Radio War Nerd EP #505 — M23 and the Congo Wars, Pt 2: Mining Profits Matter
Recorded: March 4, 2025
In part 2 of the War Nerd's series on M23 and the Congo wars, we discuss the origins of M23, the role of Canadian mining companies, and the enduring biases of the "international community" that happen to align with global capital. (Part 1 here)
First: We briefly discuss the latest news out of the Washington asylum...
At 18:10 - Part 2 of the series on M23 & Congo begins
Maps & Images
*Second Congo War
*Fighting today
*Joseph Kabila, son of Laurent
*Bosco "The Terminator" Ntaganda
*Bishop Jean-Marie Runiga, first president of M23
* Félix Tshisekedi, current president of DRC
*Bertrand Bisimwa, current president of M23
Total time: 1:30:41
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
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Comments (38)
One of the most outrageous errors of this episode is implying that M23 are somehow resisting the mining interests in Congo. In reality they and other armed groups are looting the country on behalf of the mining interests and are in practice blackwater type mercenaries for multinational corporations. Rwanda’s whole economy is based on selling the loot from the Congo and half of M23 members are in reality the Rwandan army.
Exposing CIA officers operating under academic cover and their creation of Pro-Rwanda propaganda and covert wars in Africa. https://keithharmonsnow.com/portfolio-item/exposing-u-s-agents-of-low-intensity-warfare-in-africa/
Archive of articles exposing the shocking truth about Rwanda and Congo https://keithharmonsnow.com/home/
On M23 https://pambazuka.org/more-congo-propaganda-m23-and-unseen-high-tech-genocide
On Kagame https://keithharmonsnow.com/portfolio-item/the-cult-of-the-toothpick-king/
Free PDF of Edward S. Hermann’s Enduring Lies The Rwandan Genocide in the Propaganda System 20 Years Later https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RL2-_Ey7F0p_EZqnyffO1XsyEXHZnl9E/view
Terrible episode fails to cover the vast suffering that Rwanda has brought to Congo with millions dead doesn’t even mention that Kabila was assassinated and his successor was widely believed to be Rwandan or that the peace deal forced the Congo to incorporate Tutsi militias into government forces which is why they are useless at fighting M23. I guess Dolan will never get over his romantic fascination with the worlds greatest mass murderer since Hitler Paul Kagame. Why not invite a Congolese guest like Kambale Musavuli to set the record straight? Or do they all refuse to appear because of how insanely biased your past coverage has been?
Joseph Kabila was widely believed to be Rwandan?? HUH?
17 min in, an Id-ee-ho getting its come-upins. Yee haw 💪 🤠 💪
Macron himself proposed extending France’s nuclear umbrella to cover Ukraine to the EU the day after this was recorded
Point still stands imho
If Haaretz is correct, it's going to take a long time to reconstitute the IDF. apparently the motivation to fight for many reservists was to get the hostages back, but when they realized that wasnt happening, morale dropped and now some units are seeing only 50% of reservists answering the mobilization reqs. So, Qassam might have more prep time than previously anticipated. It's like stopping in the middle of a marathon, very hard to get back up to speed. It wont be as simple as throwing the genocide lever into the ON position again.
What is your problem with Israel and Netanyahu if you celebrate their counterparts (and allies) in Africa, Rwanda and Kagame? You also use the exact same tropes as the supporters of the former do: “the Tutsis/Jews need to defend themselves from another genocide,” or “the left and certain plutocrats interested in African mineral/ Middle Eastern oil extraction are conspiring against this tiny ethnic group” etc. as well as the same anti-UN talking points.
Ha, Dolan might sing a different tune on the Tutsis if they were seizing territory and annihilating civilian populations at breakneck speed since 1948. Confused about your position here, do you think the Tutsis had the genocide coming?
Great episodes, really appreciate an overview of this very confusing and intentionally obscure war. I hear "free congo" alot from alot of people, well meaning of course but thats about as deep as it goes generally. I never ask them what side we should be on and who we are supposed to be freeing and from who, because I don't know and nor do they
has anyone read mahmood mamdanis “when victims become killers”
I don't really get the whole "progressives hate Tutsis" thing. I've never heard anyone try to defend the Hutus or cast any suspicion on the official narrative. Is that something that happens in academia?
