Image is of Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, with Sudanese Foreign Minister, Maryam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, at a news conference in Khartoum.
Russia, China, and the United States have been scrambling for Africa over the last year.
Lavrov has recently been to Mali, Mauritania, and Sudan. Last year, he went to South Africa, Eswatini, Angola, Eritrea, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, and the PRC. I'm actually having trouble finding consistent lists, he's been zipping around so much. He's reinforced ties with Sudan and their Russian naval base, and South Africa is holding naval exercises with China and Russia.
Qin Gang, the new Chinese Foreign Minister, has been to Angola, Gabon, Benin, Egypt, and Ethiopia - notably, the first diplomatic tour he's been on since being appointed FM, as others before him (in a 30 year tradition).
Meanwhile, Janet Yellen has gone to Senegal, Zambia, and South Africa. And, of course, Biden invited leaders from all across Africa to the US-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022.
Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Here is the archive of important pieces of analysis from throughout the war that we've collected.
February 13th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.
February 14th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.
February 15th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.
February 17th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.
February 18th's update is here on the site and here in the comments.
Links and Stuff
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can, thank you.
Resources For Understanding The War Beyond The Bulletins
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. I recommend their map more than the channel at this point, as an increasing subscriber count has greatly diminished their quality.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have good analysis (though also a couple bad takes here and there)
Understanding War and the Saker: neo-conservative sources but their reporting of the war (so far) seems to line up with reality better than most liberal sources. Beware of chuddery.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are fairly brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. The Duran, of which he co-hosts, is where the chuddery really begins to spill out.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent journalist reporting in the Ukrainian warzones.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Telegram Channels
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
Pro-Russian
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ Gleb Bazov, banned from Twitter, referenced pretty heavily in what remains of pro-Russian Twitter.
https://t.me/asbmil ~ Now rebranded as Battlefield Insights, they do infrequent posts on the conflict.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/riafan_everywhere ~ Think it's a government news org or Federal News Agency? Russian language.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ Front news coverage. Russian langauge.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of the really big pro-Russian (except when they're being pessismistic, which is often) telegram channels focussing on the war. Russian language.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine
Any Western media outlet that is even vaguely liberal (and quite a few conservative ones too).
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
Last week's discussion post.
I asked chatGPT to turn it into a script
FADE IN:
INT. BOJACK’S HOUSE - DAY
Bojack is sitting on his couch, watching TV. Todd enters the room.
TODD Hey, Bojack! Guess what I just did!
BOJACK What did you do?
TODD I accidentally joined the Wagner Group.
BOJACK What? How do you accidentally join a private military company?
TODD Well, I was looking for a new job, and I found this ad for a security company. I thought it was for like, a mall security guard or something. But when I got there, they gave me a gun and a uniform and told me I was going to Syria.
BOJACK Oh my god, Todd. You can't just join a private military company without knowing what you're getting into.
TODD I know, I know. But now I'm stuck here, and I don't know what to do.
BOJACK Okay, okay. Let me think. Maybe we can get you out of this.
CUT TO:
INT. WAGNER GROUP CAMP - DAY
Todd is standing in the middle of a desert camp, surrounded by heavily armed mercenaries. Bojack enters the camp, wearing a ridiculous disguise.
BOJACK Hey, I'm here to pick up my nephew.
MERCENARY What nephew?
BOJACK You know, Todd. The kid who accidentally joined your private military company.
MERCENARY I'm sorry, sir. We can't just release our personnel.
BOJACK Come on, man. He's just a kid. He didn't know what he was getting into.
MERCENARY I'm sorry, sir. Our policy is to detain anyone who enters our ranks, no matter their level of awareness.
Bojack looks defeated, but suddenly, a commotion breaks out in the camp. A group of Kurdish fighters have launched a surprise attack.
BOJACK Okay, let's go, Todd. We're getting out of here.
They run through the chaos of the camp, dodging bullets and explosions. Finally, they make it to the edge of the camp, where a group of Kurdish fighters are waiting in a truck.
BOJACK Go, go, go!
They jump into the back of the truck as it speeds away from the camp.
TODD That was crazy, man. I can't believe I almost got stuck in a private military company.
BOJACK Yeah, well, it's important to do your research before you apply for a job, Todd.
TODD I know, I know. I learned my lesson.
FADE OUT.
deleted by creator