Meet at a regular lunch amongst half a dozen pals. It's blazingly apparent media programming is cemented in archaic head hardware and they don't see the reality of what you write. They ignore Iranian pain, blood and its waste by Washington and Israel's modern day pirates, more malice without justification. I worked in Tehran, peace loving Iranians wasted like confetti, your words razor sharp so accurate - thank you.
It is tragic what is going on, it must be painful watching what is going on there right now especially as you know the truth of how wonderful the people are there.
I hate what Trump and Israel are doing to Iran and others in the region, supported by the UK government. I refuse to buy into Trump allegedly insulting Starmer, it's a rigged game they are playing and one designed to get the people of the UK on Starmer's side, by believing Trump's insults are real. It will work on the majority of people unfortunately, they'll soon be demanding the UK join in the war games. I'm sorry.
That is the saddest thing, when your FRIENDS, people you THOUGHT were progressive, socialist, cool, even revolutionary, suddenly start waving a Ukrainian flag on their social media. The math level required to see the reality Caitlin lays out every day is 3rd grade. How could any decent person believe we are "helping" Ukraine? And how does our Congress allow Trump to act like Jeffrey Dahmer on steroids in Iran, destroying this beautiful ancient country on a whim, to make himself feel and look strong?
"It's blazingly apparent media programming is cemented in archaic head hardware and they don't see the reality of what you write."
This is exactly what we're up against! ALL people can think, but approximately 98% of us are stuck in animalistic thinking mode. For example, 2/3 of all the doctors who work at a large California Bay Area hospital with my ER doctor sister voted for Trump 3 times. Even these genius doctors are not capable of critical, logical thinking. Consider the biology professor at UC Berkeley who believes that the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible is factual. Caitlin is exactly like an alien sociologist, writing reports back to her home planet about the beautiful, creative, but violent talking apes of Earth.
Here is the math:
IN THIS NEW CENTURY ALONE ...
• America has militarily killed or indirectly caused the deaths of approximately 4,600,000 people in the world.
• Russia has militarily killed or indirectly caused the deaths of approximately 400,000 people in the world.
• China has militarily killed or indirectly caused the deaths of approximately 9,000 people in the world.
• India has militarily killed or indirectly caused the deaths of approximately 30,000 people in the world.
Yes, that is pretty much how I see it. Most of the world looks the other way. Many feel powerless against the world billionaires and their agendas. Including the almost faceless ones that make a living from all the weapons production. Ruthless, greedy, corrupt people who don’t give a fuck about the planet, people, animals or humanity.
Karma will hit the Israeli/US coalition of evil like a ton of bricks for bombing and burning Iran on false pretenses, killing their citizens and destroying their infrastructure and livelihood.
I wish karma would get on with it then before anymore die in horrific circumstances not of their own making. It should have already happned with the horrors inflicted upon Gaza, if takes thus long we could all be dead before any karma is enacted.
Yes, karma is fine if it would work a lot faster, I'm sick to death with all that's going on, now including Lebanon as hundreds being killed there now too, and always Palestinians.
Agreed in principle, however…please give me a comparison of the Gazan genocide and the unprovoked war on Iran and what comes close to it in the same frame of time. Let’s compare apples to apples.
Well Somalia for one, there has been as many deaths there as there has in Gaza during the same time period, yet no outcry, I include those buried in Gaza under the rubble or an educated guess in the total. US has been bombing there but I also happen to know that UK are equally involved but done under our governments secrecy act, which means unless you dig deep, don't inform the public that we are involved.
Nigeria we're always involved in, death figures are much harder to find out.
The main problem in the UK is that secrecy act, came into being in 1912, updated to be stricter in the thirties and updated again during Churchills second term, this also includes what they can do against our own population.
If I asked anyone in the UK what were the first two wars against other countries we committed after the war in Europe ended, not the total second world war, just Europe, they would say none for years.
In 1944 we bombed the crap out of Athens and went door knocking killing people.
1946 we went into Vietnam, 25,000 British soldiers, along with a full brigade of British Indian army and the French to get the French back in there after the resistance had manage to kick them out and take away their power in Vietnam.
Blind and deaf to Sudan. Their conflicts and power rivalries aren't supplied by U.S. & EU warlords? Same bio region as Gaza. Same overland & Sea of Reeds supply routes. Port Sudan being the Times Square of War Profiteers... Crickets! Even at the U.N. Displacement more than Gaza squared.....
"As the civil war enters its third year, Sudan’s two warring factions remain locked in a deadly power struggle. Death toll estimates vary widely, with the former U.S. envoy for Sudan suggesting as many as four hundred thousand have been killed since the conflict began on April 15, 2023. More than eleven million have been displaced, giving rise to the worst displacement crisis in the world. Over four million displaced Sudanese have fled to unstable areas in Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, overwhelming refugee camps. The UN continues to plead for more support as more than thirty million need humanitarian assistance, and deteriorating food security risks are triggering the “world’s largest hunger crisis.”
Background
"For the first half of the twentieth century, Sudan was a joint protectorate of Egypt and the United Kingdom, known as the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium. Egypt and the United Kingdom signed a treaty relinquishing sovereignty to the independent Republic of Sudan in 1956.
