It is quite a feat to be able to write a long article on the lack of popularity of political leaders and avoid talking about actual politics Little context, nothing about power or ideology Democracy is just management and it's worked so well so far... www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I cannot help but think of the Armenian genocide where repeated forced displacements were a core part of destroying an entire people

Israel is bombing Gaza City as Netanyahu orders Palestinians to "leave now" www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblo...

The horror journalist Mariam Dagga photographed in the last months of her life. The last one is from the hospital where she was killed today. Curated by @apnews.com editors apnews.com/photo-galler...

Democrats writing letters

A week after Azerbaijan’s 2023 attack on Artsakh, Israel’s assault on Gaza began. As Gaza’s suffering exposed the limits of human rights and international law, a friend, whose family is from Artsakh, said: “It’s when I realized how f*cked we are.” My piece on the need for solidarity in these times

Good piece from @natachadanon.bsky.social on what people in Sweida say the central government must do to regain their trust. The government is hemorrhaging faith, particularly from minority groups, and seems unwilling or unable to confront the more extreme factions syriadirect.org/is-there-a-r...

Hear me talk with @leilashami.bsky.social about my time in NE Syria, also known as Rojava, speaking with Islamized Armenians, descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide who were forcibly ‘assimilated’ during and after 1915. And listen to the other episodes of her podcast!

this podcast and this episode in particular really help me putting at least the tip of the toe to a blade of grass. i am not claiming i am touching it, but it helps imagining a world where steady ground could be imagined

In the latest episode of @syriapodcast.bsky.social I'm joined by @karena1.bsky.social to talk about the experiences of Islamized Armenians in Northeast Syria. Available on all podcast apps or here: fromtheperiphery.com/2025/07/30/s...

I needed to hear this episode today ❤️ if anything just to know what I'm feeling is felt by others

The Gaza famine and genocide cannot become the new normal. The latest episode of The Fire These Times is now available everywhere. With @ayoub.bsky.social @leilashami.bsky.social @danielvoskoboynik.bsky.social @essssraaa.bsky.social & @karena1.bsky.social www.patreon.com/posts/135258...

i find myself regularly reminding people that not one single German was severely punished for simply refusing to contribute to the Holocaust

Bye forever, WeTransfer.

the stories that come out of the ICE camps are going to look like the stories that come out of every camp system; rampant corruption, epidemic disease, physical and sexual abuse on a vast scale, a death rate far higher than normal, and medical abuses.

So the head of the BBC is implying that British Jews are somehow connected to a chant about the Israeli army? Does the BBC apologise to British Muslims when armies of self-described Muslim states are criticised? How are we still at this level of the discourse? www.theguardian.com/media/2025/j...

loved this conversation and so appreciate the space for independent thought @thefirethesetimes.com has created

My @civilnet.bsky.social interview on my trip to Northeast Syria (AANES), where I met with Islamized Armenians reclaiming their identity

Zohran Mamdani hasn’t said anything negative about Jewish people or cheered on their suffering. Yet these 4 demand he “distance himself” from such rhetoric. They, however, have *all* expressed support for a government that’s committing a genocide & killed Americans. Will they “distance” themselves?

“In Pasadena last week, a man stepped out of his unmarked vehicle at an intersection, unholstered his pistol and aimed it at a group of pedestrians before returning to his car… That incident left the police chief of Pasadena resigned to figure out whether it was a crime or part of a federal raid.”

Dr. Karena Avedissian, political scientist and researcher, shares insights from her recent visit to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, also known as Rojava. @karena1.bsky.social

Make it a mainstream Dem platform to abolish ICE

You remember how last week we are all saying we should stay vigilant for a 'false-flag' attack by the U.S to justify an attack on Iran. They didn't need it. They just did it. I think that really signals where we are in terms of the self-righteousness of imperialist forces.

Ppl already spinning this as an act of support for the Iranian people. I’m sorry but solidarity doesn’t come from above with bombs. 4 female political prisoners inside, one of them w/ death sentence, just condemned Israel’s aggression. That’s moral clarity - not whatever this violence is

There is already a nuclear-armed country in the Middle East that does not allow international inspectors despite having nukes for decades - and it’s not Iran. Israel is also one of a handful of countries to have never signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

LAPD appears to have kettled protesters around 7:45pm to prevent them from leaving, waited for the 8pm curfew to kick in and then mass-arrested them for curfew violations.

