It's just getting worse in Sudan. :-(

Worrying images from Sudan’s burgeoning civil war as generals clash in capital city of Khartoum.

El Obeid airport is toast. :-(



And things arn't getting any better in Myanmar either. :-(

Myanmar guerillas assassinate top election official and former lieutenant colonel.

It may have been broken by now though, just like those before.

Sudan truce begins after warring factions agree to 72-hour ceasefire.

Things could get even worse. :-(

UN warns of lab risk in Sudan as thousands flee in neighbouring countries.

..The announcement came as officials warned that more refugees could flee Sudan despite a ceasefire between rival forces.

The fighting has plunged Sudan into chaos, pushing the already heavily aid-dependent African nation to the brink of collapse.

Before the clashes, the UN estimated that one-third of Sudan's population — or about 16 million people — needed assistance, a figure that is likely to increase.

Nima Saeed Abid, the World Health Organization's representative in Sudan, expressed concerns that "one of the fighting parties" — he did not identify which one — had seized control of the central public health laboratory in Khartoum and "kicked out all of the technicians".

"That is extremely, extremely dangerous because we have polio isolates in the lab. We have measles isolates in the lab. We have cholera isolates in the lab," Dr told a UN by video call from Port Sudan.

"There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health lab in Khartoum by one of the fighting parties."

The expulsion of technicians and power cuts in Khartoum means "it is not possible to properly manage the biological materials that are stored in the lab for medical purposes," WHO said.

The lab is located in central Khartoum, close to flashpoints of the fighting that pits Sudan's military against the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group that grew out of the notorious Janjaweed militias implicated in atrocities in the Darfur conflict.....

Failed nation descends into barbarism. :-(

Gang members burned alive on the streets as Haiti descends into total anarchy.

Is his continuing loss of general support telling on Erdogan's health?

Turkish president Erdogan falls ill during live TV interview.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party backs Erdogan’s rival for president.

Erdogan cancels 3rd day of election appearances.

1 way or another it looks like Recep's days of double dealing, persecutions and suppression are coming to an end.

To the original question in the title. The human species was wired to be just a little too violent and no matter how hard some of us try the beast in us tends to dominate.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

If you look at the country of France, they clash only because of a pension reform where people could get less for not any more.

I think it is a shame for only such a thing happening, because it could hide other problems that could be existing in society.

Therefore that people could end up being a mob when rioting, and the other could still be a welfare reform, here instituted by the President.

I was in Paris for the night of 1st May. Right by the train station - no worries, no fighting, nice walk, nice meal.

All the fighting was on the TV this morning - over 400 police injured, one seriously.

Those Myanmar terrorists have picked a target. :-(

Indonesian president condemns 'shootout' involving ASEAN officials in Myanmar.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has condemned a "shootout" involving Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) officials delivering humanitarian aid in Myanmar, and called for an end to violence in the strife-torn country.

It was unclear who was behind the incident which, according to Indonesian foreign ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah, took place in Hsi Hseng township in the western Shan State and targeted officials from the ASEAN humanitarian assistance centre.

Myanmar has been trapped in a spiral of violence and economic turmoil since the military in 2021 overthrew an elected government and launched a brutal campaign to crush dissent.

Intensifying military attacks and clashes with armed resistance movements across the country have prompted calls, including from Myanmar's ASEAN neighbours, to end all hostilities and allow access to humanitarian aid.

Jokowi, as the Indonesian president is popularly known, did not give details of what he called a "shootout" but said it would not deter efforts by Indonesia and ASEAN to push for peace in Myanmar.....

Myanmar's military terrorists are now using a Russian tactic.

Myanmar's military used fuel-air explosive in airstrike that killed 160 people, Human Rights Watch says.

2 divisive leaders are now facing hurdles to stay in power.

Earthquakes and the economy leave Turkey's Erdogan facing his toughest election battle in years.

Modi's Hindu nationalist party loses India's Karnataka state in polls ahead of national vote.

