COLUMNS

Russia–Africa Relations and What It’s Not

Daily Dispatch March 18, 2026

By Umarou SanouAfrica has moved beyond the era of formal colonial domination. The struggles that defined the continent’s mid-20th-century liberation movements, anti-colonial resistance, and the ideological tug-of-war between the United States and the Soviet Union belong to a different

COLUMNS

Interrogating the Russian Model in Africa

Daily Dispatch February 21, 2026

By Oumarou Sanou In recent years, Russian influence in Africa has expanded at a striking pace and with strategic precision. From Bamako to Bangui, Niamey to Ouagadougou, Moscow has presented itself as a dependable alternative partner; one that claims no colonial guilt, imposes no lectures on governance, and attaches no democratic conditionalities to cooperation. In […]

FEATURES

Uranium, Sovereignty and the Sahel’s New Chains

Daily Dispatch January 26, 2026

By Oumarou Sanou Sovereignty is not declared. It is exercised. And in today’s Niger, the uranium convoy rumbling toward Russia tells a story far removed from the revolutionary rhetoric echoing through Niamey. The now-infamous “Madmax Uranium Express,” carrying 1,000 tons of Nigerien uranium to Russia, has been presented as proof of emancipation from Western domination.

COLUMNS

Putin As the President’s Medicine

Daily Dispatch August 22, 2025

By Azu Ishiekwene European leaders often portray Russian President Vladimir Putin as a tyrant, a land grabber, and a Russian bear. And following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine War three years ago, the deadliest in Europe since World War II, Putin has gone from being a bad guy in Western European eyes to being something […]