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Nathaniel Powell

@natkpowell.bsky.social
5K followers 735 following 318 posts

Historian--France, Africa, etc. Honorary Researcher Lancaster University CWD, West Africa Analyst, Oxford Analytica. Author of "France's Wars in Chad" www.cambridge.org/core/books/france…

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Reposted by Nathaniel Powell
John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
a lot of that going around
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Yvan Guichaoua @yguichaoua.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Jafar Dicko, Jnim's boss in Burkina Faso gave an extraordinary rich interview at the end of July, released in a video in fulfulde then in writing, in Arabic (with some changes)
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
See my latest on US intelligence collection in Africa in the 1970s, and the limits of HUMINT. nathanielkpowell.substack.com/p/on-the-lim...
nathanielkpowell.substack.com
On the Limits of HUMINT and Political Intelligence
In an earlier post, I noted that by the mid-1980s, the CIA only had a dedicated staff of some 30 analysts to cover all of Sub-Saharan Africa, located in its Office of African and Latin American Analys...
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Could be an amazing Game of Thrones' style TV show.
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Yvan Guichaoua @yguichaoua.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Zarho, 200 km à l'est de Tombouctou, Mali, 23 juin. Les Russes ont tué deux jeunes Touaregs. L'un d'entre eux a été décapité et démembré. Ses bras et ses jambes ont été placés au sol autour de sa tête pour former une croix gammée. La photo fait le tour des réseaux depuis hier
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 24/06/2026
Liz Soto and Savanna Batten are 2 of those sentenced to 50 years in prison for Prairieland. I visited them in a north Texas jail—11 months into their incarceration over a July 4 noise demo—to meet the Trump admin’s “Antifa terrorists”. from behind glass, Soto said, “They didn’t like my book club.”
theguardian.com
‘This is injustice’: how leftist zines were used to sentence anti-ICE protesters to decades in prison
Advocates sound alarm after zines were used as evidence to convict protesters of terrorism charges tied to 2025 protest at Texas ICE facility
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Natalia Telepneva @nataliatelepneva.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Excited to host our first workshop for the RSE-sponsored award which explores Soviet-African military relations during the Cold War. See our website www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/d... @strathclydehass.bsky.social @natkpowell.bsky.social
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Robert Heinze @rheinze.myatproto.social · 17/05/2026
Citations are about how science is a result of working in community. Some never accepted this, instead opting for a self-image as lone genius; but more than that, every academic institution in the last decades has undermined communal work.
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Tim Price @timprice.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
2016: Could the GOP nominating a twice-divorced NYC celeb who’s friendly with gay people mark the end of the culture wars? 2026: Donald Trump, somehow still president, harangues McDonald’s delivery driver about trans people in sports hours after depicting himself as the second coming of Christ
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Center for International Policy @cipolicy.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
"Congress should immediately reconvene to pass a War Powers Resolution disengaging U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran. Lawmakers should also make clear that they will not support any supplemental appropriation whatsoever to fund this unauthorized war."
internationalpolicy.org
Congress and Other US Officials Must Act to Counter Trump’s Genocidal Threats against the Iranian People - CIP
April 7, 2026 – Center for International Policy President & CEO Nancy Okail issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s escalating threats against the Iranian people: “President Tr...
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Christopher Mathias @letsgomathias.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
same Overton Window-shattering tactic he’s always used: Even if worst doesn’t happen tonight - rhetorically he’s opened up possibility of the unimaginable, making lesser (but still horrible) actions seem moderate by comparison… all increasing likelihood that one day the worst really will happen
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
This doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and would have been dangerous in October. Also the sources don't say four days. It was more than 2 weeks between the battles and he could have covered the distance on horse with some retainers and assembled a different army in the south.
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Howard is absolutely right.
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Richard Staff @richstaff.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
An overconfident Team USA getting embarrassed by a much smaller country in front of a global audience is their last and most beautiful tribute to the American military yet
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Gettysburg (I grew up in Gettysburg, so cheap field trip).
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Jessa @writerjessa.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Happy tyrant assassination day!
An e-card that reads, "People are losing the spirit of the Ides of March. It's not about just stabbing. It's about coming together to stab in groups."
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
This is a really compelling statement from Alex Thurston on the grotesque amorality of Democratic Party "natsec" circle criticisms of the Iran War. They are laser-focused on strategy and legality rather than the monstrousness criminality of the act itself. alexthurston.substack.com/p/the-iran-w...
alexthurston.substack.com
The Iran War: Establishment Voices Criticize the Strategy But Accept the Premise
It's better to reject the war root and branch.
