What gets missed when we understand humanitarianism mainly through formal aid systems? A special issue of @AfricaSpectrum explores #Somali #diaspora humanitarianism, guest edited by Nauja Kleist and RVI Executive Director Mark Bradbury. Read more: tinyurl.com/mtrenxhr 🧵 1/2

"Deep Unlearning: The Rise of AI and the Radicalization of a Tech Idealist" by Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app Watch the interview and then preorder the book! www.simonandschuster.com/books/Deep-U...

Deep Unlearning

Timnit Gebru, one of the fiercest voices in the world speaking truth to power, chronicles her journey as a refugee and Black woman in STEM—deliveri...

simonandschuster.com

Democracy Now!@democracynow.org · last mo.

"The internet represents hegemonic views. It does not represent [everybody] in the world." AI researcher Timnit Gebru untangles the deceptive nature of large language models like Chat-GPT, and explains how so-called "superintelligence" entrenches societal biases and inequality.

🔇 🔇 🔇 My book, Deep Unlearning, is now available for preorders! I don't know how people write so many books because this one took a lot out of me. It turns out, I had a lot to say 😂, with editors cutting out 50k of my words 🫣 ✴️ You can now preorder it at www.simonandschuster.com/books/Deep-U....

Our full 2026 control map report for #Somalia is still a ways out, but subscribers can now see an April 15 version of the map: www.polgeonow.com/2026/07/soma... #HornOfAfrica #conflicttracking #geopolitics #map #mapping #cartography #Somaliland #Puntland #AlShabaab #AlQaeda #Africa #geography

Map Only: Somalia in April 2026 (Subscription)

SSC-Khatumo is now North East state. See what areas it controls in the northern zone disputed with Somaliland.

polgeonow.com

Four and a half new minutes of Tom Waits shittalking a bug? PLUG IT STRAIGHT INTO MY VEINS

Tom Waits - "The Fly" (Lyric Video)

YouTube video by Tom Waits

youtube.com

Makes a whole lot more sense than voting for him undrugged

ProPublica@propublica.org · 2mo ago

Before the 2024 election, federal prosecutors were “full steam ahead” looking into how a prison gang in Puerto Rico gave drugs to inmates if they voted for a GOP gubernatorial candidate. After Trump’s election, the investigation evaporated. (Published May)

So facing criticism that it was obscuring US casualties in Trump’s war Hegseth’s pentagon further obscured US casualties in Trump’s war.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2mo ago

Facing criticism that it had minimized the number of U.S. soldiers killed and wounded in the war with Iran, the Pentagon changed the way it reports casualties. The changes separated the casualty numbers into two separate web pages, potentially making it more difficult to tally the war’s full toll.

Hearing a lot about the #Houthis in #Yemen and wondering what parts of the country they currently control? Very little has changed since we published our February map: www.polgeonow.com/2026/02/yeme... #IranWar #geopolitics #GulfOfAden #MiddleEast #chokepoints #RedSea #geography #maps MENAsky

Yemen Control Map & Report: Collapse of Separatist Control - Feb. 8, 2026 (Subscription)

Just weeks after appearing victorious, Yemen's southern separatists lost almost all their territory, including what they'd controlled for years prior.

polgeonow.com

he posted this while Hegseth was telling the senate today that the Iran war (he called it a war repeatedly) has been going on for 47 years with thousands of Americans killed

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo ago

Trump offers sales pitch for his war: "Afghanistan War: 20 years, 2,000 DEAD. Iraq War: 9 years, 4,600 DEAD. Vietnam War: 19 years and 5 months, 58,220 DEAD. Korean War: 3 years and 1 month, 36,574 DEAD. Venezuela War: 1 day, 0 DEAD. Iran Military Conflict: 4 months, 18 DEAD."

Now out in English: Why the current tensions between the TPLf in #Tigray and the federal government of #Ethiopia should not be treated as a purely local conflict, as they may escalate in the region, and how Europe can contribute to conflict #prevention. www.swp-berlin.org/en/publicati...

