₦airaland Forum

I guess that's because you know I'm speaking facts or you probably lack the capability to challenge my arguments

LordAdam16:
@antimater

i ain't reading all that
i'm happy for you though
or sorry that happened

-Lord

Let me be direct.

The loudest anti-American voices on this thread share one common trait. Most of them have never set foot in the United States. And I would bet that a significant number, including specific individuals like Pansophist, have applied for a US visa at some point and were denied.

That denial is the real source of the bitterness. It is not about Gaza. It is not about Iran. It is about a visa officer at the US embassy who stamped "REJECTED" on your application😁. Ever since that day, you have dedicated your online presence to convincing yourself that America is a failing civilization, that the West is finished, and that China is the future.

But here is the problem. Your bitterness does not change reality.

China is not the future of Africa. China is a colonial master in disguise, and a more cunning one than the Europeans ever were. The British and French came with guns and took what they wanted openly. China comes with loans and infrastructure contracts, smiles for the cameras, and then quietly extracts everything of value.

Let me give you examples that you will not hear from the pro-China crowd.

Nigeria imports polyester yarn from China. Ninety nine thousand tonnes of it. In just two months. That is 179 million dollars worth of textile materials that Nigeria could easily produce locally if our textile industry had not been destroyed. China holds 81 percent of Nigeria's cotton yarn import market. Our own cotton. Grown in Nigeria. Shipped to China. Processed in China. Sold back to us as finished fabric. Where is the technology transfer? Where is the local manufacturing? It does not exist.

Nigeria imports finished ceramic products. Two point one billion dollars worth every year. Most of it from China. Nigeria has clay. Nigeria has kaolin. Nigeria has everything needed to make tiles and ceramics. But we do not make them. China makes them. China sells them to us. China takes the profit. China builds its economy. Nigeria builds nothing.

Look at the vehicle market. China is aggressively pushing to capture 20 percent of Nigeria's car market with brands like BYD, Chery, and Geely. They are selling cheap vehicles that undercut everyone else. Sounds like a good deal, right? Except the assembly is done in China. The parts are made in China. The engineering is done in China. The profits go to China. Nigeria gets the final bill and a growing pile of imported vehicles that will need spare parts that are also imported from China.

Now ask yourself this. How many Chinese car assembly plants has China built in Nigeria? How many technology transfer agreements have resulted in Nigerians learning how to manufacture vehicle components? How many Nigerian engineers have been trained to design electric vehicle systems?

The answer is zero. Or close to it.

Meanwhile, look at what China does in other parts of the world. In Serbia, China built a steel plant that polluted the local environment and then walked away. In Zambia, Chinese mining operations have been accused of exploiting workers and ignoring safety regulations. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chinese firms control the majority of cobalt mining, but Congolese workers are paid poverty wages while Chinese workers are flown in to do the skilled jobs.

This is not partnership. This is extraction.

And here is what the pro-China crowd will never tell you. China does not send remittances. Nigerian workers in the United States and the United Kingdom send billions of dollars home every year. Over 23 billion dollars in 2025. Seventy percent of that comes from just three Western countries. The United States. The United Kingdom. Canada.

That money pays for school fees. It builds houses. It starts businesses. It keeps families alive. It flows directly to Nigerian households, not to government accounts, not to foreign companies. It is controlled by Nigerians.

How much money flows back to Nigeria from the Chinese workers who come here to build roads and railways? How much of the profit from the billions of dollars in quarterly imports from China finds its way to Nigerian families? Almost zero.

Chinese workers live in guarded compounds. They eat Chinese food. They speak Chinese. When the project ends, they take their earnings with them. No money stays. No skills remain. No local industry is built.

The British and French colonized Africa with violence. The Chinese are colonizing Africa with debt and trade imbalances. The result is the same. African resources leave. African markets are flooded with finished goods. African manufacturing never develops.

You love China because you do not know China. You have not lived there. You have not worked for a Chinese company. You have not seen how Nigerian workers are treated in Chinese-owned factories in Africa. I have. I have written about it. The conditions are worse than what Europeans provide. The wages are lower. The safety standards are ignored. And when workers complain, they are fired and replaced.

So go ahead and hate the United States. Go ahead and call the West a decaying civilization. But do not pretend that China is your savior. China is not here to build Nigeria. China is here to build China. And if Nigeria has to remain poor for China to get rich, that is a price China is willing to pay.

You were denied a visa. I understand that stings. But bitter online rants will not change the fact that the United States remains the country where Nigerians go to become doctors, engineers, professors, and business owners. That is not propaganda. That is not cherry picked data. That is the lived reality of hundreds of thousands of Nigerian Americans.

You can keep blaming the West for your problems. Or you can start building something that competes with the West. But you cannot do both. And you definitely cannot do it while defending China's extraction of African wealth.

Sladem05:
Dumb comparison as neither Russia or China are as open to immigrants but even then they are a number and a growing number of Africa, Asian and even western migrants in Russia and China especially China.

Glorifying the West in 2026 is hilarious. Oga there is nothing in abroad and thanks to social media peoole can really see abroad for what it is. The western world is finished. African migration to western countries has either slowed or reversed. Africans view the west as a decaying civilisation. And that is for the better so that more of them come back, less go and build up their continent.

America and co have a lot more than just flaws. They are an outright failing civilisation that can’t even look after it’s own people.

And you picked cherrypicked stats good for those Nigerians that are abroad doing well but most aren’t. Most Nigerians and Africans like Asians and other foreign groups are at the bottom of western society be it in education, health, income and any other metric. Most Nigerians in USA are not doing well. Most are just average and struggling.

@Sladem05, you have made several claims. I needed to educate you otherwise I won't bother responding to your posts. Some persons I long to see engage me on this thread is the man called Pansophist, Freestuffsng and some other Islamists and and anti west people who believe (in their little mind that the West is collapsing).

Moving forward,let me respond to each one of claims directly.

First, you say Russia and China are not open to immigrants but still have growing numbers of African and Asian migrants. That is not the flex you think it is. A country tolerating migrants for labour does not make it a successful society for those migrants. The question is not how many Africans live in China. The question is how they are treated. What jobs they hold. What rights they have. How much money they can send back home.

