Operation Gladio: this is the historical name for the program whereby the CIA, Sicilian Mafia, and the Vatican financed fascist stay-behind armies to destabilize post-World War II Italy. Gladio has become the unofficial name of an entire network of such covertly funded fascist paramilitaries across Europe at that time.

The key to the success of Operation Gladio was something termed “the strategy of tension”, where social, political, and economic contradictions of a certain society were exploited through false flag attacks and street violence. This caused people to lose faith in socialist governments and movements in countries where the stay-behind units operated. Gladio made use of the extensive NATO ratlines which facilitated the escape of Nazis and Italian fascists being prosecuted after the war’s end. Karl Marx once noted that history happens twice, so to speak “first as tragedy, then as farce”.

Today, the government of France is facing a crisis of legitimacy in the world system. On one front, the neoliberal policies of the Macron regime have increased the wealth of few and the immiseration of many. This has led to rounds of protests and a resurgence of both left- and right-wing alternatives. Macron is preventing the left-wing parties—who won the election—from choosing a prime minister for the country. Instead, Macron chose to appoint noted reactionary Michel Barnier as the new PM.

On the other hand, France has been given the boot from the areas now comprising the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger). Losing its foothold in Africa, and failing to get its ECOWAS vassal states to militarily intervene against the AES has led Paris towards Gladio-style covert operations. Just as Nazi paramilitaries like the “Werewolves” were used in the original Gladio, the French are hoping the Banderite clique in Kiev can give a return on investment.

Both Paris and Kiev fear Russian engagement with Africa because it signifies a few critical facts. Firstly, Russia is not isolated, nor economically destabilized. Sanctions on Russia have only expanded Moscow’s diplomatic and trade relations further in Africa and Asia. Secondly, the French government refuses to face the reality on the ground. According to Cameroonian journalist Xavier Messè A Tiati:

"A country that participated in the black slave trade, in colonization, established rules of domination over oppressed peoples... Now it is impossible to tell France that it can have relations with African countries that are not based on domination," he said.

 

"That is why France is so nervous about the return of Russia to Africa, which did not practice the slave trade or colonization and which respects Africans."

Thus, we have arrived at a point where special forces and ‘military trainers’ from Ukraine are supporting separatist and Al Qaeda-linked elements in the AES states to conduct attacks against civilians and military bases. This is all part of a plan to destabilize the AES and destroy the link between the government and the people which has propelled the AES to early successes against imperialism and the bandits in the employ of imperialist forces.

The Jamestown Foundation, the conservative American think tank, writes openly about this; perhaps feeling that they have less to lose than their liberal counterparts who have touted Ukraine as the last beacon of democracy since at least 2014. The Defense Ministry of Ukraine, the GUR, has openly admitted to supplying training, intelligence, weapons, and drone parts to the separatist rebels and their Al Qaeda allies.

The spokesman of the separatist forces has also admitted French and American assistance comes their way, “we have links with the Ukrainians…just as we have with everyone else, the French, Americans, and others”. What this boils down to is the Ukrainian state sponsoring terrorist attacks on the soil of a nation that has declared its sovereignty against the colonial diktat of the West. There can be no mistake that the French are seeking a return on investment after much of Western Europe dedicated huge portions of their industrial output towards arming the Zelensky clique.

It seems that Zelensky’s vision of Ukraine being another "Israel" is coming to fruition, now that they have stepped into the role of protecting accumulation on a world scale. For the imperialist West, the AES pursuing sovereign development in West Africa signals a decline in their power, and also cuts into a major source of uranium, gold, and oil. Insofar as the AES states have also enjoyed popular support, the imperialists see this as even more of a threat because their propaganda is losing potency. Thus, the next logical step for the West was to use Ukraine like they use "Israel" – to de-develop and destabilize regions from where legitimate threats to the imperialist world system arise, in this case, the Sahel.

Mali brought the evidence of Ukrainian interference and terror to the UN general assembly, to which they were met with silence. Soon after, Mali cut ties with Ukraine, and Niger followed soon after. Speaking at the UN, Nigerien Minister of Foreign Affairs Bakary Sangare condemned the West for their attempts to destabilize the AES, "Niger once again strongly condemns these hostile acts and rejects any forms of support for terrorism, particularly the active and open support provided by Ukraine to the terrorist coalition that carried out a cowardly raid".

The Nigerien minister argued that it is because the AES are taking control of their own subsoil and the mineral wealth with which they are endowed that they have become objects of scorn to the imperialists.

He continues, “these resources have become the object of desire for Western powers, which finance and arm terrorist groups with the aim of destabilizing our countries”.

It is truly the success of the Alliance of Sahel States which is a threat to the West, and why the imperialist powers are turning to their age-old ‘strategy of tension’ in order to destabilize and weaken the alliance. In 2022, Burkina Faso had lost 60% of its country to Al Qaeda affiliates, and now with the advancements made by the AES, controls 70% of its country. This was only after the Western troops (primarily French and American) were kicked out of these countries.

The AES retain the active support of their people, and are strongly seeking sovereignty over their political, economic, and social development. Just as the threat of post-WWII Italy assuming a communist character set off a whole system of subterfuge and terrorism sponsored by the imperialist powers, now the threat of sovereign African nations coming together and rejecting the imperialist diktat has revived the West’s strategy of tension in the Sahel.