Iconic mural if I’m honest

This will kill innocent children.

A brave survivor speaks on the record. Sami al-Saei, 46, used to be a freelance journalist in the occupied West Bank. He was arrested after working with reporters to arrange interviews with armed groups and was detained without being charged for 16 months. bbc.com/news/article...

In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites. He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

“This is about a basic need, the imperative of justice for all of us”

“I can’t think of any other way to describe it but an attack on the independence of the judiciary and the ICC's independence as an institution, which is why I’m so interested in the public hearing this.” @naomiohreally.bsky.social interviews ICC Judge Kim Prost. www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

And let’s not forget its root intent is to prevent this:

‘It’s surreal’: US sanctions lock International Criminal Court judge out of daily life. My interview with Canadian judge Kimberly Prost, who was sanctioned by the US for ruling to authorise an investigation into war crimes by US troops in Afghanistan www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

“I can’t think of any other way to describe it but an attack on the independence of the judiciary and the International Criminal Court’s independence as an institution, which is why I’m so interested in the public hearing this.” by @naomiohreally.bsky.social www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

René Girard theory of mimetic desire klaxon

In the European Parliament, the interpreter and some of the audience could not hold back tears during the speech of 11-year-old Roman Oleksiv from Lviv. On December 10, Roman came to Brussels for a presentation of documentaries about Ukrainian children to tell his story to MEPs

Coalition of the willing is unfortunately such a cursed term

The government presents its demand for a new nitrates derogation (pollution permit) in Brussels as a demand of the Irish public. This counterpoint argues that it is actually being demanded by a subsection of the agriculture industry, and is in conflict with a genuine public interest: clean water

"Ireland’s neutrality does not make it immune to hostile actions" 👀 From the website of the European Commission's representation in Ireland - a page explaining Ireland's participation in EU defence projects, added to the site December 4. The office told me they began writing the page in September.

"The character" of Ireland is apparently "strategically important" to the Trump administration, according to its new national security strategy. The sentence comes after a section about what it wants in Europe: "patriotic" parties in power

Finally an EU leader hits back vs US NSS - Costa: "US no longer believes in multilateralism, rules-based order, climate change. We have differences in our worldviews. The strategy continues to speak of Europe as an ally. That’s good. But if we are allies, we must act as allies..

“Over the last 15 years or so we have been watching places like this disappear one by one to be replaced by nothing," said artist George Hooker. “There’s a feeling of frustration and really strong sense that we can’t let this happen." www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

Five sophisticated drones flew in the route of Ukrainian President Zelenskiy’s flight path as he arrived in Ireland; had he not arrived slightly early, they would have passed close. EU and Irish officials are treating it as a Russian hybrid attack www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

Soldiers from the army of Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar who were initially trained by former Irish Defence Forces personnel have appeared in Russia and have expressed fears they will be deployed to the frontline in Ukraine. www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

I've said before that Ireland is simply catching up with the rest of the Europe when it comes to the far right, and this "they're all adults, actually" is one of their talking-points from 10-15 years ago. In Sweden they were called "skäggbarn" (beard-children). None of this is in good faith.

More than 33,000 new images of detainees in Assad’s Syria provide further evidence of the regime’s ‘machinery of death’ www.irishtimes.com/world/middle...

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

“For the Kremlin, the Miami talks were the culmination of a strategy, hatched before Trump’s inauguration, to bypass the traditional U.S. national security apparatus and convince the administration to view Russia not as a military threat but as a land of… opportunity” www.wsj.com/world/russia...

A 2500 year old letter from a soldier named Hananyahu, deciphered through super-modern multispectral imaging, begins with “If there is any wine, send” journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... #grunts #invinoveritas #dogsofwar #pluscachange

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You can hear from a person who lived through the Economic War in the 1930s in our new episode, now available over on Patreon www.patreon.com/posts/early-...