Nigerians in China are mostly traders and students. Very few rise to positions of influence. They don't send billions of dollars in remittances back to Nigeria. Compare that to Nigerians in the United States. They are doctors, engineers, tech executives, university professors, and business owners. They send over 7 billion dollars a year back to Nigeria. That is money that builds houses, pays school fees, and starts businesses.

Show me a single Nigerian in China who sends that kind of money home. You cannot.

Second, you say African migration to the West has slowed or reversed. That is not true. The numbers tell a different story. Between 2010 and 2023, the number of sub Saharan Africans living in OECD countries grew by 78 percent. That is not a reversal. That is growth. The United States remains the top destination for Nigerian migrants. The United Kingdom is second. Canada is growing fast. People are not fleeing the West. They are still going. They are still staying. They are still sending money home.

You say Africans view the West as a decaying civilization. That is what people say on social media. That is not what people do with their lives. If the West is finished, why are Nigerians still applying for visas? Why are Nigerian students still paying tuition at American and British universities? Why are Nigerian nurses still moving to the UK and Canada? Actions speak louder than tweets.

Third, you say most Nigerians abroad are not doing well. That is also false. The data is clear. Nigerians in the United States are among the most educated immigrant groups in the country. Over 60 percent hold a bachelor's degree or higher. That is higher than the American national average. Nigerian American households have a median income above the US average. Nigerian Americans own homes at rates comparable to the general population. These are not struggling people. These are people who are succeeding.

Does that mean every Nigerian immigrant is rich? Of course not. Some struggle. Some work multiple jobs. Some face discrimination. But to say most are at the bottom is simply not supported by the evidence.

Now let me ask you a question in return. What about Nigerians in China? What is their median income? What percentage hold professional jobs? What percentage are business owners? Where is the data? You will not find it, because it does not exist in any comparable form.

You say the West is a failing civilization that cannot look after its own people. There is truth in that. Homelessness exists. Inequality exists. Racism exists. No serious person denies that. But here is the difference. In the West, Nigerians can complain openly. They can organize. They can run for office. They can build wealth and pass it to their children. They can send their kids to good schools. They can buy homes in safe neighborhoods.

Try doing that in China, Russia or Iran as a Nigerian. Try buying a home. Try getting a mortgage. Try sending your child to a Chinese public school and having them treated equally. Try running for local office. Try organizing a protest against working conditions. You cannot.

So do not tell me the West is finished. The West has real problems. Serious problems. But it is still the place where millions of Nigerians have built successful lives. It is still the place where they send their children for education. It is still the place they choose to live when they have a choice.

You talk about building Africa. I want that too. I want Nigeria to industrialize. I want us to stop exporting raw materials and importing finished goods. I want us to manufacture what we consume. That is my position, and I have written about it at length.

But pretending the West is worthless does not help Africa. Ignoring the fact that China extracts more from Nigeria than it gives back does not help Africa. Pretending that Nigerians are not succeeding abroad does not help Africa.

The truth is that the West, for all its flaws, has created systems where Nigerians can thrive. China has not. Russia has not. The numbers prove it. The remittances prove it. The educational achievements prove it. The professional success of Nigerian Americans proves it. I know countless of people who migrated from Nigeria to UK , Canada, USA in recent times and am sure alot of people here on this platform also have those who relocated abroad to Western countries. I also know many more who are intending to.

And the truth does not care whether you like it or not.

$100M isn't that much....maybe because this is Nigeria

LordBiden:
Edo major earnings is not even yahoo,it is diaspora funds from family members in abroad.

Which diaspora funds exactly ?...akate dey hide their face for where yahoo boys stand for Benin na..normal thing . Akata no really funds like dat ..na boys funds dey do things for Benin. If you remove yahoo money and foreign remittance from Benin city the economy would be in big big turmoil

Dem wan follow chop yahoo boys money

Fake news as usual

Old news , Saudi already granted US access to it's airspace few days after .

The Initial Ban (Reportedly After Drone Strikes)

According to Saudi sources cited by AFP, the Kingdom temporarily prohibited the US from using its facilities for "Project Freedom" the operation aimed at breaking Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi officials told media that they feared the US operation might provoke further Iranian attacks against the Kingdom and doubted that Washington would provide adequate defense for Gulf allies if the situation escalated. They reiterated their long-standing position that they would not allow their territory to be used to attack Iran.

✅ The Diplomatic Resolution & Reopening

The ban was reversed after direct phone calls between President Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Multiple reports from credible agencies like WION and Bernama confirm that Saudi Arabia (along with Kuwait) lifted the restrictions on May 7, 2026, specifically for the Strait of Hormuz escort mission. Consequently, the Trump administration is reportedly preparing to restart the naval escort operations.

Current Status Lifted (as of May 7, 2026)

@ OP not current and up to date or deliberating posting fake unverified news as usual

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-kuwait-lift-restrictions-us-military-access-bases-airspace-wsj-says-2026-05-07/

This is in response to an article by David Hundeyin https://www.nairaland.com/8665089/issue-peter-obi-david-hundeyin that made frontpage yesterday



You have written a long and passionate message. I will respond to the core of it directly.

First, I agree with you on one thing. Nigeria's position as a consumer nation that exports raw materials and imports finished goods is not an accident. It is a structural problem. And it is maintained by design, not by mistake.

But here is where we part ways.

You have framed this as a battle between anti imperial forces and the Western empire. You have named NATO, the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO as the arms of this system. You have concluded that Peter Obi cannot lead a revolutionary movement because he still has ties to the West.

I am not here to defend Peter Obi. That is a separate conversation. But I am here to correct a blind spot in your analysis.

You have identified the problem as Western imperialism. But you have ignored the fact that China is doing the exact same thing to Africa today. And in many ways, China is worse.

Let me give you the numbers. Nigeria's biggest source of imports is China. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, Nigeria imported 6.85 billion dollars worth of goods from China. That is machinery, vehicles, electronics, textiles, and finished goods of every kind. Things Nigeria could potentially manufacture if we had an industrial base. Things we used to make decades ago before our factories closed.

In that same period, Nigeria exported less than 1 billion dollars back to China. Mostly crude oil and raw minerals. That is a trade deficit of nearly 6 billion dollars in three months.

