When you hear the words "bulldoze the Soviet Union in three days and send troops to contain China", will everyone think that the five permanent members are going to fight? Do you think that the United States is going to make a moth again?
In fact, otherwise, you may not believe it, and the country that says this is just a "small projectile country" - Gambia.
Then why did Gambia dare to "punch" the USSR and "kick" China? This starts with the country's first president, Javara.
【Literate "veterinary president"】
Daouda Kailabha Jawara was the first President of the Republic of The Gambia, but this President was no exception.
Unlike other countries that elect presidents based on political ability, Javara was elected president of the Gambia purely because he was literate.
The location of this place of Gambia is very awkward, it borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the remaining three sides of the east, south and north are surrounded by another country, Senegal, the whole is in a long strip, from the map, like a sharp sword "inserted" into Senegal's belly.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Gambia encountered successive invasions by Portugal, Britain and France, especially Britain and France, and repeatedly carried out operations in the Gambia.
The signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1783 (not the Treaty of Versailles after World War I) gave the banks of the Gambia to Britain and Senegal to France, and Britain and France benefited, which spared the weak Gambia.
In this place in the Gambia, land is not landed, food is not food, resources are not resources, in short, one word: poor.
The Gambia is classified by the United Nations as one of the least developed countries in the world, and due to its geographical and climatic influences, the Gambia can only make a living from agriculture and fishing.
The country's agriculture is still extremely single, can only grow peanuts, encounter natural disasters and man-made disasters, and have to rely on food aid from other countries to survive, and the economy naturally cannot be raised.
Most people in The Gambia do not have the money to get an education, and some even have a high degree of primary school, so the country has a natural admiration for some literate people.
Jawara successfully ascended to the presidency by relying on his "high education" and special profession.
Jawara was born into a wealthy businessman, so he was sent to school from an early age, because of the good family conditions, Jawala himself worked hard, so he was successfully admitted to university, majoring in veterinary medicine.
After graduating from university, Jawala returned to The Gambia to become the Gambia's first veterinarian, looking for him if there was anything wrong with his livestock.
In the Gambian country, poultry is the "half of the sky" of a family, so the public's favorability for Jawara as a veterinarian is directly full.
Perhaps trying to improve, Jawara later went to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to study veterinary medicine, and finally successfully obtained a doctorate, and after returning to China, he became the first veterinary officer in The Gambia, and he became even more popular.
As can be seen from the profession chosen by Jawara, he was basically not interested in politics, but why did he run for president later?
That's because he met too many politicians from other countries during his studies, which made Jawara gradually yearn for politics.
In 1959, Jawara founded the "People's Party of Protected Areas", later renamed the "People's Progress Party", and Jawara became the general secretary of the party, which is also regarded as Jawara's official entry into politics, laying the foundation for him to later become president.
[Jawara: Three days to bulldoze the Soviet Union]
At that time, the Gambia was still a British colonial power, but the British allowed the Gambia to have a "semi-autonomous government", and the chief minister was elected through the House of Representatives.
Jawara wanted to compete for the position, and with his extensive social network, good mass base and highly educated "trump card", Jawara managed to get a majority of votes.
I thought I could sit in the position of chief minister as I wished, but I didn't expect that Britain stepped in and appointed another minister as a minister.
Jawara immediately said that I would quit and would take the People's Progressive Party to withdraw from the "semi-autonomous government", and the British had no choice but to re-elect, and in 1962, Jawara successfully served as the chief minister of the "semi-autonomous government".
Under Jawara, the Gambia achieved "full government self-government" in 1963, with Jawara as prime minister.
In 1965, the Gambia jumped on the "international trend" and declared independence. Five years later, the Gambia became the Republic of the Gambia by becoming independent from the Commonwealth.
After the establishment of the Republic, Jawara was elected the first President of the Republic of The Gambia.
Because the Gambia was colonized for a long time, when it first became independent, the country's economic situation was not good, and the people had problems eating, so the Gambia also needed assistance from other countries, but because of this assistance, Jawara also made a big joke.
In 1985, there were some problems with the aid agreement between the Soviet Union and the Gambia, and Jawara released a wild statement that he would capture the entire territory of the Soviet Union within 3 days.
Don't say, the USSR was really able to endure.
At that time, the Soviet Union did not pay attention to him at all, the thin camel was bigger than the horse, and even if the Soviet Union was not good, it was not enough to put the Gambia in its eyes.
From the coup d'état in the Gambia in 1981, it can be seen that the Gambia's military strength is compared with that of the Soviet Union, which is simply using chopsticks to pry a tree.
On July 30, 1981, Gambian reactionaries staged a coup d'état in the country while Jawara was on his way to England to attend the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
At that time, the Gambia did not even have a regular army, only 1,200 policemen, of which 400 defected, and if it were not for the troops of neighboring Senegal to suppress it, I am afraid that the Gambia would have had to change the regime.
Although the coup was not successful, it also caused cracks in the originally stable political situation.
Although Jawara has tried his best to carry out political and economic reforms, little has been achieved, and in the end, the economic crisis has led to a political crisis.
On 22 July 1994, Yahya Jammeh, led an army dissatisfied with the government's arrears of salaries, invaded the capital, Banjul, and Javara was forced to flee abroad until 2002 as a political patriarch of the country.
But at that time, he was already an "idle king", and the real ruler became Jammeh.
[Jammeh: Send troops to contain China]
Jammeh is no better politically than Jawara, but in some places, the two presidents are quite similar.
First of all, both of them are doctors, but the types are different, one treats animals and the other treats people.
