The US and Israel will simulate striking Iranian nuclear facilities as part of a series of joint military exercises that will be held in the coming months, The Times of Israel reported Wednesday, citing Israeli TV.
Back in January, the US and Israel conducted the Juniper Oak exercises, which were the largest-ever joint drills between the two nations. The Israeli military said Juniper Oak was just the first of a series of drills that the US and Israel will hold this year.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported one of the upcoming drills would simulate Israel facing a multi-front missile attack that will involve the US deployment of Patriot missile systems. Another drill will rehearse a joint US-Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The plan to simulate attacks on Iran has not been publicly confirmed by the US or Israel, but the two nations have previously rehearsed bombing Iran, including during drills that were held over the Mediterranean Sea in November 2022.
While nuclear facilities would be the target in the simulated drills, there’s no sign Iran is looking to build a nuclear weapon, which was affirmed by a recent US intelligence report.
Often missing from the conversation about Iran’s civilian nuclear program is the fact that Israel has a secret nuclear weapons program and an arsenal of nukes that the US does not acknowledge exists.
The report comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran in the Persian Gulf. The US seizure of a tanker carrying Iranian oil in April provoked two Iranian tanker seizures, and the US responded by beefing up its military presence in the region.
Hurricane Idalia Aftermath: Saltwater Exposure Causes ‘Thermal Runaway’ In Flooded Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles flooded by a storm surge produced by Hurricane Idalia have spontaneously ignited in the Big Bend area. This underscores a lesser-known safety concern for the thousands of Americans who recently purchased EVs and reside in coastal regions vulnerable to flooding.
In the aftermath of the storm, fire officials in Pinellas County, west of Tampa, reported at least two incidents of EVs combusting after lithium-ion batteries were exposed to the saltwater.
“If you own a hybrid or electric vehicle that has come into contact with saltwater due to recent flooding within the last 24 hours, it is crucial to relocate the vehicle from your garage without delay,” a Facebook post by Palm Harbor Fire Rescue reads.
“Saltwater exposure can trigger combustion in lithium-ion batteries. If possible, transfer your vehicle to higher ground,” the post continued.
It also said, “This includes golf carts and electric scooters. Don’t drive these through water. PHFR crews have seen numerous residents out in golf carts and children on scooters riding through water.”
Fire officials posted multiple images of a Tesla fire in Dunedin.
Video taken by James McLynas shows another burnt-out Tesla in Pinellas Park.
“Hurricane flooded Tesla Bursts into flames while being towed to the storage lot. Driver picked up the flood damaged Tesla from a storm damaged home and was towing it back when it burst into flames. Driver stopped on a street and quickly off loaded the burning car to save his truck. (that’s why there are burnt tow dollies under it). When the fire department arrived, they put it out, but it kept reigniting. After several attempts to put it out, they just let it burn out. This was all that was left,” McLynas wrote in his post on YouTube.
The issue with EV battery packs is that saltwater corrodes wiring and battery components, often leading to shorts or exposed wiring. And then thermal runaway ignites the battery — very few fire departments nationwide are trained in lithium fires.
This problem isn’t limited to Tesla EVs. Last year, Hurricane Ian struck Southwest Florida, causing inland flooding that led to dozens of EV fires (read: here & here).
What’s ironic is that government and climate doomsayers say decarbonizing the transportation sector with EVs will save the planet from imminent destruction (remember Greta said the world would end in 2023), but these unproven vehicles are only sparking more headaches.
In July 2023, 61% of U.S. consumers lived paycheck to paycheck, unchanged from June 2023, but 2 percentage points higher than July 2022.
The number struggling to meet bill payments remains at 21% since June 2023, which represents an increase of 2 percentage points from a year ago but is consistent with the 2021 and 2020 data.
More consumers of all income brackets reported living paycheck to paycheck in July 2023 than last year. The data indicates the persistent financial challenges and inflationary pressures a significant portion of the U.S. population faces.
