I had a very interesting interview with a couple of very smart people who run the Sképsislamica podcast. I talked about a wide range of things, from the late Sasanian world to the 10th century Samanids and blabbered on for 2.30 hours and they left it as it was! I am sorry! youtu.be/xTuk8u7TTu4?...

A very good and fair ORF (Austrian Radio) report about the recent protests & violence in Iran. It includes a small segment of a longer conversation with me about Iranian history in the 20th century. Wish more if my points were included. oe1.orf.at/player/20260...

A Polish woman just sat across from me at a cafe, holding a tray of Indian food (a sort of veg curry w a side of white rice). She starts eating the gravy like soup, occasionally supplemented by a spoon of white rice. Doesn’t touch the carrots/veggies in the curry. Eats the gravy down & then leaves!

I want to write a book called “Not So Sapien: a Complete History of Human Follies”. It will provide a survey of all the mistakes we’ve made throughout history & how we’ve tried to compensate for them by either integrating them into our system or by developing them into enduring structures.

There is only one cure for grey hair. It was invented by a Frenchman. It is called the guillotine. - Wodehouse

So awful to hear the sad news of the passing of Prof. David Abulafia. Had the honour of discussing ideas about “sea kingdoms” with him a few times & benefit from his wisdom. Always innovative, interesting, and encouraging. What a loss to scholarship. RIP

I’m not against using the f-word to describe these guys, but, you got to remember the Freikorps was made up of dudes who did actually lose a war, and returned to find a lot of women had actually taken their jobs.

Fuck 'em all and let God sort 'em out.

I’m surprised that after the brain damage he hasn’t already ratted out his wife to ICE.

Watch T-rump take over Greenland and boast about the amount of land he has added to the US, and then when he is made aware of the Mercator projection problem, come & declare Gall-Peters projection a DEI/Leftist conspiracy to downplay his achievement!

“Will no one rid us of this turbulent priest?”

Omg even /moviescirclejerk

Just got interviewed by the Österreichischer Rundfunk about the history of Iran in the 20th century and the background to the Revolution of ‘79. My first time moonlighting as a modernist. Watch out for it on 5 February on ÖRF.

Look at these weirdos (complimentary) voluntarily being outside when it’s colder than many people have ever felt or ever will.

When I was a kid, my mum and dad had a villa in the “North”, on the Caspian coast. I spent many happy days there as a child, racing my bike, playing w friends, & going swimming. Now, a friend went there last week and took pics and I have been dewy eyed for a whole day now…!

Can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read this. The cure one needs for melancholy, or the solutions when one needs more melancholy!

Is US an existential threat to other countries yet? “Trump says Iran would be ‘wiped the off face of this earth’ if something happens to him” thehill.com/homenews/adm...

That “rule based order” was always there to benefit the West, not the Rest. It’s now breaking down bc it’s threatening not to benefit the West either. Now, we fear that the Westerners will just move the goal posts and come up with another system to further screw us up & keep themselves comfortable!

Internet is slowly being reconnected. Mum called. High school friends slowly popping up on Whatsapp. I was so overwhelmed that I sat down in the street somewhere and cried.

Had enough? Feeling ghastly? Read this:

It's weird seeing all the Carney stans going "take THAT, loony lefties, doomer naysayers!" and, like, no, we LIKE him saying "death to liberalism". YOU hated it when WE said it and now you love it all of a sudden.

It’s not a fascist tactic. Fascists just use brute force. It’s a Mafia tactic. T-rump is a mobster. How is this still so hard for people to swallow? From the cheap suits & steak with ketchup to his barefaced lies. Even if you have just read one book or seen one film on the mob, you will see it!

Bit worried that the Dems are going to win in 2028 on a Gavin Newsom/Pete Buttigieg ticket and the main policy will be "we'll knock down the ballroom and restore the White House to how it looked before". Tucker Carlson wins in 2032.

Btw, in my old age, I am turning into a 19th century German scholar. The last footnote I wrote for this paper is 1.5 pages and contains an argument that needs an entire paper. Should I seek help? Is there a cure?

The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition, now does not require page numbers in Bibliography???? ZOTERO has quickly adopted this. I am switching to MLA or Harvard. What the hell?!

I do believe that we have started to neglect the eternal good advice of “Don’t argue with Nazis, just punch them in the face” yet again. The only way to prove a point to a Fascist/Nazi is to punch them in the face.

