In Focus

Time for Togo to enter the global scene

Written by Uyo Salifu Wednesday, 01 February 2012 13:41

To keen observers of the African continent, it may have become noticeable that Togo has risen to a certain level of renown among the circles of key world players. The small West-African nation, which was under the 38-year dictatorship of Gnassingbe Eyadema until his death in 2005, is rising to the foreign policy agenda of the United States, the development agenda of China and the aid agenda of the European Union.  Beyond this, Togo has become one of the states to join the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as a non-permanent member. All these indicate that it may be time for Togo to occupy more prominence on the global scene. American Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton’s visit to Togo on January the 16, 2012, is a recent illustration that Togo is mounting in significance.

Four nations were visited during Clinton’s continental visit. These were Liberia, Ivory Coast, Togo and Cape Verde. Her selection of Togo among the other three African nations was an important milestone, as the visit marked the first ever high-level U.S official delegation visit to the Republic. This set Togo apart from the other three nations Clinton visited during the tour, as it was not the first time a high-level US delegations had visited any of the other three countries. However, the US is only one of the key global players that has been improving its relations with Togo in recent times.

The expansion of AFRICOM in Africa under Obama: A Paradox?

Written by Anton M. Pillay Tuesday, 31 January 2012 20:33

In classic Orwellian juxtapose, Obama’s AFRICOM strategy appears to echo “War is Peace” and “Ignorance is Strength.” In his presidential campaign a few years ago, Obama personified change and hope which granted him a Nobel Peace Prize even before he had started working for world peace in earnest. Yet his message is constantly being undone.

Contrary to expectations, AFRICOM, a Europe-based military platform for advancing the US’ strategic interest in Africa, has secretly expanded its presence in Africa under the Obama presidency, notwithstanding spirited opposition from African countries opposed to militarization of African affairs.

In 2008, no African country would host US troops, yet 30 months after becoming an independent command, AFRICOM has used other surreptitious ways of marking its presence, principally through the consolidation of military-to-military relations with 51 African nations. Changes in government in Côte d’Ivoire and Libya have added two more countries to that column. US troops now have bases in Djibouti, Senegal and Uganda. A US military base in Botswana remains a rumour, yet military relations between the two countries have grown significantly.

Occupy Davos? Merging the world social and economic forums

Written by Francis Kornegay Thursday, 26 January 2012 17:43

As the World Economic Forum (WEF) of humanity’s transnational economic, political and business elite prepare to naval gaze with one another on the collapse of global capitalist optimism, the international system’s dysfunctions could not appear more glaring. Clearly we are in an interregnum of what, in what the late great evolutionist Stephen J. Gould, dubbed ‘punctuated equilibrium’ in which an old order of life suddenly crumbles after ages of seeming stasis before a new one takes its place. Or put another way in the world of international politics, the old world order of western dominance is in accelerated decline while the new world order has yet to take shape.

Over more than a space of a year, a confluence of economic and geopolitical forces accompanied by societal upheavals of a class and inter-generational nature, have unhinged the global order. This occurs at a time when incumbent structures such as the United Nations and the Bretton Woods system are ill-adapted to cope with multiple security and financial crises while newly emergent formations like the G-20 and BRICS have yet to find their footing in advancing global governance.