Journalist Rania Khalek joined the Geopolitical Economy Report podcast to talk about her reporting trip to Ethiopia and Eritrea.
In Ethiopia, armed insurgent group the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is waging war on the central government, apparently with Western support.
Its East African neighbor Eritrea is one of the world’s most sanctioned countries. Faced with this forced isolation, it has created a unique developmental model based on self-sufficiency.
We discuss the geopolitical importance of the Horn of Africa, and how the area has been affected by the US new cold war on China.
“Imperialism is all about dividing and conquering, and making sure everybody’s stuck in their own little places, because you can control them easier that way,” Khalek explained.
“That’s why the US is so supportive of the sort of ethnic-based system that the TPLF set up in Ethiopia, because it keeps people divided. That’s why the US is so supportive of sectarianism in the Middle East, because it keeps people divided. That’s why the US is so supportive of these right-wing movements that divide across Latin America, because it keeps people divided. And on and on.”
“So people really need to start thinking about things in that context,” she said. “Especially understanding the Horn of Africa in that context, because the Horn of Africa has often been neglected in our analysis, because Africa is just kind of neglected, but this region, especially as this cold war with China kicks off and becomes even more intense, is going to become a bigger” site of conflict.
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