TRUMP’S SEARCH FOR A WINNABLE WAR LANDS IN NIGERIA

TRUMP’S SEARCH FOR A WINNABLE WAR LANDS IN NIGERIA by Stephen Akanbi.

In a stunning move that has United States politicians scrambling for their atlases and world leaders checking their calendars to confirm that it is not April the 1st, President Donald J. Trump has issued a grave threat to our beloved sovereign nation of Nigeria, in his usual crude delivery style, he announced that he has instructed the pentagon to plan for a Military intervention in Nigeria to tackle Islamic militants who are committing “genocide” against Christians in Nigeria.

Facts, there are complex issues of historical internal violence between various groups in this great country, which Trump has brilliantly diagnosed and vowed to solve with his signature tools: overwhelming United States Military firepower and a complete disregard for international law.

This bold new foreign policy initiative codenamed “Operation: Christian Liberation” is the latest in a long list of foreign policy mishaps hailed as global Trumpian peace-making by his supporters, that began in his first term in office, with his 2019 threat to invade and annex Iceland over a trade dispute concerning frozen fish fillets.

He repeated the same threat in many press briefings early this year at the start of his second term in office. This was followed by his plan to “take back” Canada, which he described as “a US state,” and his solemn pledge to reacquire the Panama Canal, because, as he tweeted, “We built it and it has our name on it #MakeTheCanalOursAgain.”

He also threatened to land US military boots in Mexico to re-start the “War on Drugs” which was Ronald Reagan’s Project following the fall of the Soviet Union, back then when the US started looking for new enemies to keep their military and defence industry busy.

His leadership truly blossomed in Ukraine, where his masterful withholding of military aid (quid pro quo) in exchange for political dirt on Hunter Biden from the Ukrainians resulted in issues that eventually led to a full-scale invasion by Russia in 2022. A minor setback in his book of achievements.

Undaunted, the Trump foreign policy machine, powered by the cable-news and social media bravado of advisors like Pete Hegseth, set its sights on China (Mr Hegseth built his entire career in the media by railing against America’s perceived enemies, with China topping the list). Mr. Hegseth could be seen on Fox news nightly, chest puffed out, demanding a naval blockade and threatening war on China over Taiwan. The sabre-rattling reached a fever pitch when Pete Hegseth was made defence secretary during Trump 2.0 , until someone showed him a pie chart which showed that China actually manufactures the world’s electronics and control the supply of rare earth minerals critical for, making the F-35 jets and missiles that he was so eager to deploy.

The impressive display of Chinese defence at the recent military parade in Beijing may have also helped changed Mr. Hegseth’s mind regarding a United States war with China (a suicide mission) to “strategic patience” and “leveraging our economic partnership.” A true display of tactical retreat with tail between his legs.

Although it was not always mere threats, the administration has a record of decisive action.

The daring, unilateral bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, Donald Trump insisted it wiped out the entire Iranian Nuclear program, it turned out as confirmed by intelligence agencies that this “bold strike” only, set the Iranian program back by only six months, and helped to unite several nations against the United States for their disregard for international law and violation of Iranian Sovereignty, achieving absolutely nothing of lasting value except a spike in global oil prices and also exposed the hypocrisy of US foreign policy.

The bombing was a US face saving move to end the brief Iran Israeli war, which was turning in the favour of the Iranians, so the US had to step in to prevent an Israeli wipeout.

The first goal was regime change to plunge Iran into chaos like Syria and Libya, by launching several attacks against Iranian top government personnel, but a way to quickly end the war was now sort when the Iranians response became overwhelming for Isreal.

Hence the US bombing strike, and a hasty ceasefire deal that ended the Israeli and United States Iranian regime change project, a woe-full failure, thankfully so.

Then there was the “dazzling success” in Yemen, where backing a Saudi-led coalition with billions in weapons resulted in a strategic victory for the Houthis, who now control most of the country and have enough missiles to casually disrupt global shipping in the straits of Hormuz any time they want to.

And let’s not forget the relentless, suffocating harassment of Venezuela, a policy that has miraculously failed to topple the government while succeeding perfectly in impoverishing its people, there is now drums of war and impending invasion of Venezuela by the United States.

But these are all yesterday’s news. The main factor for military interventions is the United States Military-Industrial Complex, a beast that the United States must feed a constant diet of taxpayer dollars and global conflicts to keep its engine running, This beast has become very hungry recently, due to the pause in major global conflicts and the US is seeking to start new wars and conflicts around the globe to power it on. Its gaze, and therefore Trump’s, has fallen upon a new, ripe target: Our own Country Nigeria.