Another "Donny like" leader is under pressure to end his country dividing and violence fueling rule.

Tens of thousands rally against Serbia's populist leader, warn of protest 'radicalization'.

Tens of thousands of people rallied again in downtown Belgrade on Friday, demanding the resignation of Serbia's populist president and warned of “radicalization” of the peaceful protest if their demands aren't met — all in the wake of two mass shootings that stunned the nation.

The protesters carried posters of President Aleksandar Vucic and his close ally Prime Minister Ana Brnabic dressed in black-and-white striped prison uniforms.

They chanted slogans “Vucic Go Away” and protest leaders said their demands, which include the resignation of top security officials and the withdrawal of national broadcasting rights to pro-government TV stations that promote violence, must be met by the end of the next week.

They said that if their demands were not fulfilled by the deadline, the peaceful protests will assume a new, more radical form. They didn't reveal what the “radicalization” of the protests could include.

Belgrade and some other Serbian cities have seen mass demonstrations since two deadly shooting rampages in early May that killed 18 people and wounded 20 others, including elementary school pupils. The protest on Friday was the sixth in the Serbian capital since the killings.....

The writing was on the wall. :-(

Wagner's fearsome mercenaries were forced out of Ukraine after a failed mutiny. Many are now unleashing horrors in Mali.

On a Friday in June, the government of Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa about the size of the Northern Territory, made a surprising request.

They wanted the roughly 13,000 UN peacekeepers stationed there to pack up and leave as soon as possible.

For a decade, peacekeepers from 55 nations have been deployed in Mali to help stabilise the country and act as a bulwark against extremist insurgency in the lawless north.

But since 2021, Mali's leaders have increasingly turned their backs on Western help and instead enlisted mercenaries from the Wagner Group, the shadowy Russian paramilitary outfit led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.

In Timbuktu, a town bordering Mali's vast, dry heartland, Wagner men patrol busy streets and marketplaces shoulder to shoulder with Malian soldiers.

"They are always scary. Whether you like it or not, you have to submit to their laws," said an interpreter working for the UN in Timbuktu who asked not to be named because he feared becoming a target.

"They dress just like the Malians. With a scarf, they hide all their faces. You cannot see them unless you get close to them."

Prigozhin's attempted mutiny last month might have failed in Russia, but in Mali and a handful of other African nations, the Wagner Group's influence is expanding......

It looks like Recep is going to follow Benji's move to cement himself as dictator.

Turkey’s constitutional conundrum: Erdogan’s ‘libertarian’ pledge raises alarm bells.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he wanted his country to have a new “libertarian” constitution, raising concerns that the move will help him cement his power indefinitely.

Erdogan told participants Tuesday at a ceremony for new judges and prosecutors that the current constitution was a product of previous coups.

“We cannot accept that we are welcoming the centenary of our republic with a post-coup constitution,” Erdogan told the meeting.

“God willing, we should crown the intensive struggle we have been waging in the judiciary since 2002 with a civilian, libertarian, and inclusive constitution,” Erdogan added. Turkey’s current constitution was written after a 1980 military coup......

The writing was on the wall. :-(

Wagner's fearsome mercenaries were forced out of Ukraine after a failed mutiny. Many are now unleashing horrors in Mali.

For centuries West Africa and other parts of the world were controlled by the French Empire. Even after the end of colonialism in the 1960s, French influence, in case of doubt, the French Foreign Legion and some Mirage jet fighters ensured order. Something has gone terribly wrong in the last twenty years. All over West Africa, the nation states founded in the 1960s are collapsing due to internal political contradictions fueled by Islamist terrorism. This ridiculous Russian Prighozhyn force is able to plunge several large countries there into chaos and misery. This is a complete failure of French foreign policy, but also of European politics, which does not want to recognize French political problems in Africa as its own.

[EDIT:] Well, not all of West Africa, but we've recently seen government collapses and/or military coups in:
Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, a Civil War in the Central African Republic. Further military coups happened in other French-influenced states in recent years (e.g. Guinea).