"The stark internal divide between the country’s wealthier northern region, which was majority Arab and Muslim, and its less-developed southern region, which was majority Christian or animist, sparked two civil wars, the second of which would see the country split into two states in 2011."
"The second Sudanese civil war from 1983 to 2005 killed an estimated two million people, with widespread documentation of famine and atrocities. In July 2011, Sudan’s southern territory seceded and formed a new state: the Republic of South Sudan."
"The dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir defined Sudan’s post-colonial period. Bashir seized power in a 1989 coup after serving in the Egyptian military during condominium rule and later as an officer in the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)."
"As president, he oversaw the Second Sudanese Civil War, the secession of South Sudan, and the conflict in Darfur. The Darfur war, which broke out in 2003, was later condemned by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a genocide targeting non-Arab populations, including the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit peoples in western Sudan."
"During his regime, Bashir enforced a strict interpretation of sharia, employed private militias and morality police to enforce his decrees, and persecuted Christianity, Sunni apostasy, Shiism, and other minority religious activities...."
"The revolution culminated in an April 2019 coup, which was carried out jointly by the SAF—led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan—and the Rapid Security Forces (RSF), a militia led by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo."
"The RSF is the most powerful paramilitary group to emerge from the Bashir era. The RSF evolved from the Janjaweed militia, an Arab-majority armed group funded by Bashir to suppress southern Sudanese rebels and fight in the Darfur War. The group committed brutal attacks and crimes across the Darfur region, including mass displacement, sexual violence, and kidnapping. The first two years of the conflict in Darfur claimed over two hundred thousand lives, with over one hundred thousand more since 2005."
"With Bashir’s support, the loosely coordinated Janjaweed was formally organized under the RSF banner in 2013. Since then, the RSF has been employed as a border guard force, a source of mercenaries for the Saudi coalition in the Yemeni war, and a hired security force to repress popular uprisings. RSF leader Hemedti became one of Sudan’s wealthiest men by seizing control of gold mines."
"Before 2019, Bashir hired the RSF to protect him from coups and assassination attempts. Despite this, the RSF ultimately joined forces with the SAF in the 2019 coup to oust Bashir and establish a transitional government and a new constitution. Burhan led the Transitional Sovereignty Council with Hemedti as his deputy, alongside other military leaders and several civilians."
"Among the civilian members, the council chose Abdalla Hamdok, an economist and development expert, as prime minister. During his brief tenure, he attempted to mitigate Sudan’s extreme economic turmoil and project stability to the outside world. However, the SAF and RSF orchestrated a coup against Hamdok in October 2021 and suspended the constitution."
"In response, international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund paused badly needed debt relief and other aid to Sudan. Mass demonstrations demanding a return to civilian control intensified in Khartoum."
"Hamdok was briefly reinstated as prime minister in November 2021 after agreeing to concede certain governing powers to Burhan and Hemedti. However, he ultimately resigned in January 2022, as Sudanese protestors were dissatisfied with the terms of his reinstatement and the violent actions of security forces, who had repeatedly beaten and killed protestors."
"Since Hamdok’s resignation, Sudan has had no effective civilian leadership, with Burhan operating as de facto head of state. By early 2022, Burhan and Hemedti were left at the helm of the government, with the power to direct its democratic transition."
"Negotiations throughout 2022 over the future of Sudanese governance culminated in a December 2022 deal laying the groundwork for a two-year transition to civilian leadership and national elections..."
"...On April 15, a series of explosions shook Khartoum, along with heavy gunfire. SAF and RSF leadership both accused each other of firing first. The involvement of the Wagner Group and foreign military influence, notably from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has deepened the rivalry at the core of Sudan’s crisis."
"In June 2024, an NGO report stated that over 235 fires had been set in villages across Sudan, with a majority set by militias in Darfur, since fighting erupted in mid-April 2023."
"Several NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, have documented evidence of numerous mass atrocities committed throughout the conflict, prompting accusations of ethnic cleansing and war crimes. In early November, RSF forces and allied militias killed more than 800 people in a multi-day rampage in Ardamata, a town in western Darfur..."
"...A statement made by the UN in January indicated that between ten thousand and fifteen thousand people were killed in 2023 due to ethnic violence by the RSF and its allies in West Darfur. In April 2024, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield highlighted evidence indicating that women and girls as young as fourteen years old have been victims of sexual violence perpetrated by the RSF."
"Humanitarian access remains a crucial concern for many international actors, including the United States, which called on the UN Security Council to authorize aid deliveries through Chad. Conditions in the country were already poor before April 2023 and have worsened since."
"Over six hundred people died in the first month of fighting, and attacks have destroyed hospitals and other vital infrastructure. In August 2023, the United Nations stated that the conflict in Sudan was “spiraling out of control” as refugees continued to flee the country and the health system collapsed, raising fears of disease outbreaks."
"The displacement crisis is especially concerning given the instability of its bordering countries. In consequence, the UN Humanitarian and Emergency Relief chief dubbed Sudan “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history.”
"On March 8, 2024, the UN Security Council (UNSC) passed a resolution calling for an immediate cessation of violence in Sudan. A few days later, the SAF agreed to indirect negotiations with the RSF, mediated by Libya and Turkey. However, the talks broke down on March 11 after a top SAF general rejected the proposal for a ceasefire unless RSF forces withdrew from civilian sites. The statement came after the SAF made significant advances toward recapturing Khartoum. Iranian armed drones partially contributed to the SAF’s successes..."
