iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Vincent Foucher

Andy Vitek @avitek.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Fukuyama: We have reached the end of history. History: It's 2026, and an official branch of the Ukrainian armed forces is tweeting about how drone striking Andrew Tate while he's clout farming with the Russian military would be fun, but is sadly a war crime. Get bent old man.

Ukrainian USF tweet: "Ok, fellas, we see all your tags and we get it.

But.
Being a shitty person doesn't make someone a legitimate military target under international law. Climbing on a tank for internet clout isn't enough to become a combatant.

Do something that actually qualifies — then we can talk. Until then, we'll keep our drones for real military targets 😉"

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

So if you want to read more on all this, get down to reading our paper!

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

The Northwest is such a complex and changing mess (remember that recent map by Liam Karr?) with a variety of jihadist outfits and other non-governmental armed actors that Sadiku's flexibility may take him in various directions...

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Sadiku's flexibility has created tensions with core #JASDJ, all the more as a number of JASDJ militants (with family) from Borno joined Sadiku after Shekau's death. Sadiku did pledge allegiance to Bakura, but it's not clear exactly where that relationship stands now.

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Incidentally, this is why Sadiku-associated groups have been cropping up in new parts, notably in the Westernmost part of Niger state, along the Benin border, and in Kwara State.

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

He had a particularly intense relation with Dogo Gide, a major bandit leader, trying to win him over, sending good Muslim wives to tame him and his followers. But they fell out eventually, and we know now that Dogo chased him away.

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

He developed links with bandits, too - fighting some and partnering with others (and sometimes converting them and winning them over).

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

He also cut deals with some rural Gwari communities, very often Christian ones, offering them protection from bandits and trading with and through them.

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

We show that Sadiku, who was part of a small group sent out by Shekau to develop networks outside of the Northeast, proved particularly apt at forming alliances. He was able to rally parts of Darusalam, a rejectionist non-violent Salafi group (state repression helped !).

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Drawing on interviews with former Sadiku associates and with civilians living in affected areas as well as on some of the internal audios which the jihadists use for internal debates, we set out to explore how Sadiku did it.

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Sadiku has eventually made the cut - and he has pulled off some big operations, including the attack against the Abuja-Kaduna train in 2022, and other big kidnappings such as that at St Mary's school in Papiri, Niger State, in 2025 www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

Niger state kidnap: Nigerian father felt helpless as he saw children taken from Catholic school in Papiri

The authorities are trying to rescue more than 250 schoolchildren who were abducted by raiders on motorbikes.

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

There was long a sense that while jihadism was bearing heavily on the Northeast of Nigeria, it could not develop in the Northwest. A whole series of reasons were conjured, structural and conjonctural.

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Reposted by Vincent Foucher

Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Your humble servant has a written a book about the social science of poverty in Cold War Latin America and the contexts that shaped its creation, from international sources like the Ford Foundation to dictatorships across the region. The book is in production and will be ready at the end of 2026

Book cover shows an alleyway in a Rio favela, the black and white photo has been given a bluish tinge; my name is upper left, the title of the book "Poverty of the Imagination" is at lower left and at right, in reddish text is the subtitle "The Cold War and the Social Science of Development in Latin America"

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Reposted by Vincent Foucher

Richard Gowan @richardgowan1.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

This happens quite a lot to me too (also seeing more AI-generated quotes from "me" in news stories). In a few cases the AI-generated article titles are so good, I feel I should just write an article to make them real.

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Reposted by Vincent Foucher

Abu Aardvark @abuaardvark.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

NYT treats Trump’s demands as legitimate and offers up a scorecard for how well Columbia did meeting them. That’s one way to tell the story of a cynical government power grab and a university betraying its ideals and reputation to crush student activism I suppose. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/21/n...

nytimes.com

One Year After Trump’s $400 Million Ultimatum, a Different Columbia

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Do the JASDJ fiscal turn and call to moderation viz civilians owe something to contacts with Al Qaeda, the eternal rival of the IS, which is developing its presence in NW Nigeria and has contacts with the Sadiku JASDJ group there?

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

But this is an important evolution. Could the convergence of methods eventually result in a reunification between JASDJ and ISWAP, especially now that Shekau is out of the way? (there have been repeated attempts at negotiations between the two groups)

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

JASDJ groups can still be very predatory (especially those who are away from the cornucopia that the Lake is). JASDJ in the Mandara mountain are still plundering away, and so do the Ikrima and Gazuwa groups in northern Borno.

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

So it's looking like Bakura is trying to clean up his act. If you depend on production and taxation, then you have an incentive to make it work. And that means taking care of common tax payers and producers...v

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

But civilians who ply the Lake to make a living - herders and fishermen and traders are still saying Bakura's men are rougher than ISWAP. Sometimes, you can get kidnapped or abused. Not great for business.

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

This has been key to Bakura's successful resistance to ISWAP - money has allowed him to procure weapons from Libya, which have helped him fight back and also consolidate his control over other JASDJ groups outside the Lake... t.co/pdZwBgrW7Dht...

t.co

https://unidir.org/publication/boko-haram-mapping-an-evolving-armed-constellation/

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

More recently, I heard that in the portion of the Diffa region that he controls, Bakura began taxing farmers and herders too.