In 2007, Yahya Jammeh claimed that he had a mysterious power to cure AIDS and asthma.
He had a long queue outside the parliament building in Banjul, and the person who came to see the patient must be recommended by a doctor, otherwise he would not be treated, which also attracted the attention of the World Health Organization.
The World Health Organization severely criticized him, and AIDS experts criticized Jammeh for being irresponsible and nonsense, but Jammeh himself continued to "see the people" as if he were fine.
According to witnesses, Jammeh would put his hands under the patient's head when he treated him, then read the Quran and apply unknown drugs to the patients, which Jammeh said would be cured within three days.
Of course, it was later confirmed that this method was indeed a ghost, not only not beneficial to the human body, but also harmful to health, and many patients later asked Jammeh for financial and moral compensation.
What's even more shocking is that after Jammeh's aunt died, he decided that his aunt was cursed to death by witches, so he hunted witches nationwide, and some older people even if they were not witches, had to pour medicine to make them admit that they were witches, which was ridiculous.
The second thing Jammeh and Jawara have in common is that they are both equally frivolous and ignorant, Jawara threatens to fight the Soviet Union, and Jammeh follows with the wild statement that he will send 1,000 people to contain China.
In 2007, when Jammeh visited the United States, he said in talks with then-President George W. Bush that if the United States needed help, then he would send troops to help, and even said that without too many people, 1,000 Marines could completely contain China.
The remarks quickly spread throughout the world, and China only condemned it in a pretentious manner, and did not pursue it further.
In 2011, Jammeh visited the United States again, this time the US president was Barack Obama, Jammeh this time not only to contain China again, but also to cooperate with the United States to eliminate the Afghan Taliban, the appetite is quite large.
Jammeh also believes that the U.S. military's operational concept is outdated and needs to learn the latest Gambia's combat model, and if the U.S. wants, it can send officers to the Gambia, and Jammeh can help with training, which Obama "agrees."
And Jammeh said that he wanted to attack China, but he still "cut and messed up" with China.
In 1974, the Gambia established diplomatic relations with China, and China has always been very friendly to the outside world, so it has provided selfless assistance to the Gambia, built stadiums, and helped some people get rich first.
By 2013, the Gambia broke off diplomatic relations with China, during which time the relationship between the Gambia and China was volatile, and ordinary people could not think of what the Gambia would do next.
【True "small country of projectiles"】
A Gambian tribal leader praised Jammeh for bringing hope to the Gambia and that only by enshrined him as king could the people's gratitude be expressed to him.
Why these words spread is naturally self-evident, Jammeh is not satisfied when he becomes president, and intends to become king.
A professor named Sene, who specializes in the political situation in The Gambia, pointed out that Jammeh has dressed himself as a "doctor", "elder" and "wise man", and it is not surprising that he now wants to be king.
In fact, Jammeh is already the "king" of the Gambia, because he monopolizes the Gambia's media, opposition, pastor and other professions that can be heard, and he also controls the treasury.
Jammeh was elected President of The Gambia in 1996 and won the following elections in 2001, 2006 and 2011.
The most important reason why Jammeh has been able to win so many consecutive presidents is that he has cleared all threatening opponents in advance, so he can stand out during the election.
And with so many elections, the most interesting is the "marble" election in 2006.
This is the Gambia's unique presidential election method, because the overall level of education in the Gambia is not high, and the people are mostly illiterate, so the novel "voice count" is adopted.
The rule goes like this, voters use glass balls as balls, and the three presidential candidates have three colored drum heads, each with a tube on it.
Whoever the voter supports, stand in front of the drum of the corresponding color, put the glass bead down from the tube, the glass bead will make a sound when it hits the drum head, the teller will know that the vote has been cast, if the marble is stuck, then the vote is invalidated.
Such a unique election method is probably only available to the Gambia in the world.
But Jammeh's political career came to an abrupt end in 2016, when he ran for the fifth presidential election.
Jameh never expected that a Barrow would emerge at the time of the election, and he was elected president of the Gambia with 45.54% of the vote, probably not ready to retire, so Jammeh refused to recognize the voting results and asked for a new general election.
Of course, Barrow did not admit this, he felt that since he was the will of the people, Jammeh should hand over power, and Senagal and other countries even sent troops to Gambia to ask Jammeh to abide by the constitution and abdicate and hand over power.
The matter remained stalemated until January 21, 2017, when Jammeh announced his abdication in the early hours of the morning, but he asked his family to move abroad, and the Gambian government agreed.
On the evening of January 21, 2017, Jammeh, his family and close associates, flew out of The Gambia for Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea.
After two absurd presidents, the Gambia finally ushered in a normal president.
Barrow has vigorously developed its economy since taking office, and in 2016 the Gambia also re-established diplomatic relations with China, and in 2021, Barrow was re-elected president of the Gambia, and also hopes that the Gambia can get better and better under Barrow's leadership.
【Conclusion】
The two presidents of the Gambia who have passed their lips and have not been hit by the Soviet Union and China seem to be lucky, but they are actually very sad.
Because the Soviet Union and China did not regard the Gambia as an opponent at that time, and even the United States, which has always been arrogant, only laughed it off when it heard the Gambia's provocation, which shows that the Gambia is basically no threat in the face of major powers.
If you want others to be able to look at it, you must first make yourself strong, China has also been bullied by the world because of its weak national strength, but China has stood up, China uses its own strength to make the whole world look up, we can have an attitude that does not let others be afraid, but we cannot do without the strength to make others afraid.
The truth is always within the range of the cannon, and if Jawara and Jammeh could understand this, they might not be able to say the ironic words.