16 million U.S. consumers claim that nonessential spending is the primary reason they are trapped in the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle.
Twenty-one percent of paycheck-to-paycheck consumers cite nonessential spending as one reason — but not the top reason — for their financial lifestyle.
Nonessential Spending
A notable 29% of Gen Z consumers living paycheck to paycheck cite nonessential spending as one of the factors contributing to their financial distress, with 15% citing it as the top factor, marking them the most affected demographic. In contrast, only 12% of baby boomers and seniors in similar financial situations attribute nonessential spending as a factor for their struggles. The likelihood of citing nonessential spending as a reason for living paycheck to paycheck decreases with age, making younger consumers more vulnerable to its adverse effects. The study also finds that male consumers are slightly more likely than female consumers to attribute their financial strain to nonessential spending.
Shoppers who say they engage in indulgent spending are also more likely to say they made payments related to credit cards, personal loans and buy now, pay later plans in the 30 days prior to the survey. Overall, credit product usage is 11 percentage points higher for consumers who cite indulgent spending than those who do not cite such spending. Higher credit usage among indulgent spenders suggests that credit usage on nonessential categories, such as clothing or travel, is more common than on essentials, such as groceries or household supplies.
April CNBC Report Shows 58 Percent Live Paycheck to Paycheck
Just 13% of Americans say they are confident in America’s banking system according to a new poll from CNBC and Momentive fielded in the weeks after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
Seven in 10 people say they are stressed about their personal finances, and about half say their overall financial stress has increased since before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
More than half of Americans (58%) describe themselves as living paycheck to paycheck, including a third of people with household incomes in the six figures.
On top of all this, most Americans do not have an emergency fund to help buffer them in times of financial stress; among those who do, 40% say that have less than $10,000 saved for a time of need.
Personal Consumption Expenditures
The above chart shows nominal numbers. Inflation-adjusted, spending rose 0.6 percent in July and 0.4 percent in June as the lead chart shows.
Consumers Go on a Spending Spree in July, but Income Doesn’t Match
Consumers has gone on a huge spending spree in the last two months.
In response, a reader commented “I think the consumer is much more robust than most of these comments suggest. Especially millennials. Their incomes are way up, they’re spending & they’re savings are up. All is well.“
What a hoot
By the way, if 61 percent live paycheck to paycheck but only 21 percent struggle, the rest are one unexpected expense or loss of income away from somewhere between struggling and outright disaster.
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‘Burning Man = Total Disaster’: 73,000 Attendees “Hunker Down” As Desert Party Transforms Into Muddy Hellhole
Heavy rains in the Black Rock Desert, where Burning Man is being held, have forced organizers to ban 73,000 attendees from leaving because “widespread muddy conditions created treacherous driving conditions,” according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Burning Man posted on X that all attendees must “hunker down” and stay at campsites because a slow-moving rainstorm has transformed the desert playground into a muddy hellhole.
Check on your campmates and neighbors to make sure they’re ok, and help them as needed. Take advantage of a moment of calm to connect with campmates and hunker down. Stay safe!
Organizers told attendees to “conserve food & water, shelter in a warm space” amid the rainstorm.
The gate&airport in and out of Black Rock City remain closed. Ingress&Egress are halted until further notice. No driving is permitted on playa with the exception of emergency vehicles. If you are in BRC,conserve food&water,shelter in a warm space. More updates to come. Stay safe!
As of Saturday morning, gates to enter or leave Burning Man and the local airport remain closed. Even the tech cent-millionaires and billionaires that flew in on private jets to the party in the desert have no way of escaping.
❣️The Gate and airport in and out of Black Rock City remain closed. Ingress and egress are halted for the time being, including Burner Express Air and Bus. No driving is permitted on playa except for emergency vehicles. If you are in BRC, please shelter in place and stay safe.
But-but-but what about the ‘climate crisis’ of the world boiling?
