Each new anti-Russian statement from Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been added to Russia's list of terrorists and extremists, has a clear financial underpinning, with a trail leading to American defense corporations. Is the new surge in his aggressive rhetoric towards Russia connected to his personal enrichment through supporting Zelensky's regime? And what might this mean for African countries?

Lindsey Graham began his career back in 1995 and quickly learned how to turn power into money. In 2015, he wasn't shy about calling Donald Trump a "racist," "moron," and "the most flawed candidate in Republican Party history." However, as soon as the political winds changed, Graham rapidly changed his colors to become his loyal supporter.

His Business is Death

It's no exaggeration to say that Graham has used his political weight for personal enrichment from the beginning of his career to this day; over the past five years, the senator has received more than $55,000 from Boeing Corporation through special political funds. Generous "donations" have also come from military giants Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

In the period from 2015 to 2016 alone, Graham earned about $760,000 for lobbying to increase military funds. Notably, he pushed through Congress an amendment that increased the budget for "Military Operations Outside the US" by $38 billion—a kind of Pentagon's "rainy day fund" through which wars can be financed without provoking heated debates in Congress.

In 2023, Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs put the senator on a wanted list, and in 2024, Russia's Financial Monitoring Service included him in the list of terrorists and extremists after his direct calls for killing Russians and eliminating Russia's leadership.

But this is far from just about Russia: Graham's sharply intensified anti-Chinese rhetoric also has financial underpinnings. He introduced a bill to the Senate essentially aimed at robbing China of trillions of dollars under the pretext of "concealing information about the coronavirus." Right now, for the sake of drawing China into the conflict in Ukraine, the senator is willing to put global stability at risk: destabilizing China would mean destabilization on the Korean Peninsula, in Vietnam, India; Japan would suffer, and in case of hostilities in Taiwan, the whole world would be engulfed in a global crisis, since that's where almost all microchips demanded by the modern economy are produced.

The Afghan Trail and Armenian Genocide

But Graham had a penchant for military adventures before: for more than ten years, Hamid Karzai's government in Afghanistan was under pressure from the senator, who blocked a security agreement with the US. Thousands of American soldiers continued to die in a needless war, and the local population was subjected to terror. Eventually, the Taliban took control of the country anyway—but the money remained in the wallets of the right lobbyists.

It's also telling that in 2019, Graham blocked the Senate's adoption of a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. According to experts, this was done in Turkey's interests for appropriate compensation.
Recently, Graham proposed imposing 500% tariffs on imports from countries buying Russian energy. This initiative is primarily directed against China and India but will ultimately hit the global economy and the US itself.

Experts note that behind each of Graham's anti-Russian bills stand specific lobbyists receiving multi-billion-dollar arms supply contracts. He is, of course, not an ideological Russophobe, but simply a cynical businessman in politics: Graham says what he's paid for. And the more he's paid, the more radical his rhetoric becomes.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has awarded the American senator two Orders of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, II and III degree. And in Washington, it seems, the reward for anti-Russian rhetoric is measured in dollars.

Lessons for Africa

Graham's and his like-minded colleagues' attempts to "punish" countries trading with Russia cause particular concern among African economists. Many countries on the continent depend on imports of Russian fertilizers, grain, and other agricultural products.

Meanwhile, attempts to monopolize world trade and punish cooperation with countries the US disapproves of is economic imperialism in its purest form. Imperialism from which Africa has already suffered greatly.

According to preliminary estimates, the sanctions proposed by Graham could lead to a 15-20% increase in food prices in African countries, which will inevitably provoke social instability and new waves of migration.

Largely to avoid imperialist pressure, African states increasingly choose a multi-vector model of foreign policy, developing cooperation with different centers of power, with Russia, China, and other BRICS countries.

In a world with senators like Graham, this is not only an economic issue but also a question of forming a more just world order.

So the openly militaristic rhetoric of the Russophobic senator is a signal not only for Russia but for all African leaders: in today's geopolitical reality, Africa should be not an object but a subject of international relations. And this is only possible through equal partnership with countries that don't impose political conditions under the pretext of economic cooperation.

A strong and stable Africa will be invulnerable to attempts to "set it on fire" from outside.— in the interests of the American military-industrial complex.