Chapter 1017: They have all seen the world
In fact, although Gambia has become an independent country, it is still similar to a British colony - the veterinary president is a veterinarian who studied in the UK, so after the founding of the country, everything depends on Britain. His governing policy can basically be summed up in three words - ask for help.
Honestly, Gambia enjoyed a period of good development between 1970 and 1980. After all, President Veterinarian had a good relationship with the UK and was even invited to Princess Diana's wedding. However, a trip to the UK nearly cost him his presidency when a coup d'état was staged in the country, which was suppressed with the help of Senegal, leading to the formation of the Senegal-Gambia Federation.
The veterinarian president was a man of character. He twice angrily challenged the former Soviet Union at the UN. The first time, he raised his middle finger at the Soviet leader and boasted, "In just three days, I'll wipe out a single living soul in your entire country!" The second time was even more outrageous. By then, the Soviet Union already had an army (they had none before 1981, but gained an 800-man army after a coup). The veterinarian president then pointed at another former Soviet leader and declared, "Do you believe I can conquer all of the Soviet Union in a week?" Having two successive leaders challenged by the veterinarian president alone was truly tragic for the Soviet Union.
As for why he criticized the Soviet Union, the simple reason is that the veterinary president asked the Soviet Union for money and the Soviet Union refused to give it.
He is the only one in the world who asks for money so domineeringly!
In 1994, something even more exciting happened: the veterinarian president was overthrown in a coup: in West Africa, regime change is usually by coup, not election. The new president was a military officer who was only 29 years old when he took office.
Although the former leader looks weird, he is actually very smart. Don't look at him making all kinds of weird remarks when confronting the former Soviet Union, but he did so because he had the support of Britain and France. The more he confronted the former Soviet Union, the more aid these two countries gave him.
And the new president is awesome!
This guy came to power through a coup and overthrew the veterinary president, an old friend of Britain, France and the United States. This made Britain and France very uncomfortable, so as soon as he came to power, the two countries announced the suspension of all aid and military cooperation to Gambia.
Will the Gambian economy convince the new president to surrender? They've been negotiating with the West for a year, all they've been saying is: You have to pay! Finally, when the talks failed, the new president flew into a rage and threatened to send his army across Europe!
After all, the new president is a military veteran who came to power through a coup, so he understands the importance of the military. As a result, the Gambia's army has expanded from 800 to 1,000 soldiers! That's why he's so confident in saying this. And to prove his worth, he even changed the official language of Gambia from English to Arabic—because he's a Muslim, so everyone must believe in Islam.
These words scared the Western powers, and so...Gambia was completely subjected to an economic blockade by European countries.
For the common people here, it doesn’t matter whether they have money or not, as long as they have food and drink and won’t starve to death. But for the officials, having no money is a terrible thing, so they set their sights on China.
In fact, China has always provided aid to Africa, not just one country, but a number of them. Even today, much of the infrastructure in Banjul, the capital of Gambia, is also funded by China. However, China's aid has always been subtle and silent, unlike the aggressive actions of some other countries in Africa.
The new president of Gambia approached China, arguing that they were an African "superpower" and deserved multiples of aid. He simply demanded more money. The Chinese side flatly refused, stating, "The amount of aid you're requesting is beyond reasonable limits!"
The new president was furious. "I asked you for money, and you dare not give it?" So he directly established diplomatic relations with Taiwan. China, upon seeing this, said, "Goodbye!" It also severed ties with Gambia.
Even at this point, Gambia is still not afraid. They have confidence – they still have the Americans! There are so many NGOs in Gambia, and the vast majority of them are from the United States!
No matter how little money the Americans give, it is still enough for the officials to get a share!
As a result, in 2000, demonstrations against the president broke out in Gambia!
This new president dared to confront even the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, so why would he care about these ordinary people? He simply ordered the army to machine-gun the protesters, forcing the protesters to flee to the US embassy for refuge.
The Gambian soldiers didn't care whether it was the American Embassy or not. They rushed in and shot the protesters hiding inside right in front of the American ambassador! The American ambassador went up to protest to the Gambian soldiers, and was knocked down by a few rifle butts...
So the United States withdrew its ambassador and began to sanction Gambia.
The sanctions lasted for two years, and the new president of Gambia became anxious and told the Americans directly: If you don’t give up the sanctions, we will send troops to occupy the entire North American continent!
In fact, Gambia wasn't worried by then. Why? Taiwan still had money! If they didn't have it, they could ask Taiwan for it. It happened to be during the Taiwan Strait crisis, and the country's new president had stated directly: "If the situation there continues to escalate, Gambia will send troops to occupy China's coastal areas to prevent a deterioration." Two years later, when their president went to Taiwan to ask for money, he even bluntly stated that he could "completely occupy China within 24 hours."
Twenty-four hours? Man, you couldn't even fly around China in a plane!
But what he said was enough to give face to China - when they asked Taiwan for money and Taiwan could not afford it, they directly announced the severance of diplomatic relations with that side and issued a warning: We can capture you in three hours!
At first, Xiao Peng thought that they were ignorant. In fact, some of the things happening here were quite helpless. For example, a big event like the presidential election seemed like child's play here: they found three drums to represent three candidates, and asked voters to throw glass balls at the drums. The candidate who threw the ball to the drum would get a vote.
What if you miss or throw the wrong drum?
Two words: You deserve it!
Of course, the presidential election is a big deal even for a country like Gambia, and they take it seriously! So they have a rule: bicycles are not allowed near the election site.
As for the relationship between bicycles and elections, Xiao Peng racked his brains but couldn't figure it out.
But when Xiao Peng really got to know this country, he found that things were not as he had imagined: their first president went to study in the UK, and the second president went to study in the United States.
In other words: both of them have seen the world!
What they are doing is ultimately deceiving the people. Look at Africa, no matter how poor the country is, the leaders are all wealthy. Doesn't this make the problem clear?
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