"Information continuing to emerge from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) claims that the M23 armed group has detained Erik Prince." Regarding the law of war and mercenaries: is he a combatant? Why was he there? What state will try to get him released? kigalidailynews.rw/reports-emer...

New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

Excellent anlysis @muhammadshehada.bsky.social. “Israel’s aim: to ensure Hamas militants will have no trust in the NCAG and refuse to cooperate in a decommissioning process led by their archnemesis, which Israel would then use as a pretext for resuming its assault” www.972mag.com/gaza-ceasefi...

This has always been my personal favorite part of the Epstein stuff. Israel had “compromised” Trump. www.middleeasteye.net/news/epstein...

@kurtleavins.bsky.social Do you think Trent Fredrick is finally getting healthy? What do you of the new Semanski line? An is Roslivic really worth 4 years? He doesn’t play a hard game.

So cos-playing Gestapo middle-management also talks like a member of the Gestapo. I’m shocked. I think someone wrote a book about this. Something about the banality of bad people…

In DC news, the city and @mayorbowser.dc.gov has done such an awful job cleaning the streets, that I have now broken two shovels trying to clear away 6-8”of ice from my back ally.

This is excellent. About conventional claims about urban war, versus reality. By a retired US Marine. “In every war, commanders must accept risk. The decisive question is who bears it. In Gaza, risk was routinely transferred from Israeli forces onto civilians.” warontherocks.com/2026/01/gaza...

From @mondoweiss.net on Instagram a few days ago.

So a favorable balance of power here means not primacy? How do we think this is going to work? The past favorable balance of power was US hegemony.

I keep saying this. Anyone who thinks there will be a happy ending to the Trump experience, led by democrats, has not been paying attention to who democrats are.

There is 4 inches of snow on the ground untouched and untracked in NW DC right now. My 2 week old is asleep. My 3 year old is asleep. I just broke out my backcountry touring skies. I’m going on an adventure.

“Mao Zedong famously declared that a revolution is not a dinner party. It is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.” @jeremywallace.bsky.social on the inchoate “logic” of the cleaner energy transition as led by China. archive.ph/2026.01.21-1...

Big news. “China’s highest-ranking general, second only to President Xi Jinping himself in the military command, has been placed under investigation and accused of ‘grave violations of discipline and the law.’” The 5th out of 6 appointed by Xi that’s been removed. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/w...

As a Canadian, I love the structuralist/marxist components to this @mark-carney.bsky.social critique of the US-led order. @abenewman.bsky.social has a good thread on US networked order. Def read him and @himself.bsky.social on that.

Great discussion on bilateral and regional issues in the Horn as seen through the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict @mikewoldemariam.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

I guess that whole pivot towards Asia didn’t work for the US. Chinese Universities Surge in Global Rankings as U.S. Schools Slip www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/u...

The hubris the Trump admin is demonstrating right now is unlike anything I’ve seen in my adult life. It’s surprising, for me. This is unlike even the worst of the War on Terror. But I guess this is what a declining superpower with sclerotic institutions and leader does.

“The sources did not say how the deal was being funded but Masood said it was possible the finances would come from 🇸🇦. … One of the sources said the Saudis brokered the deal but added there was no indication they were paying for the weapons. Another source said Saudi was not providing funds.”

Important. "I think there is a clear convergence of interests between the two sides on this issue. Going forward, I would expect Abu Dhabi and the Israelis to coordinate (often covertly) their support for Somaliland” www.newarab.com/analysis/how...

okay so they literally expect to run another country by truth social post, I can’t see any way this could possibly go wrong

So, Venezuela is being justified in the same grounds as Vietnam, in Rubio’s mind. That’s reassuring.

New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

It’s the Banana Wars. Part Deux.

I nominate Paul Bremer to ‘run’ Venezuela. He’s got the experience necessary for the job.

So Venezuela was going to attack the US, or the people coming to arrest Maduro? If it’s the latter, isn’t this entire argument a tautology?

Well some foreign leaders, at least. Perhaps a dumb set of questions, how do US courts have jurisdiction over Maduro? What crimes has he committed in the US? And what’s the standard for evidence?

