From New York Review Of Books, in-depth, long-form article (3400+ words)

From Africa to Ukraine, the rise and fall of the Wagner Group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was marked by theatrical violence, the seizure of resources, and an utter lack of accountability.

In December 2023 I received a series of alarming WhatsApp messages from a longtime colleague in Timbuktu, just north of the Niger River in central Mali. He told me that a company of Russian mercenaries had recently occupied the city. Armed men were swaggering through the streets and conducting a campaign of intimidation and violence against the Tuareg, the mostly nomadic ethnic group of which he is a member and that has waged rebellions against the government for decades. “They’re extorting money, setting fire to villages, making arbitrary arrests, and killing people,” he wrote. Thousands had fled Timbuktu and settlements in the bush for refugee camps in Mauritania to escape what he called “this pitiless militia.”

… wars aren’t won by armies. They’re won by those who can rewrite the rules.

https://archive.ph/fglCM