When Los Angeles actually *was* burning down six months ago, these people didn't give a damn about us. Now they're spreading fake AI videos showing LA burning

Everyone I knew who covered disinformation got laid off, their bosses got bullied into firing them, or they changed their beats from actual Nazi harassment campaigns. It cannot be stressed the damage the paid-for Substack “free speech” guys did in the service of fascism and against real free speech.

It is as stupid as you think it is. There is no long-term plan. It is actually that stupid. It’s simply that it’s also very dangerous. The system we live in rewards people like these idiots and perhaps that’s a sign that it’s not a good system.

With lots of attention (rightfully) on Israel’s attacks on Syria, let’s not forget that Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) factions continue to occupy swathes of territory as well as detain, mistreat, and extort civilians in northern Syria. A new HRW report details ongoing abuses here:

Labour’s love of Big Tech is as dangerous as its embrace of Enoch Powell-style discourse on foreigners. www.ft.com/content/438f...

A sobering - but must read piece - on what lies ahead for humanity with the rise of AGI

It can happen here. From my student who went from Smolny in Russia to Columbia. She was able to nurture her brilliance. I think about all the other students trapped in not just authoritarian but hostile and dangerous regimes who will never reach their potential. www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

The IbrahimforGaza's kitchen was targeted by Israel. Four of their volunteers were killed in northern Gaza and they also had to suspend feeding people in Nuseirat as their volunteers were injured there too. I can personally vouch for the group www.instagram.com/reel/DJOYp44...

For all its faults, the US played an important role in helping to end European colonial rule in Africa. Shifting to an overt policy of neo-colonial extraction—while ending development assistance and ceding genuine diplomacy to China and Russia—is … staggering.

Yep, it's rough watching everyone from late night hosts to lightweight tech YouTubers explain the still dangerous effects & likely intents of this erratic policy both more honestly & accessibly than news outlets. Since Colbert explains how 125% tariffs on China are a systematic risk, CNN should too.

Analysts, experts and diplomats told me Israel wants Lebanon and Syria to stay weak and divided. They feel they can manage the chaos via their military and technological superiority. featuring @aronlund.bsky.social @ayoub.bsky.social @mohanad.bsky.social www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

Three headlines for the same story. Here’s how to read them. 🧵

"It is time to acknowledge that we cannot meme our way out of fascism. The only way to defeat fascist trolls is to refuse to enter the arena, to refuse to play on their terms." — #AJOpinion by @aymanmak.bsky.social ⤵️

It's April Fools' Day in Armenia, and I've written an essay on political satire as a powerful tool against propaganda. I share how one of my tweets helped debunk a disinformation narrative and the story behind the launch of the Strangled pigeon twitter account. Enjoy!

If the no public goods crowd prevails, goods are then exclusive to certain individuals and groups. In other words, the very concept of a social contract is no more and we have a kind of caste system defined by who has access to what goods and how much

Mediazona is sadly on the brink of survival and needs to reach 5,000 subscribers to have a chance of staying afloat The state of independent media worldwide is a calamity

For our first episode, Aydin is joined by Efe Levent and Kadir Ersoy to talk about the protests in Turkey following the arrest of Erdogan rival Ekrem Imamoğlu. open.spotify.com/episode/2POu...

It’s official! From The Periphery got itself its own podcast. Subscribe on any platform of your choice.

🚨New paper🚨Tune in to the prebunking network! Development and validation of six inoculation videos that prebunk manipulation tactics and logical fallacies in misinformation 1/17 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Every American abroad can be abused by local police more easily now, because of mounting resentment towards our abuses and/or the permission structure it spreads ("you guys do it, so can we"). And in 🇺🇸 itself, no one should expect assaults on free speech & due process to stop with foreigners:

I was a Fulbright grantee to Turkey twice (1996-97, 1999-2000), and if I'd have been kidnapped like this by plainclothes Turkish government agents, the program would've been shut down there for at least 2-3 years. If Fulbright doesn't speak out, all respect for the programs abroad will disappear.

In @turkeyrecap.bsky.social, I wrote about how İmamoğlu’s arrest and the ensuing crackdown mark the end Turkey’s competitive authoritarian period, unless Erdoğan is forced to climb down www.turkeyrecap.com/p/op-ed-the-...