Bulletins and News Discussion from July 31st to August 6th, 2023 - A West African Federation?

Image is of coup supporters in Niamey, waving the flag of Niger and Russia.

While the coup in Niger is an obvious reason for this megathread's subject, the inspiration to focus here rather than somewhere else in the world this week came from @solaranus@hexbear.net's comment here.

Anyway, as a quick introduction to Niger - the country won independence from the French in 1960 and has since been in an alternating cycle of military governments and more democratic arrangements. In 2010, a junta took over the country from the military junta already ruling it, and then successfully transitioned the country to democracy within a year. President Issoufou was elected and then re-elected in 2016. President Bazoum was democratically elected in 2021, and has just been overthrown last week. General Tchiani looks to be the new head of state.

Like many countries that were previously colonies, outright colonialism by its imperial country has been replaced by neocolonialism by that same country. France issues their currency, thus allowing France to do what the US does with its dollar around the world but in miniature. The country is incredibly poor, surviving on subsidence agriculture, with much of its exports being minerals like gold and uranium, which many children under the age of 14 are employed in extracting. Also like other previously French colonies, the new guys in charge appear to be flipping them the bird, with Burkina Faso and Mali relatively recently asking them to fuck off. It is unlikely to be a coincidence that this is happening as internal dissent inside France itself continues to boil. Given the Russian flags being waved and Putin's promises to supply free grain to some African countries (and though Niger isn't mentioned, Burkina Faso and Mali notably are), one imagines that Russia also might have a hand in things.

Burkina Faso's president, Traore, has been talking with Mali and Guinea, and now Niger - all ruled by military governments - and asking if they're interested in federation, with Mali showing some interest. Traore follows in the tradition of Thomas Sankara, and has appointed a Prime Minister who is similarly aligned. Traore has recently met with a Chinese representative and has firmly aligned himself with Russia, saying that Burkina Faso has "one and the same outlook" on building a new world order, saying:

"Russia made great sacrifices to liberate Europe and the world from Nazism during World War II. We have the same history,"
"We are the forgotten peoples of the world. And we are here now to talk about the future of our countries, about how things will be tomorrow in the world that we are seeking to build, and in which there will be no interference in our internal affairs,"
"However, a slave who does not fight [for his freedom] is not worthy of any indulgence. The heads of African states should not behave like puppets in the hands of the imperialists. We must ensure that our countries are self-sufficient, including as regards food supplies, and can meet all of the needs of our peoples. Glory and respect to our peoples; victory to our peoples! Homeland or death!"

Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.

This week's first update is here in the comments.

No update on Wednesday because I am still busy.

Friday's update is here in the comments.

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986 comments

The newest Chinese threat to the UK: they're going to sell us low-cost electric cars. But, being evil China, that's a security concern because they might turn the batteries off to create traffic jams or something.
- genuinely at this point, if there's a kinda weird talking point on TV or on the radio then assume that something is happening in a relevant corporation that few people are talking about
  like, here, there's a lot of debate about "should we ban the sale of petrol cars after 2030" and "are electric vehicles even better/less resource intensive?" and the debate is about like carbon emissions and freedom and shit, but that's just a smokescreen for fossil fuel companies and car companies fearing for their profits. we very regularly get laws that reduce our freedoms (laws against protesting and so on) and that rarely if ever gets the same level of debate along those lines in the MSM, particularly in the right-wing media because they threaten no profits and often increase them
  "should people have a human right to own homes?" = no construction service wants to make homes that are affordable as they aren't profitable enough
  "should we solve crime by increasing police resources?" = decreasing crime by providing a good standard of living to everybody isn't profitable enough so we must try other methods
  "what do we do about the immigrant crisis? there's too many people coming over!" = we need to pay the absolute lowest wages possible to keep our businesses as profitable as possible so we need immigrants but their poor conditions increases the chances that they need to resort to crime to survive so we're creating our own problems
  "should we give less foreign aid and keep more for ourselves?" the current amount of foreign aid is literally designed to make us think that we're being good people when in reality we extract orders of magnitude more money and resources from the very same countries we give aid to via exploitation, but even this tiny amount designed for propaganda is now too much for capitalists in a profitability crisis
  "should we boost military spending to fight Russia/China/Iran/whoever?" just military grifting, none of our weapons work as they should because, surprise surprise, if your only motive is profit then actual effectiveness is diminished to make it seem better to investors and other people who know nothing about the weapons those companies are building. "yeah this tank has a uh, turbomotor that can reach 6.3 gigajoules of speed per second and uh, a quantum field generator attached that can stop any projectile in its tracks, it only costs $500 million to build each one" "awesome I'll take a thousand, sure hope this doesn't become scrap metal leaching heavy elements into the soil of a developing country for the next century"
  and so on
  