Digging into the archives, I discovered my grandfather was the first generation not to speak Irish as his mother tongue, and that he grew up with a famine survivor - his grandmother. History was so much closer than I thought. My essay this weekend: www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

How Britain's migration plans may affect Ireland. Something London doesn't seem to have considered (shocker): anything they seek to implement in N.Ireland that reduces rights (including of asylum seekers) will face legal challenges under the Windsor Framework www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

Behind architecture and ancient treasures lies a state strategy built on mega-projects and foreign capital to shore up Egypt’s strained economy www.irishtimes.com/world/africa...

For and Against a United Ireland reviewed by Andy Pollak: "I would make this balanced and scrupulous treatment of the great existential issue of this island required reading for every Irish & Northern Irish sixth year school student and first year undergraduate."

Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:

I wrote about how exceptional police powers to place people under house arrest without trial along other things were introduced in the state of emergency in the hours after the Paris Bataclan attacks, were extended six times, before ultimately being made permanent French law.

I said “combatative” on the TV last might and the correct word seems to be “combative”. I swear this is a glitch in the Matrix and was only changed just now

As the US skips the UN climate conference, slashes science, and steers into pollution, China is going hard with solar, and selling tons to the many countries that prefer to live in reality rather than deny it. Yet more indication America threw away global leadership and facilitated China’s rise.

The kind of journalism that needs to be invested in.. and paid for.

The Irish Times is the only Irish news organisation with a global network of full-time foreign correspondents. Sign up for our new morning newsletter written by our Beijing correspondent joining the dots of world news Monday to Thursday: www.irishtimes.com/world/2025/1...

A video I made with Irish Times Europe correspondent @naomiohreally.bsky.social about President Higgins. Has he changed the nature of the presidency forever? www.irishtimes.com/video/video/...

"These issues know no ideology, no political boundaries. It’s not a liberal or a conservative thing." That was George Bush senior in 1988, vowing to tackle climate change as president. How the US became the vandal of world climate deals. It didn't have to be so: www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

This (not from that piece) is one of those charts where I am completely aware of the data but my mental map of how the global economy works still almost refuses to update to the new reality. Because the pace of change has been so rapid.

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death. Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written." Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating. 🧪🧬🧫

The world’s first trillionaire initiated a move that has left more than half a million people dead, most of whom are children.

NEW: The End of the Line: the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject - a 500m tall, 170km long wall-like building intended ultimately to house 9 million people - can’t get out of the ground, say more than 20 former Neom architects, engineers and senior executives. ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...

Just had a lovely woman in our shop in Donegal, searching for her lost twin sister. Appreciate it if my Irish followers would retweet this. Thank you.

I see it's time for me to make the point again that the poppy is a fundraising campaign for the Royal British Legion, a specific, mundane entity that is not exempt from scrutiny and does not own the concept of remembrance. You can read its 2024 accounts here: storage.rblcdn.co.uk/sitefinity/d...

Absolutely shocking that the Chinese govt pressured a UK university to shut down research about forced labour in Xinjiang and the links to global supply chains. The work of Laura Murphy and her team had been instrumental in getting Chinese companies sanctioned. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

'The fort opposite the oakwood, Once it was Bruidge’s, it was Cathal’s It was Aed’s, it was Ailill’s, It was Conaing’s, it was Cuiline’s and it was Maeldúin’s The fort remains after each in his turn and the kings asleep in the ground'. c.8th century Irish poem describing this ringfort at Rathangan

Did not expect one of the best paragraphs I’d read about baseball would come from an Irish newspaper www.irishexaminer.com/sport-column...

Drogheda arson attack: ‘The house is on fire. Please answer’ Among those taken to hospital were a 20-day old baby and a 17 month old. www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

Scherp stuk in de Irish Times over Nederlandse verkiezingen en de normalisering van radicaal-rechts. 'Een van de verkiezingsbeloftes was het deporteren van de "kinderen en kleinkinderen" van migranten.'