As for the rest, I prefer to avoid controversy and leave everyone to their own opinion.
Posted by: Sebgo | Apr 27 2026 17:53 utc | 201

 
Thanks Sebgo for your benign approach. I have experienced a thing or two when it comes to general attitudes among white westerners  towards “others” and how extremely irritating it can be and also how utterly impossible it can be to confront it without being savaged.

Posted by: Avtonom | Apr 27 2026 18:11 utc | 204

Second item is the location of the Uranium sources. (Not sure whether these are mines or open pit mining).
Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 27 2026 18:54 utc | 205
 
The main Uranium deposits are I think in Niger. I’m not finding anything as yet on the French, weather they have joined the Americans or running their own separate operation.
 
Prior to the Russians being invited in to Mali and the French booted out, there was rumors the Americans where trying to muscle in and take over from the French. How much was in that I don’t know. Requires some further research on that period.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 27 2026 19:05 utc | 206

MLP | Apr 27 2026 19:27 utc | 207
 
Thanks. 
Have been thinking about the American and the French in the Sahel a bit more. That stuff with the Americans trying to muscle in on Mali was in the time of Hollande. When ISIS and Syria were the thing, there was a spate of ‘Islamic State’ attacks in France the last two very bad with 100 or so dead in each.
 
France had not joined the US UK coalition of the killing for the destruction of Syria. With that last very bad attack, Holland announced that france would look at joining the Russians to fight the extremists in Syria. He was called into the whitehouse and Obama had a stern word with him. France’s name was added to list of the coalition of the killing. France then did a couple of bombing runs on some tents in Syria as a token gesture and went home. But with their name added to the coalition of the killing, Islamic state attacks in France stop-ped like a light switch had been flipped off.
 
Islamic extremism is a love child of the CIA and Saudi’s but the Brits are very much in there. In Syria, the Brits and Turkey operated the al Qaeda groupings and the Americans ran ISIS.
Attacks by the American Saudi love child on Mali began when France still controlled Mali. Now Macron the banker boy runs the French show and France lost access to Sahel resources during Macron’s time. Where France is at now regarding the Sahel, running their own operation or working with the anglo american forces, I have no idea as yet.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 27 2026 19:47 utc | 208

Posted by: MLP | Apr 27 2026 19:27 utc | 207
 
It was in Niger, it was an american military-political delegation.
 
And the final straw was when an American military officer started a presentation with maps to “explain” to the Nigerien generals what was happening in their own country.
 
A bit like our armchair generals on MoA who presume to explain to the locals what’s going on in their own country, or Africa Corp, which pretends to replace the Malian authorities in conducting a nation wide assessment.
 
The Americans thus foolishly lost their two drone bases in Niger.
But today it’s Africa Corp that risks finding itself in the crosshairs if they don’t change their approach.
 
Their current attitude isn’t very different from that of the French: arrogant, possessive, denying any local capabilities, and automatically treating them like underlings.
 
It is not going to last long.

Posted by: Sebgo | Apr 27 2026 20:45 utc | 210

Posted by: MLP | Apr 27 2026 20:48 utc | 211
 
The incident occurred shortly after the coup in Niger, while the French were being asked to leave.
 
Niger was the last of the three AES countries to experience a coup, so it came after all three.
This shows that Westerners learn nothing from past experiences.
 
The Americans’ desire to replace the French everywhere is real, and I’m not talking about yesterday, but now.
Today, hardly a few weeks go by without Trump sending a mission to an ESA country to try to regain a foothold without the French, who know it.
 
We don’t know if it’s geographical positioning, the obsession with dislodging Russia, or resource management that’s the main driving force, but we can say they’re persistent, and persistent.
 
The main reason why it’s not working isn’t ideological, but practical.
They ask for a lot and offer very little in return, mostly threats. For people in our existential crisis situation, threats aren’t very effective.
 
But there’s always a risk that our leaders will give in, primarily for economic reasons, because the situation is extremely difficult.
And perhaps also because of mistakes made by the Russians, or rather, their local representatives.

Posted by: Sebgo | Apr 27 2026 21:04 utc | 212

Posted by: General Factotum | Apr 20 2026 9:35 utc | 166
From previous OT.
Thanks for the reply, and apologies for the late reply.
I had thought that trisecting could be done, but it just required an infinite series of bisectors. I wish I’d physically seen his prototype template, as I’ve no idea how he approached the problem.
 
