Please read this wonderful article on the historical lessons of the French Resistance @diane2v.bsky.social

"Protests against ICE raids have spread far beyond Minnesota, with demonstrations reported in hundreds of towns and cities. These actions might not stop deportations in Minneapolis, but they do something else that historians recognize as vital: tell those resisting on the ground that they are seen."

What cities around the world have really interesting, dynamic intellectual “scenes”? Want to tell the story/paint a portrait of such a “scene” — especially in the Global South — for @newlinesmag.bsky.social’s Global Thought series? Pitch me: [email protected] newlinesmag.com/topic/global...

Lots of interesting and wholesome developments in this thread.

@hhassan.bsky.social This is an excellent article, and gives just a bit of hope which is even better.

Important, granular reporting on the underground world of abortion care in the US - by Sabrina Das, an obstetrician, gynecologist & abortion surgeon in London, and a fellow at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health in New York. Tidbits in the next posts. newlinesmag.com/reportage/in...

exemplary reporting here by @lisang.bsky.social, deeply informed and informative — a really fascinating read, looking at the injustices of Palestinian life and Israeli economics from very different angles than we usually see them newlinesmag.com/reportage/wh...

"This was not the first time I’d interviewed a displaced, dispossessed person who was tacitly asking me to recognize their humanity. It never got easier." from @lisang.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/reportage/wh...

Sweden was a paradise of social equality and liberal values for a long time, but the contemporary reality is quite different. Now, far right politics & oligarchs dominate the discourse and the "centrist" gov't wants to pay migrants to leave. newlinesmag.com/reportage/th...

“If the older versions of a crisis among men were stoked by fears that they were growing soft, today’s debate is supercharged by anxieties that they are not just falling behind but disappearing.” Wonderfully nuanced, thoughtful review-essay on recent books and series about the plight of young men ⤵️

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

“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 ⤵️

“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.

“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

“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

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...

Inside Beirut’s Fight To Save Its Reading Culture longreads.com/2025/09/16/b... (from @newlinesmag)

How do you rebuild an economy soaked in blood? In post-Assad Syria, a committee is striking quiet deals with oligarchs. Billions are at stake, and so is justice. @kshaheen.bsky.social and @hhassan.bsky.social report for @newlinesmag.bsky.social. newlinesmag.com/spotlight/ba...

NEW: How do you rebuild an economy soaked in blood? In post-Assad Syria, a committee is striking quiet deals with oligarchs. Billions are at stake, and so is justice. @kshaheen.bsky.social and @hhassan.bsky.social report for @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/spotlight/ba...

We spoke to the Syrian government about Reuters’ recent investigation about reported deals with Assad-era business cronies & tycoons. New, exclusive details by @kshaheen.bsky.social and me in @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/spotlight/ba...

This is *really* a good piece.

"The crisis in Sweida is no longer just a local or even national story. Israel’s intervention and the disinformation campaign that followed reframed what began as a tribal and political dispute into something far more distorted..."

Worth reading from @hhassan.bsky.social on events in Suweida. @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/argument/how...

One of Syria’s most aggressive disinformation campaigns followed the Sweida violence. In this piece, I try to cut through the noise to separate real local grievances from the louder, destructive foreign propaganda. In @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/argument/how...

A pair of MUST reads at @newlinesmag.bsky.social — @shaneburley.bsky.social on Laura Loomer and Jewish MAGA's danse macabre, @benlorber8.bsky.social on the antisemitic core of MAGA's obsession with Epstein and why progressives have no business jumping on the bandwagon. Ideology critique at its best.

NEW: Zohran Mamdani has support from South Asian groups in his NYC mayoral run, but the community is split. Some back his progressive platform, others worry about rent freezes and many remain unaware of his campaign, writes Yashica Dutt for @newlinesmag.bsky.social. newlinesmag.com/reportage/th...

NEW: A major tourism project in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is upending Bedouin life in one of the world’s most sacred landscapes, reports Jessica Buxbaum for @newlinesmag.bsky.social. newlinesmag.com/spotlight/eg...

The Psychological Barrier Broken by Iran and Israel’s Missile Exchange By crossing a former red line and engaging in direct conflict, Tel Aviv and Tehran may have set a dangerous precedent Superb by Kareem Shaheen and Rasha Elass in @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/argument/the...

