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Articles by Cory Dakota Satter
Terrorism, West Africa, Mali, Al Qaeda
TERRORISMJihadists Have Blockaded Mali’s Capital. What’s at Stake Published 5 November 2025 A coalition of jihadist groups affiliated with al-Qaida have laid siege to landlocked Mali’s capital. For over a month, they have attacked convoys supplying Bamako with fuel, putting considerable pressure on the military junta that has been ruling the country for five years. After more than 10 years of civil war, will the jihadist blockade lead to the fall of the capital — and the country – to the jihadists?
Crise au Mali : ce que révèle le blocus djihadiste de Bamako
Une coalition de groupes djihadistes affiliés à Al-Qaïda a assiégé la capitale du Mali. Depuis plus d'un mois, ils attaquent les convois d'approvisionnement de ce pays enclavé d'Afrique de l'Ouest. Ces attaques ciblent notamment ceux qui approvisionnent Bamako en carburant. Cette stratégie vise à exercer une pression considérable sur la junte militaire qui dirige le pays depuis cinq ans.
Jihadists have blockaded Mali’s capital. What’s at stake
A coalition of jihadist groups affiliated with al-Qaida have laid siege to landlocked Mali’s capital. For over a month, they have attacked convoys supplying Bamako with fuel, putting considerable pressure on the military junta that has been ruling the country for five years. The security situation has deteriorated to such an extent that the United States has asked all its citizens to leave the country immediately.
Postmodernism is dead. All hail metamodernism!
Metamodernism is a qualified modernism that promises improvement and worthwhileness despite the challenges we face. In this, we ought to rejoice. Press enter or click to view image in full size Recently, I had been describing myself as a cautious modernist. What I meant by that was that I rejected the postmodern nihilism that I feel has been the dominant cultural mood, as evidenced when standing before a bland and inscrutable contemporary art installation.
Republicans Honor Charlie Kirk with Democratic Support
Nearly 100 Democrats joined hands to support Republicans in sanitizing Kirk’s record of hate and division, without addressing the conditions that allowed his vitriol to echo in the ears of his followers. The United States House of Representatives voted upon a resolution 310–58 on Friday, 19 September, to honor Charlie Kirk in the wake of his assassination on 11 September. All in opposition were Democrats, with 38 more voting present and 22 not voting. Nearly 100 others voted with the Republicans.
Navigating my reaction to Charlie Kirk's assassination
It is not easy for me to express sympathy for Kirk, but the rise in political violence in the United States is worrying. It should not be embraced. Charlie Kirk is referred to in the media following his assassination as having stood against political violence, but I think this is misleading. It is true that he had made the following statement: "We record all of it so that we put [it] on the internet so people can see these ideas collide. When people stop talking, that's when you get violence.
Faking Opposition to Violence
Politicians obscure their support for violence. But as a tool, its recourse always rests in the background. Every society, at every place across every time, has attempted to regulate violence. The most sophisticated attempt to do so was with the invention of the state, the Weberian definition of which considers it to have a monopoly on the legitimate use of force.
Review: Mircea Eliade, the Terror of History, and Fascism
Mircea Eliade, the Terror of History, and Fascism Earlier this year, Pete Sandberg, a post-doc at the University of Gothenburg, published an article in the journal History of European Ideas, entitled “Under a merciless star: Mircea Eliade and the horror of history.” Sandberg’s goal seems to be to dissect Eliade’s notion of the “terror of history”, tracing it back to his early involve with fascism, specifically the Iron Guard, and assert that Eliade’s assertions that humans seek to recreate a...
German Functionalism: The Frankfurt Airport Experience
The German stereotype is one of efficiency, functionality, practicality—in short, order. As Frankfurt Airport shows, it is often quite the opposite. Germany has a reputation for being a well-ordered, efficient country. The popular stereotype across countries is that Germans are a solution-oriented people: where there is a problem, it is not to be dwelt upon but acted upon immediately. This has lent to the idea that Germans, and perhaps Anglo-Saxons more generally, are practical peoples.
