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.
In December 2024, the Assad regime, which Russia had propped up since 2015, collapsed while Russian forces did nothing. Six months later, Washington and Brussels lifted sanctions, and Syria's new rulers are talking of peace with Israel. How did Moscow manage to lose its closest Arab ally?
On April 22, militants killed 26 people in the Kashmiri town of Pahalgam. Within days, India suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, and Pakistan suspended the Simla Agreement. Each side holds about 170 nuclear warheads, and Pakistan's defense minister has already spoken of using them.