In October 2025, Tanzania's president won 97.66% of the vote after the main opposition party was barred from the election. That same month, 92-year-old Paul Biya won an eighth term in Cameroon, and 255 people were arrested in Côte d'Ivoire for disputing the count. Elections here no longer change power. They confirm it.
In October 2025, the Rapid Support Forces stormed El Fasher, the last major city in Darfur still held by Sudan's army. Most of those killed were Masalit, Fur and other African peoples, and the UN has warned of signs of genocide. The UN Security Council has yet to adopt a single resolution condemning it.
Moscow invited the leaders of all 22 Arab League states to its first Russian-Arab summit, set for October 15, 2025. Five days before, the Kremlin announced a postponement. According to Bloomberg, only Syria's president and the Arab League's secretary-general had agreed to come. Why did Russia lose the Arab world?
Near Novorossiysk there is a tiny village called Ubykh, named after a Circassian tribe that once lived on this coast. In 1864, after decades of war, Russia completed the destruction of Circassia, and hundreds of thousands fled to Turkey. Could a revived Circassia now offer southern Russia a way out of Putin's war?
In June 2025, Iran fired a missile at a US base in Qatar, and the Gulf monarchies found themselves one step from a regional war. They condemned Israel's strikes, and Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman barred the US from using their bases against Iran. Now they are planning a joint missile defense system worth over $85 billion.
In April 2025, Washington sanctioned a Chinese company for supplying the Houthis with satellite images of ships in the Red Sea. Russia, too, reportedly passed them satellite data through Iran. Moscow's contacts with them go back to the early 2010s, when a Russian intelligence officer in Sana'a met Houthi representatives.
In August 2025, Belarus proposed allowing martial law if Russia is attacked, as Russian troops came for the Zapad-2025 drills. NATO's chief believes Russia will be ready to fight the alliance within five years. The Baltics, Transnistria, the Caucasus and Kazakhstan are possible targets, but Russia itself may face China.
By mid-2025, the jihadist group JNIM controlled vast areas from central Mali to northern Benin, with some six thousand fighters. It runs Sharia courts, collects taxes and protects villagers, so many locals see it as a lesser evil than the army. Its emirs now call Russia, which backs Mali's junta, the new crusader.
On June 13, 2025, Israel struck Iran's nuclear sites and killed top commanders, turning a long cold war into open conflict. Nine days later, the United States bombed Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. After the June 24 ceasefire, Iran's nuclear program is halted, but what comes next: new escalation, a real truce or regime change?
In 2024, Israel became the first country to use a combat laser in war, shooting down about 40 Hezbollah drones. Each interception costs a few dollars of electricity, against tens of thousands for an Iron Dome missile. But the Light Shield only works at short range and in clear weather.