African Political Analysis Think-Tank Vignettes

There is a famous African proverb among the Chewa People: Those who don’t ask eat the wax! The moral is that those who seek to understand are likely to make less mistakes. The wax talked about here is that of the bee hives. The proverb points out that those who may not know and don't ask may end up eating the hives and not the honey. Russia and Africa share a thing in common: they are notoriously misunderstood and misrepresented in the more accessible forms of media. Also the subject of Russia or Africa is one that is not popular and easily dismissed as purely academic. Africa is depicted as a continent divided in three: The area North of Limpopo and South of Sahara (aka Sub-Sahara Africa); Republic of South Africa; and the North Africa. These names, make it is possible for the pen to label Africa in reinforced stereotypes. In cutting up Africa and mislabeling her to fit simplistic stereotypical shelves, we all fail to genuinely be part of the crafters of positive dev...