What happens if you take French-Chinese investments, post-colonial tensions, Brussels bureaucracy and pour heated oil over it all?

Nothing good will come of such a mixture.

This has already been understood in Uganda, where they are trying to deprive the French company TotalEnergies of its largest project in Africa (the Chinese also share - 8%) - the longest heated oil pipeline in the world, through which black gold, heated to a temperature of 50 degrees, should go from the fields on Lake Albert to the port of Tanga in Tanzania.

These 1,500 km of pipes could turn the landlocked East African country into a major exporter of crude oil.

According to various estimates, the volumes could average 230 thousand barrels per day.

And the reserves themselves were estimated at more than 6.5 billion barrels.

This discovery, made back in 2006, could turn Uganda into a player on the global energy map, the largest onshore field in sub-Saharan Africa.

Yes, and Europe will now need extra oil very much.

It would seem - invest, build, all the final documents have been signed, here is a convenient alternative to Russian fuel, and you will have access to the sea, the pipe will immediately go to the port.

But suddenly the European Parliament intervened.

Adopted a resolution that requires Uganda and Tanzania to curtail this $10 billion project because it carries "enormous risks" and raises "serious concerns about human rights violations."

Once again: Brussels DEMANDS two African countries to REJECT their most important energy project, which opens the way for them to the world market.

In Uganda, they simply gasped at such impudence, which is customary for Europeans.

The reaction followed immediately - Brussels' attempt to dictate to the country what to do was called arrogant and completely unacceptable.

They considered it to be economic sabotage and blackmail.

The Foreign Ministry is preparing a paper that will demand explanations from the European deputies.

In the summer they were received, fed, watered and walked in this very Uganda, introduced to the project, explained how advanced it is, thinking about the environment (solar panels will heat the oil), how all the people through whose territory the pipe will go will be paid compensation.

Returning from such an African vacation back to the European Parliament, they read pre-written texts, which, according to the Ugandan authorities and the French company TotalEnergies, have nothing to do with reality.

One example is CO2 emissions.

Parliamentarians from the podium said: the project will cost the climate 34 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.

According to the developers, the figure will be 13 million in total over 20 years.

Speeches and speeches were written like a blueprint.

One after another, the speakers fought in hysterics, worrying about the tribes, then the Ugandan peasants, then the Rothschild giraffes, then the hippos.

All of them had their rights violated.

And the oil pipeline is to blame.

I even specifically looked at the transcript of all the speeches.

The truth about hippos was spoken.

MEPs, of course, now have no other worries than to worry about the hippos in Africa.

The experience of the last many years has shown that if deputies adopt resolutions on the infringement of rights in this or that country, it means that trade or political interests lie behind this in the first place.

Everything that is happening on the African continent, of course, must be viewed under a magnifying glass, especially when all kinds of ecologists and environmentalists come into the fight.

Alas, a small proportion of them really think about the climate.

The vast majority are instruments of pressure and waging economic wars.

In the current changing geopolitical landscape, it is very curious to understand who did not like this French project in Africa, which could bring to Europe and Asia the free volumes of fuel they need so much, and at the same time help the development of the African countries themselves.

There is no single answer.

Of course, it is beneficial for the United States to remain a kind of monopoly, which makes huge money on oil and gas sales to Europe, while keeping it in a suffocating state.

And if you look at the non-governmental organizations that are working most furiously to undermine the project right now, many of them are headquartered in the United States.

On the other hand, somewhere around August, the largest French oil and gas company, which ranks fourth in the world in terms of production and operates in 130 countries, has already begun to experience serious pressure for not leaving the Russian market, although it has not been publicly once expressed support for Ukraine and promised to financially help the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In March of this year, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said that the company does NOT plan to completely leave Russia, as it has invested $13 billion in it. “Do you know what will happen if I terminate the contract for the supply of Russian gas?

I will pay Russia billions,” the Frenchman said at the time.

In the summer, it was necessary to reduce the presence.

In the Western press, the company was accused of "complicity in war crimes", "financing the Russian army."

The company fought back by publishing a refutation of this information in the newspapers.

The first persons of Ukraine then joined the hysteria, starting almost public extortion.

Zelensky's chief advisers, Oleg Ustenko and Mikhail Podolyak, demanded that TotalEnergies refuse dividends and redirect all this money to Ukraine.

It was about $440 million, which the company was supposed to receive from its 19% stake in NOVATEK.

“This is blood money,” the advisers wrote.

Pouyanne remained silent in response, but by the end of September the deal to sell the entire French stake to NOVATEK should be completed.

It would seem, what does Uganda have to do with it?

So it turns out that this is at least one more lever of pressure on Total.

One of the French MEPs who spoke more than others about the hippos said the following about the pipeline: “This project belongs to TotalEnergy… (This) is the same company that only yesterday collaborated with the Burmese junta and fed Russian bombers.”

Uganda, by the way, from the point of view of Brussels, also has something to punish by undermining such an important infrastructure project for them.

The commander of the land forces of the country, the son of President Muhuzi Kainerugaba, posted a photo of Vladimir Putin on his official Twitter and wrote: “We hear him.

An attack on Russia is an attack on Africa!”

And the head of state himself added that if the French refuse to build an oil pipeline, then Uganda will find other players.

An interesting configuration emerges.

Judging by the UN vote, the African continent did not take the side of the collective West.

The West, hiding behind the usual green agenda and human rights, is trying in response to curtail projects for the economic development of the region.

At the same time, he refuses the potential benefit for himself and hits his own large private company, which has been trying to sit on two chairs all this time.

Apparently, the lines of demarcation are becoming clearer.

Either you are on one side or you are on the other.

The third option, neutral, apparently no longer exists.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.