Ennui and Its Discontents
How ennui—a sort of existential languishing—may engender extremism and violence. Ennui is a strange word. Indeed, it is not English, but French. It is typically translated into the English language as “boredom”, yet it is something far greater than that, at least as the latter is popularly employed. For with boredom, one typically imagines a child sitting in a classroom, unenthused by what the teacher is saying.
Holy War or Violent Daydreaming?
Religious extremism is only one form of anti-social, violent revolts against a sense of human languishing and loss of meaning in life. Less emphasis should be placed on religion as a driver of violence, and more on the lived reality that lends to violent interpretations of it. Is jihad reducible to a belief in a cosmic war between good and evil?
Trump’s Icarus Moment?
Emboldened by results thus far, Trump floats the idea of “regime change” in Iran. It could ruin him. U.S. President Donald Trump’s reputation for being a cautious world leader when it comes to sustained military engagements may finally be on the verge of collapsing. This image was always a dishonest one, for despite Trump’s assertions to the contrary, he has enjoyed using drones and he did support the Iraq War in 2003.
Israel First: Donald Trump Rushes Headlong into a New Middle Eastern War
With President Trump’s bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran, without the authorization of Congress, America finds itself on the verge of a new fiasco in the Middle East. And so it happened. U.S. President Donald Trump, despite his pledges of America First, chose Israel First and bombed three nuclear facilities in Iran, including the heavily fortified Fordow site located beneath 60 meters of a hard, rocky mountain. The results are unclear as of yet, but Trump has gone ahead and declared victory.
Israelis are Reminded of the Danger of a World without Human Rights
The Iranian bombardment of a hospital in southern Israel is a dark reminder that a world without human rights is not a world in which we want to be. Even the powerful are not immune. This morning, I awoke to the news: an Iranian rocket, reportedly the older Shahed-3, made it through Israeli air defenses and hit the Soroka hospital in Beersheva, southern Israel.
Is Donald Trump a Fascist?
Authoritarian? Yes. Dangerous? Yes. Fascist? Not quite. Is President Donald Trump a fascist? Many people have asked the question. Since even before the rise to power of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler and the disaster that followed, the epithet “fascist” has become a sort of political form of abuse, a slur. The communists in interwar Germany, for example, labeled their social democratic, reformist opponents “social fascists”.
The Hierarchy of Humanity: On Meta-Narratives and Human Rights
Member-only story From the Declaration of Independence to Gaza, the West’s selective application of human dignity reveals a deep moral contradiction. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 5 min read · -- The cover of a Politico article shows scenes from a Gaza hospital. Source. Narratives shape how we see the world, but meta-narratives — the underlying stories we tell ourselves about history, morality, and identity — operate at an even deeper level.
Is Elon Musk Afraid to Die?
Member-only story The world’s richest man and tech tycoon once insinuated he doesn’t want to live forever. Yet his goals and tactics imply that he is deeply concerned about existential issues. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 12 min read · -- Elon Musk was criticized for allegedly imitating the Roman salute, a fascist gesture, at Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January 2025. “My heart goes out to you”, he said. “It is thanks to you that the future of civilisation is assured.” Elon Musk is a fanatic.
Bernie Sanders Predicts a Dark Future
Member-only story While observing that democracy has ended and that we live in an oligarchy, Sanders also asserted that we mustn’t despair. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 3 min read · -- Screen grab from Sander’s rebuttal to Trump’s 4 March speech to Congress. There are few politicians I have any respect for, yet one I can say that I unequivocally respect is Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT-I).
“Après moi, le déluge”: DOGE cuts state-of-the-art climate research project
As part of the Trump-Musk sacking of the U.S. Federal Government, our pioneering project meant to understand how climate change impacts the world’s most vulnerable people has been terminated. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 7 min read · -- A boy plays ball on the street of a flood-ravaged neighborhood in Dar Naïm, Nouakchott, Mauritania. Photo by author, 2023.
