@martinplaut.bsky.social
x.com
February 9, 2026 at 12:53 AM
South Africa's Zulu king has raised eyebrows by using a highly derogatory term for foreigners and saying they must all leave the country during a much-hyped speech that was supposed to have been aimed at calming anti-migrant feelings in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal
x.com/bbcworld/sta...
x.com/bbcworld/sta...
x.com
February 1, 2026 at 6:23 AM
South Africa's Zulu king has raised eyebrows by using a highly derogatory term for foreigners and saying they must all leave the country during a much-hyped speech that was supposed to have been aimed at calming anti-migrant feelings in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal
x.com/bbcworld/sta...
x.com/bbcworld/sta...
One person was killed and another injured in drone strikes in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region on Saturday, a senior Tigrayan official and a humanitarian worker said, in another sign of renewed conflict between regional and national forces
x.com/_hudsonc/sta...
x.com/_hudsonc/sta...
x.com
January 31, 2026 at 4:09 PM
One person was killed and another injured in drone strikes in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region on Saturday, a senior Tigrayan official and a humanitarian worker said, in another sign of renewed conflict between regional and national forces
x.com/_hudsonc/sta...
x.com/_hudsonc/sta...
Reposted
When talking about the smuggling of minerals from Democratic Republic of Congo, people tend to think in terms of coltan, cobalt and diamonds. In fact, the key mineral at the moment is gold. This is an important, overdue report. globalinitiative.net/analysis/tra...
Feeding the furnace: Tracing opaque gold supply chains and deals in Central Africa
The report examines the activities of Primera Gold DRC SA, a joint venture established in December 2022 between the Congolese government and a UAE-registered company, and which came to a close in 2024...
globalinitiative.net
January 28, 2026 at 5:23 PM
When talking about the smuggling of minerals from Democratic Republic of Congo, people tend to think in terms of coltan, cobalt and diamonds. In fact, the key mineral at the moment is gold. This is an important, overdue report. globalinitiative.net/analysis/tra...
Springsteen’s homage
x.com/springnuts_/...
x.com/springnuts_/...
Spring-Nuts on X: "From @springsteen : I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex https://t.co/LD5ubIL7tz" / X
From @springsteen : I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex https://t.co/LD5ubIL7tz
x.com
January 28, 2026 at 10:01 PM
Springsteen’s homage
x.com/springnuts_/...
x.com/springnuts_/...
Russia’s Africa Corps is entrenched in CAR, Sudan, and Mali, trading regime protection for gold, diamonds, timber, and other assets, frequently routed through the UAE. This pays for Putin’s war in Ukraine
x.com/philipobaji/...
x.com/philipobaji/...
x.com
January 24, 2026 at 6:43 AM
Russia’s Africa Corps is entrenched in CAR, Sudan, and Mali, trading regime protection for gold, diamonds, timber, and other assets, frequently routed through the UAE. This pays for Putin’s war in Ukraine
x.com/philipobaji/...
x.com/philipobaji/...
Reposted
Conflicts across Africa, such as in Sudan, the Horn of Africa or the Sahel, remain unresolved as international attention and mediation efforts are stretched or focused elsewhere. https://bit.ly/4bwFXVi
Africa in 2026: Global uncertainty demands regional leadership
Africa can no longer rely on intermittent international attention to safeguard peace, democracy and economic resilience.
www.chathamhouse.org
January 20, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Conflicts across Africa, such as in Sudan, the Horn of Africa or the Sahel, remain unresolved as international attention and mediation efforts are stretched or focused elsewhere. https://bit.ly/4bwFXVi
Reposted
Since Congress passed a law requiring Trump to release the Epstein Files, Trump has:
- Tried to start a war with NATO over Greenland
- Threatened to use the military to suppress free speech in Minnesota
- Illegally withheld 99% of the files and heavily redacted the ones that were released
- Tried to start a war with NATO over Greenland
- Threatened to use the military to suppress free speech in Minnesota
- Illegally withheld 99% of the files and heavily redacted the ones that were released
January 18, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Since Congress passed a law requiring Trump to release the Epstein Files, Trump has:
- Tried to start a war with NATO over Greenland
- Threatened to use the military to suppress free speech in Minnesota
- Illegally withheld 99% of the files and heavily redacted the ones that were released
- Tried to start a war with NATO over Greenland
- Threatened to use the military to suppress free speech in Minnesota
- Illegally withheld 99% of the files and heavily redacted the ones that were released
The map that cost 1 million lives
martinplaut.com/2026/01/17/t...
martinplaut.com/2026/01/17/t...
