Philippe M. Frowd

Burkina Faso’s Junta Pulls the Plug on Political Life Burkina Faso no longer has political parties, only a military junta.

#BurkinaFaso: Junta Pulls the Plug on Political Life

No more political parties.

Junta's "putting democratic institutions on trial using the pretext of terrorism...but counterterrorism efforts should not undermine civil liberties” A. Newton Barry told @hrw.org

www.hrw.org/news/2026/02...

Pretty rich since his country was built on chattel slavery. As @jamellebouie.net reminds us, these guys are just segregationists.

How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are

A Minnesota woman observing ICE agents in her car was cornered on one-way streets. An agent approached, called her by name—citing facial recognition. Days later, her Global Entry and TSA privileges were revoked, with no explanation.

Why the Canada Pension Plan investment board is lending nearly half a billion dollars to Elon Musk’s deepfake-producing company CPP Investments says loan with xAI supports a physical facility and is “not an endorsement of, or operational role in, any particular product feature.”

Parliament needs hearings to beat the living shit out of the CPP board. They invested in Grok, which makes nonconsensual nude deepfakes of real women and child porn.

Migrants using more distant, riskier departure points to Canaries after Mauritania crackdown, Red Cross finds Migrants crossing from West Africa to Spain's Canaries started using more distant - and potentially more deadly - departure points in 2025 following a crackdown by Mauritania on irregular migration, a...

As Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal clamp down on unauthorized migration, boats are increasingly leaving from much further south, in Guinea, to reach the Canary Islands.

‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activit...

Authoritarianism, there's an app for that

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. "The order was to kill everybody," one of them said. A missile screamed off the Trinidad coast, striking the vessel and igniting a blaze from bow to stern. For minutes, commanders watched the boat burning on a live drone feed. As the smoke cleared, they got a jolt: Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack - the opening salvo in the Trump administration's war on suspected drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere — ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth's instructions, two people familiar with the matter said. The two men were blown apart in the water.

This is murder. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Prominent legal scholar detained at Canadian border while on his way to a conference on Palestine | CBC News A well-known academic and former UN special rapporteur says he was detained by customs agents in Toronto while on his way to speak at a conference on human rights violations against Palestinians.

A scandalous event that should remind us to question any assumption that Canadian security agencies operate much differently than their US counterparts.

It’s hard to even know where to begin with this. Professor Falk is in his 90s and one of the world’s most prominent international legal scholars. It beggars belief that he could even remotely be considered a threat to Canada.

IOM Launches New Initiative to Enhance West Africa’s Response to Missing Migrants Dakar, 4 November 2025 – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has launched a landmark initiative with the governments of The Gambia and Mauritania to strengthen national capacities to re...

The initiative will function in part through "bespoke capacity-building workshops".

Interdiction du colloque « La Palestine et l’Europe » au Collège de France : « Cette décision ouvre la voie à une ère de censure institutionnelle » TRIBUNE. Dans une tribune au « Monde », un collectif de plus de 300 universitaires, parmi lesquels Jean-François Bayart, Judith Butler et Pierre-Cyrille Hautcœur, s’élève contre l’interdiction de l’év...

'Nous appelons le Collège de France à revenir sur sa décision et à garantir la tenue de ce colloque dans le respect de la liberté intellectuelle. Nous appelons le ministère à honorer son devoir de protection de la recherche, non à en devenir le censeur' 🤔 Römer et Baptiste doivent surtout se barrer

M23 rebels are issuing their own ‘AFC-M23’ passports now Fears of the country’s balkanisation are becoming increasingly tangible.

"Resident Prince Ajabu got one. He says it cost him $45 and Ugandan authorities accepted it when he travelled to Kampala, showing tacit acceptance of DRC balkanisation in the region."

The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

Gold, Gulf, and the Fall of El Fasher: RSF Redraws Sudan War Map The fall of El Fasher was more than another battle lost. It marked the moment a war began to redraw Sudan’s map and, in many ways, its meaning.

"The calculus for Abu Dhabi appears pragmatic: access to cheap bullion, future stakes in land and logistics, a foothold along the Red Sea." www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/gold-gulf-an...

That emoji and em dash combo

The IPS Section is now welcoming nominations for positions at the 2026/2027 IPS Committee! Self nominations are encouraged. Our deadline is October 22nd, 2025 #isa2026

Feeling overwhelmed as an #EarlyCareer #Researcher? Listen to Episode 5 of @isa-canada.bsky.social's podcast, #ALADoctor, featuring @pmfrowd.bsky.social as he and @rbkpulln.bsky.social discuss the advice that #GradStudents receive on how to plan out their #Academic #Career: buff.ly/tqK5eig

Saint Mary’s University in Halifax is hiring for a TT position in Political Theory

Sociologist Nathan Kalman-Lamb, based in Fredericton, said he was required to hand over his phone during a recent trip to a conference in South Carolina. "He claimed that it was just going to be a very cursory search," Kalman-Lamb said, explaining the officer's actions are legal. "But the document that he gave me said they reserve the right to copy all the contents of your phone and distribute them to every American military and intelligence agency."

FYI

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Le Niger crée une milice patriotique pour combattre les groupes djihadistes Sur le modèle burkinabé des Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie, Niamey a lancé le programme « Garkuwar Kassa », qui vise à recruter et former des jeunes pour prêter main-forte aux forces armées.

"Sur le modèle burkinabé des Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie, Niamey a lancé le programme « Garkuwar Kassa », qui vise à recruter et former des jeunes pour prêter main-forte aux forces armées." #Niger #VDP
www.lemonde.fr/afrique/arti...

Niger: avec «Garkouwar Kassa», le M62 veut former une milice civile pour appuyer les forces de sécurité Au Niger, le mouvement M62 a officiellement lancé en début de semaine, lundi 4 août, son initiative Garkouwar Kassa, ou « Boucliers de la Patrie ». C'était une recommandation du Conseil consultatif de…

Since the coup, Niger's security strategy hasn't been clear. Niger hasn't invited large numbers of foreign mercenaries (Mali) and hasn't opted for militarizing the whole society (Burkina). It now seems to be drifting toward the (disastrous) Burkinabè solution relying on militias

Non-state armed actors engage with states in ambiguous and highly differentiated ways. In a recent article, Mariam Bjarnesen and I reflect on the seemingly contrasting approaches taken by three West African states; Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Liberia: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.

This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.

It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

Just in: freedom is being told how to eat