Calls to strip pro-democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah of his British citizenship pile torment on top of torture. New piece by me on a dangerous and manufactured storm: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

With the West Bank economy on its knees and the middle class wiped out by Israel's closure since Oct. 7, why is Ramallah seeing a construction boom in residential housing? The answer is complex and often sad. My article: newlinesmag.com/reportage/wh...

US taxpayers pay $8.6 billion for Israel’s new F-15 warplanes, while Israelis get universal healthcare and heavily-subsidized college education from their government

“Peronism can come dressed in many costumes. Some are closer to the left, others to the right. ​​The key difference lies in which ‘elites’ are defined as the adversaries of what Perón called ‘el pueblo’ (the people) — and, just as importantly, who the declared enemies are.” Decoding an enigma ⤵️

NEW: Peronism, an 80-year-old political ideology from Argentina, has taken both left-wing and right-wing forms. Pablo Alabarces traces its history, dissects its core features and reflects on its enduring legacy in Latin America, for @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/essays/what-...

“Even today, Peronism is often described as less a political doctrine than a feeling — something lived rather than defined.” Pablo Alabarces explores the history and meanings of the elusive Argentine political ideology, for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

The ladies who make soft fresh “twarog” cheese, fermented beetroot juice or fermented cucumbers in their home kitchens and sell them on sidewalks are, strictly speaking, artisans, but not the kind that foodies tend to appreciate. A delightful read on the sociology of food ⤵️

NEW: Our project, “Chicago Under Siege,” documents the fear people lived in, the ways they sought to organize and resist and the heartbreak they experienced under Operation Midway Blitz. blockclubchi.co/3Ye4GGa

We've been quietly at work, taking a look back at how Operation Midway Blitz changed Chicago and what happened after hundreds of federal agents detained immigrants. Unlike what the feds claimed, over 60% of those arrested did not have criminal charges. READ: blockclubchicago.org/2025/12/30/c...

“The American Revolution” documentary by @kenlburns.bsky.social & Co. is “history that blasts through border walls” at a moment of “bolstering barriers and stoking divisive rancor,” writes Benjamin Ortiz in a deeply personal review-essay for @newlinesmag.bsky.social. newlinesmag.com/review/a-rem...

NEW: Across the Middle East, graffiti artists are claiming space and painting themselves back into the landscape, writes Ibrahim Absar for @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/essays/the-c...

Under Assad’s rule in Syria, more than 100,000 people disappeared, more than in any other regime since the Nazis. Documents show that the government went to elaborate, sometimes tedious lengths to cover it up. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/w...

Want to take a deeper dive? Check out the book The Pierogi Problem: Cosmopolitan Appetites and the Reinvention of Polish Food by @fparasecoli.bsky.social, Agata Bachórz, and Mateusz Halawa, just out from @ucpress.bsky.social www.ucpress.edu/books/the-pi...

"Ingredients, dishes and techniques like fermented vegetables and cabbage-and-meat stew (“bigos”) that until a decade ago were considered commonplace or uncomfortable leftovers from the past — too heavy, bland or unhealthy — are redesigned to meet new cosmopolitan preferences." Marvelous read! ⤵️

Let’s celebrate Christmas with pierogi! Świętujmy Wigilię przy pierogach! An article by Agata Bachórz and myself for New Lines Magazine

NEW: A new generation of chefs, food producers and media personalities is reshaping Poland’s culinary landscape — inducing anxiety among Poles about social status and national identity, Fabio Parasecoli and Agata Bachórz report for @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/reportage/no...

NEW: Just three months after the assassination of conservative leader Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA held its AmericaFest 2025 confab last weekend. @joelowndes.bsky.social reports on the tensions within the organization — and the American right. newlinesmag.com/reportage/ch...

DHS shared an AI-generated video of Santa working for ICE, proving yet again that the official voice of the US government is still cruel, gross, and weird.

It's finally here! Remember that weird group of Emirati influencers you keep seeing online. Well I've done a VERY deep dive, & the story is even weirder than you can imagine! "Amjad Taha, Muslim Brotherhood Maxxing & the Emirati #Dysinfluencer Factory" open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...

From @joelowndes.bsky.social's MUST-read report for @newlinesmag.bsky.social on Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest confab in Phoenix

Deep ideological divisions, not just potshots—over Israel, antisemitism, “heritage Americans,” Nick Fuentes, white nationalism, even Nicki Minaj—were center stage at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest confab. A colorful and insightful account by @joelowndes.bsky.social. newlinesmag.com/reportage/ch...

My report from AmFest 2025

The U.S. is outsourcing difficult deportation cases to African states like Eswatini, where deportees face indefinite “transit” prison with no charges or access to lawyers, reports Nick Alexandra for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

The Epstein saga “punctures the very myth that made the president who he was to much of his base” and poses a unique threat to his administration, reports @ryanbiller.bsky.social for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

Michael Karam recalls his family's experiences of war, famine, coups and migration, and the Lebanese mountain home that witnessed it all, for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

“In the span of just 30 years, cashmere has turned into an ecological disaster for Mongolia.” As brands market “sustainable” fiber, herders face dying pastures and a collapsing steppe, write Aïda Delpuech, Sara Manisera and Daniela Sala for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

Elon Musk's chainsaw-wielding on stage was performative, but DOGE left very real destruction in its wake. @sashaabramsky.bsky.social has a new book on that destruction and its aftermath. I look forward to discussing it with him in Chicago on February 7. Join us! www.eventbrite.com/e/american-c...

