Darren Olivier

@darrenolivier
259 Followers
1.6K Following
218 Posts
Director at African Defence Review & engineering manager for a payment terminal platform. DM for Signal. Follows don’t mean approval.
Darren OlivierFeb 27
Jan Wildeboer 😷Feb 27
Dutch officials from the new government are opening ActivityPub accounts on the Fediverse. For example the state secretary for economics and digital sovereignty at @stasdigi, the minister for internal affairs @MinisterBZK and more. Find, follow and welcome them to the Fediverse on https://social.overheid.nl/about :) I like!
social.overheid.nl - Mastodon Overheid

Berichten van de overheid. Voor iedereen.

Mastodon hosted on social.overheid.nl
Darren OlivierFeb 7
AthenaFeb 7

"Democracy is now back to 1985 levels according to some metrics, with 72 percent of the world’s population now living under autocracy. Russia and China are less free today than 20 years ago. And so is the United States".

-Human Rights Watch, World Report 2026

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2026

World Report 2026

World Report 2026, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

Human Rights Watch
Darren OlivierFeb 4
InfoSecSherpaFeb 4
https://cagle.com/cartoonist/ratt/2025/01/07/291594/the-washington-post-dies-in-darkness
Darren OlivierFeb 4
Mike ShewardFeb 4

wow, the CIA has sunset the world factbook

I guess it shouldn't be a surprise in a world where facts are no longer important, but still

source: https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/spotlighting-the-world-factbook-as-we-bid-a-fond-farewell/

Darren OlivierFeb 4
Alex Ip 葉清霖Feb 4
INBOX: Washington Post Ukraine Correspondent Lizzie Johnson announces that she has been laid off in the middle of a below-freezing war zone without power, heat, or running water.
Darren OlivierJan 19

This story makes the point that there’s little appetite within BRICS (or BRICS+) for it to be a security alliance.

Exercise ‘Will For Peace’ is no more a BRICS exercise than IBSAMAR, the biennial naval exercise South Africa has with India & Brazil, is.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3340195/will-peace-drills-brics-tests-waters-military-cooperation

Testing the waters: is Brics evolving into a security alliance?

The first naval exercises under the ‘Brics plus’ banner saw Brazil, Egypt, China, Russia and South Africa take part. India did not.

South China Morning Post
Darren OlivierJan 19
Natasha  🇪🇺Jan 19
100% tariff on the MM/DD/YY date format.
Darren OlivierJan 19
Ramaphosa should fire Motshekga and all top officers involved in Iran fiasco, experts say https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-01-18-ramaphosa-should-fire-motshekga-and-all-l-of-sandf-top-brass-for-iran-fiasco-say/
Ramaphosa should fire Motshekga and all of SANDF top brass for Iran fiasco, say experts

Military experts urge President Ramaphosa to dismiss Defence Minister Motshekga and SANDF leaders for failing to enforce his order to withdraw Iranian warships during joint exercises.

Daily Maverick
Show threadDarren OlivierJan 16

One more thing: Motshekga should not be allowed to escape accountability here.

Not only is a minister accountable for their department's failures, but it is Motshekga's job to ensure that any presidential instruction is promptly & comprehensively executed. She failed to do so.

Show threadDarren OlivierJan 16

This is an extraordinary situation: South Africa's Minister of Defence is clearly leaving open the possibility that the SANDF failed to comply with a Presidential instruction.

How this is managed will be pivotal for SA's democracy.