The title of today's post is not intended to be a serious question as much as it is "gallows humour", as they say.

Since the Russian invasion of the Ukraine in early 2022, it's been speculated that future historians may look back on that event as the beginning of WWIII. I have privately wondered (and meant to write it up in the last monthly letter, but it slipped off the radar), whether the cascading military coups throughout the CFA (Central African Franc) nations were the slow opening of a second front in what was becoming a global conflict.

As the ruling, CFA-aligned governments are being deposed, in Niger, Ghana, Central African Republic and Burkina Faso (eight coups in the past two years, so far), Russian military advisors are appearing on scene, coaching the generals. Meanwhile China is ready with infrastructure incentives and loans. That front isn't hot – yet – but it's – "War By Other Means", to quote the Robert Blackwell & Jennifer Harris book by that title…