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Mark Kersten @markkersten.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
This is big. The Netherlands and Iceland have both joined the case brought by South Africa against Israel over breaches of the Genocide Convention in Gaza 👇
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Tim Price @timprice.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
I know this one. Flabby Road, right?
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
This is key, as long as the tools are there (presidential war powers framework, network of overseas bases and logistics emplacements, institutionally powerful Pentagon and national security state, etc), they will be used to ill purpose. The only morally coherent position is to dismantle them.
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Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
The war on Iran & the war on immigrants aren’t different stories— wars justify investments in technologies of violence, create a foreign threat that manufactures consent for the abrogation of domestic rights. See: “War on Terror” that killed millions & in whose shadow DHS was formed.
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Sarah Zimmerman @sjzimmerman.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Digitized photographs from Guinea-Bissau's struggle for independence...
nai.uu.se
Liberation in focus: Rare Guinea-Bissau photos added to NAI Library online archive - The Nordic Africa Institute
Historic photographs from Guinea-Bissau’s liberation struggle, taken in 1970 by Knut Andreassen, are now accessible through the NAI Library’s Liberation Africa archive.
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Isabella M. Weber @isabellamweber.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
A foreign policy for the working class is one where states collaborate to discipline capital instead of working with capital to discipline our democracies. Kitchen table conversation about anti-fascist economics with the one and only @aoc.bsky.social in Berlin.
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
I'm quoted in this Le Monde article on Macron's efforts to reconfigure France's security policy in Africa. As we've seen recently in Benin and Madagascar, la Françafrique isn't dead, and there's more continuity here than a break with the past. www.lemonde.fr/afrique/arti...
lemonde.fr
La France reconstruit sa stratégie de défense en Afrique
Alors que Paris a perdu du terrain, ces dernières années, dans son ancien pré carré ouest-africain, les autorités françaises s’apprêtent à ratifier un accord avec le Kenya, lequel illustre leur volont...
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Lauren Brown @laurencochrane.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
I simply couldn't keep quiet about some people's reaction to @davidolusoga.bsky.social's Empire episode dedicated to Mau Mau. Read my two cents in my latest article for @africasacountry.bsky.social. 🇰🇪
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Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Lew, like McGurk, Sullivan, Blinken: more than complicit. Meaningfully responsible.
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Alex Doherty @redandinexpert.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
A clip from my interview with Nikhil Pal Singh - on his recent essay in @equatormag.bsky.social
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Terrence Peterson @tgpeterson.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Lol. Lmao.
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Howard French @hofrench.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
I wrote book reviews for a while for the WSJ well over a decade ago, and Bari Weis was my editor. One of her special tricks was to try to insert a sharp rightward slant into my essays *after* it had been copy edited, as a way of slipping her viewpoint in at the last minute.
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leon @leyawn.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
this is your mission. our pedophile president needs you to jump out of a helicopter to kidnap a head of state and his wife so some oil ceos can make a lot of money. we’ll be watching from a resort in florida that still serves wedge salad and checking how many retweets we get. good luck soldier
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Alex Callinicos @alexcallinicos.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
IS Tendency statement on Venezuela internationalsocialists.org/announcement...
internationalsocialists.org
Ist Statement On Venezuela
<figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://internationalsocialists.org/storage/images/fZmIDzdCzANpT5VG5XR4fKGcheByfopgMJKEtjZs.jpg"><figcaption>President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro. Pho...
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
Found my old pog collection. Some pretty sick slammers in there. Rocking the holiday season like it's 1994.
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Wil Wheaton ❌👑 @wilwheaton.net · 25/12/2025
A few excerpts from Darmok's Christmas Story: Ralphie and Flick, at the flagpole. Randy, his arms down. The Old Man, when the lamp broke. Santa and Ralphie, on the mountain.
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
This is all about militarist aesthetics and nothing to do with actually countering these groups. One can only hope that the Nigerian government can manage US posturing in a way that limits potential negative consequences.
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 25/12/2025
One of the earliest-ever modern portrayals of Santa Claus features him gifting Union soldiers with a jumping-jack doll of Jefferson Davis dangling from a noose - as drawn by political cartoonist Thomas Nast. www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
HARPERS WEEKLY.
JOURNAL OF CIVILIZATION
Vor. VII.-No. 314.]
NEW
YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY
1863.
