: 

America has been outmaneuvered by its adversaries in the Sahel (& beyond). Russian mercenaries & Chinese investments in the region are one thing, but so too are organic Resistance movements, often maligned as 'terrorists.' 

This outmaneuvering is not just courtesy of the Empire's Nemeses growing in strength but also because the America of today is a shadow of its former self, no longer able to do what Imperial Hegemons writ large, are supposed to be doing:

Namely, securing their vital interests at home & abroad. The Evil Empire, whose 'American Century' was courtesy of its exceptional Sea Power & Naval prowess, can no longer secure the sundry trade routes from all its foes. 

Given its location in the New World, buffeted on both sides by Oceans & far away 'from the action,' this effectively means that the Americans can no longer guarantee the safety of their own forces, let alone promise to safeguard others. 

In the aftermath of Operation Barkhane, which saw the French fail to secure the Sahel, the Americans lost what little remained of a 'Continental Force' that could feasibly protect its imperial organs in the region. At that point, the future was all set:

The Empire was on a clock, & once the French left for good (which they now have), it was only a matter of time before the Americans were also kicked out by the locals. We have now reached that point, & it is unfolding as expected.

America, already overstretched to the limit, is trying to put together a last-ditch, last-minute withdrawal package, which is disgracing & humiliating the Empire's prestige & standing, as its weaknesses are made transparent for all to see:

Today's Empire of Lies is not what it once was in the late 1990s or early 2000s. No morale, endorsement, or energy is left for another intervention or whatnot in lands several thousands of miles away.

The American people are increasingly poor, destitute, hungry & angry. They will not sign up for another 'Forever War' overseas that will predictably have no end in sight, & will cost blood, treasure & material that is increasingly scant.

But more importantly, the American Empire can no longer rely on basic sealift & airlift to carry out operations overseas. Should Niger & the broader Sahel strike using multiple 'mosquito bite' attacks, American forces are all but DOOM-ed:

Nobody will come to save them, and most of these Imperial troopers will perish alone, forgotten and scorned. Given an increasingly Moribund America, such is their fate.

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Niger Armed Forces members clear a corridor during a training exercise with the 409th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron air advisors at Nigerien Air Base 201 in Agadez, Niger, July 10, 2019. Image: US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Devin Boyer

SOURCE: https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/11/30/niger-wants-to-double-army/

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What are we to make of America's hasty exit from the Sahel?

In a certain sense, this is a 'Long Retreat,' one that has been foreshadowed by Western armies' past failures of 'Counterinsurgency' in this region (and beyond):

French failures in the region meant that eventually, the Americans would have to likewise leave, albeit for many, the timetable was challenging to intuit, given how the Evil Empire has sought to mask its growing weaknesses abroad. 

But there is another sense in which we can understand all this:

& this involves placing this disgrace & humiliation in the broader context, one that factors in already extant trendlines for American Decline & Fall, which have been with us these past few decades or so, especially in the wake of the GWOT's failures.

The Truth is that America was never going to 'win' the GWOT. There was no Strategic Objective (at least, none that was serious & practical enough to be implemented), & there was no 'off-ramp' to stop the inevitable outcome of such a farce:

Namely, multiplying America's enemies (at home & abroad) to unsustainable amounts.

The problem, of course, is that Military matters have been Democratized to the point where most Sub-state actors have access to WMDs of various strengths, with some now more than willing, ready & able to deploy Suitcase Nukes.

America today is far less safe than it was when the Twin Towers went down that fateful morning of September 11, over 20 years ago. Today's America will be overwhelmed far more rapidly, & will fare far worse against its adversaries.

The Empire's Nemeses are more numerous, cunning, well-equipped & trained. But more importantly, they have the added Boon of a weakened America fighting multiple Civilizational foes simultaneously. Total Defeat is all but inevitable soon.

The DOOM cometh...!

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