The World’s Richest Man Gutted Our Project, Meant to Understand How Climate Change Will Affect the World’s Poorest
As part of the Trump-Musk sacking of the U.S. Federal Government, a pioneering project meant to understand how climate change is impacting the world’s most vulnerable people has been terminated. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 6 min read · -- A boy plays ball in the flood ravaged neighborhood of Dar Naïm, Mauritania, 2023. Photo by author. On Friday, 28 February, I was walking back to the office at the University of Florida with my supervisor, Dr. Leonardo “Leo” Villalón.
From Hero to Zero: Trump-Vance Publicly Humiliate Zelensky
Member-only story The Trump-Vance obsession with raw power, status, and reputation explains their desire to humiliate and discredit Zelensky in front of the world. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 5 min read · -- Screen grab of the tense Trump-Vance-Zelesnky press conference on 28 February, 2025, in the Oval Office. CNN. Every day, the world becomes more interesting—and frightening. This afternoon at the White House during a press conference, American President Donald Trump and Vice President J. D.
The Importance of Understanding the Existential Drivers of Violent Fanaticism
Member-only story Extremist violence isn’t meaningless. It’s motivated by existential angst. Academics and policymakers would do best to center this knowledge in studies and policy responses. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 6 min read · -- Dulle Griet (c. 1562), Brueger the Elder. There is an elementary inability across the political and social sciences to understand the existential drivers of violent fanatic movements.
The War in Ukraine Needs to End
Member-only story While Trump’s plan isn’t the way to end it—what is? With previous opportunities missed, there are now no good options. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 7 min read · -- George Gittoes: Ukraine Guernica. Silversalt Photography. Three years and hundreds of thousands of casualties or more later, the war in Ukraine may be coming to an end. President Donald Trump promised to end it while campaigning, and he appears to be serious about that. The question then becomes not will he end it, but how?
The Existential Anxiety Behind Neo-Fascism
Member-only story Reflections with Roger Griffin. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 13 min read · -- Combattimento dei Puritani. Giorgio de Chircio. 1955. On 29 November, I published a post on Medium (since republished on Substack) under the title “Fascism: The Dark Side of Existentialism.” In that post, I sought to explore how many existentialist-minded thinkers of the 20th Century — foremost among them Martin Heidegger — became fascists.
The Revenge of the Masses
In 1929, José Ortega Y Gasset wrote the Revolt of the Masses. Now, they are back with a vengeance. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 9 min read · -- The City. Fernand Léger, 1919. In 1929, Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset penned a series of articles that would appear in the newspaper, El Sol. A year later, they would be published as a book, Revolt of the Masses.
Le nettoyage ethnique de Gaza n’apportera pas la paix
La seule solution, logique et morale, est de traiter les Palestiniens avec la dignité qu’ils méritent en tant qu’êtres humains. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 7 min read · -- « No Words », 2024, de Malak Mattar, un artiste palestinien de la ville de Gaza avec une exposition personnelle à la galerie Roberto Ferruzzi à Venise, en Italie. NYT. Ce post a été traduit de l’original anglais. Voir ici.
Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza Will Not Bring About Peace
The only solution, logical and moral, is to treat Palestinians with the dignity they require as human beings. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 7 min read · -- “No Words,” 2024, by Malak Mattar, a Palestinian artist from Gaza City with a solo show at Roberto Ferruzzi Gallery in Venice, Italy. NYT. Donald Trump’s shocking plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its some 2 million inhabitants has made the airwaves the world over.
The Human Nature Debate is Back - But Nurture isn’t Dead
For decades, social science has marginalized talk of human nature. Developments in biology are bringing it back in. What does it mean? What can we expect? Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 7 min read · -- True to our nature, the fantastic paintings of Hieronymus Bosch frequently depict a clash of hellish and heavenly scenes. Such captures the anxiety that defines us. New advances in biology are upending decades of taken-for-granted social science paradigms.
