"LE GABON ENERVANT" OR "ANNOYING GABON"

 

  (À suivre)

English version  A tense financial dispute has just resurfaced. It is, in fact, a debt inherited from Paramount, now being pursued by another South African fund. The dispute dates back to a 2014 contract between Gabon and Paramount Group (defense/aerospace) for the maintenance and support of military equipment, continuing an older relationship (the purchase of Mirage F1AZ jets in 2006-2007). This is therefore a matter that goes back to Ali Bongo’s time, both as Defense Minister and as President. In 2006-2007, Gabon purchased Mirage F1AZ fighter jets from Paramount Group and its subsidiary/partner Aerosud, aircraft drawn from the surplus of the former South African Air Force fleet (which had retired them from service in 1997 and put them up for sale via Armscor in 2003). Gabon received two aircraft in August 2006, then two more in November 2007 (some sources mention up to six aircraft in total). Paramount did not simply sell the aircraft: the group also supported Gabon in their acqu...

English version  Populism as a mode of governance follows fairly recurrent trajectories, observable in Perón, Chávez, Erdoğan, Orbán, and other historical cases: • Phase 1: Rupture and legitimacy . A leader presents himself as the embodiment of the people against a corrupt elite or a discredited dynasty. This initial rupture generates real, often sincere popular support. • Phase 2: Personalization of power . Institutions (the judiciary, media, parliament) are progressively re-centered around the leader, presented as the sole guarantor of stability. • Phase 3: Erosion of checks and balances . Locked-down elections, marginalized opposition, tighter control over civic space (press, social media). • Phase 4: Bifurcation . The regime either institutionalizes into a lasting authoritarianism (Putin, Erdoğan), or collapses under its own economic weight or through a new uprising/coup (the fate of many Latin American populist regimes). A key point: history shows that the init...