Hey everyone, this is Abby Martin. You're listening to the audio version of this episode,

which you can watch at YouTube.com slash Empire Files. But you can also listen to our new

exclusive podcast, only at patreon.com slash Empire Files, which makes all our free video content

possible. Here at the Empire Files, we're going to be covering a lot of stories about the U.S. Empire

in Africa over the next few months.

But before we get into these focused episodes on specific countries, I wanted to get the

big picture that explains the legacy and current U.S. policy on the continent.

To do that, I'm pleased to be speaking with Eugene per year, an author and journalist

who covers the politics of Africa frequently on his daily podcast called The Punch Out,

which I encourage everyone to check out, as well as video reporting on a great new network

called Breakthrough News.

He joins me now from New York.

Thank you so much for joining me, Eugene. Thank you so much for joining me, Eugene.

Thank you so much for having me, Abby.

So, Eugene, today we have Afriqom and a growing number of U.S. bases and troops across the African

continent. But if you look at where those bases are, it's pretty much a stripe from coast to coast across Central Africa.

Why is that?

I think that's such an important question, and it's a very relevant point to the geography

of Africa.

So across the middle, most people have heard of the Sahara Desert.

I'll say it like that.

So just below the Sahara Desert, there's something called the Sahelian region. And that pretty much is exactly that length of base as you were talking about, cutting across the sort of north-central, the northern middle part of the continent.

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