Ahead of Trump’s Inauguration, Biden Attempts to Strengthen Ukraine’s Bargaining Position
The decision to give Ukraine long-range missiles won’t change the course of the war, but it could change the negotiations. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 2 min read · -- Bakhmut, Ukraine has largely been destroyed during the war. Photo: NYT. Two days ago, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that he would be allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles against Russian targets inside Russian territory. The announcement marked yet another escalation in Europe’s bloodiest war since World War II.
Democrats are Liars, or Traitors.
Plus what the future may hold Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 6 min read · -- The Doomsday Clock, set to 90 seconds before midnight in January 2023. A little over one week after the US Presidential Elections, at least some Democrats are showing signs of soul-searching. Four years after writing an op-ed in The New York Times, “No, not Sanders, ever”, David Brooks is now writing “Maybe Bernie Sanders is Right”.
What Does Evolution Tell Us about International Conflict?
Evolution, Dominance, and the Russian-Ukraine War Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 5 min read · -- Chimpanzee in Uganda. Photo: Wikipedia. Humans are animals. We often forget it, and perhaps we even suppress this knowledge. Yet the fact is that humans are of the Great Apes family. We share 98 percent of our DNA with both bonobos and chimpanzees and, unsurprisingly, much of our behavior too. Yet when it comes to international politics and relations, few scholars take a life sciences approach.
One Thing to Be (Cautiously) Hopeful For Under Trump’s Next Mandate
Ending the senseless war in Ukraine. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 5 min read · -- The frontline in the Donbass, seen from space. Google Maps/Reddit. Two days ago, as much as half of the United States may have watched in absolute shock as Donald Trump won a second mandate as President of the United States. I was not one of them. My gut had been telling me Trump would win, despite my previous prediction that there would be a “red wave” during the midterms, which did not materialize.
Jews and Palestinians are the Same People
The conflict is based on different ways of imagining communities, and what rights they have to the land. In other words, it is a political battle for land—but it doesn’t mean there is moral equivalency. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 3 min read · -- The Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Britannica.
The Meaning of the Genesis Creation Myth
The true meaning of the Eden myth is to humble ourselves and control our existential fears, lest we harm one another. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 7 min read · -- Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Wenzel Peter. Vatican. The creation myth in the Book of Genesis is considered by some to be Divine Truth. I am not opposed to such a characterization, insofar as I consider God and the Self to be equivalent. And the messages myths are supposed to convey may be true.
Instagram Has Canceled Me For Speaking Out About the Gaza Genocide
As the human rights abuses become more egregious, social media companies are attempting now more than ever to control the discourse. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 5 min read · -- Photo made with ChatGPT. (Unfortunately they still have some work to do). A few days ago, I received a notification when I attempted to check my Instagram account. Meta had suspended it for violation of community guidelines.
As Gaza is Murdered, What Should We Make of US Foreign Policy?
World politics is a pissing contest, but we fool ourselves into thinking US foreign policy is somehow different. It will kill us all. Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 5 min read · -- Image of Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital on fire in Deir Balah, Gaza Strip. The hospital was bombed by Israeli jets, with the resulting fire burning patients alive. Photo: Washington Post. One year and two weeks.
State of Nature: Evolutionary IR Theory
Where survival instincts meet diplomacy Cory Dakota Satter · Follow 8 min read · -- The Fall of Man. Photo: Michelangelo.org. How does evolutionary theory illuminate our understanding of international politics? While International Relations (IR) Theory has taken many “turns” in recent decades, it is still missing an “evolutionary turn”. This is not to say that no scholars have written about evolutionary theory as it may apply to IR, but it simply hasn’t caught on.
Is Israel Attempting to Relive Its Trauma?
Is Israel Attempting to Relive Its Trauma? Psychology is an odd thing, and normally we apply it to people; yet in International Relations (IR) Theory, there are an increasing number of scholars who are turning to psychological frameworks to explain state behavior. In my opinion, they should — states are nothing but collections of people, and the aggregate of human behavior may cause the state to resemble a human actor. If the state can be thought of as a human, can it feel?
Is “Genocide” a Useful Word?
