merry Christmas one and all abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

Israel has bombed Lebanon once every 4 hours on average since a “ceasefire” took effect in late November 2024, according to ACLED, an independent conflict monitor.

I was hoping the article would cover the unlawful detention of an Emirati political dissident, who relocated to Damascus with his Syrian wife and children. He was arrested in November and has been detained since without charge. The UAE has also detained a couple of HTS members.

My position on the debate on "From the River to the Sea" is that it should start with the party that is actually advancing this vision not only through chants but also through genocide and ethnic cleansing - the current Israeli government.

In this wide-ranging interview, Laleh Khalili (@lalehkhalili.bsky.social) speaks with Thea Riofrancos (@triofrancos.bsky.social) about her new book, "Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism"—on lithium mining, prospects for a just climate transition, and more. proteanmag.com/2025/12/22/e...

Bashar al-Assad's daughter has been living and studying in the UAE since the regime fell, at the Sorbonne in Abu Dhabi, where it looks like Emirati authorities are her enforcers, kicking out another Syrian student who dared to criticize her in a group chat. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/w...

"Seven prisoners have been taken to hospital since starting their hunger strikes. Five have been admitted more than once."

How many times do the Saudis have to repeat themselves? “Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal [said] that Riyadh is currently not even entertaining the idea of normalizing relations with Israel and will only do so if Jerusalem begins acting like a “normal country.”

Campaign Against Arms Trade are a great source of reliable information and high quality analysis on UK arms sales. They have important resources on UK arms to Israel in the context of the Gaza genocide. Vital that we keep ourselves informed about these things. caat.org.uk/publications...

I can’t help but notice that Rauda Altenaiji carries the name of a prominent Ras Al Khaimah family, whose members were prominent in the now proscribed Islah movement (otherwise labelled as the local chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood).

New Analysis on my Substack: I Detected Over 5,000 Bot-Like Accounts Amplifying UAE-Aligned STC Narratives in Southern Yemen open.substack.com/pub/marcowen...

Funny article about declassified British documents which purport to say that Jordan's King Abdullah wanted to expand his family's influence in Iraq after the fall of Saddam, he proposed to Tony Blair to install his uncle, Prince Hassan as king of Iraq, but the US made it clear that they didn't care.

“This development … reshapes the internal balance within the Yemeni camp opposed to the … Houthis. It also intensifies competition between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, alarms Oman, and—most critically—deals a serious blow to any prospect of reviving the UN-led peace process.” - Farea Al-Muslimi

The advocacy group founded by the late Jamal Khashoggi, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), has published a report which unveils the senior leadership of AIPAC— most of whom have not been previously disclosed.

It is a little bizarre that it isn't interrogated more that the Prime Minister of Israel's position is that recognition of the State of Palestine is equivalent to or even directly leads to the incitement to the murder of Australian Jews

Not the FT pretending Kafala is a Gulf invention? “Eurokafala might well appeal to voters. Many natives feel that “British”, “French”, “German” etc are premium nationalities. Creating a permanent immigrant serving caste is a way to recognise that.”

Exactly right, the implicit argument being made by OP is that one group's sensitivities matter more than another's. Fair enough I suppose but maybe make it explicit.

🚨 New Book Alert Christopher Davidson’s “Abu Dhabi’s IHC (International Holding Company): The Biggest Company You’ve Never Heard Of. Releasing in June, 2026.

Infant Saeed Abdeen, only one month old, died this morning in Al-Mawasi, Khan Yunis, Gaza, due to hypothermia. The fourth child in just over a week to die after freezing in a displacement tent camp.

I used to wonder how British migrants in the Gulf are quickly able to feel at home. If you can tolerate this in your own country, you can tolerate the same anywhere else. A bit consoling to learn everyday that British people are also comfortable with authoritarian rule.

The police arrested Dr Ayo for trying to help Qesser who's at risk of death from being on hunger strike after being held without trial for over a year for peacefully protesting a genocide. The British state is violence www.thenational.scot/news/2570603...

According to Times of Israel, the US has successfully filled roughly half of the positions for Trump's colonial "Board of Peace", the symbolic governing body for postwar Gaza from 2026 to the end of 2027. The countries are: the UK, Italy, Germany, the UAE, Qatar, and Egypt.

I want to add that the same is happening in the UAE, despite the outside facing, English-speaking young “influencers” emerging on X/Twitter, agitating against the Muslim Brotherhood while using pro-Israel talking points. Domestically, we’ve had two good years of solid re-education on Palestine.

There is an interesting albeit not that deep tension in how pro Israel American politicians and outlets talk about Arab states— they bemoan the lack of democracy but are also aware that any democratic Arab state would be more anti Israel than the regime it'd replace, and so they support the regime.