"List of aid groups working in Gaza that Israel is suspending": 1. Action Against Hunger 2. ActionAid 3. Alianza por la Solidaridad 4. Campaign for the Children of Palestine 5. CARE 6. DanChurchAid 7. Danish Refugee Council 8. Handicap International: Humanity & Inclusion (cont)

The Trump 2.0 National Security Strategy is a banger. There is a Trump corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. So, US colonialism is back, but it's non-interventionist colonialism? This line: "We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable" www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

The war in Ukraine should end as soon as possible. Most likely via a negotiated settlement. But arguing Ukraine should accept a peace deal that solely benefits Russia is absurd. It ignore Ukrainian & European security concerns. Also, how is Ukraine a “US War?” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I'm pretty sure 5 F-35s just flew over DC. At least that is what I saw and heard from my office window. Please correct me if it's the wrong airframe. Assuming they were F-35s, how likely is it that Trump is showing off his new war machines for MBS?

Nobody could have predicted Hamas would reassert control over shattered Gaza except for everybody www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Gaza is stuck in a no-man’s land of peace and war. Israel occupies 53% of the Strip. If any development happens it seems increasingly likely it will only occur in Israeli controlled areas. Because there has been no progress on Trump’s nebulous peace plan. www.reuters.com/world/europe...

Because obviously. US intel found Israeli military lawyers warned there was evidence of Gaza war crimes www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

Let’s be clear. If the UN Security adopts Trump ‘Plan for Gaza’ it will be accepting perpetual Gazan and Palestinian domination by Israel and the US. It will be an abdication of any of its remaining legitimacy. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/w...

Late stage capitalism. The economy is slowing, prices are up, there are fewer jobs. But big tech is making more money than ever, publicly supporting a genocidal regime and the dehumanization of migrants. Tax. The. Rich.

Americans, you could have this.

I lived in Nigeria. For about 9 months. In Maiduguri in the northeast. And in Abuja. Here is a little bit about the place Trump wants to bomb. And no, there is no Christian genocide. open.substack.com/pub/powderei...

That this is a scoop, and that there is likely to be little or less accountability for monstrous IDF war crimes, is a sad and preposterous commentary on US policy and on the Biden and Trump administrations.

Imagine if Hamas had killed 200 Israelis in that time, would media still call it a "cease fire"?

I wish everyone that cared so much about the Gaza genocide was similarly loud and angry and fighting against the ongoing genocide led by Sudan’s RSF, and directly funded and supported by the UAE. I want a UAE BDS. www.ft.com/content/19d7...

"Nathaniel Redmond, director of the Yale school of public health, said on Tuesday that the “horror, scale and velocity of killing” in El Fasher had left pools of blood visible from satellites" Pity the West simply does not have any tools to pressure UAE, which is the RSF's main funder and supplier

This is really quite good and important to listen to. youtu.be/84DTfG5TVzU?...

Did anyone else just hear a sonic boom over DC?

Based on this @ichotiner.bsky.social interview, democrats should be happy Biden’s White House Press Secretary is leaving party. www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

Because Israel doesn’t want Palestine to be thought of as a state it does not want “an official UN force” in Gaza. It wants a Security Council resolution approving the deployment of a force and some oversight. But nothing “official” I think Israel should take a walk. www.jpost.com/middle-east/...

Sure. Or we should make politics a lottery and elect political officials at random. The outcomes would probably be better.

Knesset passes preliminary vote to annex Jerusalem-adjacent settlement city Maaleh Adumim. Netanyahu worked and failed to prevent the vote in a sign of how he sees the (very low) tolerance Trump has for annexation now. Lapid didn’t object to the measure in order to embarrass Bibi. 🤦‍♂️

While Vance is in Israel the Knesset just passed two bills that, if they become law, will extend Israeli sovereignty over the the West Bank. In others words Israel is quite publicly pushing to annex all of the West Bank. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

🚨 BREAKING: PM Netanyahu announced, in a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement, that the Rafah crossing will remain closed until further notice. He said: “Its opening will be considered based on the manner in which Hamas fulfills its part in the return of the deceased hostages and in...