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

We have even seen Bakura's men hand out tax receipts (this one here was circulated in 2023 by @ZagazOlaMakama, I think)

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Over time, this has played a part in ISWAP's conquest of the JASDJ stronghold of the Sambisa (and suicide of JASDJ leader Abubakar Shekau). t.co/P4QA6MXBKh

t.co

https://journals.openedition.org/sources/684

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Having civilians around to farm, work and fish and forming a stable taxation system has been key to ISWAP's success - allowing it to maintain permanent military units as well as some social services. t.co/eEXn5DsuuW

t.co

https://www.ispionline.it/en/publication/jihadi-proto-state-lake-chad-basin-25441

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

ISWAP insisted on different methods: Muslim civilians, as long as they did not cooperate with the state and paid defined taxes to the jihadists, should be protected and allowed to go about their business. Even Christians could be allowed in jihadi territory if they pay jizya.

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

This is important because attitude towards civilians used to be a major difference between #JASDJ and the Islamic State local affiliate, #ISWAP. JASDJ was a sectarian plunder-and-kidnap machine, hitting hard at all non-members, including Muslims.

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

This cleric is calling for JASDJ members to accept awam ("common men") and others into jihadi territory, and allow them to farm. He is insisting that jihadists should not force civilians to work for them for free but should actually pay them wages.

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Vincent Foucher @vincentfoucher.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Very important TikTok video from #JASDJ #BokoHaram cleric tinyurl.com/4p7a5rju (yes, I know, jihadist clerics use the same media as make-up obsessed teens). Here is why...

tinyurl.com

TikTok - Make Your Day

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Reposted by Vincent Foucher

Benjamin Paaßen @bpaassen.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Just for context: We have done some research in our lab indicating that these 'humanizers' don't really work as advertised. That being said: AI detectors don't really work, either. Educational institutions should refrain from these surveillance measures, in my mind. arxiv.org/abs/2508.08096

arxiv.org

Assessing LLM Text Detection in Educational Contexts: Does Human Contribution Affect Detection?

Recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) and their increased accessibility have made it easier than ever for students to automatically generate texts, posing new challenges for educational ...

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Reposted by Vincent Foucher

Michael Rooney @mr00ney.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

lol, so this company can sell this info to bosses and professors for a higher premium, and then sell the students platinum level service where they hide the plagiarism even more, and then …

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Reposted by Vincent Foucher

Auschwitz Memorial @auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

28 January 1925 | A French Jewish woman, Zelda Ostrowski, was born in Paris. She was Deported to #Auschwitz on 9 November 1942 from Drancy in occupied France. She did not survive. --- 🎧 Listen about the development of the mass murder infrastructure at Auschwitz: youtu.be/tRwZ49q-9e0

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 28/01/2026

“Amid accusations of AI cheating, some students are turning to a new group of generative AI tools called ‘humanizers.’ The tools scan essays and suggest ways to alter text so they aren’t read as having been created by AI. Some are free, while others cost around $20 a month.”

nbcnews.com

To avoid accusations of AI cheating, college students are turning to AI

Students are taking new measures, such as dumbing down their work, spying on themselves and using AI “humanizer” programs, to beat accusations of cheating with artificial intelligence.

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MaddowBlog @maddowblog.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

"Let us go." Immigration attorney Eric Lee shares a drawing by his five-year-old client, stuck in an immigration prison.

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Reposted by Vincent Foucher

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Last week in Minnesota, I watched ordinary people risk their lives to protect their neighbors. In the process, they not only won a significant—though not final—victory against authoritarianism, they proved virtually every MAGA social theory wrong. (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Every social theory undergirding Trumpism has been broken on the steel of Minnesotan resolve. The multiracial community in Minneapolis was supposed to shatter. It did not. It held until Bovino was forced out of the Twin Cities with his long coat between his legs.

The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive—because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about “Western civilization,” while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.

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Grégoire Orain @grgrrn.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Je viens de lire une tribune (qui paraît demain, je vous la linkerai quand elle sera publiée) qui me fait beaucoup réfléchir. L'auteur, Frédéric Thomas, spécialiste des Caraïbes, souligne à quel point ce qui nous choque dans l'attitude de Trump, c'est qu'il nous traite comme des pays du Sud.

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Yvan Guichaoua @yguichaoua.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Alors que ce qu'il veut c'est le Groland

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Reposted by Vincent Foucher

Pierre Alonso @pierrealonso.com · 21/01/2026

Pas de catastrophe, pas de résilience glorieuse non plus : plongée dans le froid et le noir par une nouvelle campagne de frappes russes, Kyiv tient pour l’instant, dents et poings serrés. Une énième épreuve après bientôt quatre ans de guerre totale. Mon reportage dans @mediapart.fr:

mediapart.fr

Face à la guerre du froid de la Russie, Kyiv serre les dents

Alors que les températures plongent, Moscou continue de mener des frappes destructrices contre les infrastructures énergétiques, dégradant gravement les conditions de vie. Les autorités installent de…

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Robert Heinze @rheinze.myatproto.social · 21/01/2026

Und thus, modernity comes to a close just like it started, with a guy ranting at windmills

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Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Europe's five stages of grief wrt Trump: 1. Wake-up call 2. Backlash 3. Breaking point 4. Appease 5. Repeat

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Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

It's arguably the only battlefield.

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Orient XXI @orientxxi.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

#Gaza À Paris, l’ONG Médecins sans frontières présente jusqu’au 12 février l’exposition « We did what we could ». Elle documente deux années de guerre totale contre la population gazaouie et rend hommage aux soignants palestiniens. @msf.fr @clomraffko.bsky.social ➡️ orientxxi.info/Gaza-Souvene...

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André Loez & podcast Paroles d’histoire @andreloez.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Une parution à venir, d'une redoutable actualité

Hamit Bozarslan, Les révolutions de droite

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