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#congo

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How a US mission to push a Trump deal in Congo unravelled

reuters.com/world/europe/how-u

DAKAR, July 11 (Reuters) - An Israeli-American businessman, a former State Department official and a decorated Green Beret pitched up in the Democratic Republic of Congo in March with a message for President Felix Tshisekedi from the Trump administration.

Two days later, they fled the country in fear of arrest.

Continued thread

At the same time, negotiations were intensifying over a deal in which the #US would secure greater access to #Congo #minerals in return for help defending the country from #Rwanda backed #insurgents rampaging across its eastern provinces.

To get the ball rolling, Kahana met w/ #State Dept ofcls in DC in March. The ofcls thought it worth empowering a team led by Kahana to discuss US *diplomatic* goals & the release of the 3 Americans w/ #Tshisekedi, the businessman & the State Dept said.

Continued thread

…"We thought they had enough sway to talk to the right people. Obviously, that proved incorrect," Dustin Stewart, #Trump's deputy special envoy for hostage affairs, who was involved in the initiative, told Reuters.

#Congo has become a focus of #US diplomatic efforts to end the decades-long conflict in the east & help American companies access critical #minerals, making the country ripe territory for endeavours [pillaging] such as this mission.

Continued thread

Reuters pieced together the course of events by speaking to the 3 Americans on the trip, a #State Dept ofcl involved in the initiative, & 2 people the trio met during their brief stay in #Congo's capital Kinshasa.

The story of the ill-fated venture, which has not previously been reported, provides a glimpse of how the #Trump admin…works through *unconventional* channels in pursuit of *deals* to bring Americans home….

Continued thread

An Israeli-American businessman, a former State Department official & a decorated Green Beret [walked into a bar…wait, wrong lede] pitched up in the Democratic Republic of #Congo in March with a message for President Felix #Tshisekedi from the #Trump admin.

Two days later, they fled the country in fear of arrest.

#US / Thomas Friedman: self-serving meets redundant

There are so many silly things in Thomas Friedman’s column it’s difficult to choose a highlight. Maybe one indication he’s delusional in an old-fashioned colonial way would be this particular advice he dispenses to the #Trump administration, right after suggesting gifting Israel with even more bombs, now adding B-2s: “Recognize Palestinian right to self-determination while requiring them to develop credible, corruption-free leadership.” Thomas Friedman, clearly a genius, is asking the most corrupt regime in U.S. history to demand corruption-free leadership from the Palestinians.

Disregarding the colonial arrogance (the Palestinians’ right to self-determination is not dependent on Trump’s goodwill), but what about looking in the mirror first? When Friedman indulges in ideas like “coercive diplomacy,” he basically admits he’s an imperialist, or rather an imperialist wannabe. It’s a euphemism for imperialism, not a philosophy and not diplomacy. It’s the opposite of diplomacy, in fact. He says the U.S. has the right to dictate terms to sovereign nations, that American interests should drive regional solutions, and that military threats are legitimate diplomatic tools when used by the dominant power.

But the cherry on top is this:

[…] “But the Israeli Jews have no Belgium. They are as indigenous to their biblical homeland as the Palestinians, no matter what ‘anticolonial’ nonsense they teach at elite universities. Therefore, you will never out-crazy the Israeli Jews. If push comes to shove, they will out-crazy you.”

Never mind Friedman’s evangelical orientalism mixed with a familiar populist tone—I believe he was always an opportunistic coward—but maybe someone should remind him that Romania (where his grandfather was born) was never part of Palestine. Most of the Russian Jews who started exploring colonization in Palestine in the second half of the 19th century barely survived the first year, and most ran back home. So much for indigeneity, I guess.

But honestly, when I see him gushing over ideas Dennis Ross came up with, I’m thinking maybe it’s time the White House should hire fewer Jewish “special advisers,” negotiators, and envoys to the Middle East and add a couple of Palestinians to the mix? It’s becoming absurd.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Actually, I’m not sure why he’s using #Belgium and the #Congo as his reference point. Why not stick with #Britain? After all, they eventually left Palestine too. They also refused to implement the partition plan—or any plan, for that matter—that wasn’t acceptable to both communities: the Arab majority and the Jewish minority, which consisted mostly of non-indigenous people who had arrived in Palestine illegally.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

nytimes.com/2025/06/16/opinion or archive.is/mS8Wv

@histodons
@palestine
@israel
#Palestine #Israel

The New York Times · Opinion | The Smart Way for Trump to End the Israel-Iran WarBy Thomas L. Friedman

Le rapprochement entre le RN et les Émirats arabes unis se concrétise

#JordanBardella projette de se rendre prochainement aux Émirats arabes unis, et un déplacement en République démocratique du #Congo est envisagé. Ces voyages sont organisés par l’eurodéputé #RN Thierry Mariani, officiellement pour offrir une stature internationale au président du parti.

Par Youmni Kezzouf, Marine Turchi › mediapart.fr/journal/france/28

Replied in thread

Months ago, a Congolese rebel group called M23 seized Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now they’ve got it, what are they doing with it? @thecontinent reports on how M23 is struggling to control the city of two million people, and how residents are suffering. In the words of one resident, Prisca Kanyere, living in the city is like a subscription that is “renewable every 24 hours” because “to sleep and wake up alive is a very exceptional grace in these times.”

continent.substack.com/p/seizi

The Continent · Seizing is easy, ruling is harderBy The Continent
Continued thread

"These are all white farmers that are being buried," said #Trump, holding up a print-out of an article accompanied by the picture during a contentious meeting w/South African President Cyril #Ramaphosa.
In fact, the video published by Reuters on Feb 3 & subsequently verified by the new agency's #FactCheck team, showed #humanitarian workers lifting body bags in #Congo’s city of #Goma. The image was pulled from Reuters footage shot following deadly battles w/ #Rwanda-backed #M23 rebels.
#TrumpLies

#Trump's image of dead 'white farmers' came from Reuters footage in #Congo, NOT #SouthAfrica

Trump showed a screenshot of a Reuters video taken in the #DemocraticRepublicOfCongo as part of what he falsely presented on Wednesday as evidence of mass killings of white South Africans.

#FactCheck #TrumpLies #WhiteSupremacy #FarRight #ConspiracyTheories #geopolitics
reuters.com/world/africa/trump

Continued thread

#Trump has halted virtually all #refugee admissions for people fleeing #famine & #war from places like #Sudan & the Democratic Republic of #Congo. But he has created an expedited path into the country for #Afrikaners, a #white ethnic minority that created & led the brutal #apartheid regime in #SouthAfrica.

The refugee process often takes years. But only 3 months have passed from the time Trump signed an EO establishing refugee status for Afrikaners….