Look at the details. Nigeria now imports 99,000 tonnes of polyester yarn from China in just two months. That is 179 million dollars worth of textile materials that could be produced locally if our textile industry had not collapsed. China holds 81 percent of Nigeria's cotton yarn import market. Our own cotton. Processed elsewhere. Sold back to us.

China is also pushing to capture 20 percent of Nigeria's vehicle market with cheap cars. Brands like BYD, Chery, and Geely are replacing used cars from Europe and America. That sounds like progress until you realize that the assembly is done in China. The parts are made in China. The profits go to China. Nigeria gets the final bill.

This is not development. This is extraction with a Chinese face.

The former colonial masters built very few manufacturing plants in Nigeria. The Chinese have built even fewer. What they have built are infrastructure projects using Chinese labor, Chinese materials, and Chinese equipment. When the project ends, the skills leave with the Chinese workers. The heavy machinery goes back to China. What remains is the debt.

The West extracted resources and sold back finished goods. China does the same thing today. The only difference is that China has replaced the West as the primary buyer of raw materials and the primary seller of manufactured goods. The structural position of Nigeria has not changed.

Now let me add something you did not address in your message. Money.

Nigerians in the diaspora send billions of dollars home every year. In 2025, remittances to Nigeria reached 23 billion dollars. Over 70 percent of that money comes from three Western countries. The United States. The United Kingdom. Canada.

That money pays for school fees. It builds houses. It starts businesses. It keeps families alive. It flows directly to Nigerian households, not to government accounts, not to foreign companies. It is controlled by Nigerians.

Now tell me. How much money flows back to Nigeria from the Chinese workers who come here to build roads and railways? How much of the profit from that 6.85 billion dollars in quarterly imports finds its way to Nigerian families? Almost zero. How much does the Nigerian community in China remits back to Nigeria ?

China sends finished goods. China takes raw materials. China repatriates profits. China does not send remittances. The Chinese workers who come to Nigeria live in guarded compounds. They eat Chinese food. They speak Chinese. When they leave, they take their earnings with them. No money stays. No skills remain. No local industry is built.

You moved back to Accra to escape the imperial system. I respect the conviction. But you have moved back to a continent where Chinese firms operate labor camps. Where local workers are paid less than Chinese workers doing the same job. Where environmental regulations are ignored when Chinese mining companies operate.

If your fight is against extraction and exploitation, you cannot limit it to the West. You must apply the same standard to China. Because the Chinese model in Africa is not development. It is extraction with a different face.

The West built its wealth on African resources. China is building its wealth on African resources today. The Nigerian worker does not care whether the exploiter is white or Asian. The Nigerian worker cares about wages, working conditions, and whether their children will have a future.

You have chosen to cut ties with the West. That is your right. But do not pretend that China is a liberator. China is not here to industrialize Africa. China is here to secure resources for its own economy. If Africa industrializes, that is a side effect, not a goal.

So when you talk about moving Nigeria from consumption to production, ask yourself this. Which country is currently selling Nigeria the finished goods that Nigeria cannot produce? The answer is not just the West. It is also China. And unlike the West, China sends no remittances back. No money for school fees. No money for houses. No money for families. Just finished goods and loans.

If you want to break the cycle, you must break it with all parties who benefit from it. Not just the ones you have learned to hate.

@MrEar .. I believe this piece should be frontpage worthy

KingAzubuike:
But if they say USA damages Iranian sites, it's not propaganda abi

here is the truth you are not being told. The internet in Iran has been shut down for over forty days. Iranian citizens cannot post videos or photos of what is happening in their own cities. The destruction caused by US and Israeli strikes is not being publicized because the regime has blocked everything. That is not the behavior of a government that is winning. That is the behavior of a government that is hiding.

So when you ask about the truth, ask yourself why the Iranian regime does not want its own people to see the damage. Why are they keeping the world in the dark about what is actually happening inside the country?

Why do unverified news and propaganda keep making frontpage?

Let's be clear here @ OP , You are not sharing facts. You are sharing Iranian state propaganda that has been debunked multiple times by every independent source that isn't state-controlled media.

You say the truth is coming out. What truth? That Iran is winning? Let's look at the actual truth.

Iran has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel. The result? Fewer than twenty Israeli civilians have been killed. That is not victory. That is failure. Israel's air defense system is not perfect, but it is intercepting the vast majority of what Iran sends. The few missiles that get through cause damage, yes. But you don't get to call yourself a winner when 90 percent of your missiles are shot down before they reach their target.

You ask how only six people died if airbases were bombed. That is a strange question coming from someone who supports Iran. Iran's own military bases have been hit thousands of times. Thousands of Iranian soldiers have been killed. Their navy is at the bottom of the Gulf. Their air defense system is in ruins. Their supreme leader is dead. Their new supreme leader has not been seen in public for weeks. If that is winning, I would hate to see what losing looks like.

You say the truth is coming. But the truth is already here. The United States and Israel have struck over fifteen thousand targets inside Iran. Iran's missile launch capacity is down by 90 percent. Their drone attacks are down by 95 percent. These are not my numbers. These are Pentagon numbers. You can choose to believe Iranian state TV if you want. But the rubble does not lie.

You are spreading fake news because you want Iran to win. I understand that. But wanting something to be true does not make it true. Iran is not winning. Iran is being systematically dismantled.

So be patient if you want. But do not confuse patience with evidence. When the war ends, and it will end, the facts will not change. Iran will still have lost. And the only people who will be surprised are those who got their news from Telegram channels and Iranian propaganda videos.

I am not anti-Iran. I am anti-lies. And what you are sharing is lies.

At Op ..are you Chinese ? Of what benefit is china to you ? Is china developing Nigeria ? I don't know where your love and worship for China stems from but I believe you're probably thinking that China is different from other colonial superpowers.


For years we have been told that China is Africa's great development partner. The loans are large. The infrastructure is visible. The diplomatic speeches are generous. But the evidence tells a different story.

China is not developing Nigeria or Africa. It is extracting from Nigeria and from the rest of the continent.