Recent Developments
"...The RSF has continued its attacks on local rebel forces, SAF personnel, and civilians to consolidate its control of Darfur in western Sudan. The RSF captured El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and the last major city under government control, on October 27 after an eighteen-month siege. In the following days, reports of widespread RSF atrocities began to surface, including cases of mass killings, sexual violence, and other crimes. The RSF’s targeting of non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur has raised concerns of genocide...."
Comparative silence in terms of Western Media interest in who has profited from arming all sides across Sudan and South Sudan as well as neighboring nation-states....
They couldn't bring the plague into it, churches didn't close their doors to people during the plague, in fact they were busier than ever.
It was the closing of churches that made me realize how far we had fallen, I don't attend one myself but I do know the importance for other people. Just think, if they had remained open, they might have added new numbers to their congregations for after covid craziness had ended.
China already is the adult in the room... as well as the majority of Iranian leaders I've heard speak, since the hideous Israeli/U.S. atrocities over the past few years, present as far more calm, rational, sensible, intelligent, honest, and far less psychotic, terroristic, and hate-filled than the vast majority of U.S. leaders. And all Israeli leaders come off sounding and acting like hate-filled, serial lying, murderous terrorists... because that's exactly what they are.
Count me "in" here. After hearing Jeffrey Sachs and Richard Wolff discuss China, its domestic and foreign polices and achievements, I, too, welcome (with relief!) its ADULT presence in the world. Naysayers will counter, citing civil rights issues. THAT is now a joke. For me, the larger personal issue now, is trying to come to terms with knowing that roughly a third of 'murKKKans are FASCISTS. I am up here in the elder ranks, and I remember when CRITICAL THINKING was taught, practiced, and respected. I'm old enough to make a judgment: It's gone....a relic of the (my) past.
Russia is also helping Iran. Russia has been remarkably restrained considering all the NATO missiles flying into their country and killing civilians, on top of the 18 000 ethnic Russian civilians killed in Eastern Ukraine (which is historic Russian land) before NATO started the war. Russia is helping the Iranians and hopefully can stop the Ameraelis from nuking Iran.
Yes, Russia has helped and so has China with the Beidou Navigation Satellite System. We can't know the extent of the assistance but it likely has saved Iran from a much grimmer outcome.
Iran is proud and did not want to ask for Russian help but finally did. As I understand it...
Every war game scenario played out apparently ended with nuclear.
I just wish that Iran had accepted more help, and earlier. I imagine that part of the problem is that the leaders keep getting killed, there was that aircraft "accident" and the list goes on. Military and economic help, sometimes they are too proud to a fault. I hope that China and Russia can do enough in the times of ultimate need, and they are the ones capable of making the overbearing USrael hesitate.
how did the US lose? Afghanistan is a failed state! They are selling their organs and daughters to eat for cryin out loud. What is your guys' idea of winning? Two people are dead in Minnesota and they pulled medicaid funding. Vietnam is still suffering from agent orange and poison of its ecosystem, not to mention the trauma. Oh and yeah all those people they killed AREN'T COMING BACK.
The West says THEIR culture is oppressive and needs to be changed "for the people"? So they can be like us? Trump tells them to rise up and we will help them. Of course that's a lie, but the hubris is breath-taking in audacity and irony.
"Treat the world like a rental house, create chaos and clutter" --- Look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me - Look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me."
Your poem is a trip. You nail the same reality Caitlin nails. Every sane person capable of human thought can feel the truth of your poem. (ALL people can think, but approximately 98% of us are stuck in animalistic thinking mode. For example, 2/3 of all the doctors who work at a large California Bay Area hospital with my ER doctor sister voted for Trump 3 times. Even these genius doctors are not capable of critical, logical thinking. Consider the biology professor at UC Berkeley who believes that the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible is factual. Caitlin is exactly like an alien sociologist, writing reports back to her home planet about the beautiful, creative, but violent talking apes of Earth. Martin Luther King was like an alien. He was being Chomsky* before Chomsky was being Chomsky.)
Caitlin’s poem is a trip. What are we supposed to do, though? We can’t all just write all day like Caitlin, you, and I do. I write the way Caitlin writes, laying out reality in order to wake people up to the extent that there is a chance of saving my children from a literally hellish future. I'm trying to accomplish just what she’s trying to accomplish, what MLK tried to accomplish in his 1967 anti-war speeches that got him killed. Caitlin reaches just enough souls to make a bare living on Substack and Patreon. But she has absolutely no impact on the various trends of global behavior.
The only overall project humanity is working on together is mass suicide. And the intensity, just like the volume knob setting on an electric guitar amplifier, can be noted. After 70 years of writing, speaking, and protesting, Noam Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg only saw the intensity level of the mass suicide turned up.
I just hit 2.4 million views on Quora (https://www.quora.com/profile/Jeff-Syrop), but like Caitlin, I reach the random specks of dust you see sparkling in a sunbeam coming through the window. Both of us reach a few freaks, scattered worldwide.
