Iran has claimed ownership over all of Antarctica. They are planning a naval expedition to plant their flag on the icy wastes. The only problem is, they have almost none of the technology necessary and they just finished sailing around the world, something Vasco da Gama did hundreds of years ago in a wooden ship…

The Sahel region includes the countries of Chad, Niger and Mali that have all seen significant periods of unrest and coups overthrowing oftentimes democratically elected governments. Recently, Niger has expelled US troops and ordered the shutdown of one of America’s most important bases in Africa. Islamic terrorism is rampant in the region and the security situation does not seem to be improving even with the arrival of Russian advisors at the behest of local governments.

Sources:

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violent-extremism-sahel

https://apnews.com/article/niger-chad-us-troops-withdrawal-russia-aa852a79bac39aaa679af3663b56deaa

https://apnews.com/article/niger-military-government-soldiers-killed-8fc819fdec7af1be019049d54c866e5a

https://apnews.com/article/niger-coup-extremism-west-africa-ecowas-6cc3fa0b61adc6d9bcb2fb9745c4dcdf 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68879696

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/25/220-civilians-burkina-faso-human-rights-watch-killings-two-villages

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62052598 

https://hir.harvard.edu/how-france-failed-mali-the-end-of-operation-barkhane/ 

https://warontherocks.com/2022/02/why-france-failed-in-mali/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/12/russian-military-trainers-niger#:~:text=Russian%20military%20trainers%20have%20arrived,as%20it%20fights%20Islamist%20insurgents

https://web.archive.org/web/20190303005008if_/http://www.navyband.navy.mil/anthems/anthems/chad_may1990.mp3

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-niger-russia/

Music by Nadia Mécheri & Jean-Louis Lamande: https://archive.org/details/hoggar-musicadelostuareg

Cover Image: Christina Peters, Picture Alliance/Getty - https://www.internazionale.it/magazine/thomas-eydoux/2024/04/11/i-megafoni-africani-della-propaganda-russa

In this episode of War Boys hosts Ben Cohn and Mose Blauner breakdown the current situation in Haiti. We attempt to explain how we got here and what we think the future holds for the beleaguered country. Up until recently there was no functioning government and the de facto leader of the country has been a man known as ‘Barbeque’.