Why Nigeria? Nigeria ticks many boxes, strategically positioned in the African continent, resource rich, large population, fertile land, and a long Atlantic coastline to name a few. The US foreign policy playbook, authored by the CIA and bound in the leather of impunity, is a classic that never goes out of style. Successive US governments from both political groups democrats and republicans alike have tried and tested these formular every time.

It goes like this: First find a Region with Resources or Strategic Value. Arm a Plausibly Deniable Militia or Militias to disrupt regional peace/or Topple a Regime You Don’t Like. (See: 1953 Iran, 1954 Guatemala, 1973 Chile, 1979 Afghanistan arming the Mujahideen, who were the forebears of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda).

Then Watch as Chaos Ensues. Next Blame the Chaos on “Corruption and undemocratic leadership “, human rights abuse”, “Ancient Ethnic Hatreds”, “Religious strife” or “Failed State Status” Then the global police steps in, to the rescue, like the “phantom menace “script from the Star Wars movies. Create a problem, step back a bit and then come forward with a solution that helps you extract the region’s resources in exchange for weapons and military intervention.

The strife that ensues means more Profit for Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Palantir, Northrop Grumman and Halliburton.

And who better to execute this playbook than the man who has already read all the headlines, always ready to jump on the next polarising issue that feeds his right-wing supporters? And the key word here is “Christian”, it was “white when he invented the “genocide” in South Africa, for which he invited the South African President to the White House and proceeded to display the signature Trumpian ignorance and misinformation for the entire world to see.

The current insecurity in Nigeria, particularly in the Sahel region, is a direct blowback from this very CIA script. The 2011 NATO-led destruction of Libya, a pet project of Hillary Clinton’s State Department that Trump once criticised but whose violent fruits he now seems eager to harvest, flung open Gaddafi’s armouries.

Weapons and battle-hardened mercenaries flooded into the Sahel, supercharging existing conflicts and birthing new, more potent terrorist groups. The very instability Trump now decries is, in part, a “Made in the USA” product.

And in a twist so tragic it loops back to farce, a vocal segment of Nigerian citizens in social media, wearing the cloak of persecuted faith, is now waving digital American flags and hailing Trump as a divine crusader. This ignorant Nigerians deliberately ignore the fact that the insurgents in Nigeria have killed more Muslims than Christians. The prevalent violence and crime have not discriminated between either religion. They cheer for the very fire that has scorched every region it has touched, blind to the fact that the “cavalry” they so desperately welcome is the same force whose past actions helped unleash the chaos of the Sahel upon them. They mistake a cynical gambit from a man who once called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” for genuine Christian solidarity, not seeing that they are merely the latest convenient pretext in a long, game. They are applauding the arsonist, begging for a petrol to fight a fire, utterly ignorant that the resulting inferno knows no denomination and will consume the self righteous and the perceived sinner alike in its democratic flames.
So now, the master strategist proposes to solve a crisis born from reckless US and NATO Military intervention with an even more reckless intervention.

He will send the 82nd Airborne to the Jos Plateau to do what, exactly? Distinguish between a potato farmer and a bandit militant? Negotiate with a Kalashnikov wielding Fulani herdsmen kidnappers? He will have the Navy SEALs raid a terrorist camp, only to discover the CIA was funding it the week before as a “counterbalance” to a different militia they were also vaguely supporting.

It is the circle of life, Washington-style, US zero sum philosophy at its best. A perpetual motion machine of creating enemies and then fighting them, leaving a trail of devastation from CIA trained and funded drug cartels and militias who helped to destabilise Latin America to the mountains of Afghanistan where the Mujahdeen were armed against the Soviets, to the ruins of Iraq (2003, based on fabricated Weapons of Mass Destruction intelligence), to the failed state of Libya (2011) on the pretext of liberating Libyans from Colonel Gaddafi and now, potentially, to the cities and villages of our on Nigeria.

Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed “least racist person,” has now found his next project: saving Nigerian Christians from “genocide” by potentially destroying the whole country.

Never!!! God Forbid it, I ask trump to liberate the Americans his incompetent regime has been oppressing with idiotic racial policies since he took office.

This should be the turning point for us Nigerians, it should galvanize us torwards true patriotism, to urgently and genuinely commence the task of putting our house right.

_*Stephen Akanbi, an engineer based in the UK, submitted this piece as part of his ongoing efforts to rally support for Nigeria’s conscious reawakening and industrial revolution.

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AKANBI, ALBERT AFESO
(Writer, Filmmaker & Humanitarian)
Doppler Films Production