Consider the trade numbers. In the first three months of 2026 alone, Africa's trade deficit with China reached a record 29 billion dollars. That is nearly 10 billion dollars worse than the same period the year before.

Look at Nigeria. In one quarter, Nigeria imported nearly 7 billion dollars worth of Chinese goods. Things like machinery, vehicles, and electronics. In that same period, Nigeria exported less than 1 billion dollars back to China. Most of what Nigeria sends to China is crude oil. Raw material. Unprocessed.

That is not a partnership. That is a system where Africa exports what is dug from the ground and imports what is made in factories.

The same pattern plays out across the continent. The Democratic Republic of Congo sends copper and cobalt to China. Angola sends oil. Guinea sends bauxite. These countries have little to show for it. The processing happens in China. The profits stay in China. The jobs stay in China.

China announced a zero tariff policy for 53 African countries starting in May 2026. It sounded like a major step forward. But according to United Nations trade data, 94 percent of African exports to China already entered duty free. The policy changes almost nothing. It is largely cosmetic.

Even African leaders who support the relationship are beginning to sound worried. A senior analyst recently noted that Africa is becoming more visible in Chinese trade data while losing economic leverage. In Guinea, 74 percent of mining exports go to China. That is not economic diversification. That is dependence.

I have worked with Chinese firms in Nigeria. I have seen the horrible working condition at Chinese factories. I have seen how local workers are treated. The Chinese workers live in guarded compounds. They eat Chinese food. They speak Chinese. When the project ends, the heavy equipment goes back to China. The skills leave with the Chinese workers. What remains is the debt and the extraction.

Meanwhile, Nigerians in the diaspora send billions of dollars home every year from the United States and Europe. That money goes directly to families. It pays for school fees. It builds houses. It starts businesses. There is no comparable flow of money from China to Nigerian households.

China is not developing Nigeria. It is extracting what it needs and selling back what we could make ourselves. The roads and rails are real. But they are not industrial development. You cannot build a manufacturing economy by importing finished goods with borrowed money while exporting raw materials at rock bottom prices.

The window for change is still open. But only if African leaders choose to prioritize local industry over cheap imports. And only if the West decides to look at Africa again. Until then, the extraction will continue.

And the silence from our leaders will be as damaging as the imbalance itself.

Nigerians and Africans should wake up , China is just another colonial master in disguise probably worst

Any news posted by @OP that wasn't reported by Aljeezera should be totally ignored and treated as propaganda. The OP and freestuffsng are very good at posting unverified and fake news .

@ OP dishing out fake unverified news/propaganda as usual. Even aljeezera wouldn't and didn't carry the news .
Do you guys really want to trust a news source from Iran State controlled media ?

pansophist:
A Chinese vessel known as “Rich Starry” just crossed unbothered, as usual, the US couldn’t dare stopped it.

I believe the Chinese have lots of scores to settle with the US given the humiliation the US have subjected the Chinese navy for decades, a notable one being the “Jinhe incident in 1988”.

The Chinese Type 054A missile frigate Daqing is currently parked in the northern Arabian Sea, roughly 500 nautical miles east of the Strait of Hormuz:

So in case Mr Donald have funny ideas, the Chinese are ready to engage. The so called blockage is only for small weak countries, not for Russia or China.

Last week, Russia delivered a ship full of oil to Cuba, breaking in the so called blockage by Trump and they couldn’t dare stopped Russian ship.

The US have always been a school bully. A fake superpower that when it comes to real test, they chicken out.

Your opinions about the US doesn't hold water . This are just your personal opinion . They mean nothing

illicit:
No dime needs to be spent going up and down the moon

Uncle ! Your IQ level just can't relate to what I'm saying or what ?

illicit:
Spend all that money on improving earth

NASA keeps blowing money in space but it doesn't matter
No Pun intended

No pun intended, but your argument collapses under basic math. NASA's entire annual budget is about $25 billion, which sounds huge until you realize the U.S. federal budget is over $6 trillion. That's less than half a percent. Even if you redirected every single dollar from NASA to homelessness or hunger, it wouldn't solve either problem,because those issues require systemic political solutions, not spare change from space.

Meanwhile, the technology developed by NASA has already improved life on Earth in ways you take for granted: memory foam, water purification systems, solar panels, insulin pumps, CAT scanners, freeze-dried food, firefighting gear, and even the camera in your phone. Every dollar spent in space returns roughly $7 to the economy through innovation and spin-off tech.

So the real waste isn't NASA. It's arguing against science while ignoring the corrupt politicians in your own country who steal billions of dollars annually,money that could actually feed kids, provide portable water, and house the displaced. Focus your anger there, not on a space agency that's too busy advancing humanity to notice your deflection.

What's the IQ level of the average Nigerian again?

illicit:
What's the use of water on the moon to starving kids and perishing Ukrainians, bombarded Iranians, kidnapped kwarans and displaced josites...

Who cares about what lives on the moon when people who live here don't even have water and billions of dollars are spent to see if there's a cozy beach or resort in space

That’s an emotional appeal, not a logical one. By that standard, we should shut down every field of human endeavor that isn't directly feeding a starving child right now,no sports, no movies, no video games, no luxury cars, no art, no vacations, no smartphone manufacturing, and certainly no funding for military defense or space research. But you don't apply that logic consistently, do you? You only use it when you want to dismiss American achievement.

The reality is, space exploration isn't about finding a 'resort in space.' It's about advancing technology that solves problems right here on Earth. Water detection on the moon leads to better filtration and recycling systems used in drought-stricken regions. Satellite tech from NASA helps track crop failure, predict famine, coordinate disaster relief for people in Gaza, Ukraine, and Nigeria. GPS, weather forecasting, and communication networks,all derived from space investment, save more lives annually than most aid programs.

The billions spent on NASA amount to less than 0.5% of the U.S. federal budget. For context, Americans spend more on Halloween candy and pet food each year. Meanwhile, homelessness, hunger, and war persist not because NASA exists, but because of political corruption, resource hoarding, and failed governance,including in Nigeria, where your own leaders embezzle far more than NASA's annual budget.

