Ivory Coast strongman accepts defeat … An elders' group led by the former U.N. chief said Monday that Ivory Coast's arrested strongman has accepted his loss in a presidential poll, months after his refusal to cede power plunged the country into chaos and bloodshed. Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the group's leader, said the elders met with former strongman Laurent Gbagbo (left), who said he accepted the victory of President Alassane Ouattara. – Macon.com

Dominant Social Theme: The Wise Men of Africa claim that the election scandal is subsiding and all is well.

Free-Market Analysis: The "Elders" have struck again. The Elders are a self proclaimed group of wise men that includes Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others. Nelson Mandela is an honorary elder, apparently. Presumably he had the good sense not to get directly involved. They are now involved in damage control in the Ivory Coast. We covered them previously here:

These self-appointed Elders – who are supposed to act like a small group of wise people ministering to a world of seven billion people – paid a visit to that small, damaged country and met with the deposed president Laurent Gbagbo. What were they after? Probably the statement that they eventually gave: that Gbagbo now agrees his being deposed was a legal act.

These self-appointed Elders – who are supposed to act like a small group of wise people ministering to a world of seven billion people – paid a visit to that small, damaged country and met with the deposed president Laurent Gbagbo. What were they after? Probably the statement that they eventually gave: that Gbagbo now agrees his being deposed was a legal act.

Of course, we are sure he does not and told The Elders so. But the statement that Annan issued was exquisitely calibrated and intended to indicate that the Gbagbo has come to terms with his violent overthrow and implied that he wants to "move on." This is a bit strange as he had to be dragged out of the president's mansion by the French (who pretended that Ivory Coast forces were behind the assault) and never in any of his speeches indicated he believed that what was going on was in any sense legitimate.

Annan reportedly said Gbagbo "did not give the impression that he disputed the victory of November's presidential election; he has accepted it. In our conversations with him, the language was clear." The Elders specifically with Kofi Annan as spokesperson, have now provided assurances that Gbagbo is in good health, good spirits and finally accepts the election results.

We have extensively covered the Gbagbo coup because we believe it is an important indicator of how the Western power elite is expanding its effort at imposing its "new world order" around the globe. The Anglo-American power elite has reached a whole new level when it comes to leveraging its intended world government. It is becoming increasingly aggressive in its efforts.

Following wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, these intergenerational banking families have begun to generate considerable additional violence throughout the Middle East and Africa. Through various CIA backed youth movements, the power elite has destabilized an astonishing spectrum of countries that might not be pliable when it comes to supporting the coming world government.

The Ivory Coast coup must be seen in this context. And it is important for that reason. It shows that the elites are determined to have their men in power and will stop at nothing to do create this condition. Alassane Ouattara, the new "president" of the Ivory Coast is a long-time IMF bureaucrat and acceptable to the power players of Africa including Western elites. Gbagbo, an anti-Western, anti-colonial history professor had spent his career opposing the forces that have endorsed Ouattara and eventually deposed him as well.

There is considerable sensitivity over what happened in the Ivory Coast and the powers-that-be are probably a bit skittish about putting Gbagbo on trial. They are perhaps still trying to figure out a way of making Gbagbo more pliable. For this reason, the article tells us that the elders also met with Ouattara to urge reconciliation "and asked him to keep his promise to form a truth and reconciliation body." Ouattara does not seem to be quite as tractable as might be expected, (presumably Gbagbo's stubbornness really irritated him) hence the reason for continued follow-up visits.

In fact, the Ivory Coast administration under Ouattara has been somewhat embarrassed by world opinion for holding Gbagbo incognito. Thus the necessity for The Elders requests to him. Alternatively, it was simply a stage-managed affair in which Ouattara held Gbagbo secretly in order to facilitate The Elders visit and respond to it – thus building up The Elders' credibility. The Elders requested that the Red Cross be allowed to visit Gbagbo, his wife, and others. Here is some more from Annan's statement:

We are encouraged by the president's willingness, and that of many of the people we met, to move forward in a spirit of reconciliation, but much of society is still polarized. People are fearful and still define themselves in terms of their differences, rather than the common ground they share. Achieving reconciliation will take time and cannot succeed without honest and inclusive dialogue. Every Ivorian has a part to play and the role of government is to ensure that they are able to do so.

You think? Just for the record and history's sake let's review one more time what happened in the Ivory Coast over the past years and months. In simplest terms, the Muslim North and Christian South have been fighting each other for decades. International entities including the UN finally intervened in the 2000s and set up a series of conditions, including disarmament of both sides, which would lead to an election. None of the commitments were met but the election was held in any case.

When the elections were held it became obvious that there was considerable election fraud in the North. The duly appointed Ivorian election authority then threw out the disputed votes and declared Gbagbo the victor. The UN meanwhile proclaimed that Ouattara was the victor. Gbagbo was duly sworn in and a few hours later, Ouattara emailed Ivorian authorities his assumption of the presidency. The UN apparently accepted Ouattara's email as a valid swearing-in ceremony.

The Gbagbo administration, having been duly and constitutionally appointed, refused to accept Ouattara's email assumption of the presidency. This apparently incensed the world community and mainstream media which began to paint Gbagbo as a strongman that would not accept the results of an election that the UN claimed had been won by Ouattara.

Of course the mainstream media, baying in tandem that Gbagbo was a "strongman" who did not accept the UN's verdict on the elections, were participating in an elite dominant social theme: Africa elections are undemocratic and the UN needs to supervise in order to assure that justice is done. In reality, a message was being sent to African heads of state generally that if they oppose elite Westernization of Africa (which is proceeding apace) they will be dealt with in like fashion.

It is an object lesson that the West – and the power elite – is increasingly comfortable using force after many years when it has not. And thus, after four months of stalemate, the UN and France acted. Gbagbo was forcibly removed from the presidential mansion and placed under arrest. And as the article tells us, "On Sunday, Ouattara said police will begin preliminary investigations into Gbagbo … Some 200 people close to Gbagbo will also be investigated."

This is the series of events that The Elders want Gbagbo to endorse. The French already tried to get Gbagbo to voluntarily sign a document that claimed his illegal removal was constitutional. When he refused, they attacked him, bombed his home and captured him in his basement. It is probably doubtful that he would want to sign such a document now.

The removal of Gbagbo was an unconstitutional act. It is yet another skirmish in an undeclared war between the City of London (determine to create one-world government) and everyone else. These seemingly disparate incidents need to be covered within their proper context to provide a historical record for future generations. The Elders are nothing but a further projection of elite money power and Gbagbo is yet another victim.