Why Every Country Has Military Bases in Djibouti 

Djibouti is basically a pre game lobby for all nations

America, China, France, Germany, Russia, India, all want a little of that Djibouti

As a former US East Coast sailor, my ship visited Djibouti and Camp Lemonier in 2009. Got a hair cut and went to the NEX. Then in 2010-2011 I got sent there to a mobile comms unit for about 10 months. Half time spent on the camp and the other half outside on humanitarian missions to Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia. Never heard of Djibouti before in my life until I went there and wow what an interesting country. Hottest place on earth, but the people are friendly and their music is great! Big fan of Somali music now haha! The time I was there, Camp Lemonier was s joint forces base that hosted French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Romanian, and Korean forces. Was so awesome to interact with other enlisted men and women from those forces. I loved the 24 hour DFAC and gym on that base.

You have become a major YT geopolitical channel in the last few years. Keep up the great work 👍

With all that coast line I really would’ve thought Djibouti would have more seamen

Quick Summary: Djibouti may be small but is the only country controlling access to the main part of the strait separating the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. All countries nearby are hostile and/or under conflict so Djibouti's calm political situation and its extremely important location combined attracts important countries to control trade.

great job on your analysis. you included so many facts which i didn't know, and i served in Dj from 2018-2019. really great stuff here.

Love the channel. Unparalleled content. Amazing research and synthesis work. Only one issue: background music is distracting

As a Djiboutian Since our independence on 27 June 1977 the Horn of Africa was already in turbulence due to the conflict that was happening like the Eritrean War of Independence (1961-1991), Ogaden War (1977-78), Ethiopian Civil War (1974-1991), Somali Civil War (1978-now), Eritrean-Ethiopian War (1998-2000) and our own Civil War (1991-1994) and also other battles/wars happening now. Djibouti accommodated migrants and refugees with the help of UN and WFP because of wars and famine. The French Forces remained present in Djibouti do to a provisional protocol of June 1977 laying down the conditions for the stationing of French forces, constituting a defense agreement because of the unstability of the region. There are two main linguistic and ethnic groups are the Somalis and Afars. Although most Djiboutians are Somali-speaking, national identity is fairly cohesive, being rooted in a common historical background.

Djibouti: "I'm playing both sides so that I always come out on top."

you've done it again RealLifeLore! again and again you have the clearest and most well presented explainers on geopolitics

Thanks for this awesome video! I'm personally really interested in your videos talking about the Persian Gulf and and the states around it! Very well done!

The french airfield there is called Chabelley, and when I was there some unit made a shirt that said “So deep in Djibouti I’m in Chabelley” 😭

Everybody wants a piece of Djibouti!

This was very interesting and informative, thank you!

Thank you for this video!

now its time for RealLifeLore to establish a military base there too and conscript some of his viewers and station them there

This opens up a whole new field of Djibouti jokes related to the military. "I'm being assigned to Djibouti. I'll be entering Djibouti at 08:00. I'll be on sanitation duty, keeping djibouti clean. Djibouti is of key strategic importance. A lot of major players have had their fingers in Djibouti. We need to ensure passage through Djibouti never becomes obstructed. If shit can't get through Djibouti and ends up getting backed up, solving that problem might take a major operation and it won't be pretty."

I've been learning a lot from this channel, thank you.

Thanks for this awesome video

I think a video about the Balkans geography and how that influenced the history and politics of that region would be very interesting.

The New York Times said that we will not going to last for two weeks in 1977. 45 years later we are still here. As a Djiboutian i am proud of my nation.

I really like this illustration; it provides proper perspective of many of these geographical big weights!

Excellent post !!

Djibouti's security policy is basically like: Which place is least likely to see a shooting? A gun show of course!

Great content as usual keep up the great videos

Thank you for the video. Amazing.