Yeah I am very confused by that as well. I've heard it mentioned as being a phenomena in the Francophone world but never encountered in personally or in reading in Anglophone sources. I'm also confused by the insistence that Tutsis are consistently treated by media as the villians and aggressors, because until very recently in the latest M23 offensive I've only seen major english language publications, including in Africa, talk about RPF governed Rwanda and Kagame himself with praise for their economic development, cultural initiatives, etc., with very slight lip service paid to authoritatian tendencies etc. Tbf I have come across some genuinely sensationalist accounts of RPF reprisals against Hutus, but 1. those absolutely did happen, I made a post about that under the last episode 2. even in their sensationalism, I wouldnt at all consider those accounts "anti-Tutsi" or at all minimizing the genocidr, as much as simply tone deaf and unprofessional considering the recency and sensitivity of the genocide. And as far as I'm aware, the west generally much prefers doing mineral trade with Rwanda without asking too many questions, so I'm not sure how that reflects anti-Tutsi bias in any way. (Though I have seen people claim that RPF are in some way western proxies, which seems absolutely untrue, I've seen nothing to indicate that, and the trade and diplomacy seems about as mutual as it can be considering the imbalance of influence.)
Love the episode as usual, but why do y’all never have a black or African guest on?
They mentioned in one of the episodes that they don’t know a guest who would be a great fit and asked for suggestions from the audience
Canada is literally low key an extraction powerhouse. In addition to Congo, they've also ruined the Dominican Republic, and Canadian tar sands oil companies are salivating over the prospects of carving up Venezuela's tar sands.
The stories of Rwanda and Armenia seem to have similar hues. Not superficially because of the genocides, but maybe what happens to a population that survives one? With no one to defend you, you have to learn to defend yourself.. and there’s also a “scrappy underdog” undercurrent as well. Kind of HAMAS/palestine too. Groups of people who are “annoying” to the rich western elite because they can’t serve any purpose in furthering their interests economically or politically
It’s all people who are living examples of liberal hypocrisy, not Marxist enough for the left, and not cowardly bootlickers eager to sell out to rich business interests primarily on the right, but across the spectrum
Another great episode with information and insight into an area most of us know very little about. Thanks in particular for observing out loud and quite clearly in the first part of the episode that the Democratic party is dead. I've been saying that to friends for a year but they keep thinking there is hope. No- no matter how many shocks you administer or how much adrenaline, that heart is not going to beat again. With respect to gold's use in semiconductor manufacture, its conductivity is of course excellent but not so much better than silver or copper to justify the cost of using it in ICs. What sets gold apart and makes it invaluable is its ductility- you can make gold into sheets only a few atoms thick and the thinnest wires can only be made with gold. I have not checked the figures, but I would be surprised if the industry uses a great deal of gold-you can draw many miles of wires that thin from only a few kilograms of gold. Thanks for all you do. Jonathan Penn
Can you guys add an RSS link so we can listen in other apps?
check your email
covering m23 is why I subscribe. Thanks guys, for continuing on even in the absence of an available guest
Trump fatigue is kicking in. One can only take so much clown at a time
Does anyone have a link to john's article on Georges ruggiu. I can't find it online
I'm trying to find a copy but a lot of NSFWCorp has been removed from the internet, I don't know why.
Not sure how to make this work but “Hutu, Brutus?”
The exploitation of the mineral wealth in the Congo rhymes so much with what occurred in Afghanistan during the US war
The only way out for zelenski, more and more, seems to be through a 9mm hole in his head, self inflicted or not
Let's hope he works something out with the Europeans
Arby’s: we got the nukes
Also I am looking forward to hearing about what my boss is up to when he goes back later this year.
Dude wtf is up with your boss. Second time I've seen you mention this. My old boss (tree work job) also is an engineer and went and worked on an offshore drilling rig of the coast of Angola and I thought he was super gross for that but they said if he got yellow fever a third time he'd probably die so I don't think he's gone back....
Zelensky should’ve had a bump before going in.