Nathaniel Powell
Historian--France, Africa, etc. Honorary Researcher Lancaster University CWD, West Africa Analyst, Oxford Analytica. Author of "France's Wars in Chad" cambridge.org/core/books/frances-…
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- Reposted by Nathaniel PowellLew, like McGurk, Sullivan, Blinken: more than complicit. Meaningfully responsible.
- Reposted by Nathaniel PowellA clip from my interview with Nikhil Pal Singh - on his recent essay in @equatormag.bsky.social
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- Reposted by Nathaniel PowellI 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.
- Reposted by Nathaniel Powellthis 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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- Found my old pog collection. Some pretty sick slammers in there. Rocking the holiday season like it's 1994.
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- 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.
- Reposted by Nathaniel PowellOne 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...
- Reposted by Nathaniel PowellO holy night
- 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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- Looks like Macron is on one of his dictator tours again. Next stop Washington? rfi.my/CCzK
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- @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
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- You know you're old when you remember watching Vladimir Guerrero Jr's dad play in the minors....
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- 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...
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- Looks like fairly credible reports of a serious coup plot foiled in Nigeria. The conventional wisdom has been that coup risks there are lower than rest of region, despite its history. This might have to be revised... www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlin...
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- I've been covering Madagascar daily for work, and one consistent worry has been that the military or political class would capture the Gen Z movement. This coup wasn't necessary and will solve none of Madagascar's problems. But good riddance Rajoelina. www.jeuneafrique.com/1730939/poli...
- Jesus Christ. How can you moan about "anti-French sentiment" in Africa when you pull off shit like this. www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/2...
- They pretend to write, we pretend to grade?
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- It's nice to be quoted by Thomas Deltombe in the @newleftreview.bsky.social on France's memory politics and, in the case of the Duclert Report and Rwanda, how they limit accountability and facilitate closer military ties with a profoundly authoritarian regime. newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
- If you're looking for (potential) good news in these dark times, look to Madagascar where corrupt autocrat Andry Rajoelina might get overthrown. www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/2...
- It's always interesting see when governments mismanage their own election rigging. Gabon's authorities have messed up the recent legislative polls so badly that the public electoral body has had to denounce them. www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/2...
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- An apt US intelligence analysis of Zaire, March 1979.
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- Really good piece by @tangibihan.bsky.social challenging reporting in some French media (notably Jeune Afrique) over Mali's internal junta dynamics and alleged tensions. It also illustrates a broader point that analysts should probably take to heart. 1/ www.worldpoliticsreview.com/mali-junta-m...
- Possibly the only honest thing the man has ever done. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/u...
- I'm finally digging into some of the results of the @fesonline.bsky.social's2025 "Mali Mètre" survey published in May. The results are striking. Eg a large majority see the overall situation of the country as improving:
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- The French almost certainly weren't involved in coup-plotting here (and it's not even clear there was coup-plotting at all). But, one issue I want to explore one day is the alleged French role in a huge range of African coups from the 1960s onwards. www.jeuneafrique.com/1715667/poli...
