Lumun

Definitely a huge overlap but mostly just because these are classic and great tropes from English-language literature. I doubt Dune was a major inspiration for WOT.

Aes Sedai - Bene - Moirai/Weird Sisters Moiraine is literally named after the Moirai

Paul/Rand are regular chosen ones with the foreign savior theme of Lawrence/Heart of Darkness added on for good measure

Not sure about the other but PoppinKREAM became known on Reddit during the Mueller probe for very long, very well researched and cited comments mostly related to politics. Their citation style in particular meant their comments got tons of Reddit awards and were highly visible.

The Garamantes are cool and notable for not being based around a river at all. I got introduced to them when they were added as a civ in the strategy game Humankind.

Another fascinating rabbit hole about the world’s largest irrigation project in the same region: Libya’s Great Man-Made River

Thank you!

A through-line from every source I’ve read on the crisis is that there seems to be broad support across the country for the French military to remove their troops from Nigerien land. Another source: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/west-african-defence-chiefs-mull-response-niger-coup-2023-08-03/

The French refusal to relinquish military influence over their former colonial regions is a big part of why these popular coups have been seeking the support of Russia. If France and the West in general want to repair their relations with the people of the Sahel and steer them away from Russia, they need to reduce their military presence (assuming that has popular support) and begin providing reparations. This region was fucked over by the French and that has never been acknowledged fairly.

https://mondediplo.com/outsidein/niger-accountability

Try !astronomy@mander.xyz

Mander is generally a science-focused instance, so there are a lot of sciency /c’s there

There are so many communities being heroically held aloft by 1 or 2 serial posters. My favorite is !quackers@lemmy.world

Here’s an NPR article I found on one of the major opposition parties that is succeeding this year.

… ‘its charismatic, Harvard University-educated candidate for prime minister told NPR: “Demilitarize, demonopolize and decentralize — that’s how you democratize Thailand. That’s the endgame,”’ … … In the past two decades, [the establishment] has staged two coups while Thailand’s courts have brought down three opposition prime ministers and dissolved several opposition parties. … “You have to imagine a lot of Thais, powerful Thais, elites, they have a lot of stakes in the system that were set up over the last seven decades … they bought into the system. And Move Forward is a direct challenge.”