Does Anybody Know Where Lesotho Is?

View of the outskirts of Maseru, Lesotho. 

GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/AFP via Getty Images

Geography quiz time. Hearing 47 say to Congress, Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of, made me cringe at his colonial arrogance and bombast. It also made me wonder if I could find the African nation on a map.

This quiz has maps of 16 countries in the general Lesotho region, in alphabetical order. Scroll down for a labeled map of the whole continent of Africa plus the quiz answer key.

Map A - “…The latest imperialist scheme against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the Lobito Corridor also known as the Lobito Atlantic Railway. This railway was originally built between 1902 and 1929 by the colonial governments of Belgium and Portugal to transport copper and cobalt stolen from the DRC and Zambia towards Europe. In September 2023, at the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, the U.S. government and the European Union signed an agreement to revive this old colonial railway linking the DRC to Zambia and the port of Lobito in ___________, to export critical minerals to Europe via the Atlantic Ocean.”

Source: The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin

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Map B - "while AFRICOM and Western military forces are being pushed out of the Sahel by people's movements, we see a much different relationship elsewhere on the continent taking note, in particular, of the ongoing close coordination between the US and ____________ Defense Forces as well as the US and Kenya Defense forces even as they are illegitimately deployed against their own civil society." 

Source: The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin

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Map C - "In 1996, Rwanda, Uganda, __________ and Angola set up a rebel group called the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL in French). With the blessings and backing of the United States, these nations set out to overthrow the U.S. installed dictatorial regime in Zaire headed by Joseph Desire Mobutu. The U.S. had maintained Mobutu in power for over three decades (1965–1997). Mobutu was in failing health and his demise was inevitable."

Source: The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin

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Map D - "2024 marked the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide left an indelible mark on the region and the African continent at large. As the world stood witness to the systematic slaughter of over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus, the reverberations of this tragedy continue to shape the destiny of an entire region, most notably, the neighboring ____________. Rwanda’s involvement in _____________ today can be traced back to the aftermath of the Genocide in 1994. Rwanda’s government has been accused of providing support to various rebel groups operating in the eastern ___________."

Source: The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin

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Map E - "August 1, 2023, the United States stated it would 'put forward a U.N. Security Council resolution that will authorize __________ to lead a multinational police force to help combat gangs in Haiti.' While ___________ has offered to deploy a contingent of 1,000 police officers to help train and assist Haitian police, ostensibly to 'restore order' in the Caribbean republic, their proposal is nothing more than military occupation by another name. An occupation of Haiti by an African country is not Pan-Africanism, but Western imperialism in Black face."

Source: The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin

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Map F - "Musk’s Starlink internet satellite service, a subsidiary of SpaceX, has applied for a license to operate in _____________. It’s one of several African countries where it is bidding to win contracts. The _____________ Communications Authority said last month it recently received Starlink’s bid for a 10-year license."

Source: PBS News

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Map G  - "On February 25, 2025 hundreds of informal traders blockaded the entrance to the _________ parliament to protest the rising cost of living.. Consumer inflation in __________, one of the world’s poorest nations, has been above 20% since July 2022."

Source: Bloomberg

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Map H - "AFRICOM’s growing presence in ________________ under the guise of 'counterterrorism' coincides with the entrenchment of foreign military influence and neoliberal policies that strip the people of their sovereignty.. beyond military training, there is a visible increase in the presence of U.S. government agencies here, including USAID, Peace Corps, etc. that serve to advance U.S. interests, through ostensibly humanitarian means in the country. After the IMF’s austerity measures weakened the economy, and even more visibly so after the discovery of huge natural gas reserves in Cabo Delgado, western NGOs flocked in."

Source: The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin

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Map J  - "_______________ will issue visas on arrival from April 1, 2025 for international investors and tourists, as part of a strategy to attract foreign capital. The initiative seeks to reduce bureaucratic hurdles and position the southern African nation as a regional hub for business and leisure travellers, ___________ Investment Promotion Development Board CEO Nangula Uaandja said.. The policy 'represents a strategic shift in our approach to global engagement and economic development.' It is anticipated to boost key sectors including renewable energy, oil and gas."

Source: Economic Times/India Times

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Map K - "____________, backed by Western powers such as the United States, the EU, Canada, Israel, etc, has consistently acted as a destabilizing force in the region, providing material support to proxy militias like the M23 to undermine Congolese sovereignty and facilitate the extraction of resources. Much like the sub-imperialist relationship between the United Arab Emirates and Sudan, ____________ has no significant mineral reserves of its own yet has become one of the world’s leading exporters of critical minerals like coltan."