The map that cost 1 million lives
This map – marked “Top Secret” – was to result in one of the worst atrocities in history: the slaughter that occurred when India was partitioned in 1947. The map was drawn u…
martinplaut.com
January 18, 2026 at 6:36 PM
The map that cost 1 million lives
martinplaut.com/2026/01/17/t...
martinplaut.com/2026/01/17/t...
"An extraordinary and uncomfortable book": Baroness Hayter reviews 'Unbroken Chains'
www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...
www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...
'An extraordinary and uncomfortable book': Baroness Hayter reviews 'Unbroken Chains'
Without minimising Europe’s shameful role, this chilling book exposes the extent of the historic slave trade within Africa and across the Middle Ea...
www.politicshome.com
January 16, 2026 at 9:42 AM
"An extraordinary and uncomfortable book": Baroness Hayter reviews 'Unbroken Chains'
www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...
www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...
Why Trump is keen to crack down on American Somalis
martinplaut.com/2026/01/12/h...
martinplaut.com/2026/01/12/h...
How Minnesota Somalis came to be in Trump’s crosshairs
There is no doubting that Somalis in the Minnesota largest city, Minneapolis, are in the firing line. As the New York Times reported: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News that “hun…
martinplaut.com
January 12, 2026 at 10:26 PM
Why Trump is keen to crack down on American Somalis
martinplaut.com/2026/01/12/h...
martinplaut.com/2026/01/12/h...
Another Blow to Media Freedom in Ethiopia. Attacks on Deutsche Welle Underscore Broader Threat to the Independent Press www.hrw.org/news/2025/12...
Another Blow to Media Freedom in Ethiopia
In the latest crackdown on media freedom in Ethiopia, Deutsche Welle (DW) said that the Ethiopian Media Authority had permanently suspended two of its journalists.
www.hrw.org
December 16, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Another Blow to Media Freedom in Ethiopia. Attacks on Deutsche Welle Underscore Broader Threat to the Independent Press www.hrw.org/news/2025/12...
Reposted
In Unbroken Chains: A 5,000-Year History of African Enslavement by @martinplaut.bsky.social, ’the former BBC World Service Africa editor places the now well-documented horrors of the transatlantic slave trade in a wider historical context.’ — Michela Wrong
November 6, 2025 at 5:54 PM
In Unbroken Chains: A 5,000-Year History of African Enslavement by @martinplaut.bsky.social, ’the former BBC World Service Africa editor places the now well-documented horrors of the transatlantic slave trade in a wider historical context.’ — Michela Wrong
Poor Wales!
November 29, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Poor Wales!
US calls for international action to cut weapons supply to Sudan paramilitaries
November 13, 2025 at 9:44 PM
US calls for international action to cut weapons supply to Sudan paramilitaries
Reposted
I contributed a few suggestions to the Spectator's yearly roundup of recommended reading: www.spectator.co.uk/article/book...
Books of the Year II – further recommendations from our regular reviewers
Philip Hensher I have a theory that Mick Herron’s Slow Horses novels are an ingenious variation on Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays. If, in a future episode, River Cartwright ascends to his kingdom renoun...
www.spectator.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 11:56 AM
I contributed a few suggestions to the Spectator's yearly roundup of recommended reading: www.spectator.co.uk/article/book...
Sudan capital hit by drone attacks a day after RSF agrees to truce - reports
November 7, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Sudan capital hit by drone attacks a day after RSF agrees to truce - reports
Oh dear. Falling apart before it even gets going! The far-left disunited
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Your Party to launch legal action against three of its ‘rogue’ founders, sources say
Exclusive: Leftwing party seeks to recover donations and data from company run by Andrew Feinstein, Jamie Driscoll and Beth Winter
www.theguardian.com
October 29, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Oh dear. Falling apart before it even gets going! The far-left disunited
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...