I’ve been head down studying more geology and mineralogy. Needed a break from the doomscrolling. If it becomes affordable, I’d like to go back to university to study geological dating and dendrochronology. I’m absolutely fascinated by the subject.
 
Back to the past OT to catch up…

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Apr 27 2026 23:29 utc | 214

Posted by: james | Apr 27 2026 0:29 utc | 106
 
Thanks for the Helmer piece.
Australian media…what is not owned by arch-zionist stooge, Murdoch, has its agenda for the day largely set by Murdoch.
 
There are many here that absolutely hate all things Muslim, although a generalised parochial racism towards all Middle Easterners is also evident. It is a theme only amplified by social media.
 
I’m nonplussed by what background people are from (I actually enjoy the overall aesthetic of mixed cosmopolitan society), but my annoying older brother is the opposite and hates pretty much all non-whites. However, it is not just white yobbos like my brother that are deeply racist, and many of Greek, Indian, Chinese, and other backgrounds, don’t like Muslims…or Indigenous Australians either, for that matter.
 
I’m fairly convinced that the so-called “elites” have very much decided to get wars over race and religious affiliation going in every country, and soon.
Why? Avoid the noose, usher in totalitarian police-state, exterminate all us “wrongthinkers”, privatise everything including government, and make off with all the loot. It’s what I would do if I was pure evil.
 

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Apr 28 2026 4:55 utc | 216

Recently it came out that the proxy forces in Niger have Pentagon/Musk starlink. I assume it will be the same with the proxies in the Sahel. Now this very coordinated attack across Mali.
 
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 26 2026 22:54 utc | 98

 
The satellite dish of AFRICOM in Stuttgart is as big an embarassment as Ramstein and the HQ in Wiesbaden are for my country. Pfui! 
 
As my aunt said a few years ago, when she was close to 100: “The yankees aren’t what they once were anymore”.  Ponder that one! The liberators are the fascists now? Or is fascism the new freedumbocracy? There’s for you the flavour of historial fatalism permeating much of West Germany’s Zeitgeist. The resultant agony of the masses in matters such as covid or the Ukraine war is simply obscene to witness.

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 28 2026 6:31 utc | 218

I must apologize. When you mentioned an “Islamic university,” I interpreted that you were looking for an old mosque that had once served as a university.
 
Otherwise, to my knowledge, if an Islamic university has recently opened in Burkina Faso, it is very recent, and that doesn’t fit your description of its age.
 
Posted by: Sebgo | Apr 27 2026 2:10 utc | 115

 
Accepted. My original information is an almost random factoid, though the source is usually right. It would’ve been a Madrasa going back to around C13th or so, perhaps discontinued today. Perhaps the location was mistaken. That age is quite something I guess. Islamic schools come with a focus on law, so imagine it would have had a formative influence and likely an interesting history there with many angles to spin off. But I didn’t find anything, you didn’t pick up on it all, so quite likely the info was wrong. But I’ll check back and report here. Apologies for hassling you with such mirages – but it at least tells us a little about typical Western concepts of African history: blank nothing.
 
This makes me sad, and I now want to throw a glass of marmelade at that satellite dish in Stuttgart. But more likely I’ll be eating it at home while conversing on facebook about optimal bread location in a 4-piece toaster for reduced loading runs, like my fellow countrymen enjoy these days (not entirely without reason, but yeah); even the wide awake and politically astute ones that I know, a type so rare that I spotted them from here over in Berlin and went on to establish a friendship, all based on a one-liner comment about 9/11 that just not anyone would have been able to do. “What do people expect, trust the media now after this?” – still an utterly brilliant observation.

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 28 2026 7:01 utc | 220

yuks, now I’ve ‘%§*d a good  joke by lazily conflating a false analog from German – the satellite dish must be jammed, of course. No military intelligence reports out before breakfast in the future for me.

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 28 2026 7:40 utc | 222

satellite dishes, is that a recipe?

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 28 2026 8:56 utc | 224

yuks, now I’ve ‘%§*d a good  joke by lazily conflating a false analog from German – the satellite dish must be jammed, of course. …
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 28 2026 7:40 utc | 222
 
*************
 
Persiflo wins the poetry prize through sheer natural ability! 

