The belief that peace is around the corner with a provision that gives Ukraine a NATO-like guarantee is delusional so long as Russia has the upper hand. It can sustain this war for a long while.

From High and Dry to Low and Wet: The Political Ecology of Urban Flooding in Nouakchott, by @corysatter.bsky.social satter.substack.com/p/from-high-...

I am happy to have contributed to an analysis of the rapidly deteriorating security situation in #Mali, especially the ever-tightening blockade of #Bamako by #JNIM with @ufsahelresearch.bsky.social. Read our analysis here: theconversation.com/jihadists-ha...

Genocides often accelerate as the perpetrators feel they are running out of time. As pressure mounts on Israel, the West continues supplying it with arms. Such is Western policy coherence.

One of the scariest ideas is that Israel may accelerate its genocide to create a fait accompli in September, when the UK and other countries say they will recognize a Palestinian state if nothing changes - already far, far overdue.

I hope the University of Florida will now condemn this genocide, and sever all ties with Israel following the publications of two Israel human rights NGOs, one of which I spent time with in 2017, attesting that Israel is indeed committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. All other unis should follow.

Over a dozen starvation deaths today in Gaza, and Columbia expels and revokes degrees of those who protest against this 21st-century genocide www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/...

Final proposal before the final solution?

"Art of the ceasefire: U.S. pretends to obliterate Iran's nuclear sites Iran pretends to retaliate Israel pretends to have won" - @stephenwertheim.bsky.social

Given Iran’s pathetic inability to do anything to defend itself, I would assume they are seriously reconsidering that fatwa on nuclear weapons

Some of these attacks look intended to facilitate regime change. I’m going to assume that is now the goal, or always was

Israel attacking Iran with full-force in the hopes Iran targets US troops?

Another blow for realism, it seems. States do not prioritize their survival above all else, or seek to maximize power. Maybe they *should*, but the idea that they *do* isn’t the same. Clearly, cultural worldviews and even self-esteem are more important.

“Terrorism” has become such a meaningless word www.bbc.com/news/article... Palestine Action to be banned after RAF base break in - BBC News

Trump seems to make major decisions right around the time Wall Street closes for the weekend. Eyes should also be kept on Iran’s talks with European leaders (Iran says it is merely “listening”)

Three thoughts on possibilities of Trump's 2 week deadline: 1) Trump is trying to find an off-ramp 2) It's a ploy 3) Trump wants Israel to wear Iran down a bit more, before the US engages directly

Some really weird psychological projection going on in Israel. This could inform research for decades.

Trump is looking as if he's wavering. Which way will he fall?

Many Israelis now seem to be against strikes on hospitals… after theirs was hit. Yet any sympathy they might have enjoyed instead is met with Schadenfreude and derision in the face of such blatant hypocrisy. A world without international law and basic human rights norms is a very dangerous world.

Trump says “nobody what I’m going to do.” I don’t even know if Trump knows what Trump is going to do.

How does Germany end up on the wrong side of history every damn time? Old habits die hard, I suppose.

If you know anything about Iran, if you've read the Shahnameh - the essence of Iranian identity - then you'll know that Iran will never surrender.

When seen in context with ordering all of Tehran (10 million people) to evacuate, then saying no ceasefire, and promising something "much bigger" in the opposite direction, Trump's post seems to border on nuclear blackmail.

If national epics capture the soul and essence of a nation, the Shahnameh might lend us to believe that Iran will fight on regardless of the costs - as a matter of honor and pride

Seems pretty clear Israel is pursuing its Hezbollah strategy against Iran. I think the idea is to sufficiently weaken the regime in the hopes that an uprising might do the rest. Even if that occurs, they might be left disillusioned.

Israel is going to become associated by a broad swathe and perhaps even majority of the American public with all that is the rot of the bipartisan US governing system. This will be Israel’s long term undoing.

I think the protestors burning US flags are making major miscalculations. They are useful idiots. Even in the minority, those images will spread the idea that identity politics and multiculturalism threaten to tear the nation apart, and build support for their repression.

NEW STATEMENT | Europe on Gaza: Words Are Not Enough A rising chorus of European states have condemned #Israel’s military campaign in the #Gaza Strip. While much depends on Washington, European leaders have levers at their disposal to press for the war’s end. www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-...

Nothing has convinced me more that we have state media and an unfree press than corporate media’s coverage of the genocide in Gaza

Nuremberg established that following orders isn’t a defense. He should be tried. Essentially his salary was more important. He could have resigned. www.middleeasteye.net/trending/smi...

"military force is the best way to bring back the hostages" www.timesofisrael.com/trump-fewer-...

Roberts was not “outmatched”. Why do we assume this is the best we can do? Why do we surrender, rather than fight? You can’t give Trump a treat to behave better. It encourages him. We need to come down firm from the outset. And defend what we pretend as our values.

I’m tired of the trope that politicians “can’t” do stuff because of institutional constraints. Is that why Republicans “can’t” stand up and say we need to get Kilmar Abrego Garcia back? There is a degree of free will in politics. There is simply no courage.

Not going to support political violence, especially when others are put at risk. Just going to say it’s hard for me to empathize with you losing your home when you support domicide, and other -cides.

Forget politics. Whoever saw Trump as some loving father figure who cares about people… how can you be that stupid?

Trump tweets out video of what is almost certainly the US bombing a tribal gathering in Yemen—a clear war crime

Many in the GOP, including Trump, are racist or harbor racist stereotypes, but reducing them to racist obscures that they are more aporophobic (hatred of poor people) than anything. They have a social Darwinist, West-is-best creed: be rich, assimilate, and all will be well nypost.com/2025/04/03/u...

Probably shouldn't do this… but Rachel Zegler says "free Palestine" once and gets a visit from Marc Platt. She is somehow responsible for the box office flop by putting her "immature desires" over Platt's $$$. But Gal Gadot speaks out incessantly about her support for the IDF—with no controversy!

Europe is so schizophrenic www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/...

I feel pretty sure that it isn’t going to be well-educated liberals who spearhead any opposition to Trump, but rather that if organized pushback emerges it will come from a reinvigorated and suffering labor movement. Not a rosy outlook

I have zero faith in the US university system to resist Trump. The larger question is whether its students will. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The term "illiberal democracy" needs to die. At best, it is a pseudo-democracy, but there is nothing democratic about it. It's simply authoritarianism in thin disguise. www.politico.eu/article/tayy...

Israel’s genocidal policy is ensuring that it erodes the post-Holocaust sympathy for the Jewish people. At the same time, Israel is aligning itself with anti-Semitic, far-right elements in the West and associates its actions with the Jewish people as a whole. This is bound to dangerously backfire.

If the Houthis desired a regional conflagration, holding Iran - who doesn’t have all that much influence over the Houthis anyway - responsable is bound to be counterproductive…

Bukele’s “Terrorism Confinement Center” is a mass concentration camp and a ticking time bomb. Someday there will be a jail break, or budget cuts will lead to prisoners being released. They will all have new connections- and desire for vengeance.

Trump’s way of sending a “warning” is literally bombing people. Most people consider that the beginning of hostilities.

NEW: Family of Mahmoud Khalil just released footage of his arrest “Stop resisting” “He’s not resisting” Agents seen continuing to ignore Mahmoud’s wife as she asks basic questions

A good rule of thumb for Democrats at this point is, if their leadership supports it, it’s probably the wrong move

The more the establishment embraces Israel and adopts draconian measures in its favor, the more they discredit Israel and sow the seeds of its demise.

Specifically, the UN accused Israel of genocide. The @nytimes.com refers to it as “targeting”. Remind me how they are considered a newspaper of record?