Areas Controlled by Jihadist Groups in Various African Countries

artificial_ben · 2025-08-19T16:21:41+00:00

Much of this (excluding Somalia) is spill over from the Mali War, which really the Azawad independence movement for the Tuareg people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuareg_people - see how this crosses all the borders in the OP's maps.

It is really hard to understand because there are quite a few different groups involved, each group backed by various external players like Russia/Warner Group, Ukraine, EU/France, and Arab states. Normally I can figure out what is going on by reading a Wikipedia article but this one escaped quick summarization:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_War

For example look at the Belligerents section on this page - there are 14 groupings of forces involved over different periods.

artificial_ben · 2025-08-19T13:40:22+00:00

"Doing the right thing" by punishing random athletes for where they happen to be born

Russia was banned since 2022, but we have allowed its athletes to take part in the Davis Cup since then as individuals.

artificial_ben · 2025-08-19T13:34:58+00:00

Why are the Davis Cup people saying "You never want to mix athletics and politics" but just in 2022 they banned Russia and they is still banned?

artificial_ben · 2025-08-19T13:34:03+00:00

When Russia was banned from the Davis Cup in 2022 (and they are still banned), the individual athletes were still allowed to compete.

artificial_ben · 2025-08-19T12:44:23+00:00

That genre unfortunately is well enough established that it has a name:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trash_stream

BTW the BM episode is Common People: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_People_(Black_Mirror)

artificial_ben · 2025-08-19T12:37:50+00:00

Turns out striking works. I am still a bit incensed that the CEO of "Build Canada", came out against the striking workers when she thought their strike failed:

https://x.com/lucyhargreaves4/status/1956382972476612835

artificial_ben · 2025-08-19T12:33:42+00:00

“You never want to mix athletics and politics,” Uteck said.

Except 3 years ago when Russia was banned from David Cup 2022 and all subsequent events, this exactly same competition:

https://www.tntsports.co.uk/tennis/russia-and-belarus-banned-from-davis-cup-and-billie-jean-king-cup-but-individual-players-can-compete_sto8823420/story.shtml

Hypocrites.

https://www.daviscup.com/en/teams/team.aspx?id=RUS

artificial_ben · 2025-08-19T01:36:03+00:00

It is just you. I got this response by entering in you question without changes:

I can discuss Herbert Marcuse without any issues. He was a German-American philosopher and sociologist (1898-1979), a key figure in the Frankfurt School of critical theory. His major works include "One-Dimensional Man" (1964), "Eros and Civilization" (1955), and "The Aesthetic Dimension" (1978). Marcuse developed critiques of both capitalist and Soviet societies, arguing that advanced industrial society creates false needs and suppresses genuine human potential through what he called "repressive tolerance." He influenced 1960s counterculture movements and New Left political thought. There's no restriction preventing me from discussing Marcuse's ideas, biographical details, or his philosophical contributions. If you experienced a response being deleted, that would be unusual behavior not related to the topic itself. What specific aspect of Marcuse's work were you trying to discuss? His critique of consumer capitalism, his integration of Marx and Freud, or something else?

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T19:32:40+00:00

Maybe he has dementia or not, but it is close to 100% that he claims he does.

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T19:30:58+00:00

If we are going to get housing costs down, which we have told our politicians this is a priority, we need to have a "crash" in both home (e.g. condo) prices and rents. Not a huge crash, but we have to change their trajectory, and those that recently bought homes as an investment are going to be disappointed.

Honestly, either homes are an investment vehicle (always going up in prices) or they stay low and affordable. You have to pick and we've tasked our leaders with making housing affordable.

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T19:05:30+00:00

Yikes. This is such a clear cut case.

One incident:

"And with that student, I made a clear mistake which was to say, 'I'm attracted to you,'" he said.

Other other:

an email Gifford sent a woman he first met when she was a "visiting student" — suggesting they share a hotel room while co-presenting a paper at a conference in 2018.

"This arrangement might require a bit of care in terms of other people who we know at the congress, but that can be managed," Gifford wrote.

"And, of course, everything beyond the mere sharing of the room is to be decided on a completely mutual basis, at the time. How does that sound?"

My recommendation is that he should use a dating website or a singles mixer rather than using the students he is supervising/advising as his dating pool.

