AFRICAN STORIES: BLINKEN'S PLAN TO VISIT CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

Looks like the most incompetent American foreign policy official in US history would be visiting Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Africa to counter Moscow's influence because they have "strong militaries".

I will simply ignore the illogical statements, which seem to be implying that an African country can militarily challenge Moscow and go straight to the meat of the matter.

South Africa is a strong ally of Moscow not just because of BRICS, but because USSR invested money and resources in the struggle against the South African apartheid regime. There is NO WAY IN THE WORLD that South Africans will ditch Russia for USA, which covertly backed the apartheid regime guys under the pretext of fighting "Red Commies".

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is no position to do anything. We are talking of a country that controls only the Western half of its de jure territory. The Eastern half is in the hands of an assortment of batshit crazy rebel groups ranging from local Congolese rebels to exiled foreign rebels such as the Lords Resistance Army, which was kicked out of Uganda in 2006 and the genocidal Interhamwe Militia exiled from Rwanda since 1994 genocide.

DRC has no reasonable military force to speak of. My suspicion is that Blinken is going there to warn the Congolese not to hire Russian Mercenaries. Mali and Central Africa Republic had defied USA, EU and France pressure and hired the Russian Wagner guys. The Americans don't want the Congolese to emulate the behaviour of those two African nations.

Rwanda is one of the best run countries on the continent nowadays. Corruption is extremely low; the local police force is professional; there is a national healthcare system; and the cities and towns are very clean. Rwanda also has a powerful military force, which is helping Mozambique to crush Islamist rebels after the official army of Mozambique folded like a lawn chair under fire of its religious extremists. Having said that, Rwanda is a small country. It does punch way above its weight, but it is too small to influence affairs on the gigantic continent of Africa.

My suspicion is that Blinken may be going to Rwanda to try and broker a deal that will allow basket case, Democratic Republic of Congo, to receive Rwandan troops to fight rebels instead of Russian Mercenaries, which the Congolese government might prefer. (The Congolese don't like Rwandans and that is an understatement on my part. My prediction is that Blinken will use a mixture of persuasion and threats to make the Congolese swallow the idea of Rwandan troops deploying officially in their territory.)

Photo shows Blinken playing the electric guitar. He does have three singles on Spotify. I wish the African leaders he is visiting will advise him to stick to music and allow the real professionals to handle diplomacy