Source: The Black Alliance for Peace U.S. Out of Africa Network

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Map L - ____________ gained independence in 1968.. there are four regions: Hhohho, Manzini, Shiselweni and Lubombo. The number of formalised tinkhundla centres has increased over time to ensure fair representation, growing from 22 to 59 to accommodate geographical and demographic factors. Each inkhundla consists of multiple chiefdoms and serves as an administrative hub."

Source: Times of ___________

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Map M - "Saudi Arabia is a top investor in agriculture and in its effort to maintain food security purchased 500,000 hectares of land in ___________ in 2009.. Investment is one thing, but when this comes in exchange for military cooperation in a criminal war on Yemen and acceptance of Saudi and UAE military bases on African soil, it really demonstrates the weakness of neocolonial Africa that result in unhealthy relationships and outcomes for the people characteristic of the new scramble for Africa."

Source: The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin

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Map N - "The perpetrators of the mass crimes and beneficiaries of the plunder of Congo's riches are either in alignment with the West and the US empire or represent the political, economic and military arms of the empire, therefore the media is less likely to shine a light or focus on the atrocities being committed in the Congo by western allies. In short, the enemy of the Congolese people is the West itself and those carrying out the crimes such as Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of _____________ are major African agents or proxies of the west."

Source: The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin

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Map O - "The IMF and World Bank are making moves in Africa against states like Kenya and __________, both of which are even more vulnerable as a result of the global economic crisis stemming from the capitalist reaction to the pandemic and the ongoing war in Europe. We must confront this important aspect of the new context of neo-colonial domination in Africa."

Source: The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin

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Map P - “A diplomatic spat between ___________and the US began [in 2020] after a senior US official accused the southern African country of fomenting unrest across America in the wake of the killing of an unarmed African American man, George Floyd... [The first] Trump administration’s national security advisor Robert O’Brien described _____________ as a 'foreign adversary.'

'with the ending of Apartheid, ______________ in its land nationalizations presented itself as a ‘black/white’ issue, an Apartheid in reverse. So it became an easy country to criticize because what were complex issues could be presented so starkly and simply,' Stephen Chan, Professor of World Politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies."

Source: The Africa Report

ANSWER KEY:

Map A - Angola

Map B - Botswana

Map C - Burundi

Map D - Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Map E - Kenya

Map F - Lesotho

Map G - Malawi

Map H - Mozambique

Map J - Namibia

Map K - Rwanda

Map L - Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)

Map M - Tanzania

Map N - Uganda

Map O - Zambia

Map P - Zimbabwe

Are you interested in getting more directly involved in the fight to liberate Africa? Consider joining the U.S. Out of Africa Network. 

Geography Quiz: Black Sea Edition

Map of Black Sea (and some other bodies of water -- can you name them?) by Dino Spain on Deviant Art

After reading through the hubristic and misguided Black Sea Strategy paper issued by neo-con think tank The Heritage Foundation, a group of us decided the Pentagon should not send the Coast Guard there until U.S. citizens can find it on a map.

Since this could take a while, we'd better get started.

Map A - This nation, unlike the U.S., actually has an extensive border with the Black Sea.

Map B -  This Black Sea bordering nation is referred to in the quote below from Jim W. Dean and Gordon Duff's March 4, 2022 article "Blackwater Mercenaries: NATO's Secret Weapon in Ukraine War":

The Machiavellian plan of NATO’s military strategists is to establish refugee settlements with the “humanitarian assistance” in the border regions of Ukraine’s neighboring countries.. and then provide guerrilla warfare training and lethal arms to all able-bodied men of military age in order to “bleed Russia’s security forces" in the protracted irregular warfare.

Map C - Like Ukraine, this Black Sea bordering nation has regions where Russia stepped in during 2008 to protect the lives of Russophone citizens under bombardment from their own government. 

Bonus question: What U.S. senator was the first to come to this nation after the events of 2008 to pledge U.S. undying support against Russia?

Map D -  In January 2023, this country's national gas company made a deal with a Turkish energy company to transit 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas each year, about half of the country's annual consumption. The country had become unable or unwilling to continue buying Russian gas because of a requirement to pay in roubles.

Map E - Making a return appearance to my geography quiz series, this NATO nation is so strategically located in controlling maritime access to the Black Sea that it often risks U.S. wrath to cooperate with Russia, and vice versa.

Map F - This country's borders have changed significantly over the course of its civil war, and its short border with the Black Sea continues to grow shorter as it wages war against its Russophone citizens and former citizens.