We 3 writers try to believe that our writing is enough, but clearly, everybody sitting around writing righteous blogs and recording righteous podcasts isn't the answer. Are people supposed to gather with fellow "revolutionaries" in basements and hatch revolutions? Yesterday, Trump’s popularity among Americans was at 40%, and 44% support our shiny new war, Epic Fury. The Democrats who at first were strongly against the attacks on Iran are now keeping their mouths shut because they think it's important that they "support our troops", support them to death.
I know and honor the audacity of that speech. And everything you say is spot on. Working on mass suicide / that is exactly right. Thanks for subscribing and for sharing your wisdom. I wonder where we’re going with all this but it doesn’t seem to stop getting worse.
"Liberals say 'Trump will lose the midterms'". Ever since Trump was elected the Liberals and Never Trumpers have contested his authority at almost every turn and yet when he declares war for Israel none of his enemies: Schumer, Jefferies, Pelosi et al have challenged him on it. No speeches no condemnations.
Thank you, Caitlin. That wonderful poem is my sentiment to the shithead American public who are too apathetic to be distracted from their plastic infested lives and do something to stop their satanic government from slaughtering innocent people.
Someone needs to put Israel out of its misery or mark my words, they'll drop a nuke next not only pulverizing Iran but endangering the entire planet. They are a threat to life and humanity at this point. I am really baffled all the other 140+ nations arent coming together to put a stop to this. Again, I have to ask, do they really think it will go away if they stay quiet?
Like good children they eat the crap goodies the corporations produce, comfort eat their way through life believing what the news media are telling them about those awful savages in other lands and why we have to go slaughter them, flatten all their buildings, teach them western lessons.
Yes they believe if they stay quiet it will go away but most frankly simply don't care .
For the first time I can remember, our son. With his small family in tow, casually suggested we toast ourselves as we got together. ”It might be our last mean together”, he said. He doesn’t normally say anything even remotely connected to the present human conflicts which make the news every day. This time was different.
Strong visuals. Visceral anger. What good poetry should go for.
I'm not sure it will impress the people you're writing about and make them change their minds, however. It could make them double down on their sadism and apathy. The world doesn't need more sadism and apathy at this point. It needs revolutionaries and visionaries.
It's the sheer indifference that I find so galling, I'm surrounded by it in the area I live, in reality I'd prefer they were shouting their support for the horror's going on, that's something to challenge.
The indifferent come out with "it's not our problem" "I don't get involved in all that". Like they're discussing the weather, mind numbing people who sold their souls for peace and quiet and the next new thing they want to buy.
Like an ice pick through my brainstem.
In one sense, thanks.
In another, ouch,
Meet at a regular lunch amongst half a dozen pals. It's blazingly apparent media programming is cemented in archaic head hardware and they don't see the reality of what you write. They ignore Iranian pain, blood and its waste by Washington and Israel's modern day pirates, more malice without justification. I worked in Tehran, peace loving Iranians wasted like confetti, your words razor sharp so accurate - thank you.
It is tragic what is going on, it must be painful watching what is going on there right now especially as you know the truth of how wonderful the people are there.
I hate what Trump and Israel are doing to Iran and others in the region, supported by the UK government. I refuse to buy into Trump allegedly insulting Starmer, it's a rigged game they are playing and one designed to get the people of the UK on Starmer's side, by believing Trump's insults are real. It will work on the majority of people unfortunately, they'll soon be demanding the UK join in the war games. I'm sorry.
That is the saddest thing, when your FRIENDS, people you THOUGHT were progressive, socialist, cool, even revolutionary, suddenly start waving a Ukrainian flag on their social media. The math level required to see the reality Caitlin lays out every day is 3rd grade. How could any decent person believe we are "helping" Ukraine? And how does our Congress allow Trump to act like Jeffrey Dahmer on steroids in Iran, destroying this beautiful ancient country on a whim, to make himself feel and look strong?
"It's blazingly apparent media programming is cemented in archaic head hardware and they don't see the reality of what you write."
This is exactly what we're up against! ALL people can think, but approximately 98% of us are stuck in animalistic thinking mode. For example, 2/3 of all the doctors who work at a large California Bay Area hospital with my ER doctor sister voted for Trump 3 times. Even these genius doctors are not capable of critical, logical thinking. Consider the biology professor at UC Berkeley who believes that the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible is factual. Caitlin is exactly like an alien sociologist, writing reports back to her home planet about the beautiful, creative, but violent talking apes of Earth.
Here is the math:
IN THIS NEW CENTURY ALONE ...
• America has militarily killed or indirectly caused the deaths of approximately 4,600,000 people in the world.
• Russia has militarily killed or indirectly caused the deaths of approximately 400,000 people in the world.
• China has militarily killed or indirectly caused the deaths of approximately 9,000 people in the world.
• India has militarily killed or indirectly caused the deaths of approximately 30,000 people in the world.
Yes, that is pretty much how I see it. Most of the world looks the other way. Many feel powerless against the world billionaires and their agendas. Including the almost faceless ones that make a living from all the weapons production. Ruthless, greedy, corrupt people who don’t give a fuck about the planet, people, animals or humanity.
+100 likes. Where do *tens of millions* of military goons come form? Answer: Civilian homes and civilian crotches. Gotta love the little bastards...
Exactly.
Karma will hit the Israeli/US coalition of evil like a ton of bricks for bombing and burning Iran on false pretenses, killing their citizens and destroying their infrastructure and livelihood.
