"Hussein envisaged a series of projects that would boost the image of Iraq globally. To start, he wanted to make a motion picture of Hollywood proportions connecting his Ba'ath party to the Iraqi revolutionaries who overturned British rule in 1920." www.bbc.com/culture/arti...

Germinate’s first special issue call on the theme of “December”👇

The GIGA welcomed Ukrainian officials from the 14th High Level Experts Programme #Ukraine by the Federal Foreign Office. GIGA experts @eckartwoertz.bsky.social, Christiane Fröhlich, and Julia Grauvogel spoke on Russian foreign policy, the #Kakhovka Dam Attack, and international #sanctions.

Diese Frau bekam 390,000 Euros vom Berliner Senat, um u.a Verschwörungstheorien zu bekämpfen.

Excited to send this back out into the world in paperback form. For unfortunate reasons, it remains as current as ever

From the importance of #AreaExpertise to the challenges facing liberal democracies and the future of #multilateralism: GIGA President @skurtenbach.bsky.social kicked off the event, followed by keynotes by MdB @rodki.bsky.social and Louise Fawcett @ox.ac.uk. 🗨️🌐

Caught in the Middle? Our third roundtable explored how states are navigating an increasingly fragmented international order through strategies of #multialignment, drawing on perspectives from Europe, Brazil, India, Southeast Asia, and beyond. 🌐

#Peace in Pieces? Our second roundtable explored the patterns and pitfalls of #peacebuilding in an increasingly fragile international order, drawing on experiences from the Middle East and North Africa, West Africa and the Sahel, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. 🕊️

#ComparativeAreaStudies in the Making: Day 2 of our Research meets Policy-Event started with a roundtable on #TransnationalRepression – how authoritarian states extend repression beyond their borders and target diaspora communities abroad. 🌍

www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft... CCS Heidelberg Materials plant in Norway not working as expected, emission reduction from cement production (8% of Co2 emissions globally) only 15% instead of 50%. Could have implications for the technology internationally.

The FIFA Men’s #WorldCup2026 has implications for nationalism, sportswashing, and social protests in #MiddleEast & #NorthAfrica. In our latest #GIGAFocus, André Bank, Idriss Jebari, Hamid Talebian & @eckartwoertz.bsky.social analyse the politics of #football: www.giga-hamburg.de/en/publicati...

Zappa vs. the MTV/ Warner Bros. mentality, one of the best Zappa interviews I have ever seen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Kp...

“Not only were better alternatives available, but the methods employed in Gaza actively reduced Israel’s chances of achieving its stated objectives: recovering hostages and dismantling Hamas. The claim military necessity compelled the approach used does not hold.” warontherocks.com/the-operatio...

www.dukeupress.edu/resurgency "In Resurgency, Kali Rubaii offers detailed ethnographic insight into how decades of war have affected everyday life in Iraq. Drawing on fieldwork in Anbar province and Iraqi Kurdistan in 2014–15 and 2021–24."

Not too far from the truth: inpreparation.substack.com/p/erc-now-re...

"four months after its establishment, the board’s financial fund set up by the World Bank has received no money from donors, according to four people familiar with the matter. “Zero dollars have been deposited,” one said." giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

“Food security starts with fertiliser security. Europe must produce more and depend less on others for the nutrients that sustain our agriculture.” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

[2/6] Barcelona Summer School of the Med and the Middle East!🌍 ✏️ Energy, Water, and Food Security under Strain: The Gulf, Iran, and the Geopolitics of Regional Supply Chains 🗣️@eckartwoertz.bsky.social (IMES) 29 & 30 June | 10:30-13:30 t.ly/UasPP 🤝IBEI, Catalonia International & @iemed.bsky.social

Please enjoy my cartoon for Thursday's Toronto Star

Join GIGA’s WONAGO Lecture Series on 5 May 2026 for Sean Yom’s talk on Middle Eastern monarchies, authoritarian politics, and the puzzle of ruling monarchism. It's a hybrid event. Register here ⬇️ www.giga-hamburg.de/en/events/co...