GELCOM
SANTA CLAUS
SANTA CLAUS IN CAMP.-[SEE PAGE 6]Nast's image was published in the 1862 Christmas issue of Harper’s Weekly, during days filled with both trials for the Union and rising hope. Santa Claus has arrived by sleigh in a Union army camp to distribute gifts. This was the moment that Nast conceived and introduced our modern image of Santa Claus. Combining European traditions of St. Nicholas with folk images of elves from his native Germany, he created the jolly gift-giver now associated with Christmas that here offers cheer to soldiers far from home. He distributes boxes of necessities such as warm socks, copies of Harper's Weekly, and entertains the crowd with a jumping jack dangling from a noose, its chest lettered "Jeff" in reference to the Confederate President Jefferson Davis. In the background, soldiers chase an escaped hog, roast meat on a spit and play fairground games such as climbing a greased pole. This image on the title page of the journal was supported by a two-page spread within the journal that shows Santa visiting sleeping children in New York (see 33.35.26 and 29.88.4(8)).
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Star Trek Minus Context @nocontexttrek1.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
O holy night
Scene from Star Trek The Next Generation's Christmas Special and it's a real Worf masterpiece. He's standing, in uniform, and holding his arms out gripping the air like Macho Man Randy Savage pumping up the crowd. There are two black cattle prod looking objects with glowing red lights on the end of them being poked into his chestal region, basically straight in them nipples. His face is alive with the fire of a thousand suns. Merry Christmas.
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
This 100%. I'm military history- adjacent, and it has definitely hurt me on the job market. But it has nothing to do with "woke" hiring practices and much to do with disciplinary biases. The academy still disproportionately hires white males.
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Dr Aviva Guttmann @guttmannaviva.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Today, the brilliant Sebastian Seibt has written a news story about #OperationWrathofGod for France24. An excellent summary and I am very glad to see that research for my book reaches a French-speaking audience: www.france24.com/fr/europe/20...
france24.com
Opération Colère de Dieu : quand les espions européens ont aidé le Mossad à tuer
Des archives jusque-là confidentielles dévoilent la face cachée de l’opération Colère de Dieu, la campagne d’assassinats du Mossad qui a suivi la prise d'otages des Jeux olympiques de Munich en 1972.…
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Matt Duss @mattduss.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
If you want to know why Pete Hegseth is confident he'll face no consequences for blatant war crimes, just look at the list of people who attended Dick Cheney's funeral.
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
Looks like Macron is on one of his dictator tours again. Next stop Washington? rfi.my/CCzK
rfi.my
Emmanuel Macron au Gabon, première visite depuis l'arrivée au pouvoir de Brice Oligui Nguema
Le président français Emmanuel Macron a entamé dimanche 23 novembre une visite d'État au Gabon visant à « renforcer et renouveler » le partenariat bilatéral, deux ans après la fin de l'ère Bongo. C'es...
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Faisal @faisalahali.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
The colleagues at @africasacountry.bsky.social have republished my article on the rise of the military class now steering politics in several African countries — with Madagascar the latest example — and what is driving this problem. africasacountry.com/2025/11/the-...
africasacountry.com
The coup kids are in charge now
Across the continent’s new coup belt, young officers are stepping into power, casting themselves as guardians against corrupt civilian elites.
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Faisal @faisalahali.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
I joined Alex Thurston and @natkpowell.bsky.social for a conversation about how the end of the Cold War played out across the Sahel and Horn of Africa regions. We also looked at the characters from that era and the legacies of their rule today. Check it out 👇
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
@faisalahali.bsky.social, Alex Thurston, and I have done a podcast episode on the end of the Cold War in West and East Africa. The discussion is wide-ranging, covering a variety of experiences of the late 1980s/early 1990s, and their legacies. Have a listen! alexthurston.substack.com/cp/179131463
alexthurston.substack.com
Podcast Episode: The End of the Cold War from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa
I talk with Faisal Ali and Nathaniel Powell about a pivotal period in African history.
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Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
This is going to go down as the dumbest war in the Western Hemisphere since Napoleon III decided that only a Habsburg princeling could save Mexico
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
You know you're old when you remember watching Vladimir Guerrero Jr's dad play in the minors....
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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
Old: The US might illegally attack Venezuela. New: The US might illegally attack Nigeria.
If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, “guns-a-blazing,” to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities. I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!
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Nathaniel Powell @natkpowell.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
This is the worst kind of sensationalist narrative. It plays into hands of both jihadists and the junta. There's no evidence for it. Yes the security situation is getting far worse, and Bamako is facing growin gstrains, but JNIM is not on the brink of "taking over" Mali. www.wsj.com/world/africa...
wsj.com
Al Qaeda Is on the Brink of Taking Over a Country
If the jihadists succeed in taking Mali, it would become the first country run by the group. The U.S. has warned its citizens to leave the West African nation immediately.
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William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
there'd definitely problems with using military/war framings for electoral politics, but one thing it is good at is helping people keep is and ought separate. "The enemy has a strategic advantage that we must fight around" is rarely interpreted as "The enemy is correct and we should lose".
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