The first I heard of Ibrahim Traoré, the 36 year old president of Burkino Faso, was his refusal to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration. I’m sure the cost involved was a factor, if he’s done only a fraction of what he’s credited with doing for his country he’s made some powerful enemies and wouldn’t ask his people to pay for personal security. He’s increased the salaries of civil servants while reducing those of ministers, and manages on the salary of a captain in the army. I can only summarise what I’ve learned here, but there’s a lot of material on YouTube if you want more detail.

Traoré came to a power as interim president following a military coup in 2022 and has said he was willing to step down and hold elections, but the Berkinabe people are satisfied with what he’s done so far and would probably elect him anyway. That’s not what “western democracies”, they want a “democratically elected” leader who knows his place and does as he’s told.

That’s not Ibrahim Traoré! One of his first acts was to kick the neocolonial French army out of Burkino Faso, declaring that with superior weapons to what the French were providing the Burkinabe could provide their own security against insurgents.

He ruled that Burkino’s Faso’s natural resources must be processed in the country instead of being exported as raw materials and imported, at inflated prices, as a finished product. This ranges from tomatoes to gold!

Burkino Faso has developed an electric car that’s cheaper than a Tesla, is more efficient in their climate, and can be recharged using solar energy. They have the materials to do it themselves, and Elon Musk can go begging!

Hardest of all to believe is that he’s managed to pay of the national debt so Burkino Faso is no longer subject to blackmail by the IDF and World Bank. He’s determined to make his country self sufficient, he’s setting an example for other African nations and former colonial powers hate him for it! I can only think of one legendary hero with whom to compare him – Hiawatha, who united the various tribes of the Iriquois Confederation.

Another thing that give me hope is the revelation that Emperor Trump has no clothes and the richest man in the world is not immune from bankruptcy. Stocks in both Tesla and X are declining in value and billionaires don’t hold much cash, they finance their daily outlays by borrowing on their assets. Musk is a junky, he’s addicted to money and can’t get enough of it, but he wants power more and he thinks Trump can give it to him. He’ll soon find he’s mistaken, Trump is just as egotistical he is!

I believe that Trump has overextended himself and has started the Decline And Fall Of The US Empire. There’s no way that Canada will be bullied by his threat of tariffs, the USA are dependent on Canadian oil, gas and essential metals that Canada can find a market for elsewhere.

He’s threatened to pull out of NATO and making a peace agreement with Russia. I’ld be in favour of that but the USA is not renowned for honouring treaties and Trump has his eyes on Gaza as a nice piece of real estate. Who was it who said that Libya would be a nice place once the bodies were cleared away 🤔

I’ve seen that 23 countries, including Cuba, have joined BRICS. They’re rejecting the $US as the currency for international trade. This is what the USA is afraid of, they can’t compete economically so they fall back on their military power. There’s no power on earth that can threaten the USA militarily – they spend as much on ‘defence’ as the next 10 countries combined, most of which are NATO allies!

Trump is talking at cross purposes about NATO, as far as I can see he wants to pull out while asking us to contribute more of our GDP. He’s telling us it’s up to us to defend ourselves against Russian aggression, but he’s not offering to remove US forces, including nuclear missiles, from European soil!

He’s got his eyes on some prime real estate but he’s drawing to a busted flush. Only Netenyahu would support him, they both need to stay in office and out of jail!

There’s an old saying: “Those whom the gods intend to kill they first send insane!” I don’t know what the gods have in store for Donald J Trump and Elon Musk but I hope they’ll be merciful to the rest of us.

I wouldn’t have believed a month ago that I was experiencing the Decline And Fall Of The US Empire but I feel more optimistic and think it might fall more rapidly than previous empires, and we can find heroes in unexpected places 😀✊