Oh, look, India seems to not have gotten the memo re: conspiracy (Images of Apollo 11 and 12 sites shot by India's ISRO Chandrayaan 2 orbiter) What an utter disgrace to ever have been a moon landing denier.

Trump takes on #Nigeria in characteristic fashion: "a very complex matter...stripped of its nuance" On 1 November, #Trump announced his desire to take military action against the 🇳🇬 gov. to save Christians from the "existential threat" of "radical Islamists" www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

In #Uganda, victims of Joseph Kony's #LRA have welcomed the confirmation of 39 war crimes & crimes against humanity charges. #ICC judges confirmed all of the prosecutor's charges against #Kony, but no trial will go ahead unless he ends up in custody in The Hague. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Oryx undertaking firefighting duties shortly after arrival in Bredasdorp.

"In another alarming example of cover identities under threat, one elite special forces operator ... received a routine piece of mail at his home that had his correct physical address but was addressed to a cover alias that he had used abroad" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

NEW Q&A | Why is Trump Threatening a Humanitarian Intervention in Nigeria? Relations between the countries have soured amid the Trump administration’s allegations that Nigerian Christians are being slaughtered en masse. We explain the implications. www.crisisgroup.org/africa/niger...

A “strategic-advisory firm” based in Mayfair, #London, led an intelligence operation to find “evidence” to undermine the credibility of the woman who accused #ICC prosecutor Karim #Khan of sexual assault. It was allegedly commissioned by state officials in #Qatar www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...

Today - almost 1 month after the historic “Confirmation of Charges” hearings against an absent Joseph #Kony - the #ICC Pre-Trial Chamber has confirmed all 39 charges of #warcrimes and crimes against humanity laid by the prosecutor. www.icc-cpi.int/news/kony-ca...

The #ICC Office of the #Prosecutor said of the decision: “This ensures that Joseph Kony – once arrested – can immediately face trial on these charges” But judges explicitly suspended the #appeal filing deadline. So if #Kony is ever arrested, expect intense appeals before any possible trial.

Large fires burning on the Heuningberg Mountain above Bredasdorp in the Southern Cape. A #SAAF Oryx of 22 Squadron has just departed AFB Ysterplaat to assist with aerial firefighting efforts.

SAAF CL-13B Sabre Mk 6 372, painted in the colours of a F-86F-30 Sabre 601 used by 2 Squadron, SAAF, during the Korean War. SAAF Museum, AFB Ysterplaat, Cape Town.

By this time next week, the estimated deaths due to the illegal destruction of USAID and the shuttering of its aid efforts will breach 400,000. More than 260,000 will be children. Source: www.bu.edu/sph/news/art...

WE'RE HAVING A PRECONFERENCE AT ICA IN CAPE TOWN! Are you a scholar of media, war and conflict? We're having a preconference on the theme of 'Challenges to Contemporary Conflict Reporting" in Cape Town in 2026 and we'd love your abstract! bit.ly/mwc2026cfa

This is going to be properly amazing. Please pass on to your friends!

A Sudanese massacre foretold: the grim familiarity of the RSF’s rampage through El Fasher

He told the world what was happening in El Fasher. Then they sought him out. How Sudan lost ‘a true hero of the war’

Today at 1109Z what looks like a mass spoof event of AIS-signal took place in central Baltic Sea. In an area from approximately Bornholm to mid Gulf of Finland hundreds (thousands?) of new AIS-messages suddenly appeared. A large part of them military ships.

General Mpho Churchill O. Mophuting has been appointed as the new Commander of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF). Interestingly, he is the first head of the BDF to be given the General rank, all predecessors have been Lt Gens, and he was recalled from retirement for the post.

Happy Publication Day and congratulations to Dr. @kschake.bsky.social ! A brilliant scholar of civ-mil relations, her prose is joyful and well crafted, and her narrative, compelling. This is a foundational, urgently needed text. I cannot recommend more strongly. www.amazon.com/State-Soldie...

Happy publication week @kschake.bsky.social! I haven’t bought a new book since Covid(!), but there’s no way I was going to pass up Kori’s magnum opus on the relationship between civilian elites and military leaders.

The Zambezi is the fourth-longest river in Africa, and one of the continent’s principal arteries of movement, migration, conquest and commerce. In this new book, historian Malyn Newitt traces the history of the communities that have lived along this great river.

A family road trip to Mozambique promised this journalist a much-needed rest but instead delivered a crash course in the country’s economy, taught by fishermen, beach vendors and very persuasive traffic officers.