Posted by: General Factotum | Apr 28 2026 9:37 utc | 226

As our next topic I suggest fruit jam. Which one should I buy to work against satellite dishes, but also being tasty on toasted white bread?
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 28 2026 8:53 utc | 223
 
*******************
 
For taste, you couldn’t go past my signature fig jam (guaranteed and certified), made to my own ‘secret’ recipe… But it hasn’t (yet) been tested on disabling satellite dishes.
 
Two other possible options come to mind. Firstly, you could sabotage the Stuttgart dish using natural means in the form of trained pigeons that would covertly ‘deposit’ a layer of “white, dielectric material*” that will disrupt the signals.
 
* Description of pigeon shit from a more polite era…
 
https://time.com/archive/6845966/science-an-echo-from-the-creation/
 
Secondly, you could experiment with a weapon that was proven to degrade the functionality and reliability of the satellite dish at an Australian facility at Siding Springs.  While searching for unexplained perytons, these astronomers inadvertently seemed to confuse astronomy with gastronomy (but not astrology). Maybe you could just set up camp with a microwave oven rather than a toaster near the Stuttgart dish?
 
https://theconversation.com/how-we-found-the-source-of-the-mystery-signals-at-the-dish-41523
 
My own preference, still unproven, is the Full Moon – but I suspect that will only be effective on optical arrays?
 
 

Posted by: General Factotum | Apr 28 2026 10:06 utc | 228

Posted by: too scents | Apr 28 2026 10:20 utc | 229
 
DeepSeek will probably dominate OpenAI and other western/US LLMs.

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 28 2026 10:23 utc | 230

Possession is nine tenths of the Law.
 

China’s block of Meta-Manus deal spooks entrepreneurs and investors
 
Beijing willing to wield long regulatory arm to protect technology deemed Chinese
 
April 28, 2026 14:04 JST
 
HONG KONG/PALO ALTO, California — China’s move to block Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of Chinese-founded AI startup Manus will have a chilling effect not only on China-born entrepreneurs but on cross-border, technology-intensive deals, analysts say.
 
The decision to unwind the purchase was made by the National Development and Reform Commission, which is in charge of China’s economic development, including foreign investment. The commission did not say which laws or regulations Meta and Manus violated, but analysts say transfer of technology is likely the key focus of the case.
 
Since 2020, China has implemented stringent export controls on algorithms and artificial intelligence technologies in the name of national security. These measures are overseen by the Ministry of Commerce, which is responsible for the administrative management and registration of the import and export of cross-border technology, while the National Development and Reform Commission oversees technology-related matters in major foreign investment projects.
 
…
 
“Is Manus really that important from a technological standpoint? Not really,” Huang Minda, a Chinese lawyer, said on his personal WeChat account. “However, Manus chose to fully exit the Chinese market and relocate to Singapore. If such a move were encouraged by capital markets, or even became a model for overseas acquisitions by Chinese companies, it would clearly be unfavorable for China.”
 
Huang added: “The Chinese government’s position is already quite clear: if a company’s core technology is developed by Chinese individuals within China using domestic resources, then even if the company has been structured as entirely offshore from day one, and even if it has no formal employment contracts in China, its technology may still be considered Chinese and therefore subject to government regulation.”
 
…
 
“This [the Manus situation] is the exact concern we had when we first started the company and were deciding where to incorporate it,” said a San Francisco-based AI startup founder originally from China. “I always had the concern at the back of my mind that the regulators in China could come up with a new regulation that shut down my entire business overnight, especially with something like AI.”
 
The founder, speaking on condition of anonymity, had decades of experience working on both sides of the Pacific before starting his own venture. The company chose San Francisco as its base primarily to access deeper funding pools, while also benefiting from some distance from Beijing’s oversight, though it still aimed to tap into China’s talent and ecosystem rather than cut all its ties there.
 
more ==> https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology/artificial-intelligence/china-s-block-of-meta-manus-deal-spooks-entrepreneurs-and-investors

Posted by: too scents | Apr 28 2026 10:45 utc | 232

Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar……
 
pronounced Freier 🤣
 
It’s a Sin to Be a Sucker in Israel

Posted by: Exile | Apr 28 2026 10:47 utc | 234

Posted by: xiao pignouf | Apr 28 2026 6:57 utc | 219
 
Your proposal shows that you don’t understand the situation in the Sahel.
This is a attempt by western players to win when they have lost their gamble.
 