Maps sourced from Free Country Map except this one, modified from SouthFront

Answer Key

Map A - Russia

Map B - Romania

Map C - Georgia

Map D - Bulgaria

Map E - Turkiye

Map F - Ukraine

Title map - Other bodies of water include the Sea of Azov (upper right of Black Sea), the Sea of Marmara (below the Black Sea), and the Mediterranean Sea (eastern tip at far left under the Black Sea)

Bonus question: Senator Joe Biden of Delaware

Geography Quiz: Sahel Edition

World Atlas 

"This region of Africa—the Sahel—has faced a cascade of crises: the desiccation of the land due to the climate catastrophe, the rise of Islamic militancy due to the 2011 NATO war in Libya, the increase in smuggling networks to traffic weapons, humans, and drugs across the desert, the appropriation of natural resources—including uranium and gold—by Western companies that have simply not paid adequately for these riches, and the entrenchment of Western military forces through the construction of bases and the operation of these armies with impunity."  

Vijay Prashad & Kambale Musavuli, People's Dispatch

Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea -- what do they have in common? Could you find the nations leading the anti-colonial drive in the Sahel region of Africa on a map?

Map A - Led by revolutionary Thomas Sankara from 1983 until his CIA-sponsored assassination in 1987. Currently, Interim President Capt. Ibrahim Traoré has pledged support for Niger in that nation's efforts to expel French and U.S. military occupiers. Technically not in the Sahel on the map above, but shares a border with nations that are.

Map B - "military leaders of Burkina Faso and [this nation] threatened war if the U.S. and France attacked Niger, even if they did so through the Black face of ECOWAS" Ajamu Baraka, Black Agenda Report

Map C - Technically not in the Sahel in the map above, but shares borders with nations that are and has an anti-colonial government. 

Map D - "Following anti-colonial coups, the US and France threaten intervention to re-install a pro-Western regime in [this country], which produces uranium needed for nuclear energy and hosts strategic US drone bases."  Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy Report

Map E - People of this nation are known as *****ians in contrast to their neighbors who are known as Nigeriens. Part of the ECOWAS alliance, it has already blockaded Niger in response to NATO nations calling for that nation to be punished for ejecting colonial powers France and the U.S.

Map F - “Operation Restore Democracy”, an ECOWAS operation led by [this nation] in 2017, sent troops into The Gambia to impose a new leader friendly to the West. In the map below, The Gambia is surrounded by this nation on three sides, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Map G - Malik Agar, Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council, participated in the recent Russian-African summit in Petersburg. The Wagner Group private militia are said to be supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the ongoing civil war in [this country], while the U.S., EU, and UK have imposed sanctions. In particular its Darfur region has experienced much violence.

Map H - Destination for refugees from ongoing war in neighboring Sudan, this nation had its own civil war but not to worry! USAID head Samantha Power visited a refugee camp here and pledged lots of monetary support.

Map I - A strong majority voted in 1993 for independence from Ethiopia. Was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2021 for supporting rebels in Ethiopia's Tigray Regional State. 

Map J - Part of the anti-ECOWAS alliance to support Niger's independence from French and U.S. colonial exploitation.

All blank maps sourced from Free Country Maps

ANSWER KEY:

Map A - Burkina Faso

Map B -Mali

Map C - Mauritania

Map D - Niger

Map E - Nigeria

Map F - Senegal

Map G - Sudan

Map H - Chad

Map I - Eritrea

Map J - Guinea

A highly relevant map showing history in area that overlaps the Sahel region

The US has over 1,000 troops in Niger, put there in 2007 during the Obama years. Are they really there to fight “terrorism", of a kind that the west supported in Syria, or are they there to advance imperial interests?

The US presence in Africa has been disastrous, adding to the very instability that it claims to address, even as African population, natural resources and economic importance are rapidly increasing (with Africa possibly becoming the world’s single greatest economy in the 2060s, according to UN projections).

Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Empire, Communication and NATO Wars

This is actually a photo of Germany's gold reserves, not France's, but the image of a white guy in a suit counting the stolen wealth of Africa was too good to pass up.

The violence at the center of the relationship between the European colonizer and the colonized “other” has not changed since Europeans spilled out of Europe into the Americas in 1492, only its forms have taken new shapes.  

Ajamu Baraka, Black Agenda Report

ERRATA: A reader pointed out that Obama became president in 2009, so the quote I included about troops into Niger under his watch could not have happened in 2007. I’m guessing that was a typo on the part of the author. Certainly AFRICOM / U.S. military presence on the African continent expanded dramatically during the Obama administration. 