  should we ban the sale of petrol cars after 2030
  this is like banning the sale of flip phones after 2015, the gas car market will be dead by then.
  forget the environmentalism, electric cars are better than gas cars now. the Tesla Model 3 goes over 500 km in a single charge. the Tesla Model S does a 0-60 mph in 2.07 seconds, fast enough to literally make your vision blur.
  the real killer feature has to be just how much cheaper electric cars are per distance traveled than gas cars. the 2023 Tesla Model 3 RWD costs $0.89 to drive 25 miles, while the 2023 Nissan Sentra costs $2.71 to drive 25 miles.
  even if you do not care about the planet, it's a no-brainer to drive electric now: electric cars are just as (if not more) capable than their gas counterparts while being so much cheaper per distance traveled
  
  I'm curious have you heard anything about battery longevity? like how much capacity is left after 10 years, 15 years
  
  Batteries
  The advanced batteries in electric vehicles are designed for extended life but will wear out eventually. Several manufacturers of electric vehicles are offering 8-year/100,000-mile battery warranties. Predictive modeling by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory indicates that today’s batteries may last 12 to 15 years in moderate climates (8 to 12 years in extreme climates).
  Check with your dealer for model-specific information about battery life and warranties. Although manufacturers have not published pricing for replacement batteries, some are offering extended warranty programs with monthly fees. If the batteries need to be replaced outside the warranty, it may be a significant expense. Battery prices are expected to decline as battery technologies improve and production volumes increase.
  https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity_benefits.html
  what i'm getting from this is that EV batteries are expected to drop to 70% or 80% capacity (70~80% capacity is the threshold at which it's recommended to replace EV batteries) after 12 to 15 years of use
  the tesla model 3 battery warranty lasts for 8 years or 120 000 miles, whichever comes first
  how much capacity is left after 10 years, 15 years
  real life examples seem to show that EV batteries degrade to 80% capacity after 10 years of use. there are no examples of EV batteries at 15 years because EVs weren't really a thing 15 years ago.
  
  For example, the handful of cars with 200,000+ miles were still getting 81 - 87% of their original range, equivalent to over 200 miles.
  https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/study-real-life-tesla-battery-deterioration
  
  If that is true then they'd better start rolling out the infrastructure quick, there aren't nearly enough plug-ins in all the little towns in the Mid-west, particularly if these things are going to be operating at-scale in the winter months, where their battery life is drained by sheer cold alone.
  My bet is that the re-sell market for gas cars is going to be huge lasting up at least until 2035, if not later. Just because they aren't making new ones doesn't mean that there won't be a demand for them.
  Trying to rationalize consumer demand with the outputs of industry is a faulty game. There is a huge demand and market for small trucks in the U.S. but there is no product that satisfies that need, so people just get crossovers, but because they buy crossovers, now the market assumes they want crossovers. It's a really stupid feedback loop, that is all about tweaking numbers towards profitability, not consumer demands.
- Ok so don’t buy a British EV because they must already have this back door
- Smartest guy in the UK

986 comments