Considering how small Djibouti is, this is actually very crazy Edit: I'm not talking about the country🗿

Hi I am the deputy secretary for the Djibouti state department. and I can assure you the only reason why we have all those military bases is because I didnt read the fine print to any contract. its also why Disney is probably going to build a military base here next

Very well made video. Thank you.

These videos are great. Thank you!

I was transiting through Djibouti once on my way to Somaliland next door when my flight was delayed. I stayed at the Sheraton Djibouti along with other Somalilanders travelling through. The next morning for breakfast the hotel had a buffet out with all you can eat donuts. By the time families started waking up to eat, the donuts had already been cleared out by a bunch of kinda chubby, but friendly German soldiers who looked mortified when they realized a bunch of little kids were really hoping to have donuts for breakfast. The soldiers apologized and genuinely looked really remorseful.

This was SO informative and well put together. Thank you

That transition between the 2 maps at 4:07 was pretty cool

wow i learn so much thank you

I imagine saying "Little Djibouti" was pretty satisfying 😅

It blows my mind how much information is explained in these videos from this channel. I felt like I had watched about 20 minutes of the video and I look and I’m only 11 minutes in but I’m like how have I learned so much already.

Great video 👍

Simply BRILLIANT! Thank you....

I lived in Yemen in the early sixties (Dad was an American diplomat). Yemen was just emerging from an almost medieval culture, so there was very little market for Western consumer goods. The nearest place to ‘go shopping’ was at Kagnew Station/Base in the PX. This American military installation was located near Asmara in what is now the capital of Eritrea, and had hundreds (or maybe even thousands) of U.S. military personnel and their dependents. It was a very important tool for the U.S. government to monitor communications. My first Barbie doll was bought at Kagnew PX. Our first Beatles albums were bought in Aden, which was a British Protectorate at the time and had plenty of consumer goods for sale. Asmara was a pleasant place to live.

Crude oils aren't transported with container ships, but with tanker ships. Similiar with natural gases which are transported with LNG tanker ships.

Very informative and interesting documentary. Great reporting on the subject of Geopolitics!

Quality content 👌

I remember reading somewhere that approximately half of the world's trade passes through the Suez Canal, so it makes sense that Djibouti has so many overseas military bases on its soil.

Spent two years in Djibouti, and I can't wait to go back. Such wonderful people.

Great video

My uncle was stationed in Djibouti under the US navy command in the 90s and said the reason why there're many countries with military bases in the country apart from protecting each country and their allies'interest in the country and surrounding countries like investments and oil, another reason is because the government makes money from these countries by leasing the bases to them.

Real Life Lore has become such a big channel, thanks to its way of production that its total subscribers are roughly 7 times more than the entire population of Djibouti and almost 2 times more than the population of neighboring Eritrea. In fact, this video already has more views than half of the population of Djibouti in just 15 hours. May your fantastic channel grow more 👏👏👏

I love your videos man, they honestly seem to get better with time. Thanks for the content!

Singaporean here. Thanks for the eye opening explanation. Everything makes sense now.

videos like this one give you so many 'aha' moments ...... extremely informative, tnx

No one will ever resist wanting to have a piece of that Bouti

This was really interesting, RealLifeLore just shows the world in another perspective every video.

great vid

We can play nice together. I didn't know this. Thanks for sharing.

This video was extremely eye-opening to some of the worlds most complex conflicts - Thank you so much for putting this together! Glad we have creators like this to catch us all up to speed.

Your videos are amazing. Seriously some of the best content on RU-vid.

This has got to be a wild place to visit.

I love your this video ♥️

Everyone's all up in that Djibouti 👀

As a Chinese, it was the first time I knew that we actually had an overseas military base, and it was next to the American and Japanese military bases. Do soldiers greet each other when they go to work every day?

extremely good video presentation , not even a second to snooze . METTA .

That was fascinating, as mere mortals we have know idea what goes on behind the scenes to keep everything "ticking".

Generally speaking, whenever RealLifeLore explores why nations do things, the answer will almost always come down to "oil and natural gas". Which is probably a reflection of... well, the lore of real life.