To those who are claiming that it'd be too cruel and extreme for the EU to cut off American tourist visas now (or to otherwise sanction or inconvenience us Americans in any way).... You're REALLY not gonna like what happens if the madman Trump is permitted to set off a hot war with Europe.

Thinking about it, are Norway & Denmark really different countries? I mean ok, Norway at least has a proper language while Danish, as they say, is a burp with grammar. But apart from that, what makes Denmark a country, and Norway anything more than a way up north? Food for thought, innit…?

I guess the logic of T-rump writing to the PM of Norway about his intention to take over Greenland is that technically speaking Leifr Eriksson was a subject of the Kings of Norway back in the early 11th century?

Why do Americans, & Europeans too?, care so much abt awards & trophies? I was not even aware until after my PhD that ppl submit their dissertations for awards & put them on their CVs too…! I thought that’s for elementary school?! Now POTUS sees no reason for Peace if it does not end up in an award!

One of the curious things emerging out of the events of the last weekend in Iran is the overwhelming amount of news about the IRI regime’s successful suppression of the protests through extreme violence. Notwithstanding the IRI’s capability for extreme violence, the fact is we have credible news of…

How come all these hordes of American, Russian, English, French, Australian, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, etc. people living and working in Dubai never integrate to the society, learn a single word of Arabic (most cannot even answer a simple Marhaba or As-Salaam)?

I am loving Galbraith’s humour. Hadn’t read him since grad school. Had forgotten how funny he can be: “Most things in life - automobiles, mistresses, cancer - are important only to those who have them. Money, in contrast, is equally important to those who have it and those who don’t.”

“Men possessed of money, like men earlier favored by noble birth and great title, have infallibly imagined that the awe and admiration that money inspires were really owing to their own wisdom or personality. The contrast between their view of themselves, as so enhanced, and the frequently…

Walter Posch on the Iranian protests. A but shallow, but still a good summary.

I keep on telling myself that I have to sit down and write a diary & record these dark days. I cannot concentrate & commit to a daily routine of writing a diary though. It is frustrating.

What the hell is in those Epstein files? The man is willing to set the world on fire to distract from it…!!

There’s no such thing as a right wing intellectual. If you’re denying reality by believing in junk race science, rejecting proven health cures, and think climate change is a conspiracy despite the vast amounts of evidence compiled, then you are gullible and a fool.

This is either the biggest two day massacre since WWII (possibly the Rwanda was worse) or the IRI propaganda machine is trying to intimidate and scare the protesters who are calling for its downfall. We shall soon find out….

5 days of no talking with family or friends. Two short messages through online acquaintances. News cycle now mostly overtaken by IRI propaganda of “pro-gov’t demonstrations”. Ridiculous concept, demonstrating to support a sitting gov’t armed to the teeth. This won’t end here…

My proposal for the new Iranian flag!

Dumb stuff surfacing again on Twitter from people who have no idea what they are talking about.

Why are Right-wingers so stupid & ill-informed?

Horrible video of the morgue at the Tehran’s surgeon general (authority in charge of issuing death certificates). What seems to be 100’s of body bags and mourning relatives looking for their loved ones. I do hope this is gov’t propaganda meant to scare/discourage protesters. Otherwise too fucked up.

Finally managed to talk to my mum through a friend who drove to the Turkish border to get a Turkish cell connection. She is ok. But the news coming out of Iran is horrible. Hundreds of people were killed by the security forces in the last two days. This is just am estimate from hospitals.

The only way these fascist chucklefucks make this work is by succeeding in manufacturing the *appearance* of inevitability, because they *do not* have the force or skill to win a straight fight. In short, the only weapon that can deliver them victory is you: the fool doomer whose nihilism is poison

Where have you been in the last 4300 years?!

Yes, Reza Pahlavi called on people to take to the streets last night. But he also did in the summer during the Israeli bombing of Iran and people ignored him. A broken clock…. U.S. media, including PBS, needs to stop framing protests in Iran around a 65 year old who has never held a job

24 hours of no contact with inside Iran. Not even direct calling my mum’s landline. Seems they have cut off the entire country. No news of my friends who went out to “stroll around and see what’s going on” 25 hours ago. Anxiety reaching high levels.