Klimakrise, Pandemien und Kriege - wer kann uns vor all diesen Bedrohungen schützen? Was kann der Staat übernehmen, worum müssen wir uns als Bürger:in kümmern? Diese und andere Fragen untersucht @uschroeder.bsky.social in ihrem neuen Buch. Mehr erfahren ➡️ www.ifsh.de/news-detail/...

Xy "described eurodollars as a “remarkable conspiracy of silence”. ... America extends a financial security umbrella to dollars created abroad. Should the Fed ...not extend the diplomatic generosity of its swap lines — that’s when it would be time to worry." giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

You can read my take here: paw.princeton.edu/article/scho...

"The FT reviewed more than 300 articles published over the past five years in a dozen Iranian defence publications. They provide a unique window into the secretive Iranian establishment" (e.g. tactics and what technologies are being prioritised). giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

www.cfr.org/articles/pet... "There is too much talk about Kissinger’s 1974 deal with the Saudis... That deal wasn’t for all time. The Saudi surplus from ‘73 and ‘79 had disappeared by the late 80s and early 90s, but at the time, few talked about the end of the petrodollar system."

"A substantial share of Egypt’s export-oriented nitrogen capacity is controlled by Fertiglobe, a company in which the UAE’s Adnoc now holds a controlling stake and that claims to be the world’s largest seaborne exporter of urea and ammonia" giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

www.stimson.org/2026/beneath... Over 90% of Europe's internet traffic to Asia goes through Egypt and the Red Sea. International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC): 200 instances of cable damage each year, only about one percent was intentional, 3/4 of cable cuts:fishing equipment and ship anchors.

www.bakerinstitute.org/sites/defaul... Scenario of a possible Iraq-GCC-Oman pipeline: ca $55 billion and 5-7 years construction.

"Formalising the Strait of Hormuz into a fee-paying corridor could deliver $5bn-$8bn annually to Iran and Oman, whose territorial waters cover the southern half of the strait" (Illegal for territorial waters in international law, Suez Canal 2023: €10.3bn) giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

I am happy to have written this piece of applied history with Daniel Chardell on what we can learn from the Gulf War ceasefire about today’s war with Iran. www.foreignaffairs.com/iran/how-cea...

It would behoove Big Tech to spread the potential benefits of AI to the public. In the short term, this might include investments in grid upgrades, workforce retraining and community benefit agreements in places where data centres are built. www.ft.com/content/525c...

1973-74, Ölembargos iJom-Kippur-Kriegs, Versorgungslücke rund acht Prozent. 1979 bis 1980, während der Iran-Revolution und des Ausbruchs des Irak-Iran-Kriegs, waren es rund sieben Prozent. In der aktuellen Krise wird der Ausfall auf zehn bis elf Prozent geschätzt. www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/s...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Unlikely Companions of Energy Transitions? Opportunities and Challenges of Triangular Cooperation Between the EU, the GCC, and Hydrocarbon-Poor Countries From the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

"Analysts contend that it is possible to run a cost-effective electricity grid where the vast majority of power comes from renewables in concert with batteries."

"Spain has managed quite a feat. ... The country’s electricity prices only reached or exceeded the average cost of gas-fired electricity 15 per cent of the time, according to analysis by Ember. In Italy, gas set the price of electricity 89 per cent of the time." giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

The AI economy looks...really precarious. So @matteowong.bsky.social & I did a bunch of reporting to try to figure out what happens when a potential bubble collides with a war in Iran and a potential resource shortage. The answer is...arguably the most dire stuff i've heard from smart ppl in a while

"Storage is patchy: the UAE aims to have reserves equivalent to just two days of normal consumption by 2036, which could be stretched to around a month by strict rationing." www.economist.com/middle-east-...

"Bis die Welt einmal gründlich aufgebohrt, aufgeteilt, verheizt und verscherbelt war, gab der Raubtierspirit keine Ruhe. So war es. Der Tisch wurde ohne verabredeten Spielabbruch nie fürs Abendbrot frei." www.zeit.de/feuilleton/2...

"Meloni said after meeting Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune that they agreed their state-controlled energy companies should develop new joint projects, including shale and offshore gas exploration." 44% of electricity from gas vs. 17% in EU giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...