On Saturday, Dec. 6, join Politics Editor @DannyPostel.bsky.social in person in Chicago, for a conversation with journalists from @BorderlessMag.bsky.social about the evolving realities for the city’s immigrant communities under the second Trump administration.

“This is where revolutionary anxiety comes in. For the people who see themselves as having finally won after 14 years of war and decades of humiliation before that, the victory is not just political, it is existential.” Insightful essay by my @newlinesmag.bsky.social colleague @hhassan.bsky.social ⤵️

In Syria’s Tartus, a former military barracks is home to squatting families and activists, and a co-op providing food, work, housing and a model of coexistence, reports @natachadanon.bsky.social for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

The composer and conductor Mohamed Alghoom has created a fusion of Yemeni folk and Western orchestral music, and his “Heritage Symphonies” are proving a hit around the world. Saeed Al-Batati explores his inspiration, for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

“For the people who see themselves as having finally won after 14 years of war and decades of humiliation before that, the victory is not just political, it is existential.” @hhassan.bsky.social writes on the resilience of the new Syrian order.

NEW: The U.S. is using a contested deportation policy to send men originally from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam and elsewhere to Eswatini, where they face indefinite “transit” prison with no charges or access to lawyers, reports Nick Alexandra. newlinesmag.com/reportage/th...

NEW: Mongolia produces some of the world’s finest cashmere — and is being undone by it. As brands market “sustainable” fiber, herders face debt, dying pastures and a collapsing steppe, write Aïda Delpuech, Sara Manisera and Daniela Sala for @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/reportage/su...

Secret deals with Eswatini and other governments show how the U.S. is quietly creating a “a legal black hole” for immigrants, reports Nick Alexandra for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

“In the span of just 30 years, cashmere has turned into an ecological disaster for Mongolia.” As brands market “sustainable” fiber, herders face dying pastures and a collapsing steppe, write Aïda Delpuech, Sara Manisera, and Daniela Sala for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

The cage, known to detainees as “the box”, is used by guards for the arbitrary punishment of trivial or non-existent offenses, according to the report compiled from interviews with detainees and advocacy groups, and a site visit to Krome made by Amnesty workers in September. ⤵️

Detainees at the notorious Florida immigration jail known as “Alligator Alcatraz” were shackled inside a 2ft high metal cage and left outside without water for up to a day at a time, a shocking report published on Thursday by Amnesty International alleges. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.

Indonesian police used unlawful force against protesters, including beatings and the improper use of water cannon and tear gas grenades, during mass demonstrations that swept the country earlier this year. Read more 👇

The number of journalists and media workers killed worldwide in 2025 has already reached 2024’s record of 126 killed, with more than three weeks left in the year, CPJ data shows. Israel has killed the highest number of journalists, including in Gaza, Iran, and Yemen. cpj.org/2025/12/pres...

A new Amnesty International report on conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz” and Krome North Service Processing Center details how human rights violations at the two facilities amount to torture in some cases.

A new report from Amnesty International documents a pattern of human rights violations and forced disappearances at ICE detention centers in Florida, including the facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" by President Trump and his supporters.

My 2 essays today on one of the region’s most glorious moments, Assad’s fall. In TIME magazine on savoring that moment time.com/7339122/syri... In @newlinesmag.bsky.social on predicting in 2017 HTS (and not any other) wud inherit Syria’s uprising & why this matters newlinesmag.com/argument/syr...

“Like millions of Syrians in the diaspora, I had resigned myself to the idea that I may never see my birth country without Assad in charge. But an 11-day rebel offensive led by Ahmed al-Sharaa changed all of that” — powerful, personal essay by @hhassan.bsky.social on anniversary of Assad's fall

“The anger and grief that had sustained the rebellion did not vanish with the fall of city after city.” The energy of previous revolts against the Assads now shapes the new regime’s resilience and paranoia, writes @hhassan.bsky.social in @newlinesmag.bsky.social

“On the night of Dec. 7-8, I stayed awake in my cell, knowing that the liberation of Damascus was imminent.” Elizabeth Tsurkov recalls the happiness of watching Syria’s liberation from captivity, and her other experiences as a hostage, for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

Fascinating piece on an unlikely experiment in communal survival and coexistence in Syria — led by veteran leftist organizer Suleiman “Kastro” Dakdouk, the Solidarity Fields co-op helps displaced families produce food, earn an income and live side by side across sectarian lines ⤵️

NEW: A Yemeni maestro is giving his country’s music a second life, blending folk songs with Western orchestras to create something entirely new. Saeed Al-Batati reports on Mohamed Alghoom’s “Heritage Symphonies” for @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/spotlight/a-...

The Epstein saga “punctures the very myth that made the president who he was to much of his base” and poses a unique threat to his administration, reports @ryanbiller.bsky.social for @newlinesmag.bsky.social