The West wanted a Kosovo in the Sahel, a proto-state with broad autonomy and the ability to contract without going through the central government.
 
To achieve this, they targeted local populations, promising them a life of luxury like in the Middle East, financed by royalties from resource exploitation, and encouraging secession.
 
There’s also the geographical position in the heart of West Africa, which allows for the monitoring and control of the entire region, including Algeria and Libya, using drones.
 
Finally, there’s the possibility of rapidly projecting forces into any country in the region if bases are established there.
 
Giving autonomy to this region means that already very poor countries would have to relinquish resources such as oil, gas, lithium, gold, and uranium.
Some of these resources have been known for decades but remain unexploited because they require significant capital investment.
 
These people prefer to enrich individuals and tribes rather than give states their rightful share of their own wealth.
They therefore want an emirate or something similar.
 
Since the Algiers Accords, they had already tried to introduce the ability for “autonomous” territories to sign contracts with third-party companies or countries without going through the central government, which was, of course, rejected.
 
This would also mean for all countries around being under the constant threat of air or ground intervention by foreign forces.
Nobody here wants that, neither the states concerned nor their neighbors.
 
Unless, of course, they have managed to convince some Westerners of good faith that these “sympathetic desert men” deserve their own independent state or region.
 
It is the failure of the broad autonomy project that has driven them to terrorism.
 
First, to force our weak states to call upon their military forces.
Then, they would accuse national armies of “genocide” and militarily isolate the area of interest to supposedly “protect threatened populations.”
This was intended to culminate in the establishment of a proto-state, like Kosovo, imposed by force.
 
The accusations of “genocide” were already well-established in the media, and Western armies were well-positioned.
It was the combination of the conflict in Ukraine and the coups that ruined their plans.
 
You must therefore understand that our countries are not now inclined to give them what they have been causing us grief for for nearly three decades.

Posted by: Sebgo | Apr 28 2026 11:00 utc | 236

Funny and cutting but I do wish all of this could go away because the world would be a better place to live without the internet, not just the trump family 
Posted by: Snowpea | Apr 28 2026 5:17 utc | 217

It goes away when you cease to give it your attention.
Stop watching TV, following celebrity gossip, Hollywood dramas (IRL and on screen) and especially social media.
Life gets better and you free up brain time for things more productive.

Posted by: ChatNPC | Apr 28 2026 12:02 utc | 238

a backyard garden in Hamburg ?

 
Oh yes indeed. We have few shrubs, a slowly maturing cherry tree, even a small patch of herbs, and in some years the neighbours are trying their hand on various vegs. There’s little sun between the houses, the results are so-so and the place is usually soaking wet and covered in brown foliage, as with all such specks here which don’t get good light exposure. I smile about add-on balcony structures on northern facades. A Gingko tree planted with funds from the municipal art fund was deracinated by an unsuspecting janitor, causing a scandal which is still reverberating. He also destroyed a big rosemary plant before the police stopped him, duly alerted after the Gingko desecration by paranoid onlookers; he then quickly left the scene, leaving a huge pile of cut plant detritus behind the garbage cans, and has not been seen since again. That building here is a former chocolate factory, renovated to nice standards after a fire two decades ago. Now that free energy well – its exact location is a secret I will not disclose here; we’ve enough hassle already with pot smoking kids and the spray painter street artists who will start talking about their mothers within five minutes if you happen to run across them in the act. I’ll just say that it’s smaller than many would assume.

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 28 2026 12:19 utc | 240

Posted by: General Factotum | Apr 28 2026 10:06 utc | 228
 
I had to go and look up Peryton, thinking it to be some hitherto unknown sub-atomic particle.
The truth is somewhat stranger and indeed leaves scope for a lot of fun with an old microwave oven – of which there are many millions.

Posted by: ChatNPC | Apr 28 2026 12:23 utc | 242

Free energy, along with free information.  “Information wants to be free.” The pressure on everyone to grind through a money job for most of one’s life would be almost zero. The money monsters just can’t have that happen. 
Posted by: GreatLakesObserver | Apr 28 2026 10:29 utc | 231
 
********************
 
You can all rest easy in the confidence that we do not need to rely on those notoriously untrustworthy money monsters.
 
The unshakable fundamental laws of physics will continue to guarantee that there is no free lunch – and no free energy to stuff up the natural order of things.

