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The RSF forces push deeper into West Kordofan as Sudan’s army defends its final foothold, while the UN Security Council debates the future of MONUSCO and Poland alleges rail sabotage by Ukrainian recruits acting for Russian intelligence.

Our main story examines why diplomacy is being eclipsed by militarisation.

This, and more, below ⤵️

Top 5 Stories

1️⃣ 🇺🇸 🇸🇦 MbS visits Trump at the White House: Trump downplayed the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the White House,  insisting the Saudi leader “knew nothing about it,” despite US intelligence assessments implicating the crown prince. Trump highlighted massive Saudi investment promises and confirmed plans to sell “top-of-the-line” F-35 fighter jets.

2️⃣ 🇲🇿 🇫🇷 TotalEnergies accused of aiding war crimes at Mozambique gas project: TotalEnergies faces a criminal complaint in Paris alleging complicity in war crimes and torture over the “container massacre” at its Mozambique gas facility, where soldiers protecting the site allegedly detained, starved, tortured, and executed up to 200 men in 2021. If prosecutors proceed to trial, the case could mark a major test of corporate accountability under international justice principles.

3️⃣ 🇲🇱 🇨🇮 🇸🇳 Militants tighten blockade as fuel crisis deepens in Bamako: Fuel shortages in Bamako have spiralled into a full-blown crisis, with kilometres-long queues forming as militant attacks on supply convoys from Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire choke deliveries. Interim leader Assimi Goïta has broken two months of silence to warn that Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) is deliberately strangling the capital’s supply routes, raising fears that the jihadist group—long entrenched in the north—may now be preparing to encircle Bamako itself.

4️⃣ 🇧🇷 Global coalition urges Cop30 to adopt fossil fuel phase-out roadmap: More than 80 countries from across the global north and south have issued a strong call for Cop30 to deliver a concrete roadmap to phase out fossil fuels, marking the most forceful intervention yet in stalled negotiations. Leaders from Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific insisted that transitioning away from coal, oil, and gas must be central to the summit’s outcome. 

5️⃣ 🇸🇾 Syrian authorities probe sectarian violence, detain Suwayda perpetrators: Syria has arrested members of its security and military services after an inquiry found they were implicated in July’s sectarian bloodshed in Suwayda, where armed men were filmed executing Druze civilians and humiliating elderly residents. 

Major Story

🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 WHY DIPLOMACY IS LOSING GROUND TO MILITARISATION

In 1958, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan warned that “jaw, jaw is better than war, war,” underscoring diplomacy’s superiority over military confrontation, a lesson reinforced by leaders like John F. Kennedy, who experienced war’s brutality firsthand. Today, experts such as Andrew Mitchell fear that this wisdom is fading as generations grow increasingly detached from the horrors that shaped 20th-century international order. Speaking to Politico, some theorists have suggested that major conflicts recur roughly every 85 years, as societies lose collective memory of war’s devastation.

A Dangerous Shift: Selling Peace, Buying War

While geopolitical tensions escalate, governments are dismantling the very tools designed to prevent conflict. In 2024, global defence spending surged by nearly 10 percent, the sharpest increase since the Cold War, while international development aid dropped by a similar amount. For the first time in decades, the US, UK, Germany, and France simultaneously slashed foreign aid, diverting funds to military budgets. Diplomatic networks are shrinking too, with embassies closing, foreign service jobs cut, and seasoned diplomats replaced with loyalists or political appointees.

Remembering the Lesson

Peace is not built on military might alone. As Kim Darroch, former UK ambassador to Washington, argued, real security comes from integrated strategies that combine defence, diplomacy, and development. When nations prioritise arms over engagement, they take a costly gamble—not just financially, but geopolitically. Soft power may seem “soft,” until it is gone, and then its absence becomes painfully clear.

Other News

1️⃣ 🇸🇩 RSF advances eastward as Sudan army clings to last West Kordofan stronghold: Sudan’s army says it has beaten back another Rapid Support Forces assault on Babnusa, its final major foothold in West Kordofan, as the paramilitary force pushes east after consolidating control of Darfur. Satellite imagery and field reports show heavy damage to military installations from drone strikes and shelling, even as new verified footage suggests army units have recaptured equipment abandoned by retreating RSF fighters. 

2️⃣ 🇺🇳 🇨🇩 Security Council weighs MONUSCO renewal as eastern DRC crisis worsens: With MONUSCO’s mandate set to expire in December, the UNSC is debating whether to extend one of the UN’s longest, most expensive, and most contested peacekeeping operations. The discussion comes amid collapsing ceasefires, escalating fighting between the Congolese government and M23 rebels, and growing doubts about the UN’s long-term role in protracted conflicts. 

3️⃣ 🇵🇱 🇺🇦 🇷🇺 Poland links rail sabotage to Ukrainian recruits working for Russian intelligence: Poland has accused two Ukrainian men, allegedly recruited by Russian intelligence, of planting an explosive device and placing a steel clamp on a key railway line used to transport aid to Ukraine. The suspects, believed to have travelled from Belarus before the attacks and fled there afterward, are seen as part of Moscow’s strategy to destabilise countries hosting large Ukrainian communities and inflame anti-Ukrainian sentiment.

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