International Man: Since 2020, coups have replaced pro-Western governments in Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, and now Niger with governments more aligned with Russia.

What is your take on what is going on here?

Doug Casey: Every country in Africa is an artificial construct. They're just random agglomerations of tribes. Their borders were created in the boardrooms of Europe with absolutely no respect for who lived there.

Every country on the continent has dozens of different tribes and clans flowing across its borders; most are at odds with each other. The idea that democracy has any meaning at all in Africa is ridiculous. It's a fraud.

All of these governments have constant coups. And if they have an election, it's usually one man, one vote, one time. If the leadership ever changes, it's usually because of a coup.

In Africa, much more than in the West, the purpose of government is for the leader to steal as much money and garner as much power as possible for himself and his cronies. It has absolutely nothing to do with improving the state of the country.