Putin, extending Russian footprint, approves new naval facility in Sudan

It is jockeying for influence and a military foothold in Africa with other nations, including China. Djibouti is home to Chinese, U.S. and French naval bases, while other navies often use its port.

With the USA rapidly fading away as a global power, China and Russia get stronger. Will China and Russia join powers? Russia's got the oil, gas and coal China needs. Plus both nations have rare earth minerals.

And both Russia and China are run by authoritarians firmly controlling their state's economies. The 'west' had a few good centuries.

After China's impressive economic imprint in Africa, Russia follows up with its military footprint, this time in Sudan. Meanwhile, US does not lack behind in its political influence in the continent.

Apparently, Africa is getting increasingly important in the eyes of global major powers. What next?..

Quote: It has also forecast that Russia will fortify its new African outpost with advanced surface-to-air missile systems, allowing it to create a no-fly zone for miles around.

"Our base in Sudan will be another argument for others to hear us and take heed," said an opinion piece in TASS about the new facility.

Well, Saudi Arabia will be pleased about that, I am sure, just over the Red Sea opposite. Even more pleased will be Iranian-backed forces in Yemen just down the coast.

It was hoped after al-Bashir was removed that the country would moderate its policies. The peace treaty with Israel was a step towards becoming a responsible global citizen. Perhaps this deal with Mr. Putin is simply realpolitik where an impoverished land is hoping to get some benefits in return. However, once the Russians are there, they will never leave, even if China makes a better offer in the future.

However, once the Russians are there, they will never leave

Eh, the Russians have been bounced from African bases before. The US used former Soviet facilities in Berbera and Mogadishu Somalia in the mid 1980s after the Somalis asked them to leave. Then the Soviets were allied with the Ethiopians for a time, until they weren't. Governments change frequently and often violently in that part of the world, and with those changes often come changing alliances.

I used to laugh watching larger Soviet Navy ships such as destroyers and cruisers tow their smaller ships like frigates, corvettes and minesweepers down the Pacific, through the Straits of Malacca and across the Indian Ocean to their operating areas in the North Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. Their ships apparently had such unreliable machinery they couldn't make the voyage under their own power without risking a major engineering casualty. The Dutch, British and Belgian minesweepers operating in the same region didn't need to be towed and the US Navy wasn't towing it's ships there from the US west coast.