Ferdaous Bouhlel and I have a new paper out. Enjoy // Jihadist taxation and order-making in Mali and Niger

just plainly evil.

These aren’t AI firms, they’re defense contractors. We can’t let them hide behind their models From Gaza to Iran, the pattern is the same: precision weapons, chosen blindness, and dead children. The cost of failing to regulate AI warfare is already too high

"(...) decisions in modern warfare are made by systems that cannot explain themselves, supplied by companies that answer to no one, in conflicts that generate no accountability and no reckoning. That is not a failure of the system. That is the system." www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

‘We’ll run out of food this week’: Israel’s Iran war brings new Gaza siege | US-Israel war on Iran | The Guardian Israel has closed all crossings into Gaza, threatening to plunge 2 million people into a new hunger crisis

‘We’ll run out of food this week’: Israel’s Iran war brings new Gaza siege

Virility politics in the Sahel | ISPI Gender is not just about women’s participation. It’s key to understanding political authority and authoritarian tendencies in the Sahel.

"Masculine authority becomes a substitute for effective governance", Ornella Moderan illustrates the parallels between the Sahel and contemporary geopolitical discourses www.ispionline.it/en/publicati...

The Demise of Conflict Studies - Dissent Magazine An entire industry specializing in mediation, peacekeeping, disarmament, and transitional justice has become largely obsolete.

Incredibly timely vivisection of what remains of 'Conflict Studies' by @yguichaoua.bsky.social and @wlacher.bsky.social "the field morally collapsed from within, by remaining overwhelmingly silent in the face of Western-backed mass killing in Gaza." dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...

Les chercheuses se mobilisent contre les violences sexistes et sexuelles sur le terrain. Mais quel rôle pourraient ou devraient jouer les institutions de l’ESR?
www.afsp.info/congres-lyon...

The geography of a storm Hurricane Melissa made clear what COP30 obscures: the climate crisis still follows the lines of empire.

My brilliant colleague Amina Adebisi Odofin pointing out how climate crises still follow the lines of empire. Pertinent too for the many Malian farmers I interviewed who deal with irregular rainfall and increasing heatwaves africasacountry.com/2025/11/the-...

23.09 #Mali
JNIM ambushed a Security Forces patrol between Sikasso and Bougouni.
Casualties are as yet unknown but other videos posted by the group show at least 01 soldier dead.

Manifestation nationale contre le génocide en cours à Gaza Retrouvez le groupe Amnesty International en face de la tour Luminus au 7 Boulevard Albert II 1210 Saint-Josse. ❌ Manifestation carton rouge ! (…)

7 Sep, Brussels

Manifestation nationale contre le génocide en cours à Gaza - Amnesty International Belgique

‘UAntwerpen toont dat hypocrisie niet alleen een optie is, maar een kunstvorm’ – MO* Ondanks een negatief advies van zijn eigen ethische commissie blijft UAntwerpen samenwerken met Tel Aviv University.

De Universiteit Antwerpen legt opnieuw zijn morele armoede bloot, vindt professor Gert Van Hecken. Ondanks een negatief advies van zijn eigen ethische commissie blijft de universiteit samenwerken met Tel Aviv University. www.mo.be/opinie/UAntw...

Job Alert! We're still looking for a **Post-Doctoral researcher for our Governing Jihad in Africa Project**, with a focus on violence and counter-violence:

- 3 years
- based in Paris/Bordeaux
- starting date: Jan 2026
- deadline: 15 Sept 2025

Vacancy (English): drive.google.com/file/d/1oLPb...

@marte-belde.bsky.social

Global Movement to Gaza Belgium **LES BELGES PARTICIPENT À LA FLOTTE INTERNATIONALE POUR GAZA**

Donate for a Thousand Madleens to Gaza chuffed.org/project/glob...

Israel's version of "if a tree falls in a forest, but there's no one around to hear it" seems to be "if we commit genocide but kill all the journalists who can report on it... is there really a genocide?" And the answer is always YES!

Or Paris 😁 Little birdy told me living in Bordeaux isn't mandatory

Reopening the call for a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship on jihad in Subsaharan Africa, with a later start date (January 2026) - French a plus but not a requirement... drive.google.com/file/d/1oLPb...

How much of Gaza is left standing? Analysis by independent researchers reveals the scale of the destruction

“The studies imply estimated [Gaza] life expectancy has fallen by more than 35 years, to ~ half the pre-war figure. In percentage terms…bigger than…during China’s Great Leap Forward; in absolute terms it is similar to the one in the Rwanda genocide” www.economist.com/interactive/...

I've got the audio version in the meantime, thanks anyway for the effort 🙏

Thanks!

Thanks! I think/hope the audio might be a perfect way to conclude my contextual chapter on Sikasso, bringing things "full circle" from the very first incursions in 2015, then already called the Katiba Khalid ibn Walid.

Thanks for sharing this. Do you have the audio? Curious to hear what the message says!

New images from JNIM in Sikasso

Thousand Madleens to Gaza Belgique Participer au succès de la délégation belge.Organiser une flottille d’une telle ampleur est un vrai défi, et nous avons besoin de vous. Que vous souhaitiez naviguer ou participer depuis la terre, il y...

The IOF can stop one boat bringing lifesaving food and formula to Gaza easily, and beat up the activists on board… but they can’t stop a 1000 boats! Donate to Thousand Madleens to Gaza Belgique chuffed.org/project/1424...

Opinion | The Death of Gaza in Slow Motion

This is not a genocide that can still be prevented. That threshold has already been crossed. What remains is a long trajectory of harm — one that will unfold long after Israeli military attacks are over and even if humanitarian and medical aid begins to flow freely.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/o...

Research in the Sahel has become extremely difficult. This doesn't stop excellent scholarship and reports from being published, authored by super bright people. Here's a flurry of recent, fascinating stuff 👇

Who defines danger, how, and why? I dive into how media, diplomats, NGOs, academics (yes, us too!) co-produce narratives of danger, all in the name of 'safety' but in fact perpetrating epistemic violence.

It is also a deeply personal reflection on my own positionality.

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

🚨 New article alert — 3 years in the making! 🚨

Excited to share this work based on my own experiences with ethnographic research on #jihad in #Mali. I explore how 'dangerous imaginaries' are constructed & how they shape what we can know about 'dangerous fields'

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

They were released and turned up in the Netherlands. So the Belgian NGO that is tracking their social media also filed a complaint in the Netherlands (they probably went there due to the Netherlands´ stronger support for the genocide)

Please consider applying!