Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill that allocates about $61 billion to Ukraine, more than Israel's aid, and $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific. In fact, this can also see the focus of the US strategy, the United States claims that it will not let Ukraine become a "second Afghanistan" and will continue to support Ukraine to contain Russia. The United States provoked the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, used proxy wars to contain Russia, and watched the fire from across the strait to harvest everywhere, but Russia was not defeated as they expected, but the economy is getting better and better, and it can only be said that the United States did not win or lose in this round of game. But looking beyond the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States has lost too much to Russia strategically.
For example, Russia, which has a place in the Middle East, has been difficult to weaken Russia's influence in the Middle East since its involvement in the Syrian war, and it has good relations with major countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. This round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict can also show that Russia has also become an important participant in Middle East affairs. And thousands of miles away in Africa, Russia is also doing a good job, and last year's coup in Niger found that Russia has become unstoppable.
According to a number of media reports, at the request of Niger, a "former ally", the United States agreed to withdraw more than 1,000 US military personnel stationed in Niger, which will subvert the US posture in West Africa and help expand Russia's influence. Last year, there was a military coup in the West African country of Niger, and the military regime demanded that France, the "former suzerain", withdraw its troops and "de-Frenchize" in various fields. France's ability to maintain a high welfare life is based on the exploitation of African countries, but in recent years, more and more African countries have demanded "de-Frenchization", and France has felt the crisis, so Macron still wants to pass a bill to postpone retirement despite mass protests. When Niger had just coup d'état, the then acting US Deputy Secretary of State Nuland immediately visited Niger and held talks with the leaders of the military government, and then French diplomats accused the United States of betraying France. The United States thought that it would be able to avoid being driven out by quickly establishing contact with the leaders of the junta, but the United States probably did not expect that it would be its turn to be driven out so soon. Some Americans understand that "the Russian-backed Nigerien junta agreed to release 1,000 US troops as hostages in exchange for Biden's agreement to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars of military bases to Niger and Russian troops, but the American media will not talk about this one shame".
Because after the expulsion of the American French army in Niger, a group of Russian military experts arrived in Niger to train these troops in the fight against terrorism. This brings us to Russia's Wagner Group, which has been working in Africa for a long time, often providing security guarantees to African governments in exchange for the exploitation of natural resources and expanding Russia's influence in Africa. Especially in this Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia has been regarded as a "leader of counter-hegemony" by many African countries, and this coup d'état in Niger, many people are holding Russian flags, and I have to say that Russia still dares to think and dare to do.
The United States has also been trying to increase its influence in Africa, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken going several times to no avail, and the United States and France repeatedly being hit hard. The United States has stationed troops in Niger and Chad in West Africa, and now it has withdrawn its troops from Niger, and Chad has also been exposed to the US military to issue an "expulsion order", and the confidence comes from Russia's military support and the support of economic cooperation in the East, and the imperialists have to flee with their tails between their legs.