I wish karma would get on with it then before anymore die in horrific circumstances not of their own making. It should have already happned with the horrors inflicted upon Gaza, if takes thus long we could all be dead before any karma is enacted.
Yes, karma is fine if it would work a lot faster, I'm sick to death with all that's going on, now including Lebanon as hundreds being killed there now too, and always Palestinians.
Karma is for you and I ….people of the lesser god. For the powerful and pedophiles karma is ineffective and impotent.
It's not just Israel and the US who are implicated in the culture of capitalistic evil that lead to attacks all over the world.
I quite agree with you, the others just do it more quietly, insidiously, but they are out there all the same.
Agreed in principle, however…please give me a comparison of the Gazan genocide and the unprovoked war on Iran and what comes close to it in the same frame of time. Let’s compare apples to apples.
Well Somalia for one, there has been as many deaths there as there has in Gaza during the same time period, yet no outcry, I include those buried in Gaza under the rubble or an educated guess in the total. US has been bombing there but I also happen to know that UK are equally involved but done under our governments secrecy act, which means unless you dig deep, don't inform the public that we are involved.
Nigeria we're always involved in, death figures are much harder to find out.
The main problem in the UK is that secrecy act, came into being in 1912, updated to be stricter in the thirties and updated again during Churchills second term, this also includes what they can do against our own population.
If I asked anyone in the UK what were the first two wars against other countries we committed after the war in Europe ended, not the total second world war, just Europe, they would say none for years.
In 1944 we bombed the crap out of Athens and went door knocking killing people.
1946 we went into Vietnam, 25,000 British soldiers, along with a full brigade of British Indian army and the French to get the French back in there after the resistance had manage to kick them out and take away their power in Vietnam.
The same has continued to this day.
Blind and deaf to Sudan. Their conflicts and power rivalries aren't supplied by U.S. & EU warlords? Same bio region as Gaza. Same overland & Sea of Reeds supply routes. Port Sudan being the Times Square of War Profiteers... Crickets! Even at the U.N. Displacement more than Gaza squared.....
https://themercury.com/news/national/civilian-death-toll-in-sudan-war-more-than-doubled-in-2025-un-says/article_ecd69066-7bc4-5bae-a88c-0548cec64399.html
Even in the liberated South Sudan, not impervious to raids upon its oil and blood property....
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0mgkvy4wr8o
"Death toll in 'surprise' attack in South Sudan rises to 178, local official says
7 days ago"
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Nichola Mandil, Juba, South Sudan, Alfred Lasteck and Jean Otalor
https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/power-struggle-sudan
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February 2026
"As the civil war enters its third year, Sudan’s two warring factions remain locked in a deadly power struggle. Death toll estimates vary widely, with the former U.S. envoy for Sudan suggesting as many as four hundred thousand have been killed since the conflict began on April 15, 2023. More than eleven million have been displaced, giving rise to the worst displacement crisis in the world. Over four million displaced Sudanese have fled to unstable areas in Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, overwhelming refugee camps. The UN continues to plead for more support as more than thirty million need humanitarian assistance, and deteriorating food security risks are triggering the “world’s largest hunger crisis.”
Background
"For the first half of the twentieth century, Sudan was a joint protectorate of Egypt and the United Kingdom, known as the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium. Egypt and the United Kingdom signed a treaty relinquishing sovereignty to the independent Republic of Sudan in 1956.
"The stark internal divide between the country’s wealthier northern region, which was majority Arab and Muslim, and its less-developed southern region, which was majority Christian or animist, sparked two civil wars, the second of which would see the country split into two states in 2011."
"The second Sudanese civil war from 1983 to 2005 killed an estimated two million people, with widespread documentation of famine and atrocities. In July 2011, Sudan’s southern territory seceded and formed a new state: the Republic of South Sudan."
"The dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir defined Sudan’s post-colonial period. Bashir seized power in a 1989 coup after serving in the Egyptian military during condominium rule and later as an officer in the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)."
"As president, he oversaw the Second Sudanese Civil War, the secession of South Sudan, and the conflict in Darfur. The Darfur war, which broke out in 2003, was later condemned by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a genocide targeting non-Arab populations, including the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit peoples in western Sudan."
"During his regime, Bashir enforced a strict interpretation of sharia, employed private militias and morality police to enforce his decrees, and persecuted Christianity, Sunni apostasy, Shiism, and other minority religious activities...."
"The revolution culminated in an April 2019 coup, which was carried out jointly by the SAF—led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan—and the Rapid Security Forces (RSF), a militia led by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo."
"The RSF is the most powerful paramilitary group to emerge from the Bashir era. The RSF evolved from the Janjaweed militia, an Arab-majority armed group funded by Bashir to suppress southern Sudanese rebels and fight in the Darfur War. The group committed brutal attacks and crimes across the Darfur region, including mass displacement, sexual violence, and kidnapping. The first two years of the conflict in Darfur claimed over two hundred thousand lives, with over one hundred thousand more since 2005."
"With Bashir’s support, the loosely coordinated Janjaweed was formally organized under the RSF banner in 2013. Since then, the RSF has been employed as a border guard force, a source of mercenaries for the Saudi coalition in the Yemeni war, and a hired security force to repress popular uprisings. RSF leader Hemedti became one of Sudan’s wealthiest men by seizing control of gold mines."
