Looks familiar? No, it's not 2026. It's the early 80s and the Iran-Iraq war. (From Kim Ghattas' excellent Black Wave)

You know what's better than scrolling? Books!

Everyone I know in Iran is waiting to see if the US will bomb them further into the stone age. Read this achingly beautiful letter from Zahra in Tehran to get a sense of what that feels like:"Where can they begin when every beginning might be an end?" open.substack.com/pub/naghmehs...

i think if you tweet "a whole civilization will die tonight" you shouldn't go to the hague, the hague should get to come to you

A song for our time youtu.be/sBW8Vnp8BzU?...

Fascinating piece by Ali Ansari on the political context of the rise of the IRGC and Mojtaba Khamenei open.substack.com/pub/iranshah...

Prof. Ali Ansari, ‘The West Cannot understand Iran’. iranshahr.substack.com/p/the-fog-of...

this is truly excellent and important work

A series of events today to promote philosophy - at Senate House bpa.ac.uk/philosophyma... I'll be in conversation with @nigelwarburton.bsky.social

I was in conversation with Naghmeh Sohrabi and the Equator's Jonathan Shainin about the US-Israeli war on Iran. We cover a lot in the one hour discussion

Good grief, the idiocy. Permanent damage to water supply in exchange for a short burst of gas.

I remember visiting the National Museum of Beirut and watching a short film on the measures they took to protect artifacts during the civil war. After extensive renovations, bullet holes in the walls are still visible, deliberately left as a reminder. I think about this a lot these days.

It’s very strange that many headlines today are a about war making petroleum more expensive rather than war killing people, harming people, destroying the environment.

A must-read post by Maryam Nasr Esfahani, an Iranian feminist philosopher and ethicist, translated by Alireza Doostdar and wonderfully contextualized by Naghmeh Sohrabi. open.substack.com/pub/naghmehs... #Iran

Dropsite reports “Black rain” + “nuclear winter” caused by Israeli strikes on oil depots in Tehran - chemicals are producing acidic precipitation that causes skin burns + severe lung damage on contact - the rain is corrosive + could damage structures - heavy metals leaking into soil/water systems

چه زمان پرحادثه‌ای برای یاد گرفتن فارسی است

Ferdowsi Street and Square, the very center of Tehran, blocks away from my Aunt's home and a space I've circled countless times. The lady describes a "double-tap," first, a strike and after people came to help, another strike. “They killed the children…the young, the young…”

So relieved to finally hear critical discussion of the global drive to increase military spending. Clear and intelligent. Give it a listen. www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...

Please can everyone I know fill in the consultation on UK pathways to residency. There are reasonable guidelaines from Amnesty as some of the questions are complex with double negatives etc.

A friend in Iran today shared with me a rumour he'd heard, that the regime is prepared to bomb one or two schools in case the US attacks Iran, with the intention of blaming the bombings on the US. He is a teacher. He says that some of his students didn't come to school today because of this.

These are all Black people. The regime is betting that you wont care Jamael & Trahern the way you care about Alex & Renée

I think I might take one of these "under 20 minutes" AI skills courses the UK Govt. seems very keen on everyone doing and live-post it here... Maybe we can all learn something together! The press release sends me to aiskillshub.org.uk/aiskillsboost/ - let's go and see!

The @WJWarriors finally got the right to go to trial to defend Doongmabulla Springs, still in danger from the impacts of coal mining. This ruling gives them stronger ground to stand on. Now they need to work to save the Springs with your donation help. chuffed.org/project/1066...

The regime is burying injured protesters alive: While identifying victims killed by the regime, some families in Tehran, Esfahan & Arak reported encountering bodies that were still alive in body bags. Reports of mass burials raise the possibility that some victims were buried alive. – Ilia Hashemi

The sheer opportunity cost of this Trump-shaped attention black hole.

The US pays for Europe's defence? No it doesn't! Of a $968bn global defence budget, only $33bn is spent in Europe, mostly on US bases which are not NATO bases. The actual US funding of NATO is approx $600m a year, the same as Germany. The myth dies on contact with arithmetic.