For that reason, honestly surprised countries haven’t recognized Somaliland. If they did, they could have military bases there too, and they would keep many of geopolitical advantages of having a base in Djibouti too.

Somaliland: "Am I just a joke to you??"

As always writing a comment to support the channel

Sudan: *starts to deteriorate* The dozen armies in Djibouti: “I knew there was a reason we’re out here.”

The reason for this is simple. Djibouti is strategically located. It acts as a play ground of geopolitics. Glad you brought this to light keep making great videos

Nobody is talking about this two day video that has over a million views. I love Geopolitics and I was really impressed to find a channel that is so huge talking about Geopolitics. Great job.

0:29 Military Bases 2:13 Geopolitical Situation ,8:10 Yemen Situation ,9:42 EU-Qatar ,11:11 China,13:10 Eritrea,13:35 Eritrea-Ethiopia Conflict,14:10 Somalia,

I’ve been deployed to Djibouti, specifically Camp Lemonnier twice with the American Navy. Its funny how they send you somewhere without even remotely telling you why, last time I was deployed was 2019 and it took a whole four years to figure out why. But he’s correct just about every NATO ally has a presence there. In the chow hall we’d have Japanese and Korean troops eating with us every so often. I always knew Djibouti was essentially using everyone bc why on Earth would you allow both China AND the US to set up shop there

You forgot to take out the "Thank you for watching this on Nebula"

I know someone from the Tigray region who fled for Europe. It's absolutely devastating hearing how she has no idea what happened to a lot of her family members back home.

I just learned like 38 new things, and I’m 49 years old. Appreciate you Mr Lore

India's Djibouti base is the main strategic point against china

Cause everybody’s trying to get into Djibouti! Heyoooo

remembered a game i've played when i was young.was like a skirmish game COMMAND AND CONQUER:GENERALS

They are crucial for the curiosity stream trade

Thought of this question after hearing about the evacuations in Sudan.

Djibouti is giving Uranus energy, and I'm here for it ❤❤❤

Djibouti may be small, but a lot of people pass through it at some point so its very accessable.

Im half Djibouti. Thanks for all the Infos.

I want to enjoy this channel far more than I actually do.

You do a great job structuring your videos. You go super far from the original question, but still keep it fun and entertaining. Then you tie it all together and link it back to the original question, which is easier said than done. Keep it up!

One thing you didn't mention in the video is that Saudi Arabia has agreed with Oman to build a pipeline to avoid Hormoz if needed...

My son is stationed there rn. I traveled as a young person til I was about 20. I told him when he gets home a lot of ppl don't realize that you can get culture shock coming home as well as when you're in a new place. I told him no matter what he'll always have a home and any emotional support when he gets home. As a 21 year old young soldier he thinks he can take everything in stride and he probably can but I had to take him by the face tell him we will always be whatever he needs us to bc I won't let him end up as a forgotten homeless hero.

Did you just use the Civ 6 oil picture to demonstrate the routes that oil travels? I love it 😂

Djibouti can just fit so much inside of it

Am à Djiboutien and am glad of my earth thanks God for giving us this small strategical place.

Has the background music changed in some fashion? I enjoyed it

Love the content. Just a correction, the strait of hormuz is 33 miles (53 km) at its narrowest (just measured it on google maps).

Djibouti is just setting up the stage for the ultimate free-for-all deathmatch.

Please tell I am not the only person that had a quiet chuckle at 2:07

Every one want to get a piece of that Djibouti

This is either sheer madness or sheer brilliance.

the fact that Japan, a country which constitution (at least until recently) does not allow their military to conduct offensive actions has a overseas base is mind blowing.

We're so deep in Djibouti, we're in Chabelley. That was on a t-shirt I bought there lol

I just noticed something, At the end of the brilliant ad at the very end of the video, instead of saying anual, the text says annal😳😂

You don't usually put oil on container ships , it mostly goes on tankers