"Before 2019, Bashir hired the RSF to protect him from coups and assassination attempts. Despite this, the RSF ultimately joined forces with the SAF in the 2019 coup to oust Bashir and establish a transitional government and a new constitution. Burhan led the Transitional Sovereignty Council with Hemedti as his deputy, alongside other military leaders and several civilians."
"Among the civilian members, the council chose Abdalla Hamdok, an economist and development expert, as prime minister. During his brief tenure, he attempted to mitigate Sudan’s extreme economic turmoil and project stability to the outside world. However, the SAF and RSF orchestrated a coup against Hamdok in October 2021 and suspended the constitution."
"In response, international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund paused badly needed debt relief and other aid to Sudan. Mass demonstrations demanding a return to civilian control intensified in Khartoum."
"Hamdok was briefly reinstated as prime minister in November 2021 after agreeing to concede certain governing powers to Burhan and Hemedti. However, he ultimately resigned in January 2022, as Sudanese protestors were dissatisfied with the terms of his reinstatement and the violent actions of security forces, who had repeatedly beaten and killed protestors."
"Since Hamdok’s resignation, Sudan has had no effective civilian leadership, with Burhan operating as de facto head of state. By early 2022, Burhan and Hemedti were left at the helm of the government, with the power to direct its democratic transition."
"Negotiations throughout 2022 over the future of Sudanese governance culminated in a December 2022 deal laying the groundwork for a two-year transition to civilian leadership and national elections..."
"...On April 15, a series of explosions shook Khartoum, along with heavy gunfire. SAF and RSF leadership both accused each other of firing first. The involvement of the Wagner Group and foreign military influence, notably from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has deepened the rivalry at the core of Sudan’s crisis."
"In June 2024, an NGO report stated that over 235 fires had been set in villages across Sudan, with a majority set by militias in Darfur, since fighting erupted in mid-April 2023."
"Several NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, have documented evidence of numerous mass atrocities committed throughout the conflict, prompting accusations of ethnic cleansing and war crimes. In early November, RSF forces and allied militias killed more than 800 people in a multi-day rampage in Ardamata, a town in western Darfur..."
"...A statement made by the UN in January indicated that between ten thousand and fifteen thousand people were killed in 2023 due to ethnic violence by the RSF and its allies in West Darfur. In April 2024, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield highlighted evidence indicating that women and girls as young as fourteen years old have been victims of sexual violence perpetrated by the RSF."
"Humanitarian access remains a crucial concern for many international actors, including the United States, which called on the UN Security Council to authorize aid deliveries through Chad. Conditions in the country were already poor before April 2023 and have worsened since."
"Over six hundred people died in the first month of fighting, and attacks have destroyed hospitals and other vital infrastructure. In August 2023, the United Nations stated that the conflict in Sudan was “spiraling out of control” as refugees continued to flee the country and the health system collapsed, raising fears of disease outbreaks."
"The displacement crisis is especially concerning given the instability of its bordering countries. In consequence, the UN Humanitarian and Emergency Relief chief dubbed Sudan “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history.”
"On March 8, 2024, the UN Security Council (UNSC) passed a resolution calling for an immediate cessation of violence in Sudan. A few days later, the SAF agreed to indirect negotiations with the RSF, mediated by Libya and Turkey. However, the talks broke down on March 11 after a top SAF general rejected the proposal for a ceasefire unless RSF forces withdrew from civilian sites. The statement came after the SAF made significant advances toward recapturing Khartoum. Iranian armed drones partially contributed to the SAF’s successes..."
Recent Developments
"...The RSF has continued its attacks on local rebel forces, SAF personnel, and civilians to consolidate its control of Darfur in western Sudan. The RSF captured El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and the last major city under government control, on October 27 after an eighteen-month siege. In the following days, reports of widespread RSF atrocities began to surface, including cases of mass killings, sexual violence, and other crimes. The RSF’s targeting of non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur has raised concerns of genocide...."
Comparative silence in terms of Western Media interest in who has profited from arming all sides across Sudan and South Sudan as well as neighboring nation-states....
https://www.mediasupport.org/blogpost/silence-kills-the-state-of-media-in-war-torn-sudan/
https://medium.com/@garinpasila/why-150000-deaths-sudan-less-coverage-than-gaza-f00db62d68da
"Why 150,000 Deaths in Sudan Get Less Coverage Than Gaza
How media algorithms, geopolitical interests, and human nature create a hierarchy of suffering — and what it costs us"
Daniel Gagarin
Nov 2, 2025
Via
Tio Mitchito
TM
During Covid we weren’t talking about the plague!
They couldn't bring the plague into it, churches didn't close their doors to people during the plague, in fact they were busier than ever.
It was the closing of churches that made me realize how far we had fallen, I don't attend one myself but I do know the importance for other people. Just think, if they had remained open, they might have added new numbers to their congregations for after covid craziness had ended.
AND THE PALESTINIANS.
And Lebanon.
Karma is bullshit; but it's certainly nice to think about.
Of course...many beliefs are "bull shit," but some beliefs, for some, are interesting concepts to play with, explore.
....and so karma should 👍...to karma 🥂
Let us hope so anyway.
This is consistent with the US invasion of Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan another other less famous countries.
US is going to lose this one with Iran. Like with Afghanistan. Vietnam. Minnesota.