Posted by: General Factotum | Apr 28 2026 13:00 utc | 244

So in summary. 

 
 
Military Summary

 
 

@MilitarySummary
1h

The training of militants for a coup attempt in Mali, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence, was carried out with the involvement of Ukrainian and European mercenary instructors. Units of the African Corps prevented the attempted coup on April 25, which was carried out by illegal armed groups. The militants suffered losses of more than 2,500 people.
Apr 28, 2026 · 12:14 PM UTC

 
Confirms that the ‘Tuareg’ are the neo-proxy fascist ukropians of the Sahel. Just as the Kurds and Uighers have been used as well. 
 
We ain’t seen nothing yet – wait till the Great Africa War is fully unleashed – what do we suppose the millions of young Africans, captured or born and raised as Child Soldiers, who were brought to USA are being trained for?
 
(clue:  so it can’t be accused of being a ‘white imperial invasion’ in the eyes of the multipolar global south).
 
 
 

Posted by: DunGroanin | Apr 28 2026 13:30 utc | 246

Posted by: General Factotum | Apr 28 2026 13:00 utc | 244
 
Youtube has many tinkerers who dismantle microwaves for their coils and capacitors.
AIUI, overriding the door interlocks is rather trivial…dyor.

Posted by: ChatNPC | Apr 28 2026 14:10 utc | 248

Posted by: lachaussette | Apr 28 2026 14:14 utc | 249
 
Those were the days – maybe their grandkids are busy setting fires at Fairford, I hope.
I know somebody who was at Greenham Common, she a little old lady now with a rescue spaniel :-0
Apparently the police put out the fires with a blue watering can. Her Majesty’s Finest and all that.

Posted by: ChatNPC | Apr 28 2026 14:21 utc | 250

Posted by: ChatNPC | Apr 28 2026 14:21 utc
 
I jest of course about the microwave, inverse square and all that. 😂
 
I’ll look out for the little old lady and the spaniel though..

Posted by: lachaussette | Apr 28 2026 14:39 utc | 252

Posted by: xiao pignouf | Apr 28 2026 12:21 utc | 241
 
Sorry, I didn’t want to be unpleasant.
I am just tired to hear this about “autonomy”.
 
They already have autonomy since before the french army arrival, and they got even more with the Algiers’ accords
 
It is just that they think it’s not enough,  not the kind of autonomy resembling independence they want.
 
I tend to think everybody knows this, thus my reaction. My bad to.

Posted by: Sebgo | Apr 28 2026 14:42 utc | 254

some here might really enjoy this… 
 
Taking back our nation(s)

Brad Mehldau

Apr 28, 2026

Posted by: james | Apr 28 2026 15:24 utc | 256

Well, well, well.
 
Turns out AI code is slop too:
 
Dario Amodei, hype, AI safety, and the explosion of vibe-coded AI disasters
 
Who could have possibly foreseen?
 
But then if you ‘on-board’ people instead of hiring them, you get what you deserve.

Posted by: ChatNPC | Apr 28 2026 16:54 utc | 258

Posted by: xiao pignouf | Apr 28 2026 16:19 utc | 257
 
I fing the English version as well. Make your own mind.
 
https://www.un.org/en/pdfs/EN-ML_150620_Accord-pour-la-paix-et-la-reconciliation-au-Mali_Issu-du-Processus-d'Alger.pdf
 

Posted by: Sebgo | Apr 28 2026 17:06 utc | 260

The Africa corps report on the attacks in Mali, they said training was provided by Ukraine and Europeans. I forget their exact wording. Zelensky is an MI6 asset but that report makes me wonder if it is the French rather than the Brits that are behind the Ukrainians in Africa – using them as cover/proxies ?
The current war on the world is an Anglo war but after that, France/Macron and Germany’s Merz look to be the two main warmongers.
 
Sebgo, you recent posts on Mali are quite good. Filling in a few gaps or detail in what I have been able to find.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 28 2026 17:26 utc | 262

Exile | Apr 28 2026 18:25 utc | 263
 
The Gay Paree of Macron olympics…. No Nigerian uranium, no Russian or Persian Gulf oil so I guess its the de-energized Gay Paree.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 28 2026 18:46 utc | 264

A bit of a calm while the Americans lich their wounds after the stoush with Iran.  But this major proxy attack on Mali… WWIII is spreading. European involvement according to Africa Corps?
 