"Can you imagine a Socratic dialogue with 50,000 likes?" This is excellent. We've driven out epistemology and driven ourselves mad.

If you want to know about the future of AI, take a look at the kaleidoscope of disinfo and psychological operations underway in Iran 🇮🇷 This excellent piece by @mahsaalimardani.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com is a great start www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

This is a really good webinar from yesterday on the Iran protests. It was hosted by the Quincy Institute and features several well-respected Iran analysts and experts including Vali Nasr and Ellie Geranmayeh x.com/quincyinst/s...

Erfan Soltani is set to be executed this Wednesday by the Islamic Republic of #Iran after being arrested for protesting. Authorities say the sentence is final and have denied him access to a lawyer. #Tehran #ErfanSoltani

Lol: “Imagine calling yourselves the ‘master race’ but forgetting to secure your own website — maybe try mastering to host WordPress before world domination,” Root wrote."

10/10 for headline, FT, a++ No notes. www.ft.com/content/ad94...

File under, we never quite know what's coming next. One of my favourite embassy reports. The UK ambassador in East Berlin reporting in after the fall of the Wall...

Anyone who’s ever actually spoken to a single asylum seeker about their experiences in any country in Europe simply could not honestly conclude that what would improve things would be to further reduce their human rights protections. It’s vile scapegoating unworthy of us & it needs to end #r4today

This year I’m doing something different - I’m only going to talk about this one appeal. Please donate at the link here if you possibly can, or share this to beat the far right vigilante groups 👉 www.justgiving.com/campaign/tog...

NEW: This is worth your time. @thenerve_news has the receipts. A comprehensive timeline of Nathan Gill & Nigel Farage’s pro-Kremlin influencing activities & 2 other MEPs, David Cobourn & Jonathan Arnott. Please read & share.

I am currently, because I know how to enjoy a Saturday morning, writing some guidance for people on filling this consultation in. As I do several things are highly apparent. Before I go through them though I don't want this to put people off of filling it in. It is important to do so nonetheless. 1/

Palestinian-American awarded Nobel Prize in chemistry Gift link: wapo.st/46HEysh

How the Far Right Project 2025 is going to be brought to the UK through the Reform Trojan horse.

A powerful speech by Ahmed al-Sharaa that reminded us that the oppressed and tormented Syrian people, after years of suffering under the Assad regime, whose barrel bombs were no different from the 2,000-pound bombs dropped by Israel on the neighborhoods and refugee camps in Gaza, have finally won.

Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

I couldn't be happier for Laila Soueif and can now close the search tab I periodically used to check on how she is doing. www.reuters.com/world/africa...

‘Forgive us, Palestinian brothers, sisters,’ says Algerian ambassador to UN Amar Bendjama after devastating outcome.

I wrote something about feeling like a guest in a country that is my home. bestforbritain.substack.com/p/my-place-o...

Putin is in Alaska trying to con a diplomatic victory out of the US because Ukraine has stopped him from achieving military victory in Europe.

My navy loses a fleet of ships to a country without a navy. My air force loses 40+ bombers in a morning to a country without an air force My army controls less of Ukraine now than it did 3 years ago. We insist Ukraine surrender to us.

NEW: Extraordinary moment as the Tunisian President confronts Trump’s Middle East adviser, Masad Boulos, with images of starving children in Gaza. One shows a child trying to eat sand out of hunger. “This is absolutely unacceptable. This is a crime against all of humanity.” (🎥Middle East Monitor)

Pu keeps saying it but many in the West refuse to hear him and stick to the fantasy of a negotiated settlement: He does NOT want to end the war at the status quo. He'll negotiate only Ukr's diplomatic surrender. If it doesn't work, he chooses to continue trying to achieve capitulation militarily.

Per reporting by my colleague @olliecarroll.bsky.social, US has cancelled 8,000-ish 155mm shells for Ukraine. That is 20% of current MONTHLY production. How that would have materially affected US readiness is hard to see. That's before getting onto 25 Stingers & 92 AIM-7, which are being phased out