Niger has fallen apart. :-(

Niger’s junta shuts airspace and accuses neighboring nations of plan to invade as deadline passes.

Niger’s mutinous soldiers closed the country’s airspace and accused foreign powers of preparing an attack, as the junta defied a deadline to restore the ousted president and said any attempt to fly over the country will be met with “an energetic and immediate response.”

Niger’s state television announced the move Sunday night, hours before a deadline set by West African regional bloc ECOWAS, which demanded the coup leaders reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum or face military force.

A spokesman for the coup leaders, Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane, warned of “the threat of intervention being prepared in a neighbouring country,” and said Niger's airspace will be closed until further notice. The junta asserted that two central African countries are preparing for an invasion, but did not say which ones, and called on the country's population to defend it....

Wagner is certainly stirring things up.

Wagner is certainly stirring things up.

We can observe it at many places in the world. Helicopters violated the Polish state border, Wagner mercenaries uttering threats from Belarus against Lithuania, Poland... West Africa, Syria... Putin is igniting new threats and conflicts everywhere to divert global attention from Ukraine, in order to scale back military support to Ukraine if possible. It's annoying that Putin can wreak so much havoc in Syria and Africa with such few resources (a few thousand mercenaries without heavy weapons).

Why is it so easy for Putin to corrupt African governments? In Mali, in Niger. Is he simply bribing the military leadership? Here you have 100 kg of gold, now arrest your head of state, take over power, then execute my policies. Why does this work so easily? Yes, these governments are often not very democratic and probably corrupt. But they completely collapse as soon as Putin wants it.

In the past decade France stopped the expansion of Islamist groups there. But France also understands that the Malian government were working for black citizens of the south not for the interests of the muslim touareg people of the north. And black Malians in France expressed, they'll flee to Europe as long we are supporting their corrupt leaders, ignoring their interests. In the meantime Europe, the West spent billions of euros to maintain a useless UN "military force" there, without any influence or power, without heavy weapons or any air superiority. The French asked their European partners for years to support their military efforts in Western Africa, no one was willing to. France then left Mali completely, while our ignorant politicians declared with great conviction that they will stay in Mali because it's so important, even after the military coup. How many German soldiers speak French, can talk to the locals there? Almost no one. So it's a deja-vu of Afghanistan. We then witnessed a Malian government banning the use of recon drones or surveillance balloons for UN forces in recent years. That was their job: observe, monitor, report. Suddenly the same airfield in Mali which hosts German UN forces, also hosts Wagner mercenaries. They brought a couple of old Soviet fighter jets with them. These jets were suddenly allowed to fly with Malian military registrations. This is how Europeans make themselves look ridiculous throughout Africa as a law enforcing power. Unfortunately, our politicians do not understand such things; impressive press photos, a short video from the Sahara are sufficient for them. Months before the end, a German defense secretary flies to northern Mali to visit her almost unarmed, helpless troops. She got off the plane, was met by German and Malian military officials wearing an elegant suit and high heels on the sandy desert floor as if visiting NATO headquarters in Belgium. She earned disbelieving looks from Malian officers, then gave a short speech how important this mission is. It couldn't be more embarrassing.

It's getting worse in Niger.

Ousted Niger President Mohamed Bazoum to face prosecution for high treason.

I'm sure that the world is going mad. :-(

Threats to return to war in Yemen hinder efforts to start peace talks, UN envoy says.

Sudan situation is spiraling.

Nicaragua's government seizes prized University of Central America from Jesuits.

Well that's it, the chef is cooking up more trouble in Africa. :-(

Wagner Group's New 'Mission' Teased in Prigozhin Video.

A Telegram channel associated with the Wagner Group released a recording on Monday of leader Yevgeny Prigozhin teasing a new "mission" in Africa, in his first video address since leading a failed rebellion in Russia.

The Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone published the video, saying it shows Prigozhin giving an address from a country in Africa, "where the presence of the Wagner Group is increasing." Newsweek has been unable to independently verify when or where the video was filmed.....