Canada is effectively part of the US economy, but US sees Canada as a competitor, because Canada is a highly skilled economy.
US is focused on moving supply chains away from China. One reason why they took trade talks with Mexico more seriously than trade talks with Canada.
Britain isn't going to offer the US what Vietnam and Mexico can potentially offer it (low cost manufacturing away from China), so trade talks with Washington will happen, but they aren't excited about them - contrary to what many Brexiteers think.
I don't believe in a "new cold war", but if another "cold war" will be fought, it will be over trade, not ideology.
China understands this perfectly, that's why that trade deal with EU happened.
US just figured this out a few years ago.
As for Nigeria taking advantage of this - well, just one visit to Apapa Port should tell you we aren't led by serious people.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
I remember when Abdulkareem Adisa (he was works minister then), visited Nnewi. He was at a particular street which wasn't tarred - and these were his remarks;
"Look at all their big big houses, they are waiting for Adisa to do their roads".
This happened more than 20 years ago, and it revealed to me that even those in positions in authority in Nigeria fundamentally misunderstand the concept of a "social contract".
The more you do cover for government's incompetence, the less responsible government becomes.
People say we should "build a community, independent of the state" - but they forget that doing that, just leads to even more irresponsible public servants.
Imo State people contributed money to build an airport, did that result in a more responsive government? No.
The European Union doesn't have a unified foreign policy, and it cannot project power like the US, because it does not have a unified military;
But it is a regulatory superpower. EU is a $15.6 trillion GDP market, to sell anything, you have to pay attention to their regulations.
Britain is now out of that market, but it will have to abide by EU regulations. EU will not adopt British regulations, the power asymmetry is stark.
France, on the other hand, is in a pretty good position. It is the EU's major military power & 2nd largest economy.
To understand how powerful EU's regulatory power is; a farmer in Iowa, may not particularly like the idea of not using certain pesticides on his crops - but he has to, if he's to stand a chance of selling them to a $15.6 trillion market.
I've been following elections in the Central African Republic on @AlJazeera.
This got me thinking about "democracy in Africa". Some believe democracy is regressing, others believe it is on the rise. I think the answer is a bit complex.
I think Africans are getting tired of the ritual of holding "elections" every four years - especially as "elections" neither guarantee economic growth, internal security nor provision of public goods.
I mean, Somalia conducts "elections", but how relevant are these "elections"?
At the same time, it is impossible to ignore a yearning for more civil liberties and improvement in governance. This goes beyond "elections" - and is what drove movements like #EndSARS in Nigeria & movements in Angola, Algeria, Sudan, Uganda etc.
The thing about American Evangelicals is that there are focused on a single foreign policy issue - Israel.
Once a US president gives them what they want on Israel, they aren't going to be that bothered about other issues like persecution of Christians etc.
It is nonsensical to imply that a president like Trump, who cut down refugee admission numbers 86% from 2016 to 2020 had any real interest in "promoting religious freedom".
It was all talk, with no substance to back it.
Naïve Nigerian Christians were elated when Trump commented on the plight of Nigerian Christians to Buhari.
But what was Buhari in Washington to do? Sign a $500 m arms contract - in contravention of Leahy laws. So the Trump Administration had no real interest in their plight.
Some say "microchips are embedded in the vaccine". I'm just wondering whether a vaccine (that has to be stored at -75 degrees Celsius) is the best medium for delivering a "microchip" - and what size of "microchip" are we talking about here?
You'll have to also believe that the pharmaceutical industry has retooled factories to deliver microchips with vaccines.
If you are going to make such claims, you really need to provide the evidence.
You can't just tell me, "the Holy Spirit revealed this to me". Well, the Bible tells us to test all spirits. Maybe, it was something else, not the "Holy Spirit" that "revealed" that to you.
Nigeria has always been a complex society, but when the British came here, they focused on simplifying a complex society for administrative convenience
Since they didn't want to deal with complexity of 100s of ethnic groups, they built a regional structure around 3 ethnic groups
One thing we need to understand is that Britain's focus has never been about "understanding" its relationship with Nigeria - but "simplifying its relationship" with Nigeria.
This equally applies to British colonial policy and foreign policy.
In 1957, the Willink Commission produced its report on minorities - but it was a fig leaf. The British never cared about ethnic minorities during the long years of colonial rule. The commission was to "fulfil all righteousness" that they did something.