New World Order Geography Quiz!

Source: https://li-mac.org/projects/social-fragments/yankee-go-home

With even the policy wonks of the U.S. empire admitting that their collective reputation and influence on "the rest of the world" are in tatters, it's time for a new world order geography quiz. Multipolarity, here we come!

Can you name the outlined countries on these maps? Answers are at the end with embedded links to recent news of their moves toward independence from U.S. control (or, in one case, flouting public opinion to make a "defense" agreement with the empire).

Map A - recently withdrew from US-led ‘Combined Maritime Forces’ in the Persian Gulf

Map B - U.S. officials claim it is about to be brought under the hegemon's "nuclear umbrella"

Map C - NATO is on the ground stoking sectarian violence here and appears to be preparing to bomb this nation -- again

Map D - university students nationwide staged protests demanding their prime minister not sign a "Defense Cooperation Agreement" with the U.S. before public review occurred (he signed it anyway)

Map E - African National Congress General Secretary Fikile Mbalula hails from this nation; he recently scolded a BBC reporter about British war crimes when criticized for not sanctioning Russia as demanded by the U.S.

Map F - nation with a long coastline on the eponymous Persian Gulf, it recently achieved rapprochement with rival Saudi Arabia in an agreement brokered by China

Map G - this nation's president sent a letter to President Biden this month complaining that, "the U.S. government, specifically through USAID, has for some time been financing organisations openly against the legal and legitimate government I represent"

Map H - a war-torn nation that recently rejoined the Arab League after a long absence

Map I - agreed with visiting Iranian President to no longer use the U.S. dollar for trade between the two nations

In case you missed my first two geography quizzes, you can find them here and here.

Answers:

Map A - United Arab Emirates

Map B - Taiwan (not a nation, rather a province of China)

Map C - Serbia

Map D - Papua New Guinea

Map E - South Africa

Map F - Iran

Map G -  Mexico

Map H - Syria

Map I - Indonesia

Satire Is Dead, So Here's Another Geography Quiz

Source: US invites authoritarian far right regimes to 'Summit for Democracy' by Ben Norton

Stuff like this makes me miss the MAD Magazine of my youth. I flash back to how MAD's writers in the 1960's would have satirized this line up. Nowadays, satire is difficult when we're looking through mirrors (darkly) at concocted truths so outlandish they approach self-parody.

Imagine thinking: Let's personify the concept of democracy in 2023 with a video call montage of the heads of state of these nations.

Why didn't they just call it "summit of nations still willing to sort-of support the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine against Russia"?

Their scripted statements remind me of the Cold War-era Spy vs. Spy comic in MAD which often used the theme of how much empires need their enemies.

The inane pronouncements of self-proclaimed "good guys" against alleged "bad guys" make me nostalgic for Rocky and Bullwinkle's Natasha and Boris Badonov characters.

Because "Get Moose and Squirrel" is about as deep as our imperial spin doctors go in their grasp of current events beyond their control.

In further developments almost impossible to satirize, Twitter today replaced its universally recognized bird logo, one of the strongest brand identifiers on the planet, with a dog.

Maybe it's an April Fool's Day joke delayed three days by, um, streamlined staffing at Twitter.

Maybe it's an attempt to get the cybercurrency Doge, whose logo is this specific dog, to drop its lawsuit against Twitter owner Elon Musk for manipulating the value of Doge.

Maybe it's just a replay of the situation I used to see in schools all the time: a rich guy comes in and throws a bunch of money around, and suddenly he's an expert on education. In other words, the final farce of late stage capitalism.

In any case, it's hard to satirize something that appears to be self-parody.

My recent geography quiz post was such a hit that here's one I created based on the heads of state image. 

Enjoy!

Map A - A nation soon to host U.S. nuclear weapons!

Map B - This nation has its first far-right PM since the guy who coined the term "corporatism" to better describe fascism.

Map C - Apartheid nation claiming to be the only "democracy" in the region.

Map D - Invented white supremacy and currently has leader proud of pogroms and Hitler worship.

Map E - Difficult to find a blank map of this nation that is current after three of its eastern regions voted overwhelmingly to join a neighboring country.

Map F - Convener, nation that leads the world in racially motivated incarceration and treats money as protected political speech -- in any dialect.

Answer Key: 

1. President Joe Biden

2. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

3. President Andrzej Duda

4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi

5. President Volodymyr Zelensky

6. Prime Minister Georgia Meloni