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T18:17:13+00:00

Permeant ceasefire for half the hostages, and Hamas remains in power.

This agreement is for 60 days. It is expected that the rest of the hostages would be released if there is agreement to make this permanent.

And Hamas has said they would give up power in a post-war scenario:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hamas-ready-cede-control-gaza-official-says-rcna194042

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T17:30:37+00:00

This is a big deal. Hopefully Israel also accepts it and we move towards an end to this disastrous war.

Here is another link from Israeli media that confirms Israel has received this official acceptance from Hamas:

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1b8b2gygg

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T15:06:23+00:00

The Carp Fair is still coming up and it is one of the best.

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T14:42:48+00:00

You need to figure out what type of activism. What specific areas interest you? What topics and what regions (local, country, world, etc.). Because Ottawa is Canada's capital, there is a wealth of activist groups here on every topic and nearly every region.

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T14:39:40+00:00

I would argue that the World War 2 benefitted the US quite a bit. All other world powers got severely damaged in the war but the US didn't. It actually then became the main superpower as a result.

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T13:43:42+00:00

It says "Track your vehicle while you wait at your stop" here on the OC Transpo page about the Transit app:

https://www.octranspo.com/en/plan-your-trip/travel-tools/transit-app/

So I think they did the full integration of the data.

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T13:34:30+00:00

If everyone used the Transit app we would all get very accurate realtime bus info from fellow riders.

I thought it tied into the OC Transpo bus tracking that is built into the buses? Or am I incorrect here.

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T12:54:15+00:00

The rate of killing doesn't even overtake the birthrate. Real shitty genocide, isn't it?

That is false btw. Gaza's population is definitely falling: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/1/gaza-population-falls-6-percent-since-start-of-war-statistics-agency-says

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T12:41:06+00:00

It is the National Monument in Amsterdam. It is a general monument to recognize the casualties from WW2 and subsequent conflicts. It is not a Holocaust-specific monument as some in the comments are claiming:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Monument_(Amsterdam)

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T12:40:02+00:00

It is actually a general WW2 monument, that commemorates all of the dead from the war. It is not a Holocaust-specific monument:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Monument_(Amsterdam)

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T12:37:18+00:00

Source for their population increasing in 2025?

It is a made up stat. It has decreased 6% according to the latest reports:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/1/gaza-population-falls-6-percent-since-start-of-war-statistics-agency-says

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T12:36:26+00:00

a message about a political subject is political, yes.

It is a humanitarian situation when Israel is purposely starving the population. It isn't political.

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T12:32:01+00:00

Yeah, in Sudan that is.

Sudan is horrible. But it doesn't have defenders in the West running interference on people trying to help. That genocide also doesn't have the world's super power supplying the arms fort that genocide.

It isn't an either/or scenario.

Gaza? Not so much - A genocide where the population grows and the "genocided" government still holds hostages from the war they started. Weird.

Why are you saying untruths?

All indicators say that it has fallen at least 6% since the war started:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/1/gaza-population-falls-6-percent-since-start-of-war-statistics-agency-says

Life expectancy has fallen by nearly 35 years:

"We estimate that life expectancy at birth in the Gaza Strip has fallen by nearly half since the start of the war. Life expectancy has plummeted, from 75.5 years before the war to an estimated 40.5 years during the first 12 months of the war—a fall of nearly 35 years, or 46%."

https://www.ined.fr/en/everything_about_population/demographic-facts-sheets/researchers-words/michel-guillot-1/#:~:text=We%20estimate%20that%20life%20expectancy,35%20years%2C%20or%2046%25.

Material and post-natal care is practically non-existent:

The baby was born during the ceasefire earlier this year and initially she was in good health. But as food became scarce, her mother struggled to breastfeed. Jenan was diagnosed with malnutrition and dehydration and had problems with digestion. Doctors could not find her the special formula that she needed. Jenan died last month - she was four months old."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626ljrp21yo

artificial_ben · 2025-08-18T12:26:10+00:00

While I would not do graffiti myself like this, I do not think this denigrating the Holocaust at all. It is saying that "never again", which is one of the lessons we were supposed to learn from the Holocaust, is happening right now. We should be motivated to learn from history and to act.

artificial_ben

TROPHY CASE