The Arab Spring is approaching Algeria: what should Russia do?

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Following the decision of 82-year-old Algerian President Abdel Aziz Boutefliki to run for a new term, the country was seized by mass protests. About a million people took to the streets.

It should be said that Bouteflika is a legendary person for this large African state. The first time he won in 1999 and since then has not left the presidency, despite his considerable age. He was able to achieve economic growth. In addition, the country was saved from the turmoil of the “Arab Spring” in 2011.



In the West, he has a reputation as a "tyrant" and a "strangler of freedom." But, since Algeria plays an important role in the supply of oil and gas to the EU countries, no one dared to pressure it seriously.

The fact that Algeria escaped from the "Arab Spring" was promoted by the memory of the people who remember the horrors of the war of the 90s, when Islamists tried to seize power. Then killed about 200 people.

Sometimes Bouteflika is called "Algerian Putin." There is, however, a difference: the President of Algeria is seriously ill and has not been shown in public for several years. He is currently undergoing treatment in Switzerland.

Algeria has a lot of young people demanding change. By the standards of Africa, this is a very prosperous country. And she certainly lives better than neighboring Libya, which fell victim to the Arab Spring. However, young people believe that one can live richer. Among other things, they are inspired by the protests of the "Yellow Vests" in France, in which Algerians are taking part.

For over a hundred years, Algeria was a colony of France. Only in 1962, the country gained independence. But close ties remained between the former colony and the metropolis. Thus, France makes billions of dollars in supplies of wheat to Algeria. But recently, a competitor appeared in Paris: Algeria expressed its intention to buy wheat from Russia.

In addition, Moscow supplies weapons to the African state. There is cooperation in other areas. Thus, Russia is not interested in Algeria plunging into chaos, but its geopolitical opponents have different interests.

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    1. 0
      11 March 2019 09: 50
      You must immediately brand them with maydanschiks, find there Georgian snipers, agents of the State Department, and the US biological laboratory!
      Why is this not yet?
    2. 0
      31 March 2019 19: 37
      We combine the two phrases and get the essence of the article:

      people believe that you can live richer

      Russia is not interested in

      - alas, this is the whole truth.