This time, slowly the dollar will lose its power.
China will end up being the adult.
The US will have lost its power, along with genocidal Israel.
The US needs to try to dig out of 3d world status.
China already is the adult in the room... as well as the majority of Iranian leaders I've heard speak, since the hideous Israeli/U.S. atrocities over the past few years, present as far more calm, rational, sensible, intelligent, honest, and far less psychotic, terroristic, and hate-filled than the vast majority of U.S. leaders. And all Israeli leaders come off sounding and acting like hate-filled, serial lying, murderous terrorists... because that's exactly what they are.
Count me "in" here. After hearing Jeffrey Sachs and Richard Wolff discuss China, its domestic and foreign polices and achievements, I, too, welcome (with relief!) its ADULT presence in the world. Naysayers will counter, citing civil rights issues. THAT is now a joke. For me, the larger personal issue now, is trying to come to terms with knowing that roughly a third of 'murKKKans are FASCISTS. I am up here in the elder ranks, and I remember when CRITICAL THINKING was taught, practiced, and respected. I'm old enough to make a judgment: It's gone....a relic of the (my) past.
Russia is also helping Iran. Russia has been remarkably restrained considering all the NATO missiles flying into their country and killing civilians, on top of the 18 000 ethnic Russian civilians killed in Eastern Ukraine (which is historic Russian land) before NATO started the war. Russia is helping the Iranians and hopefully can stop the Ameraelis from nuking Iran.
Both China and Russia are the adults...and I have been saying, as you do, I think they have been exhibiting REMARKABLE restraint.
Yes, Russia has helped and so has China with the Beidou Navigation Satellite System. We can't know the extent of the assistance but it likely has saved Iran from a much grimmer outcome.
Iran is proud and did not want to ask for Russian help but finally did. As I understand it...
Every war game scenario played out apparently ended with nuclear.
Iran is not only a BRICS country , it also has security agreement with Russia.
Enjoy ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5xGPU1QWok
I just wish that Iran had accepted more help, and earlier. I imagine that part of the problem is that the leaders keep getting killed, there was that aircraft "accident" and the list goes on. Military and economic help, sometimes they are too proud to a fault. I hope that China and Russia can do enough in the times of ultimate need, and they are the ones capable of making the overbearing USrael hesitate.
how did the US lose? Afghanistan is a failed state! They are selling their organs and daughters to eat for cryin out loud. What is your guys' idea of winning? Two people are dead in Minnesota and they pulled medicaid funding. Vietnam is still suffering from agent orange and poison of its ecosystem, not to mention the trauma. Oh and yeah all those people they killed AREN'T COMING BACK.
America did that.
You are a really sick human being!
because I am pointing out Afghanistan is a failed state where its people are starving?
I hope this is trolling.
....haha! I think a case could be made that some of us Americans are, in a sense, already living in, near, or anticipated third world status!
The West says THEIR culture is oppressive and needs to be changed "for the people"? So they can be like us? Trump tells them to rise up and we will help them. Of course that's a lie, but the hubris is breath-taking in audacity and irony.
I sincerely hope with all of my heart that they never, ever, become like us in the West.
Drive 4x4s in the city, shop at Whole Foods, buy Amazon
Listen to podcasts, binge-watch shows, discuss plots ad nauseum
Waste no time reading; drink nightly, eat gummies, vape; no sex
Bribe kids, reward them with sugar, turn them into tiny Trumps
Prefer comfort, avoid authentic discourse, talk shit; nothing political
Use Instagram, Facebook, X, ChatGPT, AI as main source for data
SSRIs benzos toys cars food vacations pickleball golf skiing
Yoga EMDR ayahuasca shrooms MDMA iboga pilates bucket lists
Correct others when don't agree with their tastes beliefs thoughts
Spawn lies, learn manipulation control hate contempt indignation
Believe everything, scoff at conspiracy theories, be agnostic
Eschew depth, embrace comfort, numbing, disassociation, addiction
Treat the world like a rental house, create chaos and clutter
Buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, consume, consume, consume, consume
Worship sports, celebrities, influencers, chefs and billionaires
Avoid conflict, avoid reality, seek comfort, avoid pain
Detach from mood, improve mood, stay awake, medicate to sleep
Run from feelings, point fingers, play the victim, blame and shame
Salty, sweet, processed, fried, salty, sweet, processed, fried, repeat
Wonkish, hedging, whataboutish, handwringing and pearl clutching
Be smug without saying anything of substance, loathe ideologues
Reject any coherent ideological framework but believe in science
Bicker over small differences but gripe over lack of nuance
Agree on big ticket items and celebrate consensus when all is well
Go on crusades to rid the world of new Hitlers to restore normality
Refuse to stand up for anything not mainstream acceptable
Legitimize what already exists whilst lip servicing for change
Assert all beings fundamentally equal from a place of privilege
Festishize commerce as rational, efficient method of governance
Obscure amorality and irrationality, tout free market as an ethos
Place wealthy and powerful on a pedestal as hard working apes
Condemn indigent as failures who deserve what they get; losers
Land acknowledgment not land back, critical race theory not reparations
Genocide colonialism manifest destiny pax americana murder, inc.
Don’t forget to check your stock portfolio
Look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me
Look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me.