So sir ! don't blame science for saving the future while ignoring your (Nigerian) leaders robbing the present. And don't deflect from the original point: you ignored a historic moon mission not because you care about starving kids, but because it was American

NASA isn't responsible for homelessness, just as the postal service isn't responsible for potholes. That's a category error. NASA is responsible for space exploration, aeronautics, and scientific research,things like landing rovers on Mars, discovering water on the moon, operating the James Webb Telescope, and advancing GPS, weather forecasting, and satellite communications that you use every day. Homelessness is a complex socioeconomic issue tied to housing policy, mental health services, local governance, and income inequality. Expecting NASA to solve it is like blaming the fire department for crime rates. You're changing the subject because you can't refute the original point: that a historic NASA moon mission got ignored due to anti-American bias, while Middle East conflicts,where the U.S. and Israel are involved,get constant front-page attention. Stay on topic sir

illicit:
What is NASA responsible for

Hmmm

And is NASA responsible for that?

illicit:
Yeah and homeless people abound everywhere

A Terrain of Ancient Impacts
art002e012673 (April 6, 2026) – As the Artemis II crew passes the Moon during an observation period, the lunar landscape sharpens into focus: a terrain scattered with craters and shadows stretching beneath the black expanse of space.

Image Credit: NASA

A Breathtaking Earthset from Orion
art002e021278 (April 6, 2026) – Echoing the iconic Earthrise photo captured by the Apollo 8 astronauts in 1968, during the lunar flyby, the Artemis II crew captured a shot of Earthset as they passed behind the Moon’s far side. It is one of many photos taken during the seven-hour lunar flyby by the Artemis II crew on the Orion spacecraft. Credit: NASA

Image Credit: NASA

Ready for a Close Up
art002e009283 (April 6, 2026) – Captured by the Artemis II crew, the heavily cratered terrain of the eastern edge of the South Pole-Aitken basin is seen with the shadowed terminator – the boundary between lunar day and night – at the top of the image. The South Pole-Aitken basin is the largest and oldest basin on the Moon, providing a glimpse into an ancient geologic history built up over billions of years.

Image Credit: NASA

art002e009288 (April 6, 2026) – Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region. In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks—formed when the surface rebounded upward during the impact that created the crater.

Image Credit: NASA

The Edge of Two Worlds
art002e009285 (April 6, 2026) – Our planet draws closer to passing behind the Moon in this image captured by the Artemis II crew during their lunar flyby, about six minutes before Earthset. Earth is in a crescent phase, with sunlight coming from the right. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over muted blue in the Australia and Oceania region. The lines of small indentations on the Moon’s rugged surface are secondary crater chains. These structures are formed by material ejected during a violent primary impact.

Image Credit: NASA

Just to illustrate how deeply ingrained ignorance, a lack of basic intelligence, and a pervasive ethnic and religious bigotry are among Nigerians, NASA recently flew a crewed mission around the moon, a ten-day journey that ended with a splashdown last night, and yet not a single piece of that news made the front page, despite this being a historic achievement for all of humanity.

Perhaps it's because NASA is American, and there's a great deal of anti-Western sentiment on this forum, including among the members and even the moderators, who would feel no shame in failing to post that the very same United States they spend days spewing propaganda about,claiming it's collapsing, no longer a superpower, and so on,is actually excelling in every field, particularly in space technology and exploration. Rather, this anti-West crowd would prefer to spend every hour posting and pushing to the front page issues happening in the Middle East and in the Gulf, simply because it is their much-hated America and Israel that are involved in the fight (against terrorists and their sponsors)


@Seun @ pansophist @freestuffng @writerng @brain54 @gerrard59 @LordAdams16 @all anti US people

Bigotry aside....there is a quiet, powerful counter-argument to the anti-West narrative that does not require statistics or military analysis. It is found in the choices people make when they have the freedom to choose where to live.

There may be a few individuals on this forum ,perhaps no more than a hundred whose hatred of the United States has led them to embrace the narrative of American decline Nonsense. You are entitled to your views but you do not represent the overwhelming majority of Nigerians. Let's be clear about that.
The Nigerian diaspora in the United States is one of the most successful immigrant communities in the country. According to the Migration Policy Institute, Nigerians in the US are the most educated immigrant group, with over 60 percent holding a bachelor's degree or higher a rate that exceeds that of the native-born American population. They are doctors, engineers, tech executives, university professors, and entrepreneurs. They are not fleeing America. They are building lives in it.

Let me be specific: Nigerians run hospitals, teach at Ivy League universities, lead research labs, and sit on the boards of Fortune 500 companies. They are not there by accident. They are there because the United States,for all its flaws is a society that rewards talent, effort, and ambition regardless of where you come from.

Can the same be said of China or Russia? Can you name a single Nigerian in either country who holds a prominent position in medicine, technology, or finance? who has risen to leadership in those societies. The list is vanishingly short. The Nigerian diaspora in China is barely visible. The Nigerian diaspora in Russia is practically non-existent.

This is not a coincidence. It is the result of a society that, despite its imperfections, offers opportunities that authoritarian systems cannot match. When Nigerians have the chance to choose where to live, they choose the United States. When they have the chance to build careers, they build them in the West. When they have the chance to raise families, they raise them in societies that value freedom, opportunity, and human dignity.

The most successful Nigerians the doctors, the engineers, the scholars, the entrepreneurs do not share the anti-West sentiment that animates certain corners of social media like Nairaland. They know what it takes to succeed. They know the difference between a society that rewards talent and one that requires connections. They know the difference between a system that protects property rights and one that confiscates them.

You will not find prominent Nigerian professionals calling for the US to collapse. You will not find them celebrating American decline. They are too busy building the future to waste time wishing for the destruction of the only country that has consistently welcomed them.

If you believe China or Russia offer a better future, I have a simple challenge: move there. Build your career there. Raise your family there. The Nigerian diaspora in the United States chose America because America works. If you think Russia or China works better, you are free to test your theory.

But here is the reality: Nigerians who succeed do so in the West. They do not succeed in China or Russia. They do not send their children to study in Moscow or Beijing. They send them to London, to Toronto, to New York. They build their futures in societies that value human potential.