A commentator here the other day said his son had been flying Dutch and I think German troops. The French having their own transport aircraft at the time.
The Ukrainians – who are they fronting for. The British the French or the Americans?
 
Sebgo, your comments on Mali were good, informative. Your comments on doings in the wider world I am generally in agreement with, just a few I have a different opinion but no matter.
 
It was a while ago I looked up the political parties in Burkina Faso. A myriad of them. The place would be like a squabbling hen house.
 
Scroll down the page to ‘Other Parties’ then under that is ‘Other Alliances’.  It was 2024 Traore canceled elections, Jan 2026 he banned political parties.  Traore is only the second leader to have booted out the French. He has shut down the squabbling hen house. By every metric, The prosperity and the lives of the people of Burkina Faso has improved under his leadership.
 
You were obviously politically active in your country and appeared here around the time all political parties were banned which you tried to hide. Honesty is the only thing that counts for me. If somebody is obviously hiding something, I wonder what and why they are hiding it.Apart from that, on what is occurring in the wider world, we would be in agreement on most things.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 28 2026 20:15 utc | 266

No Nigerian Niger …? uranium. Ok wordsmiths, how is that one done. If somebody or something is from Nigeria, it is Nigerian. If someone or something is from Niger, is it also Nigerian?

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 28 2026 19:01 utc | 265
 
The best I can come up with, as a native English speaker is:
 
Nigeria – pronounced as Ny-jury-a
 
Nigerian – Ny-jury-an
 
Niger – Nee-zhair
 
Nigerien – Nee-zhiar-ee-ahn
 
with a French-style ahn intonation for the “en” in Nigerien, as compared to “an” intonation in Nigerian.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 28 2026 20:41 utc | 268

i too have benefited from sebgos commentary on mali and etc… thanks sebgo…
Posted by: james | Apr 28 2026 20:57 utc | 269
 
**************
 
I too have benefitted from an outbreak of peace.
 
Thank you, gentlemen – and “Globalize the Peace”!!

Posted by: General Factotum | Apr 28 2026 21:11 utc | 270

[Haven’t got the hang of the new formatting, trying again (with small addition)]
Did you follow this about the latest assassination attempt?  Democrats (and others?) are calling the ‘LA School teacher with a shotgun’ incident a False Flag.  Mossad and the CIA themselves luv to instigate False Flags. (FF) 
Mossad and the CIA would therefore want to prove that all claims of False Flags are false. (FFF)
 
They would do this by creating examples of FFF.
 
That is, they would want to create a provably false False Flag claim.
 But, as it was manufactured by Mossad/CIA, it isn’t really what it seems, it is faked, that is, false.
 This would give us an ＦＦＦＦ.  
(above reasoning found originally elsewhere on the internet)

Posted by: Otto Penn | Apr 28 2026 23:32 utc | 272

Posted by: james | Apr 28 2026 15:24 utc | 256
 
Thanks for that, james.  Lots to like there but I got pulled up short  that the post writer wants the EU to succeed, rather than going back to having individual sovereignty for each nation.  Also, what is wrong with the AFD?  I did just wonder why he singled these issues  out.    I decided I wouldn’t be having such a conversation as the one he’s chosen, since it seems to me the EU is going in the wrong direction right now and there are a lot of worries on that score.  That yes, positive vibes, but would for instance Martin Luther King be expressing support for the EU?  Would he diss AFD?  I could be missing the point, as he does say ‘eu’ and not ‘EU’, so his sense of it is more ‘we are all part of the human race’.  So yes, why can’t we all get along?  That’s a good message.
 
I’m too suspicious I guess.  It just made me wonder a bit, but as I said, lots to like.

Posted by: juliania | Apr 28 2026 23:58 utc | 274

arby | Apr 28 2026 23:43 utc | 273
 
This attack on Mali was exactly the same as the attack on Kazakhstan.
 
I forget the name or initials of the organization but that anti terrorist organisation in the ex Soviet states. There troops were flown in on Russian transport aircraft. About an hour before the Multi national force arrived, the coordinated attacks suddenly stopped and two business jets left which landed at Farnborough UK.
 
