Besides viruses, what else is terribly contagious? Lies, of course. As the coronavirus pandemic engulfs the world, disinformation associated with the virus has taken on many forms. Whether it’s your uncle sending you a Tom Hanks meme at 4 a.m. or the current occupant of the White House lying about Barack Obama supposedly harming the…
Since the discovery of oil in what is now known as South Sudan, bloody conflicts have been waged over control of areas rich with this “black gold.” During Sudan’s second civil war (1983-2005), the oil concession areas in the south became epicentres of conflict and massive human rights abuses. During the war, petrol companies from…
Europol is currently in possession of more than 40 million images of child sexual abuse from across the world. In June 2017, it launched a crowdsourcing campaign called Stop Child Abuse – Trace an Object. Through this campaign, censored extracts from explicit images are regularly published on their website and members of the public are…
Four Su-30 multi-role fighters have been delivered to Angola as of October 2018, as confirmed by satellite imagery. The aircraft are part of a $1 billion deal for 12 airframes signed with Russia in 2013. Fresh satellite imagery captured the aircraft parked on the apron at the Lubango civil-military airport in the Huila province. The…
Executive Summary Ghana has agreed with China to develop its bauxite industry, but concerns have been raised that mining activities in the Atewa Forest Reserve may threaten the country’s water supply. What can open source information tell us about the forest and the mining activities? While no bauxite mining is taking place to date, satellite imagery…
In July 2015, Lawrence Alexander published a report uncovering a number of ostensibly local, Ukrainian news sites that were actually operated out of the so-called “Troll Factory” of St. Petersburg, at 55 Savushkina Street. Lawrence found the connection between these sites by locating a shared Google Analytics ID, which showed that the sites were managed…
Glossary DRC — Democratic Republic of Congo (capital: Kinshasa) FARDC — DRC Armed Forces (Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo) FAC — DRC Air Force (Force Aérienne Congolaise) PMCs — Private Military Contractors, or Private Military Companies M23 — March 23 Movement, a Tutsi rebellion movement in Eastern DRC FDLR — Democratic Forces…
The Official Story On Friday January 27, a Kenyan Defense Force (KDF) military installation in the Somalian village of Kulbiyow was attacked by militants from the al-Qaeda affiliated group al-Shabaab. In the immediate aftermath, significant uncertainty existed as to the outcome of the attack. In an official statement, Kenyan official estimates placed KDF casualties at…
Scope This research examines video footage officially released over 2016 by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), and complements it with other open source information – including press statements by the Nigerian Army, social media content, news outlets, and forum boards. Objective is to track the geographical focus of the counterinsurgency (COIN) offensive launched in 2014…
On Thursday, October 27, militants from the self-declared Islamic State’s Somali affiliate seized the port town of Qandala, in the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region of Somalia. Eyewitness accounts claim that after cutting off communications, militants faced no resistance as they entered the town. To confirm their capture of the town, ISIS’s propaganda wing released a…