As 6 Palestine Action hunger strikers demand a fair trial and end UK's role in Israel’s Gaza genocide, family members & MPs are calling for action. Kamran Ahmed’s sister Shahmina spoke about her brother’s condition while activist Teuta Hoxha, of the Filton 24, explains why she is hunger striking:

This case is absolutely horrifying.

Could this lead to his downfall 🤲🏽 www.reuters.com/world/china/...

Very welcome news today that the UK will join the Erasmus+ programme in 2027. This will enable greater opportunities for study abroad and contributions in UK universities, and is something we called for in our most recent Manifesto.

Have a read of Valeria Cetorelli and my recent work - Yazidi Victims Demographic Documentation Project's paper on the ISIL attack on Tel Banat and Tel Qasab, supported by @lsemiddleeast.bsky.social and @cja-news.bsky.social Read & download it here: eprints.lse.ac.uk/120263/1/The...

Oh, this is spicy! Amjad Taha represents a new strategy of recruiting UK/EU citizens and injecting them in the political spheres of their countries of nationality. I know of Palestinian-British person whose municipal elections’ candidacy is supported by the UAE.

If the media were slow to acknowledge an unfolding genocide in Gaza, they have given far less coverage to the one developing in Sudan.

El Fasher has been under siege for more than 18 months, & WFP says there are no indications that trade routes have reopened or that supplies have begun entering the city since the RSF takeover on Oct 26, 2025. At the time the city fell, an estimated 200,000 - 260,000 civilians were residing in...

Personally I’m proud a man named Ahmed el Ahmed saved all of those people’s lives but I’m under no allusions that it’ll matter to how hateful people see any one of us.

I'm on my way to a Chanukah event. It should be a celebration but instead our community is once again mourning. I will be thinking of everyone in Australia and those around the world in the Jewish Community who know this fear and loss. We stand with you.

Re: why the UAE isn't likely to face consequences for Sudan If it does, it's likely to take the same tack it did in Yemen circa 2018-2019, which is say it's pulling out while still backing a bunch of stuff quietly

If you're looking for a way to help Palestinians in Gaza, here is one:

I had a great time with Michaela and Nando discussing Palestine, borders, and how the United States seems intent on the violence that'll beget its own destruction. (As great of a time you can have discussing these things anyway) Give it a listen!

Peyrin Kao, who was issued a six-month suspension from his computer science lecturing position at Berkeley, led an outdoor teach-in on Thursday ⬇️

MSc candidate, Fatima Umer Madani reflects on an event featuring Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), volunteer-led networks that emerged from the 2019 revolution to provide life-saving support during Sudan’s ongoing crises. blogs.lse.ac.uk/internationa...

It was really a pleasure to do this with @miraalhussein.bsky.social and Hamid Khalafallah. Thanks for inviting me on to speak about #Sudan

I agree with the premise of this. I mean, it’s DW. Arab authoritarianism ☠️ Conveniently no mention of Israeli authoritarianism, genocide, apartheid and the whole spectrum of evil it represents. But sure, let’s pretend the Middle East baddies are Gulf Arabs.

I keep getting private messages that I can’t access because Bluesky demands I verify my age by doing a face scan or submitting a copy of a legal ID. Not sure I want to go down that route. Whoever sent a DM in the last 3-4 days - my apologies!

Thursday's attack is the latest in the fighting between the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, also known as the RSF, and the Sudanese military, who have been at war for over two years. n.pr/3Mlijkg

Israel allowing exists from Gaza but no reentry is ethnic cleansing & history repeating. It’s the script of the Nakba — massacre people & then leave them with the awful decision between their children’s lives & their land and then lie that those who chose the former voluntarily departed. So sick.

I’m in Riyadh at the XP Music Futures conference / Festival. I think many of my friends in the West don’t understand the nature of the changes happening in Saudi Arabia. Grassroots energy feels like OG CMJ/New Music Seminar/SXSW. Video from my IG may give a sense. www.instagram.com/p/DR69SinCNq...

Now it is out! My book, "Fearful in Gaza" is out. What if the place you called home could disappear overnight, and the world simply looked away? In Fearful in Gaza, I answer this question not with abstractions or ideology, but through the voices of memory: his own, and those of his mother.

On an aside, the Friday sermon today across the UAE is on the “blessing of Artificial Intelligence.” I don’t suppose they’ll speak to its use in conflict zones though.

Literary scholar with a spine! "The most disturbing failure displayed by the Executive Council was the failure to consider Palestine worthy of discussion -- the cleaving, once again, to the “Palestine exception to free speech,”... - Liron Mor declines MLA 2025 Prize for comparative literary studies.

Fellow academics and cultural workers, please consider joining me and scholars like Robin Kelley, Angela Davis and Ruthie Gilmore in signing this important UAE boycott letter: spectrejournal.com/for-a-cultur...