Samo Burja Profile picture
Feb 10 6 tweets 3 min read
Since 2020, West Africa has been swept by a sudden wave of coups, including successful ones in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.

What is going on? France has decided to pull back its military empire in Africa.

Read the new Brief (@bismarckanlys): brief.bismarckanalysis.com/p/how-french-p…

1/n
France has had an influential and informal empire in Africa since the end of colonialism, maintained through elite social ties and frequent military intervention.

Since 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron has wanted to “reset” or “refound” this status quo.

2/n
In 2020, Macron began reducing French troop deployments in Africa, where up to 5500 French troops have fought insurgents since 2013.

Without the prospect of future French backing, local military commanders decided to overthrow their civilian governments.

3/n
In the power vacuum left by France, coup leaders and some governments have turned to an unlikely new ally: Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries.

But a much greater power is also now gearing up to increase economic, military, and diplomatic ties to Africa: the United States.

4/n
To read the full analysis of African coups, you can subscribe to Bismarck Brief here: brief.bismarckanalysis.com/subscribe

We invite you to subscribe and join us on this ongoing exploration into the global power landscape.
For a close case study of France’s troubled African empire, subscribers can read our Brief on Vincent Bollore and Emmanuel Macron from April 2022: brief.bismarckanalysis.com/p/french-elite…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Samo Burja

Samo Burja Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @SamoBurja

Feb 2
One of our most important Briefs so far.

How does a family dynasty keep control of a powerful public institution in an ideological environment that is largely hostile to dynasties?

The Sulzberger family uses three tools.



Thread:

1/n
First: legally-binding agreements. The NYT Company is public, but has a dual-class stock structure.

Class A shares select 30% of the board of directors and are publicly traded.

Class B shares select 70% of the board. They, however, are 94% owned by a family trust.

2/n Image
The Ochs-Sulzberger Family Trust owns basically all Class B shares. It also can’t really sell them.

Per a 1986 agreement, any Class B shares sold outside the family would be automatically converted to Class A shares.

The trust is run by a committee of eight family members.

3/n
Read 21 tweets
Feb 1
With 9.3 million paying subscribers, the New York Times is the most influential news company in the English-speaking world.

It is also led and controlled by a single family of live players: the Sulzbergers.

Read the new @bismarckanlys Brief here: brief.bismarckanalysis.com/p/the-new-york…

1/n Image
The current chairman (since 2021) and publisher (2018) of the NYT is 42-year-old A. G. Sulzberger.

He is the sixth male member of his family to publish the Times since 1896.

The Sulzberger family also makes up 30% of the Times’ board of directors and controls 70% of it.

2/n Image
The family controls the NYT through the Ochs-Sulzberger Family Trust. The trust owns 94% of the Times’ powerful Class B shares. The Class B shareholders select 70% of the board.

The trust, meanwhile, is run by a committee of eight trustees—all family members.

3/n Image
Read 5 tweets
Jan 30
I like the new Twitter. I've just subscribed to Blue.
It was touch and go for a few weeks, but the app and website works excellently after firing so many.

It turns out most 'techies' in Big Tech are PMCs and you can cut a lot of fat!



1/n
Nearly three months in externialities are much improved:

Twitter is a less angry and more insightful place.

You can't hope for miracles given that the typical user is of course basically an average person, but the improvement is tangible.



2/n
Read 6 tweets
Jan 25
Transplants of animal organs into humans have never been approved for trials by the FDA.

Live players in biotech are trying to break this barrier. The goal: an unlimited supply of transplantable organs.

Read the new Brief (@bismarckanlys) here: brief.bismarckanalysis.com/p/the-next-pos…

1/n
Thousands of people die each year waiting for transplants, because there aren’t enough human organs to go around.

If transplant organs were cheap and abundant, they would not just solve shortages, but greatly expand the number of people who might benefit from transplants.

2/n
One of the key live players in xenotransplantation is Martine Rothblatt, the founder and CEO of the $12 billion biotech company United Therapeutics.

The company was behind the first-ever successful transplant of a genetically engineered pig heart into a human in 2022.

3/n
Read 5 tweets
Jan 25
The only question of our era is what shape technological civilization will take. The answer to that question retroactively shapes what humans are.
Aristotle was correct that the citizen cannot be understood as an individual without understanding the polis.
I wish we had Aristotelian theory of empire and civilization not just his theory of the polis.

It is clear he attempted a new synthesis with the education of Alexander. (This is the likely origin of science and the industrial revolution btw)
Read 4 tweets
Jan 24
Comparisons are sometimes made between the education levels and intelligence of politicians in various countries. Everyone wants smarter politicians or so they think.

1/n
The elephant in the room are opportunity costs that draw talent that might otherwise go to government into key parts of private sector.

In the United States personal returns for running for office aren't amazing. Be they intellectual, financial, or social.

2/n
No matter how public spirited it is difficult to overcome the opportunity costs of working in more lucrative or less difficult fields.

3/n
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(