The anti-West narrative tells us that the United States is collapsing, that the West is finished, that the future belongs to China and Russia. But Nigerians ,the intelligent, ambitious, successful Nigerians who have actually built lives abroad,do not agree. They are not moving to Shanghai or Moscow. They are moving to Houston, to Atlanta, to Washington.

The choices of the Nigerian diaspora are not a footnote to this discussion. They are the evidence. When people have the freedom to choose, they choose the West. They choose the United States. And that choice is the most powerful rebuttal to the narrative of decline that anyone could offer

There is a quiet, powerful counter-argument to the anti-West narrative that does not require statistics or military analysis. It is found in the choices people make when they have the freedom to choose where to live.

The Nigerian diaspora in the United States is one of the most successful immigrant communities in the country. According to the Migration Policy Institute, Nigerians in the US are the most educated immigrant group, with over 60 percent holding a bachelor's degree or higher a rate that exceeds that of the native-born American population. They are doctors, engineers, tech executives, university professors, and entrepreneurs. They are not fleeing America. They are building lives in it.

Let me be specific: Nigerians run hospitals, teach at Ivy League universities, lead research labs, and sit on the boards of Fortune 500 companies. They are not there by accident. They are there because the United States,for all its flaws is a society that rewards talent, effort, and ambition regardless of where you come from.

Can the same be said of China or Russia? Can you name a single Nigerian in either country who holds a prominent position in medicine, technology, or finance? Not a student, not a trader, someone who has risen to leadership in those societies. The list is vanishingly short. The Nigerian diaspora in China is barely visible. The Nigerian diaspora in Russia is practically non-existent.

The Choices People Make

More than 97 percent of Nigerians who are not Muslim and even many who are prefer the United States and the West over China or Russia. They vote with their feet. They send their children to be educated in the West. They build their lives there. They do not do the same for China or Russia.

This is not a coincidence. It is the result of a society that, despite its imperfections, offers opportunities that authoritarian systems cannot match. When Nigerians have the chance to choose where to live, they choose the United States. When they have the chance to build careers, they build them in the West. When they have the chance to raise families, they raise them in societies that value freedom, opportunity, and human dignity.

The Intellectual Rejection of Anti-West Sentiment

The most successful Nigerians the doctors, the engineers, the scholars, the entrepreneurs do not share the anti-West sentiment that animates certain corners of social media. They know what it takes to succeed. They know the difference between a society that rewards talent and one that requires connections. They know the difference between a system that protects property rights and one that confiscates them.

You will not find prominent Nigerian professionals calling for the US to collapse. You will not find them celebrating American decline. They are too busy building the future to waste time wishing for the destruction of the only country that has consistently welcomed them.

A Challenge to the Anti-West Crowd

If you believe China or Russia offer a better future, I have a simple challenge: move there. Build your career there. Raise your family there. The Nigerian diaspora in the United States chose America because America works. If you think Russia or China works better, you are free to test your theory.

But here is the reality: Nigerians who succeed do so in the West. They do not succeed in China or Russia. They do not send their children to study in Moscow or Beijing. They send them to London, to Toronto, to New York. They build their futures in societies that value human potential.

The anti-West narrative tells us that the United States is collapsing, that the West is finished, that the future belongs to China and Russia. But Nigerians ,the intelligent, ambitious, successful Nigerians who have actually built lives abroad,do not agree. They are not moving to Shanghai or Moscow. They are moving to Houston, to Atlanta, to Washington.

The choices of the Nigerian diaspora are not a footnote to this discussion. They are the evidence. When people have the freedom to choose, they choose the West. They choose the United States. And that choice is the most powerful rebuttal to the narrative of decline that anyone could offer.


This post is dedicated to @ pansophist @freestuffng @writerng @brain54 @gerrard59 @LordAdams16 @all anti US people

For years, a persistent narrative has taken hold in anti-Western circles especially here on Nairaland by some anti US/anti West: the United States is in terminal decline, its military is a "paper tiger," and China and Russia are the rising powers of the 21st century. The last three weeks of war with Iran have provided a decisive test of these claims.

The evidence is overwhelming. The United States is not declining. Russia is bleeding out in Ukraine. China is facing demographic collapse and economic stagnation. And the US military has just demonstrated, in real time, that it remains the most powerful and capable fighting force the world has ever seen.


What the Iran War Actually Proved

The Facts on the Ground

On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran. Within three weeks, the results were undeniable.

According to US intelligence assessments, Iran's "conventional military power projection capabilities have largely been destroyed, leaving limited options". The Islamic Republic's strategic position has been "significantly degraded".

Let's be specific about what that means:

Category Outcome
Iranian naval vessels destroyed Over 60
Iranian air defenses destroyed Approximately 80%
Iranian missile launch capacity Down 90%
Iranian drone attack capacity Down 95%
US/Israeli targets struck Over 15,000
US combat deaths Fewer than 20
Time to achieve this 3 weeks

This is not the record of a nation in decline. This is the record of a superpower dismantling a regional adversary with minimal casualties.

The Intelligence Community's Assessment

Even as the war continues, US intelligence officials have been remarkably clear about the outcome. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that Iran has been "severely damaged". She noted that sanctions in the lead-up to the war had already sparked mass protests against an already weak regime, and that "internal tensions are likely to increase as Iran's economy worsens".

The US intelligence community's assessment is worth quoting directly: "The regime in Iran appears to be intact, but largely degraded".

Largely degraded. In three weeks. That is not weakness. That is overwhelming force applied with precision.

What Adversaries See

Here is what matters: China and Russia are watching this unfold. They are watching their ally Iran get systematically dismantled. They have their own hypersonic missiles and modernized forces. But they could not stop the United States from:

· Killing the Supreme Leader of a nation of 85 million people on Day 1
· Destroying its entire navy and air force within weeks
· Operating with impunity over its capital for the duration of the campaign
· Crushing its missile production capacity

If the United States were truly a paper tiger, Iran would still have its navy, its missile launchers, and its leadership. It has none of those things.

The Russian Collapse

While American power is being demonstrated in the Middle East, Russia is facing a catastrophe of its own making.

Military Losses: 1.3 Million and Counting

February 24, 2026, marked four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The results are staggering. According to Ukrainian estimates, Russian military casualties including killed and wounded,have reached approximately 1.3 million.