I haven’t as yet seen anything about the coordination center for this attack on Mali but there will be one. Perhaps outside Mali, perhaps within. My hearing is not good at the moment and it makes it difficult for me to listen to/concentrate on that video and what the bloke is saying.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 29 2026 0:40 utc | 276

Peter AU1,  He is pointing out that this attack as well as others like in Sudan and Mozambique are all part of the same war that is going on in Ukraine, Iran and other places around the globe. He thinks that the Sahel countries have to at least build militias with a few 100,000 armed men to guard against these attacks which will continue. 
  He says that the population of Mozambique is 96% roman catholic but as soon as oil was discovered ISIS shows up right in the area where oil was discovered.
 He says that Russia has its own problems and the AES has to be prepared to better defend itself and not rely on Russia to save them.  He feels that the assassination of the Mali defence minister and his family was an unforgivable screw up by Mali.
 Anywhere in Africa where China wants to invest in a mine or development ISIS shows up.
 
 There was more but that is the gist I think.

Posted by: arby | Apr 29 2026 0:54 utc | 278

Peter AU1, My hearing is a little bit messed up so I am now wearing bluetooth earphones when I watch these videos. That helps a lot.

Posted by: arby | Apr 29 2026 1:04 utc | 280

John Gilberts | Apr 29 2026 0:51 utc | 277
 
The build up to either proxy or direct war with China is moving fast now. It seems to have greatly sped up since the meeting of the KMT leader and Xi Jinping. I guess the Americans feel threatened by the threat of peace breaking out between the two China’s.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 29 2026 1:31 utc | 282

In defence of Helen Weals at 198, she didn’t deserve the responses she got to her post.  She had simply made the comment that she guessed that ” Maduro as a drug kingpin is like Trump as a great businessman.”  It was an apt comment, misread by the two who attacked her.
 
Helen, my apologies on their behalf.

Posted by: juliania | Apr 29 2026 2:46 utc | 284

@ Helen Weals | Apr 27 2026 17:32 utc | 198
 
ditto julianias comment to you @ 284…. i think the 2 posters didn’t properly understand you… 

Posted by: james | Apr 29 2026 5:15 utc | 286

cars are driving at a much slower pace, with a speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour (19 miles) on all streets but a few main arteries. 
Posted by: Exile | Apr 28 2026 18:25 utc | 263

That 30 km/h speed limit is generalized in every French village, town and city.

Posted by: xiao pignouf | Apr 29 2026 6:36 utc | 288

That 30 km/h speed limit is generalized in every French village, town and city.
 
Posted by: xiao pignouf | Apr 29 2026 6:36 utc | 288
 
—
 
We have quite enjoyed the reduction from 50 km/h to 30 on the street that passes in front of our house.  It makes the village more livable and reduces the needless traffic.
 

Posted by: too scents | Apr 29 2026 6:46 utc | 290

Also, what is wrong with the AFD?  
Posted by: juliania | Apr 28 2026 23:58 utc | 274

Hello, I’m not exactly sure about the meaning of your question but I will take it at face value.
 
What’s wrong with the AFD is what’s wrong with National Rally in France as well as with any such political party in the world : they’re far right.
 
It means the basics of their ideology is racism, i. e. hatred (for anyone different than them). That’s all.
 
They call themselves nationalists or patriots but they’re corrupted, they embezzle public fonds in their own pockets and they’ll serve the oligarchy.
 
AFD wants to rehabilitate nazism, the French far right dreams to do so with Pétain.
 
And also, they’re zionists, which clearly demonstrate there’s absolutely no contradiction between zionism and antisemitism.
 
That’s why most of their sympathizers are still ashamed to publicly admit they are. It’s like having an STD.
 
Even though the media are trying very hard to normalize them.

Posted by: xiao pignouf | Apr 29 2026 7:06 utc | 292

Posted by: Lavieja | Apr 29 2026 7:40 utc | 293
 
I’m sorry I can’t answer. I’m the first to admit I don’t understand what Russia is doing in the Sahel region of Africa.
 
We lobbied our authorities for military cooperation with Russia for several reasons, the main one being that we had no confidence in the West to help us end terrorism.
 
However, after three to five years, depending on the country, we feel like we’re back to square one.
The problem of terrorism seems to have become secondary, to the detriment of other things.
 
Wagner/Africa Corp, with just a few hundred men, behaves as if they were in conquered territory and had recolonized our countries, and the Russian government says nothing.
 
Terrorists are only mentioned when there’s a spectacular attack, like last weekend.
Otherwise, the rest of the time, they claim they’ve been defeated and that the economic and security situation in our countries has improved thanks to them, which is false.
 
