Assimi Goita appeared on state television ORTM this week to claim a new title. The Mali junta leader is now the defense minister. He took the post after Sadio Camara died in a car bomb blast. The explosion hit Camara's residence during a massive insurgent offensive. The state is in terminal collapse. Jihadist fighters and Tuareg separatists have formed a fragile alliance. They are tightening a blockade around the capital, Bamako.

The Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) has already retaken Kidal. They now want Gao and Timbuktu to complete their self-declared state. The jihadist group JNIM is calling for a nationwide uprising. They are punishing the population for supporting the army. This is the death of a hollow state. Moscow’s ambitions in the region are dying with it. Russian Africa Corps mercenaries are withdrawing from northern strongholds. They are leaving a vacuum of violence.

In Bamako, the streets are quiet but tense. The blockade has cut off essential supplies. Prices are soaring. The military rulers are desperate. This is the price of "Mineral Imperialism." Foreign powers raced to secure gold and uranium. They ignored the human cost of the security vacuum. Now, the people of Mali are paying that debt. The unlikely partnership between jihadists and separatists echoes the chaos of 2012.

The situation describes a country being looted from within and besieged from without. The decline of Russian influence offers no hope for peace. It only signals a change in masters. Washington is already being urged to "move in" by think tanks like the Hudson Institute. The cycle of extraction continues. The sovereignty of the Malian worker is the final casualty of this war.