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Russia

Russia Threatens To Block All YouTube Access Over Anti-Muslim Film

KOMMERSANT (Russia)

Worldcrunch

MOSCOW - The General Prosecutor’s Office has filed a suit to declare the recent anti-Islam filmInnocence of Muslims,” extremist, which could lead to the blocking of YouTube across all of Russia by November, Kommersant reports.

A new law meant to protect children from exposure to information that will “interfere with their health or development,” including information that is extremist in any way will come into force on November 1. If the film is declared extremist and Google does not block access to the film, YouTube will be added to a black list and will not be accessible from inside Russia, Kommersant reports.

Google has already announced that it will not delete the film. However, it has restricted access to the film in India and Indonesia and has blocked the video from being shown in Egypt and Libya. The Russian prosecutor “strongly recommended” that Google block access to the film in Russia before the court makes a decision. Google’s headquarters in Russia refused to comment on the case.

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Geopolitics

How Russia And China Are Trying To Drive France Out Of Africa

Fueled by the Kremlin, anti-French sentiment in Africa has been spreading for years. Meanwhile, China is also increasing its influence on the continent as Africa's focus shifts from west to east.

Photo of a helicopter landing, guided a member of France's ​Operation Barkhane in the Sahel region

Maneuver by members of France's Operation Barkhane in the Sahel region

Maria Oleksa Yeschenko

France is losing influence in its former colonies in Africa. After French President Emmanuel Macron decided last year to withdraw the military from the Sahel and the Central African Republic, a line was drawn under the "old French policy" on the continent. But the decision to withdraw was not solely a Parisian initiative.

October 23-24, 2019, Sochi. Russia holds the first large-scale Russia-Africa summit with the participation of four dozen African heads of state. At the time, French soldiers are still helping Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Chad, and Niger fight terrorism as part of Operation Barkhane.

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Few people have heard of the Wagner group. The government of Mali is led by Paris-friendly Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, although the country has already seen several pro-Russian demonstrations. At that time, Moscow was preparing a big return to the African continent, similar to what happened in the 1960s during the Soviet Union.

So what did France miss, and where did it all go wrong?

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