New US strategy in Africa: serious program or another bluff?

On October 12, just a couple of months before the loudly announced US-Africa summit, the White House released a rather lengthy document, “The US Strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa”. It defines Washington’s main objectives on the African continent, and details the goals it intends to pursue and the mechanisms of cooperation.

New US strategy in Africa: serious program or another bluff?

Policies Matter: Volkswagen, Mercedes, & Hyundai React To Inflation Reduction Act

Policies Matter: Volkswagen, Mercedes, & Hyundai React To Inflation Reduction Act

In June, Johan DeNysschen, the COO of Volkswagen of America, told Bloomberg his company is considering the construction of a battery manufacturing facility in North America. That would satisfy the requirement in the Inflation Reduction Act that batteries are manufactured in the US or other countries that are approved trading partners. According to the current North American free trade agreement, American trade officials consider anything made in Canada or Mexico to be domestically produced.

But manufacturing is one thing, The IRA goes further and requires the materials used to manufacture products also be sourced from approved trading partners. Canada is certainly one of them.

Then the roof fell in. The IRA only applies to vehicles built in the US, and that Georgia factory was not scheduled to be up and running until 2025. Two weeks ago, Hyundai and Kia vehicles imported from South Korea were eligible for the federal EV tax credit of up to $7,500. After the IRA was signed into law, they are eligible for nothing. The South Korean government is considering bringing the matter to the World Trade Council, but according to Reuters, Hyundai will now speed up construction of its new Georgia factory.

In the final analysis, that may be a good thing for America. Globalization left many countries like the US vulnerable to the machinations of crooks, thieves, and lunatics. The cheapest solution is often not the best solution.

Interesting that South Korea isn’t an “approved trading partner”. Then again, they’re not part of the USMCA. I suppose this is good for bringing some jobs to America.

How Canada Created the R2P Doctrine, with Myanmar as its Next Potential Victim

By Daniel Xie – September 2, 2022

On September 21, 2021, Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), a government-in-exile formed by supporters of former state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi declared a “people’s defensive war” against the Tatmadaw (another name for the armed forces of Myanmar). Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), was overthrown by the Tatmadaw in February 2021. On a video broadcast on Facebook, NUG acting president Duwa Lashi La declared a “public revolution” against military “terrorists”. This declaration of open war comes after months of sporadic armed resistance by various anti-government civilian militias and ethnic militias.

How Canada Created the R2P Doctrine, with Myanmar as its Next Potential Victim

How Russia and the U.S. See Africa’s Place in the World

Ivan Loshkaryov

Since the early days of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the diplomacy of the Сollective West has been striving to isolate Moscow, punishing it for resolving the conflict in Donbass. However, one cannot talk about isolation without accounting for the position of developing countries: Alongside the golden billion, there are another 7 billion people living in the world. It is then only natural that the eyes of Western strategists and diplomats have turned to states and regional organizations reluctant to join the anti-Russian rhetoric, seeing no point in imposing economic and political restrictions against Moscow.

How Russia and the U.S. See Africa’s Place in the World

BUT WHY?! Kenya Has Zero Cases But U.S Pharmaceutical Firm To Start Vaccine Trial + WHO Issues Monkeypox Advisory to Kenya

Video via Wongel Zelalem

Tonix will test its monkeypox vaccine in Kenya next year, and no eyes on accelerated path at FDA

The study of Tonix Pharmaceuticals’ live virus vaccine will occur at Kenya Medical Research Institute, or KEMRI, in the East African country, the partners said Thursday. While Kenya has no reported cases of the virus that leads to painful lesions, the country is close to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which had 163 cases as of July 27, according to a CDC tracker.

Tonix has been working on monkeypox and smallpox for close to a decade, Lederman said. The company’s vaccine, dubbed TNX-801, is traced back to a research collaboration with the Department of Cell Biology at the University of Alberta.

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