“Burning Man must be so fucking dry and hot all the time”
There are 3” of fucking slippery mud outside and another inch of rain coming. We haven’t left our tent all day, except to bring a campmate a shovel. pic.twitter.com/wjZrKrdgNb
Burning Man 2023 = total disaster. Watching my Facebook feed of my 45 year old pals who went into the desert with a summer-time tent made for a 2 night stay in a mountain campground are now sad as they sit in alkaline mud in Nevada. Like what did you expect?
“While the Black Rock Desert rarely gets this much rain at once, the last time it did, Burning Man organizers were forced to shut the gate for several days,” Reno Gazette-Journa said. The National Weather Service said skies might not clear until Sunday night or even Monday.
With attendees told to conserve food and shelter in place, the road closures mean cleaning and servicing of the thousands of portable toilets used by attendees has been suspended.
The event ends Monday, and some drew comparisons to the 2017 ill-fated party in the Bahamas called “Fyre Festival.”
On Thursday, a federal district court in Florida concluded that voters lack standing to challenge Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on the Republican primary ballot. The plaintiffs had sought to advance the claim that Trump is ineligible to serve as President under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment due to his conduct on and around January 6. As I noted here, such claims face many obstacles, of which Article III standing is but one.
Here, Plaintiffs lack standing to challenge Defendant’s qualifications for seeking the Presidency, as the injuries alleged are not cognizable and not particular to them. Plaintiffs allege that they have standing because Plaintiff Caplan has actively participated in the last twelve Presidential elections, voted for both Republicans and Democrats, is a Florida resident and United States citizen, is an attorney and member of various courts, and has never been sanctioned. DE 1 at 2. Plaintiffs further allege that Plaintiff Butin is a Florida resident and United States citizen and Plaintiff Strianese is a Nevada resident and United States citizen. Id. Plaintiffs allege they will suffer injury if Defendant is allowed to run for President and prevail when he could be disqualified or removed from office. Id. at 2-3. However, an individual citizen does not have standing to challenge whether another individual is qualified to hold public office. See, e.g., Kerchner, 612 F.3d at 207; Berg v. Obama, 586 F.3d 234, 239 (3d Cir. 2009).
In Berg, the plaintiff, an attorney representing himself, filed a complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief in district court before the 2008 Presidential election, alleging that then-candidate Barack Obama was ineligible to run for President because he was not a “natural born citizen” within the meaning of Article II. Berg, 586 F.3d at 237. The district court observed that “[s]tanding has been a consistent barrier to lower courts hearing generalized, undifferentiated claims by voters and citizens,” and noted various cases in which citizens attempted to challenge a Presidential candidate’s eligibility for office or other governmental actions but lacked standing. . . . The court concluded that an alleged injury “stemming from a presidential candidate’s failure to satisfy the eligibility requirements of the Natural Born Citizen Clause is not concrete or particularized enough to constitute an injury in fact sufficient to satisfy Article III standing.” Berg, 574 F. Supp. 2d at 518.
The Third Circuit affirmed the district court’s rulings in Berg and reiterated that the plaintiff “suffered no injury particularized to him” and, therefore, lacked standing. Berg, 586 F.3d at 239. Courts throughout the United States have uniformly concluded that citizens do not have standing to bring lawsuits challenging a candidate’s eligibility for national office. See, e.g., Drake v. Obama, 664 F.3d 774, 778, 780-84 (9th Cir. 2011) (group of military personnel, state representatives, political candidates, and individual citizens did not have standing to challenge President Obama’s eligibility to hold office); Chapman v. Obama, 719 F. App’x 13 (D.C. Cir. 2018) (per curiam) (“The district court correctly concluded that appellant lacked standing to challenge President Barack Obama’s qualifications for holding office.”); . . .