Sudan now has two competing centres of power. El Fasher’s fall will have profound consequences for the country, deepening the country’s de facto partition. Our expert unpacks the city’s fall. www.crisisgroup.org/africa/sudan...

Opinion: Why Tanzania’s TV dinner election should concern us all defenceweb.co.za/african-news...

Brigadier General Nandi Zama formally appointed as Officer Commanding Air Force Base Waterkloof defenceweb.co.za/aerospace/ae...

The South African Air Force (SAAF) contributed an Oryx and A109 helicopter to mountain rescue training efforts with the Mountain Club of South Africa, Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) and SARZA Limpopo this week. defenceweb.co.za/aerospace/ae...

I was quoted in this piece regarding the apparent lack of any political will to intervene in Sudan, especially from African countries.

I disagree that responsibility lies with the industry. The real issue is that the defence industry doesn’t know what the SANDF actually wants and, crucially, what it’s going to buy and when. That’s the result of a deeper malaise and misalignment of budget, structures, and mandates.

Global defence budgets are entering a new era of sustained growth, driven by intensifying geopolitical tensions and renewed great power competition. Against this, Africa’s defence markets are showing the fastest percentage growth in investment worldwide. defenceweb.co.za/industry/ind...

Similar conclusions they make for the Saudi Hospital. Read their full report here: files-profile.medicine.yale.edu/documents/b9...

Satellite images of the Children's Hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, taken by Vantor on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28, corroborates reports of a mass killing there by the RSF, after their brutal takeover of the city this weekend, concludes @hrl-yalesph.bsky.social. Coordinates: 13.621, 25.382.

Dozens of recent social media videos show Rapid Support Forces carrying out extrajudicial killings and other serious violations against people fleeing North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, in Sudan. Urgent action is needed to prevent further atrocities.

An atrocity foretold: How the RSF siege of El Fasher turned into genocidal slaughter: www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/202... (@newhumanitarian.bsky.social)

The Guardian view on the atrocities in El Fasher: the responsibility for these horrors extends beyond Sudan’s borders | Editorial www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Reading about deep human tragedy can leave you feeling despondent. For some people, helping is its own form of solace. If that’s you, this curated list by Sarah Elhassan leads to mutual aid initiatives and other verified ways to support people in Sudan. linktr.ee/bsonblast

All Protocol Observed Welcome to Issue 218 of The Continent El Fasher has fallen — the last Darfuri city to resist the Rapid Support Forces. After a 500-day siege, the Sudanese army withdrew, leaving 250,000 civilians at the mercy of genocidal militias. bit.ly/218_TC

El Fasher.

“Its second report, released on Tuesday, found evidence of systematic mass killings at a maternity hospital, a former children’s hospital turned detention center, and the berm outside of El-Fasher. The maternity hospital was the city’s last operational hospital”

The arrival numbers don’t add up, while accounts of large-scale atrocities are mounting. "Where are all the missing people who have already survived months of famine and violence in El Fasher?" www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/urgen...

The fall of El Fasher to the RSF marks a dangerous turning point in Sudan’s war. Ethnically targeted attacks show the RSF’s brutality. Deeply moved by meeting Sudanese in Norway who’ve lost relatives. The violence must stop. Civilians must be protected.

Sudan: What photos and videos can tell us about the El-Fasher massacres

As paramilitary forces seized control of El-Fasher, journalists became both witnesses and victims of the city’s collapse. At least 13 reporters are missing under blackout, others abducted or sexually assaulted by RSF fighters. “Every hour, we lose another voice.” Read more:

‘They killed civilians in their beds’: chaos and brutality reign after fall of El Fasher

Sudan’s brutal civil war – what has happened in El Fasher?

South Africa’s participation in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC is now the longest deployment in the country’s military history. Operation Mistral, as the SANDF calls it, has given an entire generation of troops real-world experience & saw the Rooivalk’s first use in combat.

100% with Dean here. Restoring the C47-TPs to flight was never going to be a real solution anyway, and South Africa’s maritime patrol and search & rescue requirements demand an extremely long-range and capable type or set of types. It won’t be cheap, but neither is not having maritime control.

It's critical that other State departments, such SAPS, DFFE, Tourism, Marine & Coastal Management and Dept of Transport be brought in under Operation Phakisa, to share costs and utilisation. Drones are an option, but have limitations. But something has to be done, and soon. /5

South Africa’s EEZ alone totals some 1.6m km2, which is greater than the country’s land area (1.2m km2). SA is also responsible for martime SAR of 17,2m km2. Then SA also has offshore islands. South Africa cannot secure its EEZ or meet its international SAR obligations. /4