Nor was it confined to the most repressive of regimes and the most liberal, denying entry by any but the most extreme. The Arab Spring was not a singular phenomenon in Egypt sparked as Republicans may believe by Obama’s cheer leading. Unfortunately the professor spent more time promoting his forthcoming book than he did explaining his proposition, so let me try. That’s fascinating.Ī rather self-promoting piece in the Washington Post by a Vassar professor so contends. Out of the blue street demonstrations organized in Facebook exploded. So most people were yawning when about a year ago he routinely announced that he would once again stand for President for his sixth five-year term. (for Obama’s increased militarization of Africa), France (for fighting Mali extremists) and Nigeria (for fighting Boko Haram). These included the good guys and the bad guys in the Blood Diamond Wars, the U.S. His existence quite frankly was based almost entirely on his agreements (with virtually anyone who asked) to use his centrally land-locked country as a military base. He didn’t blink an eye the last two years when Mali devolved into chaos or when France arrived to put it back together.Ĭompaoré never had much to do or mismanage. He didn’t blink an eye when virtually all the countries to his southwest exploded into the horrible Blood Diamond wars of the nineties. No one much noticed because Burkina Faso, the old Upper Volta, is one of the world’s poorest and smallest countries, a land-locked withering land that lacks any natural resources.Ĭompaoré didn’t blink an eye when trouble started in Africa in 2011.
No one knows this better than the dictatorial leaders remaining in Africa who control the African Union (AU) which this time was instrumental in demanding that the Burkina coup leaders give up and go home.Ībout a year ago, the old Burkina dictator of 27 years, Blaise Compaoré, was forced to flee the country by nothing more than spontaneous street demonstrations. The crisis in little understood Burkina Faso is not over because apparently the Arab Spring that exploded in early 2011 is not over.