Bulletins and News Discussion from March 17th to March 23rd, 2025 - The Kafue River Dies - COTW: Zambia

Image is of the breach in the tailings dam near Kitwe.

On February 18th, 50 million liters of acidic waste from a copper mine was accidentally released into the Kafue River after a tailings dam collapsed. The Kafue River stretches for a thousand miles across Zambia and a majority of the country - millions of people - rely on it, for both the economy and drinking water.

The results have already been catastrophic. The water supply for the city of Kitwe, home to 700,000 people, was completely shut off. As the wave of contamination moved downstream, a wave of death accompanied it as dead fish dotted the river surface. The government is dropping lime into the river to try and counteract the acid with an alkali and neutralize the water, but the tailings also contain toxic heavy metals that will undoubtably seep into the nearby environment and affect the area for years to come.

A considerable portion of the media attention to the accident has been devoted to the fact that the mine was Chinese-owned, as well as China's broader influence and investment in the region. Western anti-China propaganda aside, it has been clear to those in the know that these mines have been badly managed and needlessly dangerous for years now, and it is disappointing - to say the least - to see disasters of this magnitude occur from Chinese businesses. Hopefully this prompts a wave of investigations into China-owned mine managers all around the continent, who will then hopefully face real consequences for their actions.

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I'm usually yapping about Lebanese government formations and Iraqi shia cults here, but this time I want other nerds to yap here. What's going on in Zambia or Zimbabwe or Mozambique or Angola or Botswana or Malawi or any African nation that isn't under French financial strangulation like the ones in West Africa? How are their economies doing? Native corruption or European shenanigans? Are the Chinese cooking anything there? Are they producing anything interesting? Any cultural output that is interesting? How does an average day look in Maputo or Lusaka or Luanda or anywhere? I only hear about these nations whenever their football team is playing in the AFCON, but I literally haven't read anything interesting about these countries in a long time.
- Zambia's government had like an "pro-western" candidate "win" the election a few years ago while the empire pearl-clutched about "chinese colonialism". China had invested a lot in the country and there were several issues regarding mines in the past. It had one of the highest foreign debt rates per capita for a while, and in general the region are "IMF addicts" aka HIPC.
  Botswana was the west's favourite golden child due to its "high living standard and developed economy" but they have turned more pro-chinese recently. The President is chumy with Musk.
  Angola is stable since the civil war and Luanda has/had a large European immigrant community, like during the financially crisis of the late 2000s-2010s Europeans immigrated there to work in the oil industry. There is like the Cabinda war, which is still somewhat of a thing. Both Mozambique and Angola transitioned away from socialism into the standard neolib socdemry. Mozambique still has the ISIS insurgency in the north and is crawling with european and south african troops, also a big city got utterly destroyed by a hurricane a few years ago. Maputo is also very vulnerable to climate change. Both Angola and Mozambique are close to Russia and China due to historical reasons.
  Zimbabwe is in post-Mugabe mode, and Zimbabweans are basically the Venezuelans of africa, including xenophobia. The new guy is basically a dictator and gave an UAE company 20% of the country.
  Malawi is the fourth-poorest country in the world, due to its Scottish connection it the centre of Presbyterianism in africa, and had a lot of anti-sodomy laws suspended recently. They also have a reasonable high output regarding the sciences. They will hold an election this year candidates are the standing-president and the president before him. The country defaulted two years ago. They used to be very pro-western but then they turned towards China and the UK/US froze their "aid" and suddenly became concerned about democracy and corruption, but its still very western-alleged to this day.
  
  Thank you, this was very informative.
- Austria’s new government—a mix of conservatives (ÖVP), centre-left (SPÖ), and liberals (Neos)—is basically pushing the same agenda the far-right FPÖ wanted. Massive social cuts, harsher migration policies, and a big boost for police and military spending.
  Refugees now have to sign a declaration recognizing Israel, and they must "voluntarily" work 10 hours a week in social projects or street cleaning or lose their measly €40 monthly pocket money. Meanwhile, welfare is slashed, family reunification is blocked, and surveillance is ramping up. A so-called centrist government, but the most right-wing Austria has seen in decades. The head of the SPÖ was called a Marxist just one year ago by the mainstream media. I cry.

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