The Tigray Region in the Grey Zone between War and Peace

The Conflict Between the TPLF and the Ethiopian Government Has the Potential to Escalate beyond the Country’s Borders

swp-berlin.org

Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP)@swp-berlin.org · 2mo ago

Growing tensions in Ethiopia between Addis Ababa and the Tigray region: Germany and the EU should advocate for crisis prevention to avoid further escalation in the Red Sea region, writes @gerritkurtz.bsky.social @swp-mea.bsky.social www.swp-berlin.org/en/publicati...

Q: If the city council passes this pay raise bill, you've said you won't accept it. Why? Mayor Mamdani: I will not accept a pay raise. I haven't knocked on anyone's door in New York City and they've said their concern is that the mayor makes too little.

Latest post looks at the end of the ceasefire in the Iran War. Both sides seek to control the Strait of Hormuz but neither can do so. The economic risks for both are growing as long as it stays closed. (£/free trail), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...?

Trump's War Won’t Go Away

Why has the fight over the Strait of Hormuz restarted? Can a permanent resolution be found?

open.substack.com

Catch @newamerica.org’s Peter Bergen discussing our forthcoming book “All the Presidents’ Wars” and insights on the failures of recent U.S. wars and strategy on NPR. www.npr.org/2026/07/15/n...

Defense Priorities cites New America’s data and my CTC article on Somalia strikes as part of an argument for reducing U.S. commitment to the war in Somalia. Whether or not one agrees, definitely a war that deserves public attention and debate. www.defensepriorities.org/explainers/e...

Exiting Somalia's war: End U.S. military operations - Defense Priorities

Key points The United States has been deepening its role in Somalia’s civil war. Despite having pulled U.S. troops out […]

defensepriorities.org

Another Somalia strike. And still the lull in strikes against ISIS in Somalia continues. This strike aligns with a press release for Danab ops w 7 militants reported killed. Also AFRICOM confirms to me the 7/8 strike was the last before this new 7/13 strike. www.newamerica.org/insights/ame...

Widely overlooked — the shaky truce that’s been in place in Yemen between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia since 2022 has looked like it might be in real jeopardy in the past two weeks

Yemen’s Fragile Peace in Peril as Houthis Accuse Saudi Arabia of Bombing

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen accused Saudi Arabia of striking Yemen’s main international airport in a dispute over an Iranian plane that tried to land in the capital, Sana.

nytimes.com

by @sagalashour.bsky.social 'For six months, #Somaliland looked unanimous.. On 29 June 2026, that stopped being true.. Six months of quiet doesn’t tell you what people think. It tells you what it currently costs them to say it.. Timur Kuran (1995) gave it a name: preference falsification' #Embassy

Sagal Ashour@sagalashour.bsky.social · 2mo ago

My latest substack piece on Somaliland political developments following the Jerusalem embassy decision. The Lid Comes Off: How Six Months of Manufactured Consensus in Somaliland Cracked in 72 Hours Link: sagalashour.substack.com/p/the-lid-co...

May 4th brought another strike in Somalia against ISIS. This is the 62nd declared strike this year and 63rd by our tally which includes one reported strike that AFRICOM has denied. www.newamerica.org/insights/ame...

Episode 2 of the Beyond Series explores digital connection and mobility across conflict-affected borderlands. @petechonka.bsky.social reflects on how social media shapes migration dreams and risks for youth in Hargeisa. Listen: tinyurl.com/BeyondXCEPT2 More about this project: xcept.riftvalley.net

Notice the #Puntland soldiers wearing prominent #Somalia flag patches. Despite not recognizing the federal govt in Mogadishu, Puntland still considers itself proudly part of Somalia. Last year we debunked misconceptions that it had declared #independence: www.polgeonow.com/2025/06/punt... #geography

Somalia Supplement: Did Puntland Declare Independence?