To put that number in perspective: Russia has lost more soldiers in this war than the United States lost in every conflict since World War II combined. The conflict has become "the deadliest for a major power since the Second World War," according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In December 2025 alone, Ukrainian forces eliminated 35,000 Russian military personnel. The losses are so severe that Russia is struggling to recruit new soldiers. In January 2026, the number of new recruits fell short by 9,000 compared to losses on the front lines. This is not a temporary shortfall. This is a systemic manpower crisis that threatens Russia's ability to sustain prolonged military operations.

Economic Collapse

The military catastrophe is mirrored by an economic one. At the start of 2026, Russia's federal budget deficit stood at 1.7 trillion rubles, with the total deficit for 2025 reaching 8.2 trillion. Projections for the 2026 budget indicate a deficit of no less than 15 trillion rubles.

A Russian economist, Vyacheslav Shiryaev, put it bluntly: "My forecast for 2026 is a 200-billion-dollar hole in the Russian economy. This is a catastrophe and bankruptcy". Andriy Novak added that "the collapse of the Russian economy is a matter of quarters, not decades".

The human cost is equally severe. Food prices in Moscow have risen by 20 percent in the last month alone. Inflation is accelerating. Living standards are deteriorating. The Russian people are being asked to sacrifice for a war that has already cost over a million casualties and shows no signs of ending.

What the Global Firepower Rankings Actually Show

The 2026 Global Firepower Index ranks Russia as the world's second most powerful military, behind only the United States. But rankings measure equipment, not outcomes. Russia has tanks, planes, and missiles. What it lacks is the ability to use them effectively against a determined adversary.

The Global Firepower numbers tell a different story when you look at the details. Russia's defense budget is $126 billion. China's is $266 billion. The United States' is $895 billion. Russia is spending less than a third of what China spends and less than a seventh of what the US spends. That is not the budget of a rising power. It is the budget of a country that is already losing.



The Chinese Slowdown

China's defenders point to its growing economy and expanding military. But the evidence suggests that China, like Russia, is facing structural challenges that will limit its rise.

Demographic Collapse

China's population has decreased for four straight years, a decline that policy support has so far failed to stem. The newborn population fell to 7.92 million in 2025, the lowest number since records began in 1949. China is aging before it gets rich. This is not a temporary problem. It is a demographic catastrophe that will shape China's economic future for decades.

Economic Slowdown

After reaching 5 percent GDP growth in 2025, China's economy is likely to moderate to around 4.5 percent in 2026. The Chinese government itself set a growth target of 4.5 to 5 percent for 2026,its lowest target since 1991. Vanguard, one of the world's largest investment management firms, describes China's economy as "best described as two-speed, with tech-led strength alongside persistent housing weakness".

The housing crisis is real and ongoing. "Concerns about excess capacity suggest these gains won't fully offset a structural decline in property investment". The Chinese government has tried to respond with bond issuance, targeted rate cuts, and lower downpayment requirements for mortgages. But "additional support will likely be required to prevent a further deceleration in growth".

The Myth of Self-Reliance

Chinese propaganda emphasizes "dual circulation" strengthening domestic demand while remaining open to global markets. But the reality is that China remains deeply dependent on global supply chains, particularly for advanced semiconductors. The Chinese government acknowledges this vulnerability. Qiushi, the Communist Party's flagship theoretical journal, notes that "external conditions, particularly the renminbi's exchange rate, form the third layer of the 2026 outlook".

The journal further acknowledges that "even limited financial sanctions can exert meaningful pressure on exchange rates, reinforcing the link between geopolitics and currency valuation". In plain English: China is vulnerable to the very tools that the United States has demonstrated it is willing to use.

China's Military: Paper Tiger or Real Threat?

China's defense budget is $266 billion, second only to the United States. It has the world's largest standing army and a growing navy. But the Iran war has demonstrated something important: having weapons and using them effectively are two different things.

Chinese weapons have been used in this conflict by Iran. Chinese-made air defense systems, anti-ship missiles, and drones have been deployed against American and Israeli forces. They have failed. The systems China sells to its allies are not winning battles. The systems China keeps for itself may be better, but they are untested in combat.

The Global Firepower Index ranks China third, behind Russia and the United States. But Russia's ranking masks a military that has lost over a million soldiers in a war it cannot win. China's ranking masks a country that has not fought a major war in decades. The United States fights. China builds parades.

The American Renaissance

While Russia bleeds and China slows, the United States is undergoing a fundamental transformation in its industrial and technological capabilities.

The Semiconductor Revolution

The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law in 2022, has fundamentally reshaped American manufacturing. By 2026, the United States has entered what industry leaders are calling the "Production Era" of semiconductor manufacturing. Intel has achieved high-volume manufacturing at its Fab 52 in Arizona using a 1.8-nanometer process, the first facility in the United States to break the 2nm barrier. TSMC's Fab 1 in Phoenix is operating at full capacity with yields exceeding 92 percent for 4nm and 5nm nodes, matching the performance of its fabs in Taiwan.

The policy framework has shifted from subsidizing construction to optimizing the high-tech value chain. The SEMI "Securing the Semiconductor Supply Chain" strategy has outlined five strategic pillars, including R& tax certainty and national workforce pipeline development. The industry faces a projected shortage of 67,000 skilled workers by 2030, not a shortage of money or technology, but a shortage of people trained to build the future.

Reshoring in Action

The results are visible in trade data. In 2025, Mexico and Taiwan both eclipsed China to become the largest sources of US imports of advanced technology products. Taiwan's leading electronics manufacturers have been shifting production for advanced IT hardware from China to Mexico and the United States.

Taiwan's contract manufacturers,which account for 80 to 90 percent of global server and notebook production,have been at the forefront of diversification out of China for more than a decade. By 2020, China accounted for roughly one-third of Taiwan overseas direct investment; by 2024-2025, the share had fallen below 10 percent. The money is moving. The jobs are moving. The technology is moving.

The AI Revolution

The United States is not just reshoring manufacturing. It is building the future. The US government has implemented a 25 percent global tariff on advanced computing chips manufactured outside North America. NVIDIA and AMD are racing to transition their flagship AI GPU production to TSMC's Arizona facilities and Samsung's plant in Taylor, Texas.

