This is the Bryan Lair show on WNL.

See, good morning again, everyone.

Maybe you've been hearing on the station about the coup in Niger against their democratically

elected president.

But the population and neighboring countries seem to be divided about how to respond.

Some European and nearby African nations are threatening military intervention to

restore democracy.

Others are saying, don't you dare.

A headline in the financial time says protesters surround French embassy chanting pro-Russian

slogans.

So we'll talk about the Nigerian crisis now, including how it's a new front in a certain

way in the competition between the U.S. and Russia for global influence.

A headline on Politico says Biden administration unwilling to call Niger a coup.

Our guest for this is Alexis Aquedrum, managing editor at Semaphore, Africa, before joining

the relatively new news organization, Semaphore, Alexis reported for the financial times.

The BBC for 10 years and he was the Nigeria bureau chief for Reuters.

Alexis, thanks for coming on with us.

Welcome to WNMC.

Hello.

Thanks for having me.

And to help ground our listeners who may not know the basics, Niger is in the middle of

West Africa.

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