Further, at least two courts have concluded that citizens attempting to disqualify individuals from participating in elections or from holding office based on the January 6, 2021 events at the United States Capitol lacked standing. See, e.g., Stencil v. Johnson, 605 F. Supp. 3d 1109 (E.D. Wis. 2022). In Stencil, the plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment that three members of Wisconsin’s Congressional delegation were ineligible to serve under the Fourteenth Amendment because their participation in the January 6 attack constituted an insurrection against the United States. Id. at 111213. Among other things, the court determined that the plaintiffs lacked standing and explained that “[e]very citizen and voter could claim to have suffered the same injury as the plaintiffs here, which amounts to nothing more than engaging in political advocacy against candidates for office or issue advocacy against the views the candidates hold. The relief that the plaintiffs seek would no more directly and tangibly benefit them than it would the public at large.” Id. at 1117. . . .
Plaintiffs in this case similarly lack standing and, thus, this Court lacks jurisdiction. Accordingly, the Court exercises its discretion under the Declaratory Judgment Act, along with its obligation to examine its own jurisdiction, to dismiss this case.
Major Overnight Sea Drone Attack On Crimean Bridge Foiled: Kremlin
The Kremlin has announced another attempted Ukrainian attack on the Crimean Bridge, which happened in the overnight and early hours of Saturday. The overnight incident is being described as “multiple attempted attacks” – but which were reportedly thwarted.
A defense ministry statement described, “On September 1, at about 11:15pm Moscow time, the Kiev regime attempted to launch a terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge using a semi-submersible unmanned boat.” It added that the attacking vessels were “promptly detected and destroyed” in the Black Sea.
Russian media indicated that the attack was significant enough to stop traffic for for a period of time, but within hours vehicles were allowed to pass again.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that the Black Sea Fleet had established permanent control of the situation in the Black Sea using all types of reconnaissance. The ministry said that this had allowed the naval air force on August 29-30 to foil an attempt by a Ukrainian special operations unit to land on the Crimean coast and carry out terrorist attacks.
Last month witnessed some of the most frequent attacks against the Crimean peninsula out of Ukraine since the war’s start. This has included mostly drone attacks, but also the above-mentioned special operations amphibious landing, which as we described previouslyseemed more of a PR stunt for propaganda purposes.
The vital Crimean bridge (or Kerch Strait Bridge) has been forcibly shut down on multiple occasions, and has suffered significant damage during two prior major attacks and direct hits.
At this point amid the last several months of Kiev’s stepped-up campaign to attack Russian territory, there have been multiple dozens (if not possibly hundreds) of strikes on Russia and the Crimean peninsula – including as deep into Russia as Moscow and parts of the northwest – as one newly published map presents…
Statements out of Ukraine officials have indicated this is an attempt to create instability and fear among common Russians themselves.
These cross-border attacks have become almost daily, particularly drone assaults, but really nothing has changed on the battlefield in terms of the failing counteroffensive.
The potential lifelong consequences that weight-loss drugs could have on adolescents and children have a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, exercise and behavioral scientists, pharmacists, and ethics researchers at the University of California–Irvine (UCI) sounding alarms.
The team’s pre-proof paper (pdf), published by the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, suggests that swapping traditional methods like diet and exercise to tackle childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes for GLP-1RA medications like Wegovy and Ozempic will likely lead to a host of unintended physical and emotional problems.
“Unlike in adults, children and adolescents need energy and sufficient calories not only for physical activity, but for growth and development,” Dr. Dan M. Cooper, associate director of the UCI Institute of Clinical and Translational Science and interim executive director of the UCI Institute for Precision Health, said in a news release.
While health experts applaud drug benefits like hunger suppression, low appetite, and slow gastric emptying in overweight, obese, or Type 2 diabetic adults, the paper’s authors argue these same benefits could backfire in younger groups.
Not getting enough calories can lead to nutritional deficiencies and put kids at risk of poor brain development, reduced learning ability, low immunity, increased infections, and—in some cases—death. Regular physical activity is necessary to improve cardiorespiratory fitness, build strong bones and muscles, control weight, reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and slash the risk of developing health conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer.
