'A partisan of the living, the incomprehensibility of non-existence was something he loathed...If Socrates went to his death tranquilly, Canetti went to his with a bitter fist'. Terrific essay by Jared Marcel Pollen on the life and work of Elias Canetti: newstatesman.com/ideas/2024/04/…

Today, I went to the Chad-Sudan border - Darfur starts behind the trees. It was eerie to see a RSF checkpoint, the first houses, a telco mast and Sudanese crossing to shop. It looked peaceful but there's also a rather dark backstory showing the conflict's complexity..

Cool conservative mountain dialect of Chechen spoken here!!

Do I know anyone who can speak to the value of Syrian oil and gas fields?

The new Mark Haber arrived today 🥰

In Brief: The Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo War on the Rocks warontherocks.com/2024/04/in-bri…

The United States is attempting to create a new military deal with #Niger in a last ditch effort to stay after the junta said its presence was no longer justified. apnews.com/article/united…

Given events in Niger and Deby's recent Moscow visit, this is intriguing. Negotiating tactic or an attempt to harness the current popularity of sovereigntism?

Chad’s government threatens to kick out US troops
edition.cnn.com/2024/04/18/pol…

My textbook with Khеda GA, “Beginner’s #Chechen ” is out in May with Hippocrene Books. Don’t forget to pre-order!

amazon.com/Beginners-Chec…

After five years, finally back in Pankisi valley, Georgia's lovely Chechen enclave

Phosphor is my favorite Ducornet. Or maybe tied with Fountains of Neptune. Actually, The Jade Cabinet is pretty great as well. As is Entering the Fire... Probably best to read them all. Really grateful for Dalkey Archive and Coffee House Press for championing this work.

First time reading Rikki Ducornet and loving it. If Leonara Carrington wrote on ecocide, colonial structures etc, you’d get something like Phosphor in Dreamland Dalkey Archive

I believe this is another “first” in the intersection of soc media and modern war - an attack so slow and telegraphed that IRCG hypebeasts and armchair OSINT analysts have literally hours to discuss it before it hits anything.

If you’re a fan of Bernhard, then I highly recommend these two from Mark Haber and Horacio Castellanos Moya. Coffee House Press and New Directions

Olivier J Walther A strategy of extraversion. The new article from Joe Gazeley is all about this dynamic in Mali during the early GWOT years (academic.oup.com/isq/article/68…)

Finally read that devastating review everyone is talking about.

Africa Corps announced a small #Niger deployment to build relationships. Our piece yesterday:

'Moscow doesn’t have an embassy in Niamey. Lacking strong proven connections, Russian dipl. and sec. officials feel they don’t have a good read on the junta.'

responsiblestatecraft.org/us-niger-russi…