I need infowars to place their ads on MLB TV please!

Finally watched "Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat" and I think I will open my "Africa since the 1960s" class with it next winter.

"Three of the brightest stars, all with the same improbable trans-Saharan ancestry. But if anyone expects these three to be emissaries of some all-encompassing Pan-Africanism, disappointment lies ahead...."

What is happening in Uganda?

BREAKING: in June 2026, *every single one* of the 1,062 refugees admitted in the U.S. were white South Africans. In FY 2026, the U.S. has admitted a total of 7,727 white South Africans, three Afghans (back in November), and nobody else. For reference, the U.S. admitted 100,060 refugees in 2024.

The UN's Human Rights office in Burkina is closing....

I believe that this makes her ineligible to run for office!

Seems the reading from the final week in South African History continues to have salience...... "Flight of the Boers" africasacountry.com/author/micha... "Trump's Fake Refugees" africasacountry.com/author/herma... "Elon Musk’s South African Fantasy" africasacountry.com/2025/02/elon...

"Diomaye doit trop à Sonko et Sonko ne le sait que trop bien." This editorial also considers legislative maneuvers and revisions since 2009....

Briefly, Maynooth & Howth.

It's been so hard for supporters from all over the world to come to the US to see their teams. This one comes with extra hurt.

raspberry noises

I believe Mali has reclassified their forests to prohibit people from being in them. Jihadists are using them as bases of operation.

Residents didn’t stay quiet. ✊🏼 They organized, packed council meetings, and filed suit. Then, in April, Festus voters voted out every single incumbent councilmember who had backed the deal! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 www.kcur.org/politics-ele...

on tenterhooks

Hmmmm..... Empire on the cheap, decolonisation to complete www.politybooks.com/blog-detail/...

I've seen a handful of pieces on the break between Diomaye and Sonko, framed in a bunch of ways...many are historically shallow. None reference the split between Senghor and Mamadou Dia, which would be an interesting point of comparison.

Taking notes from Abdoulaye Wade and Macky Sall? Adding to a playbook that a US prez may pull from?

Kenya has some of the largest and oldest refugee camps in the world. "The Shirika Plan seeks to shift refugee management away from a camp-based system largely overseen by the UN towards a government-led model centred on inclusion into the local economy."

Beautiful day in the PNW...

Dear Ghana, Ivory Coast, and global markets....please find a way out of this chocolate mess.

Reparations summit in Ghana

Do you know what sounds more believable than “A sophisticated civilization developed impressive construction techniques over centuries”? Apparently: “Space people.”

A collection of images from 2002 that seem relevant to today.....Allez les Lions!!

The conflicts in eastern Congo and Sudan are World Wars. Ex: Hundreds of Colombian mercenaries, financially supported by the Emirates, are fighting alongside the RSF.

"Sportwashing" was a neologism for me, it makes sense, while not quite capturing the international scope of the practice in the term itself.

I knew the US state department has been divesting from traditional diplomacy since the Obama admin, but I hadn't realized that 41/54 African countries currently do NOT have US ambassadors. Orange = no ambassador. Not even Rwanda?! Wild!

Altering the definition of landscape --- forests become military zones -- no more civilians allowed in them. "La forêt du Wagadou, située côté malien non loin de la frontière avec la Mauritanie, figure parmi ces lieux désormais interdits aux civils."

Far North = Lake Chad

More Ivoirian women in UN forces....more peace?

"A group of literally hundreds of people has sprung into action, coordinating, donating, providing lifts for families to get somewhere safe for the night, bringing food to those who don’t want to leave the house, offering shelter, car seats, toys..." www.opendemocracy.net/far-right-vi...

Diomaye is moving on sans PASTEF?

In an attempt to curb terrorist activity, Mali is suspending the use of certain motorcycles....

Mali and Burkina are pulling from the same political playbook.

Chad and France are in an eternal military relationship.

French militarization across new frontiers of Françafrique....

In case you need a new study...

Technocratic diplomacy as cover for other things?

When global belligerents, not neighbors, recognize Somaliland independence.

During the final week of South African history, we addressed belonging, exclusionary/inclusive nationalism, xenophobia, and white flight. I found Sisonke Msimang's piece from more than a decade ago helpful for students. The Nyamnjoh piece came out a day after our scheduled discussion.

Conakry is the port of choice for transiting Russian weapons into the Sahel...Minerals are exported for weapons used by the military junta and its Africa Corps mercenaries. All trade routes through Senegal, seem threatened by JNIM.

YIKES

Got up to 6k ft for the first time this year. The melt off is in process. The pass was still snowed in.

"At least ninety percent of the employees at my location were men, yet the women’s restroom used more than twice as much hand soap."

Permanently extending the ACA subsidies would cost $350 billion over 10 years. Incandescently angry doesn’t begin to describe it.

I've been so busy this quarter that I haven't been hiking much. Finally, in the past week I got out for some lake walks and a local lungbuster...

"The cuts in global health funds & the ending of many projects through the dissolution of USAID is greatly affecting the operations and effectiveness of public health activities around the world." The US is now doing health care for mineral deals...that come with a bio data harvesting costs.

"a government audit of the Sall administration’s finances revealed hidden debt, which then triggered a freeze in IMF lending, pressure from the IMF to implement austerity, and drawn-out negotiations with the IMF that have led to a more or less open break between Faye...and Sonko.

One asks oneself, when was the last time that Chad engaged in democratic practices? How can this be a "recul democratique."

In case you missed it... Senegal's National Assembly overwhelmingly elected ousted Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko as its new speaker on 26 May. This lightning-fast political rebound occurred just four days after President Bassirou Diomaye Faye abruptly dismissed him from the government.