Additionally, researchers say other possible harms should not be overlooked. Easy accessibility and availability could create a perfect storm for the potential of abuse among kids involved in sports with weight or body-type expectations, such as wrestling, martial arts, gymnastics, and ballet, as well as those with eating disorders.
“With the increase in social media, young people are already exposed to a diet culture and body images which may not be attainable and, ultimately, unhealthy,” said Jan D. Hirsch, one of the coauthors and the dean of the UCI School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, in the news release.
Another concern is the potential infiltration of illicit, unregulated copycat drugs in this age group.
What Are GLU-1RAs?
GLP-1RA stands for glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist. They are typically administered by shot injections on a daily or weekly basis, depending on the type. Pill forms are currently being developed and tested by pharmaceutical companies but are unavailable.
These drugs mimic the action of a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 by regulating the rise in blood sugar levels after a person eats and stimulating the body to produce more insulin. The extra insulin helps lower blood sugar levels, which helps control Type 2 diabetes. GLP-1RAs appear to curb hunger and slow the process of food digestion, making a person feel fuller longer with less food.
Lack of Children-Focused Studies
The prospective’s authors insist the cost versus benefit as it relates to long-term use in youth requires more careful study. Between an estimated 75 and 175 articles have been published per year on weight-loss drugs concerning all ages for the past decade, but only a fraction focus on adolescents and children. The overall number of published studies in 2022 was 175. Fewer than five centered on children.
“The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of certain GLP-1RAs … have been studied in both adult and pediatric populations; however, children are not miniature adults,” the paper reads. Navigating these new waters will require scientists to study dosing, formulations, and the interaction between drugs and lifestyle to “optimize safety, efficacy, and value during growth and development.”
Possible Unintended Consequences
Some of the adverse effects of trading conventional weight-loss strategies for GLP-1RA interventions the authors mention include the following:
Long-term growth and development impacts: The balance of calorie intake and expenditure regulates growth hormones, and the drug may interfere with this balance during critical growth stages.
Abuse of medication: Adolescents with eating disorders or participating in sports where certain weights offer advantages may abuse the drugs to gain a competitive edge.
Unwarranted and unsupervised use: Inaccurate body-weight perceptions may drive adolescents to unnecessarily and secretly use medications.
Improper prescriptions: Pediatricians may prescribe weight-loss drugs for convenient and short-term gains, but the long-term effects on growth and development are largely unknown.
Warped cost–benefit analysis for long-term use: Patients may be compelled to be lifelong users; long-term use may be cost-prohibitive; and off-label use may not be covered by insurers.
Trump Was Right: Sweden Finally Cracks Down On Illegals With Mandatory Reporting
Sweden’s woke government clearly wants to keep their jobs.
After encouraging a hoard of migrants to flood the country, some of whom are rapey and violent, they’re now cracking down, and have introduced a mandatory requirement for public institutions to report illegals.
Of course, Sweden’s migrant problem could have been nipped in the bud six years ago if they’ only listened to Donald Trump – who called out Sweden for failing to address the problem.
“You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden,” Trump said at a rally in responseto a Fox News report covering a documentary exposing problems with violent immigrants.
“They’re having problems like they never thought possible,” Trump said (which the MSM claimed was in response to a non-existent terrorism incident).
Sweden, cocky as ever, replied on Twitter: “Hey Don, this is @Sweden speaking! It’s nice of you to care, really, but don’t fall for the hype. Facts: We’re OK!”
Fast forward six years and reports that more than 100,000 people are living in the country illegally…
…During a Thursday press conference, Swedish Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard announced that employees of public institutions will soon be required to notify the authorities when they encounter illegal immigrants, and may face punitive action for failure to comply.
“The proposal for mandatory reporting of illegals in the public sector can counteract the shadow society,” Stenergard told the press, adding that the move is “an important step in the paradigm shift that the current government is implementing in migration policy.”
