President Touadera might truly believe that he’s pragmatically diversifying from his country’s dependence on Russia via Wagner, but those who he invited into it as part of this plan are arguably playing a double game against him as part of their US Government patron’s New Cold War agenda.
Good reporting. If I were Touadera, I'd be on the lookout for my bodyguards suddenly walking away and I'd have someone tasting my food for me. Playing both sides against each other is unwise especially when one side knows to make people falling out of windows look like an accident. Of course, that could be either side since the US and Russia both have extensive experience in these kinds of actions...
Introducing competition could in principle be a good idea, it is certainly traditional when it comes to companies! But I agree that bringing in a USG financed one to perform intelligence related tasks is not a clever incentive for competition. It seems to me that US found a way to pressure Touadera some way that he couldn’t refuse.
If CAR is in the middle of a complex civil war what can PMCs do? Relieve some pressure yes, but to defeat (likely foreign backed) rebel armies does not seem possible unless tension in the country is reduced I imagine quite a lot! And the government gets its act together in a real way. And foreign intelligence operatives could just get in the way of both developments. What will Wagner do?
Good reporting. If I were Touadera, I'd be on the lookout for my bodyguards suddenly walking away and I'd have someone tasting my food for me. Playing both sides against each other is unwise especially when one side knows to make people falling out of windows look like an accident. Of course, that could be either side since the US and Russia both have extensive experience in these kinds of actions...
Introducing competition could in principle be a good idea, it is certainly traditional when it comes to companies! But I agree that bringing in a USG financed one to perform intelligence related tasks is not a clever incentive for competition. It seems to me that US found a way to pressure Touadera some way that he couldn’t refuse.
If CAR is in the middle of a complex civil war what can PMCs do? Relieve some pressure yes, but to defeat (likely foreign backed) rebel armies does not seem possible unless tension in the country is reduced I imagine quite a lot! And the government gets its act together in a real way. And foreign intelligence operatives could just get in the way of both developments. What will Wagner do?
Touadera got an offer he couldn't refuse.