Puntland state may act like an independent country, but claims that it declared independence in 2024 are misleading.

polgeonow.com

Good video report from frontlines of still-ongoing #Puntland vs. #ISIS war in northern #Somalia by Bastien Renouil, @willswanson.bsky.social, and @artefr.bsky.social for @france24.com. (Apparently shot last Nov.) www.france24.com/en/somalia-i... #geopolitics #conflictzone #security #armedgroups

Reporters - Somalia, the Islamic State group's new front line in Africa

Jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group have established a stronghold in Somalia’s Puntland region, operating largely undisturbed across a vast mountainous area after setbacks in Iraq and Syria an...

france24.com

POTUS saying the quiet part out loud as he usurps Congress’s war powers to wage an unlawful and unnecessary conflict against Iran. Word games aside, congressional authorization was necessary and this war is flagrantly illegal.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6mo ago

Trump: "We have a thing called a war, or as they would rather say, a military operation. It's for legal reasons. Because as a military operation, I don't need any approvals. As a war you're supposed to get approval from Congress. Something like that. So I call it a military operation."

It was not hard to forecast this hybrid, very low-key wind of change — we predicted how her government was gonna be in this 2023 issue www.tandfonline.com/toc/rita20/1...

Contemporary Italian Politics

Politics in Italy 2023. From Mario Draghi to Giorgia Meloni: Domestic Political Change and Management of International Crises. Volume 15, Issue 2 of Contemporary Italian Politics

tandfonline.com

Dr Firehiwot Sintayehu reflects on how women in academia remain underrepresented and often excluded from key research and publishing spaces. As part of the lead-up to #SHECONF 2026, #EWNET is featuring voices from across the network. Conference details: riftvalley.net/events/sheco...

Quillette magazine article stealing our Sudan control map. It's credited to avoid plagiarism, but using it without our permission is still (illegal) copyright violation, and a well-known publication should really know better. #Sudan #geopolitics #geography #copyright #iplaw #maps #mapping

Quillette@quillette.bsky.social · 6mo ago

While Iran, Israel, and Gaza have dominated headlines, a bloody power struggle among Sudanese warlords grinds on

The original map and original accompanying article on our site: www.polgeonow.com/2024/06/suda...

Sudan Control Map & Timeline: Former Rebels Join Fight - June 2024

Sudan: Who controls what in June 2024? The best Sudan war map online, thoroughly researched to accurately show both RSF and rebel control.

polgeonow.com

AFRICOM has announced its 45th strike in Somalia of 2026. www.newamerica.org/insights/ame...

Nice piece from @newhumanitarian.bsky.social summarizing what's happened in #Tigray since 2022 ceasefire and what scenarios look likely in the near future among fears of renewed #Ethiopia-#Eritrea war. www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/202... #HornOfAfrica #geopolitics #geography #conflict

The growing threat of conflict in the Horn of Africa

With no sign yet of a diplomatic off-ramp, this analysis explores the conflict dynamics that could lead to war.

thenewhumanitarian.org

@fabrizio-coticchia.bsky.social & Mattia Mazziotti di Celso 'All’inizio del 2022, pochi giorni prima che la Russia invadesse l’Ucraina, il governo tedesco annunciò l’invio a Kiev di 5000 elmetti.' Poi la storia ha preso un'altra piega... www.ispionline.it/it/il-futuro...

Il Futuro del Riarmo | ISPI

In un contesto di minacce maggiori e minori garanzie degli Stati Uniti, l’Europa sta trasformando profondamente le proprie politiche di difesa. Le risorse mobilitate per il riarmo europeo sono signifi...

ispionline.it

By Hiraal Institute #Somalia’s security situation & developments over the past 5 years: - a pre- & a post-2022 offensive periods - from urban terrorism to rural insurgency - surge in monthly attacks against SNA Special Forces - surge in civilian targeting more @ hiraalinstitute.org/somalia-secu...