A while back, I wrote the article, “Unpacking liberal genocide.” I wrote it with the intention of being intellectually provocative by putting to ostensibly antithetically opposed words — “liberalism” and “genocide” — together. After all, liberalism is associated with the Enlightenment, the protection of the individual, freedom from discrimination, and anti-fascism. Genocide, on the other hand, is the opposite.
Israel is Sowing the Seeds of Its Demise
Israel is Sowing the Seeds of Its Demise The first anniversary of the latest and most destructive iteration of war in Gaza is approaching and, according to the Israelis, the war has entered a new phase. That new phase is the pivot towards Lebanon, where the Israelis have stepped up attacks against Hezbollah. Within the last week, Hezbollah has suffered numerous setbacks, with targeted assassinations and the pager and walkie-talkie explosions killing or maiming thousands.
Threads of the Infinite: The Original Message of Religion
Threads of the Infinite: The Original Message of Religion What if humans misunderstand the major religions? What if each one, while different, essentially leads to the same place? This is not a novel idea, hence quotes such as “all rivers lead to the sea” (they don’t) or “all paths lead to the mountain top” (again, they don’t). Analogies are imperfect, but these sayings capture the main idea.
Why Do (Liberals) Love Henry Kissinger?
Kissinger was influential, but so were many other horrible people. So what explains this fetish? It has been a few months since Henry Kissinger, an influential German-American statesman, died at the age of 100 years old. “Influential”, however, does not say much. The word does not tell us what he influenced, or whether or not that was good or bad. I fall into the camp that Henry Kissinger, by our own moral standards, was a bad man.
Almost 40 million people are under flood alert. Our urban design is partially to blame.
Paving over hundreds of miles of land for a car-centered lifestyle ensures that floodwaters cannot but accumulate. As an atmospheric river is being emptied out upon Arizona and California, tens of millions of people have found themselves threatened with flooding. In Los Angeles alone, 10 million people are at risk. Natural weather patterns can only partly explain the magnitude of the disaster. Even climate change falls short in its explanation.
Western countries cut funds to UNRWA, facilitating genocide
On the very same day that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that accusations brought by South Africa against Israel that it is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip were “plausible”, the United States and the United Kingdom decided to announce the cessation of funding for the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). They were followed by Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Scotland and Switzerland.
Is Israel’s goal to make Gaza unlivable?
It is now the 69th day of Israel’s assault in Gaza, coming after an unprecedented air, land, and sea attack by Hamas on the self-declared Jewish state. Some 1,200 people were killed in the attack, mostly civilians, though Israel has also admitted an undisclosed number were killed by its own military during the confusion. It has refused to open an investigation, saying it would be “morally unsound” at the moment Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot reports.
Beyond Broken Windows Theory in International Migration
In recent years, our global community has grappled with a pressing crisis - the widespread displacement and migration of individuals in search of safety and improved livelihoods. Such movements have fueled xenophobia and resentment, especially in the West, leading to a wave of electoral victories for the far-right. The visible upheavals we witness are but surface indications of deeper, systemic issues that demand our attention and a reevaluation of our approach.
The Left's Dual Duty in the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Israelis mourn for the victims of loved ones killed in the 2023 Hamas terrorist attack. ABC News. I have been disgusted by much or even most of the rhetoric I've seen following Hamas' brutal terrorist attack on Israel. Let's be honest. That's what it was. If slaughtering innocent civilians, including women and children, is not terrorism, then I do not know what is. Despite some voices I wish I could dismiss as fringe, this was not "decolonization".
Supremacists Hate Context
An Israeli airstrike hits the Gaza Strip, 24 October 2023. Photo: AP/Ariel Schalit It is Day 18 of the newest iteration of war in the Gaza Strip, and the carnage shows no sign of abating. It is unclear how, or when, it could. Israel is a wounded giant, its throes thrashing one of the most densely populated areas on the planet, with over a million people under the age of 18 years. Already, more than 5,000 people are reported killed, though it is difficult to confirm the numbers.
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