One of these lying cheerleaders even wrote in this thread that the “population’s standard of living had improved”, we don’t really know where he got this fairy tale.
 
We know that Russia has other priorities than sending troops to fight in Africa.
That’s actually the role of the Africans themselves if they have access to weapons for that purpose.
 
What’s incomprehensible is why official Russian communication remains silent when Africa Corp propagandists claim that they are the ones defending our countries, which is impossible.
They have fewer than 1,000 troops in the three ESA countries, which is 2.5 times the size of Ukraine.
 
And also, why do they falsely claim to have lifted these countries out of poverty, which is certainly not the role of a private military company, or even of Russia.
 
So, I repeat, I don’t understand what Russia is doing. American intentions, on the other hand, are very clear.
 
*Dislodge the Russians or even coexist if necessary, but do not “cede ground” to the Russian army and Chinese investors.
*Resume their drone flights to cover the entire region.
*Prepare the ground for regime change in these countries and for forces prepositioned in bases.
*Facilitate the environment for American investment.
 
It’s clear, it’s understandable, and one can agree with it or oppose it.

Posted by: Sebgo | Apr 29 2026 8:29 utc | 294

ditto julianias comment to you @ 284…. i think the 2 posters didn’t properly understand you… 
Posted by: james | Apr 29 2026 5:15 utc | 286
 
If one of those posters was me then yes, maybe I didn’t understand her. I think I did but definitely wanted to make it clear what I thought between Trump and Maduro. I think I understood that Maduro failed as a drug lord like Trump fails at business or something to that effect. To me, the names Trump and Maduro should not even be mentioned in the same sentence.

Posted by: arby | Apr 29 2026 11:46 utc | 296

@ Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 28 2026 17:26 utc | 262
 
“makes me wonder if it is the French rather than the Brits that are behind the Ukrainians in Africa”
A short answer? 
 
The Foreign Legion
 
What is there to wonder about the French mercenaries and natzo ‘consultants’ who have been doing their ‘Wild Geese’ PMC fuckwittery at an increasing pace since the 80’s in Africa.
 
The connection TO Ukraine is how the banderist natzio provocateurs got an SloMO instead of a ‘full scale’ invasion.
 
That was to extend RF forces and attrite them!
 
Didn’t quite work that way did it?
 
Azovstal was the first defeat. The destruction of the counter attack to the coast to take Crimea by the sea , by the genius Surovikin Lines was the point that attempt to take Crimea failed. Their Stalingrad.
 
 
Remember the frantic attempts to get some vips out? 
 
 
There have been many credible reports of French foreign legionnaires special forces and generals as well many yanks, Brits, Canadans etc who have been destroyed in Ukraine no matter how deep they hid or how far from the front lines.
 
 
Bakhmut was a genius use of the traitor Prigozhin who had obviously been turned with the Wagner ‘successes’ in Africa with his hand picked prisoner ‘dirty dozen .,. The mega HQ he built in Moscow; he got Bakhmut to increase his position and from which he attempted the coup trek to Moscow like a moder day Julius Caesar crossing the rubicon to take the Republic.
 
 
The multipolar strategic partners were awake to that, they took the gift horse of bakhmut and then waited for the traitors to open climb out … that was the end of the natzios grande secret armee. And Wagner. Surovikin was sent to sort them out and leave a Afrika Corps that is delivering the defeat upon the hegemons mercenaries.
 
 
There is no surprise about the Ancien regime and every other Anglo European and 5 eyes and many satraps are ALL involved in every war of their banker masters.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Apr 29 2026 12:28 utc | 298

Posted by: james | Apr 29 2026 5:13 utc | 285
 
Thanks for your two comments, james.  I only saw later your explanation of the poster’s background, wouldn’t have been so picky if I’d known it.  He wrote a very fine piece otherwise than on those two issues so one could see where his heart lay knowing his musical expertise.  And being a musician, he would have appreciated the one thing the EU has going for it, which is ease of movement between the different small countries, rather than any off-putting political issues.  There ought to be a practical way of combining the ‘ease of movement’ with more independence for the individual countries, eu in small lettering perhaps.  But they will have to sort that out for themselves; I have enough problems  this iffy spring weather (so do my roses – stop, wind!)

Posted by: juliania | Apr 29 2026 14:02 utc | 300