Recently, The Economist published an article called “Africa’s most secretive dictatorship faces an existential crisis.” In this article, the author, Economist correspondent Tom Gardner, pins any and all issues Eritrea faces on its leader, Isaias Afewerki, and his personal vendettas with Ethiopian leadership. The problem with this argument, however, is that it is selectively historical – it picks and chooses which historical events to include to frame Eritrea’s current predicament; Gardner fails to situate Eritrea’s position in the geopolitical milieu that have produced its diplomatic issues. Below, I outline the necessary historical information to truly understand the problems that plague the Horn of Africa and threaten national Eritrean sovereignty, specifically.