The implications are profound. As one analyst put it, the 2026 policy priorities mark the moment when "American AI stopped being just a software story and became a hardware reality". By securing the supply chain, the United States has effectively secured its leadership in the intelligence age.

The Nigerian Diaspora . The Ultimate Rebuttal to Anti-Western Sentiment

There is a quiet, powerful counter-argument to the anti-West narrative that does not require statistics or military analysis. It is found in the choices people make when they have the freedom to choose where to live.

The Nigerian diaspora in the United States is one of the most successful immigrant communities in the country. According to the Migration Policy Institute, Nigerians in the US are the most educated immigrant group, with over 60 percent holding a bachelor's degree or higher a rate that exceeds that of the native-born American population. They are doctors, engineers, tech executives, university professors, and entrepreneurs. They are not fleeing America. They are building lives in it.

Let me be specific: Nigerians run hospitals, teach at Ivy League universities, lead research labs, and sit on the boards of Fortune 500 companies. They are not there by accident. They are there because the United States,for all its flaws is a society that rewards talent, effort, and ambition regardless of where you come from.

Can the same be said of China or Russia? Can you name a single Nigerian in either country who holds a prominent position in medicine, technology, or finance? Not a student, not a trader, someone who has risen to leadership in those societies. The list is vanishingly short. The Nigerian diaspora in China is barely visible. The Nigerian diaspora in Russia is practically non-existent.

The Choices People Make

More than 97 percent of Nigerians who are not Muslim and even many who are prefer the United States and the West over China or Russia. They vote with their feet. They send their children to be educated in the West. They build their lives there. They do not do the same for China or Russia.

This is not a coincidence. It is the result of a society that, despite its imperfections, offers opportunities that authoritarian systems cannot match. When Nigerians have the chance to choose where to live, they choose the United States. When they have the chance to build careers, they build them in the West. When they have the chance to raise families, they raise them in societies that value freedom, opportunity, and human dignity.

The Intellectual Rejection of Anti-West Sentiment

The most successful Nigerians the doctors, the engineers, the scholars, the entrepreneurs do not share the anti-West sentiment that animates certain corners of social media. They know what it takes to succeed. They know the difference between a society that rewards talent and one that requires connections. They know the difference between a system that protects property rights and one that confiscates them.

You will not find prominent Nigerian professionals calling for the US to collapse. You will not find them celebrating American decline. They are too busy building the future to waste time wishing for the destruction of the only country that has consistently welcomed them.

A Challenge to the Anti-West Crowd

If you believe China or Russia offer a better future, I have a simple challenge: move there. Build your career there. Raise your family there. The Nigerian diaspora in the United States chose America because America works. If you think Russia or China works better, you are free to test your theory.

But here is the reality: Nigerians who succeed do so in the West. They do not succeed in China or Russia. They do not send their children to study in Moscow or Beijing. They send them to London, to Toronto, to New York. They build their futures in societies that value human potential.

The anti-West narrative tells us that the United States is collapsing, that the West is finished, that the future belongs to China and Russia. But Nigerians ,the intelligent, ambitious, successful Nigerians who have actually built lives abroad,do not agree. They are not moving to Shanghai or Moscow. They are moving to Houston, to Atlanta, to Washington.

The choices of the Nigerian diaspora are not a footnote to this discussion. They are the evidence. When people have the freedom to choose, they choose the West. They choose the United States. And that choice is the most powerful rebuttal to the narrative of decline that anyone could offer.


The Contradictions of the Decline Narrative

Why Russia and China Are Not Winning

The anti-West narrative asks us to believe that Russia and China are the rising powers of the 21st century. The evidence suggests otherwise.

Russia is losing over a million soldiers in a war it cannot win. Its economy is collapsing. Its budget deficit is exploding. Its people are paying 20 percent more for food. This is not the picture of a rising power. It is the picture of a nation destroying itself.

China is facing a demographic collapse that will shape its economic future for decades. Its population is shrinking. Its growth is slowing. Its housing market is in crisis. Its military has not fought a major war in decades. This is not the picture of a nation on the rise. It is the picture of a nation that has peaked.

What the Decline Narrative Ignores

The anti-West narrative ignores the fundamental strengths of the United States.

It ignores the fact that the United States has the largest economy in the world, with a GDP that is still significantly larger than China's. It ignores that the United States spends more on defense than the next ten countries combined. It ignores that the United States is the world leader in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, space technology, and biomedical research. It ignores that the United States is undergoing a manufacturing renaissance that is bringing jobs back from China.

Most importantly, it ignores what just happened in Iran.

The Paper Tiger That Roared

The United States has destroyed Iran's navy, crippled its air defenses, degraded its missile launches by 90 percent, and killed its top leadership, all in three weeks, with fewer than 20 American casualties. If that is a paper tiger, what would a real tiger look like?

The anti-West narrative has been wrong about everything. It said the United States would be bogged down in a quagmire. It said Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz permanently. It said American airpower would be ineffective. It said the Iranian regime would rally its people and survive.

The Strait of Hormuz is open. American airpower has been devastating. The Iranian regime is barely hanging on. And the United States has achieved its military objectives in weeks, not months or years.

The Reality of American Power

The United States is not in decline. It is not collapsing. It is not retreating from the world.

What is happening is that the United States is demonstrating, in real time, that it remains the only country capable of projecting this much power this far from home with this few casualties. It is demonstrating that its industrial base is undergoing a renaissance that will secure its technological leadership for decades. It is demonstrating that its military remains the most capable fighting force the world has ever seen.

Russia is losing. China is slowing. The United States is winning. These are not opinions. They are facts, documented by intelligence agencies, economic data, and the rubble of Iranian military installations.

And then there is the quiet, undeniable testimony of the Nigerian diaspora. When Nigerians have the chance to choose where to build their futures, they choose the United States. They do not choose China. They do not choose Russia. They choose America, again and again, generation after generation.

You can believe the narrative of American decline if you want. You can post manifestos about the West collapsing, about Russia being "restrained," about the US being a paper tiger. But the facts are not on your side. The people in Tehran, Moscow, and Beijing know it. And now, so do you.