Look. At. Me.
"Treat the world like a rental house, create chaos and clutter" --- Look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me - Look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me."
Excellent rant! Nailed it! Thanks!
Thanks Paul!
Your poem is a trip. You nail the same reality Caitlin nails. Every sane person capable of human thought can feel the truth of your poem. (ALL people can think, but approximately 98% of us are stuck in animalistic thinking mode. For example, 2/3 of all the doctors who work at a large California Bay Area hospital with my ER doctor sister voted for Trump 3 times. Even these genius doctors are not capable of critical, logical thinking. Consider the biology professor at UC Berkeley who believes that the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible is factual. Caitlin is exactly like an alien sociologist, writing reports back to her home planet about the beautiful, creative, but violent talking apes of Earth. Martin Luther King was like an alien. He was being Chomsky* before Chomsky was being Chomsky.)
Caitlin’s poem is a trip. What are we supposed to do, though? We can’t all just write all day like Caitlin, you, and I do. I write the way Caitlin writes, laying out reality in order to wake people up to the extent that there is a chance of saving my children from a literally hellish future. I'm trying to accomplish just what she’s trying to accomplish, what MLK tried to accomplish in his 1967 anti-war speeches that got him killed. Caitlin reaches just enough souls to make a bare living on Substack and Patreon. But she has absolutely no impact on the various trends of global behavior.
The only overall project humanity is working on together is mass suicide. And the intensity, just like the volume knob setting on an electric guitar amplifier, can be noted. After 70 years of writing, speaking, and protesting, Noam Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg only saw the intensity level of the mass suicide turned up.
I just hit 2.4 million views on Quora (https://www.quora.com/profile/Jeff-Syrop), but like Caitlin, I reach the random specks of dust you see sparkling in a sunbeam coming through the window. Both of us reach a few freaks, scattered worldwide.
We 3 writers try to believe that our writing is enough, but clearly, everybody sitting around writing righteous blogs and recording righteous podcasts isn't the answer. Are people supposed to gather with fellow "revolutionaries" in basements and hatch revolutions? Yesterday, Trump’s popularity among Americans was at 40%, and 44% support our shiny new war, Epic Fury. The Democrats who at first were strongly against the attacks on Iran are now keeping their mouths shut because they think it's important that they "support our troops", support them to death.
*Here is MLK signing his own death warrant: http://www.zenhell.com/temp/Amalgamation_MLK_Anti-War_Speeches_jeff_syrop.pdf
I’ve looked at you. Now what?
I know and honor the audacity of that speech. And everything you say is spot on. Working on mass suicide / that is exactly right. Thanks for subscribing and for sharing your wisdom. I wonder where we’re going with all this but it doesn’t seem to stop getting worse.
🤯😩sometimes the shame of being a privileged white westerner is too much for me.
Knife-like prose from you guys, but accurate.
"Liberals say 'Trump will lose the midterms'". Ever since Trump was elected the Liberals and Never Trumpers have contested his authority at almost every turn and yet when he declares war for Israel none of his enemies: Schumer, Jefferies, Pelosi et al have challenged him on it. No speeches no condemnations.
If you check on Tracking AIPAC you will see why.
Two sides of the same coin. Here in UK with more parties, instead of a coin, they're all the sides of the same cube,
Thank you, Caitlin. That wonderful poem is my sentiment to the shithead American public who are too apathetic to be distracted from their plastic infested lives and do something to stop their satanic government from slaughtering innocent people.
Wailing mothers
Searching the rubble
Someone needs to put Israel out of its misery or mark my words, they'll drop a nuke next not only pulverizing Iran but endangering the entire planet. They are a threat to life and humanity at this point. I am really baffled all the other 140+ nations arent coming together to put a stop to this. Again, I have to ask, do they really think it will go away if they stay quiet?
Like good children they eat the crap goodies the corporations produce, comfort eat their way through life believing what the news media are telling them about those awful savages in other lands and why we have to go slaughter them, flatten all their buildings, teach them western lessons.
Yes they believe if they stay quiet it will go away but most frankly simply don't care .
They've always been a threat to humanity.
You've got to ask...if other nations don't secretly want this. Maybe we've reached then end. This is as far as we go.
One well known sayanim on these pages insists, blatantly so, that there have been NO murders in Gaza. No genocide. Whatsoever.
Chilling and profound.
For the first time I can remember, our son. With his small family in tow, casually suggested we toast ourselves as we got together. ”It might be our last mean together”, he said. He doesn’t normally say anything even remotely connected to the present human conflicts which make the news every day. This time was different.
Strong visuals. Visceral anger. What good poetry should go for.
I'm not sure it will impress the people you're writing about and make them change their minds, however. It could make them double down on their sadism and apathy. The world doesn't need more sadism and apathy at this point. It needs revolutionaries and visionaries.
Once upon a time it was religion, today indifference is the people's drug.
It's the sheer indifference that I find so galling, I'm surrounded by it in the area I live, in reality I'd prefer they were shouting their support for the horror's going on, that's something to challenge.
The indifferent come out with "it's not our problem" "I don't get involved in all that". Like they're discussing the weather, mind numbing people who sold their souls for peace and quiet and the next new thing they want to buy.
No longer humans but humanoids
For sure.
Scrolling is the new opium of the masses.
I resemble that remark.