Public offices that may be compelled to report illegal immigrants could include job centers, social welfare offices, and libraries, although some institutions may be exempt.
“Healthcare services may be exempted from the obligation to report illegal immigrants; it is not clear yet whether schools will also be exempted,” Stenergard said.
Those who are found not to comply with the reporting requirements could find themselves in trouble.
“We have rules today about misconduct, and it could be a civil procedure where fines are involved. But the investigator must look at what is reasonable and appropriate in terms of consequences,” said the minister.
She added the plans were necessary to crack down on the estimated 100,000 individuals currently living in Sweden without permission.
Those critical of the plan claim that such a move could dissuade individuals from seeking help from authorities and exacerbate the “shadow society” the minister seeks to eradicate.
In addition to the proposed reporting requirements, the center-right government, propped up by the right-wing Sweden Democrats, plans to extend the use of biometric screening, including the use of fingerprinting and facial recognition, to strengthen checks on people already living in the country.
“It may involve fingerprints and photographs being taken and stored in more cases and for a longer period of time,” explained Christian Carlsson, migration spokesperson for the co-governing Christian Democrats.
Random immigration checks, which are currently not permitted in the country, may also be introduced.
Additionally, expiry dates on expulsion orders, which currently last for four years, could be extended or abolished, and the government is also exploring the possibility of introducing re-entry bans into the country.
The plans are expected to go through a consultation process ahead of being formally presented in January, with a final report expected in September next year.
Before his removal in a military coup, Gabon’s hopelessly corrupt President Ali Bongo was courted by Obama and feted from Washington to Davos. The US war on Libya which destabilized the region may not have succeeded without him.
When a military junta arrested President Ali Bongo Ondimba on August 30, Gabon became the ninth African nation to depose its government through a military coup. As citizens of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali did before them, crowds of Gabonese poured into the streets to celebrate the removal of a Western-backed leader whose family flaunted its lavish lifestyle while more than a third of the country’s population languished in destitution.
“Irresponsible and unpredictable governance has led to a steady deterioration in social cohesion, threatening to drive the country into chaos,” a leader of Gabon’s junta, Col. Ulrich Manfoumbi, declared upon seizing power.
President Bongo’s arrest was met with indignant condemnations from Washington and Paris, which had propped him up as he pillaged his country’s vast oil wealth. His ouster represented a particularly sharp rebuke of former President Barack Obama, who groomed the Gabonese autocrat as one of his closest allies on the continent, and leaned on him for diplomatic support as he waged a war on Libya that unleashed terror and instability across the region.
So close was the bond between Obama and Bongo that Foreign Policy branded the Gabonese leader, “Obama’s Man in Africa.”
With Obama’s help, Bongo attempted to fashion himself as a reformist modernizer. He traveled repeatedly to Davos, Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum, where was appointed an “Agenda Contributor.” There, he pledged to accelerate the Fouth Industrial Revolution in Africa by implementing lucrative digital identification and payment systems among his country’s heavily impoverished population.
Bongo’s bio on the WEF website lists him as a “spokesperson for Africa on biodiversity” and “composer of musical pieces” whose interests include “history, football, classical music, jazz and bossa nova.” The self-styled renaissance man managed to hit it off with Obama, kibitz with Klaus Schwab, and press the flesh with Bill Gates. But at home, he found few friends among the struggling Gabonese masses.
A “global citizen” meets his fate at home
Ali Bongo rose to power as the son of the late Gabonese autocrat Omar Bongo Odinmba, who ruled the country from 1967 to his death. In 2004, a year after discussing a $9 million image-washing deal with disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Bongo secured a meeting with President George W. Bush. When he died five years later, he left behind a $500 million presidential palace, over a dozen luxurious homes from Paris to Beverly Hills, and a country overrun with inequality.
⚡️🇬🇦Hundreds sing and celebrate in apparent support of coup as they take to streets after Gabonese military ousts incumbent pro-French Prez Ali Bongo.