Such stories are the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters. Four elite commandos infiltrated the Assad regime’s nerve center, eliminated top officers & destroyed the main ops center, cutting all comms. Assad’s forces collapsed into chaos. 11 days later, Assadist 50-year rule was over.

Ahmad Al-Sharaa on this day in 2023: ‘I see you sitting in Aleppo as I see you sitting in front of me now .. Not much is left for this regime to be dislodged from Aleppo & then Syria .. We believe in the next year or two. I say this not to boost morale, but based on information & numbers.’

We have a big piece from Syria today, an investigation by Kamal Shahin: A hidden cyberattack involving spyware distributed among Syrian officers may have played a critical role in the sudden collapse of the Assad regime. In @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/reportage/ho...

We have a couple of really incredible reporting stories out of Syria, including a fascinating investigation into the use of spyware against the army ahead of Assad's collapse on Monday, and this excellent investigation into the violence against the Druze: newlinesmag.com/spotlight/sy...

Academics: have you ever assigned a @newlinesmag.bsky.social article, podcast episode, or video essay in a class? If so, which one(s) and what class(es)? Any and all details welcome! You can respond here, DM me, or e-mail [email protected] 🙏

Everything about the Syrian president and his story is mind-boggling. Take this, for example: Exactly 20 years ago today, he was captured by the Americans in Iraq and jailed. Today he met (and impressed) the US president in Riyadh. His life reads like a ready-made Hollywood script.

This is making a huge buzz in the Middle East, with very significant popular discussions: Rare audio of a candid conversation between Egypt's Nasser & Libya's Gadhafi about #Israel surfaced in recent days. newlinesmag.com/spotlight/wh...

Since Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli army led a massive deployment in destruction, killings & arrests in the West Bank. But while it maintains a webpage in 5 languages, the spokesperson updated with details in Hebrew only, @sammysussman.bsky.social reports. newlinesmag.com/reportage/th...

Badar’s fellowship is partially subsidized by the Scholars at Risk program, which works with U.S. universities to host international scholars facing threats in their countries. He never imagined that a country with a Scholars at Risk program would one day pose a risk to scholars. A powerful essay ⤵️

What exactly is an “America First” foreign policy? Is it a form of realism, or something darker? In a new piece for @newlinesmag.bsky.social I look under the hood and examine the contradictions and confusions that have bedeviled the doctrine for the past century. newlinesmag.com/argument/the...

I write about A LOT of this stuff in my book, very much based on Anthony Kaldellis's brilliant scholarship. This article does an excellent job laying out that history of "Roman denialism" and its legacies in the modern day. Highly recommend reading!

Western writers have long hesitated to call Byzantium what it was: the Roman Empire. Historian Anthony Kaldellis calls this “Roman denialism” & has spent years critiquing it. Now he takes the fight to a popular audience. By Luka Ivan Jukić in @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/essays/overc...

Why Is Dr. Phil Embedded With Federal Agents During Immigration Raids? Recalling the ’90s true crime TV genre, Dr. Phil recently rode along with ICE officers as they carried out raids. Alec D’Angelo explores this curious spectacle for @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/spotlight/dr...

Returning to her hometown of Idlib in Syria, Zaina Erhaim found that the influence of Islamist rule and foreign jihadists continues to shape daily life. She writes of her hopes and disappointment for New Lines Magazine. newlinesmag.com/spotlight/is...

A small Alawite village straddling the disputed boundaries of Lebanon, Israel and Syria has become a political football, largely due to lines drawn a century ago on a colonial map. Experts Asher Kaufman and Haim Srebro explain how, for @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/essays/how-a...

Drug cartels from Latin America are expanding into Pacific nations like New Zealand and Australia, exploiting age-old maritime routes for this lucrative market. newlinesmag.com/reportage/tr...

From 2020 until 2024, there has been at least a 50% increase year on year in the number of illegal Indian immigrants at U.S. borders, including those who were expelled before they could seek asylum. newlinesmag.com/reportage/mo...

Happy St. Brigid’s day, Ireland! A lovely @newlinesmag.bsky.social piece on how saints are reappropriated - some now worship Brigid as a pagan goddess, despite the many historical records showing her as a real (and badass) 5th century woman

Important reference tool sitting by my desk - from two outstanding journalists @michaeldweiss.bsky.social @hhassan.bsky.social

Turkey’s been a rising power for a long time, but it’s a entirely different level after Assad. Syria for Turkey is comparable only to Iraq for Iran after 2003. More on this in my latest for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...