[Atlantic Council] A diplomatic offensive is unfolding in Africa: Just a few weeks after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's July trip to the continent, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled the US Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa on his own tour. This exchange is only the most recent example of the rivalry between the United States and Russia and China, which is currently playing out more clearly on the African continent than at any other time since the Cold War.