As of now, Rothschild-funded mining company has suspended operations in Gabon and internet services are reported to have been… pic.twitter.com/8EWzapbpuj
Following a brief stint as a disco artist, Bongo studied at France’s Sorbonne and prepared to lead his nation. When he was installed as president in 2009, he picked up where his father left off, pillaging public funds to pay for a Boeing 777 airliner and a fleet of luxury cars while signing hefty contracts with international PR firms. Bongo’s sister, Pascaline, blew over $50 million on jetset vacations and expensive homes, according to a lawsuit, while her family cultivated influence in Paris by siphoning funds stolen from the Bank of Central African States into the campaign coffers of former French Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac.
Yet nothing on the Bongo family’s lengthy and well-documented record of corruption seemed to bother President Barack Obama when he embarked on a regime change operation in Libya ironically justified as an exercise in “democracy promotion.” With Washington’s help, Gabon was rotated into the UN Security Council, where it functioned as a rubber stamp for US resolutions demanding sanctions and a No Fly Zone on Libya in February 2011.
Bongo’s cooperative spirit earned him a visit with Obama in Washington four months later. There, while staying at the president’s personal residence, he became the first African leader to call for Qaddafi to give up power.
“They could call any African leader with private cell numbers,” then US Ambassador to Gabon Eric Benjaminson remarked to Foreign Policy, referring to Bongo’s staff. “They knew Qaddafi and they knew his chief of staff very well, and we were trying to work through the Gabonese to get Qaddafi to step down without military action.”
The US-led regime change war on Libya swiftly transformed the previously stable, prosperous nation into a despotic hellscape ruled by Al Qaeda-affiliated and ISIS warlords. With virtually unlimited access to the former arms depots of the Libyan military, jihadist gangs began to rampage across the Sahel region. Covert assistance for their onslaught arrived from Qatar, the Gulf monarchy which partnered with France and the US to remove Qaddafi, enabling a jihadist coalition to establish a de facto Caliphate in northeastern Mali in 2012.
“The violence that has plagued once-stable Mali since late 2011 should have come as no surprise to Western governments, for it is a direct function of NATO’s Libyan intervention,” the Council on Foreign Relations noted.
Despite the growing French and US military presence – or perhaps because of it – jihadist attacks were multiplying across the region in 2014. That August, Obama rewarded Bongo with an invitation to attend his US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington. During the summit’s gala dinner, Obama emphasized Bongo’s pivotal role in his Africa strategy by sitting beside him as they were regaled by pop legend Lionel Richie.
Just a month after winning re-election in a dubious 2016 vote, Bongo was summoned back to the US, this time by the notoriously shady, NATO-sponsored Atlantic Council to receive a “Global Citizen Award” at the think tank’s black tie gala in New York City. But as questions persisted back home about the rigging of Gabon’s election, including a 95% vote reported in his favor on a near-100% turnout in one area, he was forced to cancel the trip.
“The Atlantic Council respects Gabonese President Bongo’s decision to forego receiving his Global Citizen Award this year due to the overriding priorities he has in his country,” the think tank announced in an absurdly canned statement published on its website.
Meanwhile, in the Malian capital of Bamako, a group of citizens calling themselves “Patriots of Mali” had begun gathering millions of signatures demanding the removal of all French diplomatic and military personnel from their country. They called on Russian troops to replace the French, urging them to drive out the Islamist bandits that had plagued their society since the Obama-led war on Libya.
The simmering anger of average Malians ignited a popular military coup in 2021, and set the stage for another one in the neighboring Burkina Faso the following year, where citizens were seen celebrating the junta with homemade Russian flags in hand.
When the putsches engulfed Gabon’s government this August 30, ending the reign of one of Washington’s favorite kleptocrats, Bongo recorded a video message from an unknown location, desperately appealing to “all the friends we have all over the world to tell them to make noise.”
By that point, however, it was unclear whether Obama was listening, or if there was much he could do to bail out his “man in Africa.”
