The Unnoticed Tragedy

https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Abandoned-with-their-children:-the-agony-of-Sri-Lankan-widows-of-the-long-war-58416.html

https://baptistnews.com/article/people-are-dying-in-africa-but-the-world-doesnt-notice/

https://www.democracynow.org/2023/1/13/european_migrant_crisis_rescue_volunteers_trial

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/7/12/dead_calm

Over the past decade, tens of thousands of refugees have died attempting to get to Europe. Many are war widows and orphans attempting to escape impossible situations. They're coming from as far away as Afghanistan and Sub-Saharan Africa. Many have fled the wars in places like Libya and Syria.

Humanitarian Imperialism and Sudan

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/9/13/sudan

The war in Sudan is tragic and like all Africa stories in the West, it gets little attention or traction. To most people the wars in Africa are just repeating loops of video showing fighters in pick-up trucks with AK-47's and suffering women and children in refugee camps. The politics are beyond most people's ability to understand - and they're not going to take the time to look into them. And while Western leaders speak out, levelling condemnations and offering aid - nothing much seems to change.

Humanitarian Border Patrols and Buffers for Fortress Europe

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/22/eu-to-start-releasing-money-to-tunisia-under-migration-pact

This is but one in a series of incidents regarding deals with European authorities and African states. Couched in humanitarian terms, the real goal is to curb immigration. The Europeans and Americans both have realized that it's cheaper and better (in terms of optics) to prevent the migrants from actually arriving on European shores. If they can create and pay for a buffer that will block these streams of human beings fleeing war, poverty, overpopulation, and in some cases a collapsing climate, they can feel good about what they're doing – because they don't have to look at it or get their hands dirty as it were.

Kiliçdaroglu: Running to the Right of Erdogan

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-elections-opposition-candidate-kilicdaroglu-refugees-expel

To the surprise of many, Erdogan not only did better than expected in the first round of the election, he now stands all but poised to win another term. This is despite the crushing economic troubles the country faces and the scandal surrounding the response to the February 2023 earthquake and subsequent questions surrounding corruption, building codes, and the like.

Dividing Nigeria to Protect Christians

Recently I've heard rumblings from within the Christian community that US foreign policy should support (or foster) the break-up (or division) of Nigeria in order to protect the persecuted Christians that live there. They want a new state carved out for the Christian community to protect them from the various Islamic threats.

Libyan Gas and Italian Finance

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/italy-and-libya-reach-8b-deal-on-offshore-gas-development

Money is moving all around and when you take a moment and squint through the fog you realize that in the deal, Italy is getting more military cooperation to block migrants – Libya being one of the primary hubs for the refugee trails coming out of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Hidden ISIS Policy

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62726954

This article reveals (perhaps without meaning to) the nature of NATO relations with ISIS during the movement's first phase. ISIS was rightly presented as a horrific apocalyptic Salafist organisation and its terror was channeled by Western media to reinvigorate support for Western intervention in the Middle East – the so-called War on Terror, even as figures like Obama were attempting to disentangle Western interests from it and 'Pivot to China'.

Poland,Washington, and the Belarus Border Crisis

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/when-the-us-needed-secret-help-in-iraq-who-did-it-call-poland-of-course/2021/10/20/5ec89bc2-25f8-11ec-9de8-156fed3e81bf_story.html

As the Washington Post reports, Pomfret's new book reveals that Polish collaboration with Washington began in earnest only months after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's hardly a surprise as the people who came into power had been working clandestinely with the United States for more than a decade.

The Context for the Tigray Revolt

There's been a fair bit of news coverage regarding the situation in Ethiopia but as is often the case – little contextualisation. A quick survey will help to explain the nature of the conflict and its potential dangers to the wider region.

Geopolitical Chess: The Libyan Civil War and the Mediterranean Powder Keg

https://www.euractiv.com/section/defence-and-security/news/nato-opens-probe-into-france-turkey-naval-incident-in-mediterranean/

France has long been the voice of opposition to the inclusion of Turkey within the European community. Under Erdogan, the Ankara government has effectively given up the proposition of EU membership and the relationship with France has only continued to grow worse.

Kosovo, Serbia and the Balkan Game in the Age of Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/20/kosovan-acting-pm-accuses-trump-envoy-of-meddling

Kosovo sometimes referred to as the Fifty-First state of the United States was from the beginning an American creation. It was part of Washington's project to consolidate the power of NATO in the aftermath of the Cold War.

Congo's Eastern Provinces

Congo is moving toward another open conflict and like the previous episodes it will likely involve the surrounding nations. The instability in the Eastern provinces of Ituri, North and South Kivu and Tanganyika (formerly part of Katanga) is escalating and not a few commentators are using terms like 'ticking time bomb'.

Europe's Push to the Right

Journeyman Pictures has released a couple more short documentaries on Right-wing parties in Europe that warrant viewing.

The Crux of the Refugee Crisis

I mentioned this in a previous post but it's worth repeating. While there's no doubt the refugee crisis has in part been spurred on by the rise of Islamic Radicalism, one must step back and see the forest through the trees. The real cause is the total undoing of the Middle Eastern world.