“When you spend $60 million to beat one person and they beat you, you just turned that person into David,” Abdul El-Sayed said, of Haley Stevens, his opponent in Michigan’s Democratic primary for Senate. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/Xeeebq
Alex Schweig
@aschweig17.bsky.social
Historian of the Middle East, PhD @uarizona Ottomaniac he/him property is theft Hoping this all works out. Also @aschweig17 at "X" until it does.
Ajeeb the Wonderful, a chess-playing automaton made in 1865. Famous opponents incl. Houdini and Roosevelt though, of course, Ajeeb had a little help from the human hidden inside him making the moves. More from the Harvard Theatre Collection here: publicdomainreview.org/essay/c...
Jane Hathaway on the Cairo Genizah's Forgotten Ottoman Centuries open.substack.com/pub/ottomane...
Jane Hathaway on the Cairo Genizah's Forgotten Ottoman Centuries
What a neglected archive tells us about Ottoman Egypt's Jewish community and the empire around it.
open.substack.com
Really unfortunate that the U.S. government doesn’t have a cabinet secretary or even an entire department dedicated to diplomacy. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/u...
As Ukraine War Escalates, Witkoff and Kushner Are Focused on Iran
nytimes.com
This country was one person's vote away this morning from putting any birthright citizen in danger of being deported tomorrow. We are so much closer to the abyss than we think. Man oh man.
Happy one-hundredth birthday to WWII veteran and comedic genius Mel Brooks. And yes, everyone needs to watch The Producers!
Norm Wilner@normwilner.bsky.social · last mo.For Mel Brooks' hundredth birthday, please consider watching THE PRODUCERS, which is not only a very funny film but one of the best films ever made about capitalism.
I am glad to announce the publication of my edited work. www.routledge.com/Eight-Armies...
Eight Armies on the Gallipoli Peninsula
The Gallipoli campaign of the First World War seems to have been exhaustively studied by shelves of books and thousands of articles. This edited volume challenges this perception of completion, reveal...
routledge.com
Wait, Mamdani did what??? (WSJ getting their bêtes noire crossed)
Go ahead, ponder for another decade
The New Yorker@newyorker.com · 2mo ago“How Obama has used his time—including since Trump returned to office—says much about how he sees his role, its potential and its limits,” Peter Slevin writes. Read his profile of the former President. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/EGt169
Yeah but the AI version of him said it. You gotta problem with that, Luddite?
Steve Herman@newsguy.bsky.social · 2mo agoBig banner with a Teddy quote about courage on the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building, headquarters of OPM. Only discrepancy is that the 26th president never said this.
Uprooted twice: How land expropriations are transforming Turkey’s earthquake zone open.substack.com/pub/turkeyre...
Uprooted twice: How land expropriations are transforming Turkey’s earthquake zone
SAMANDAĞ—From a restaurant on the road that links Antakya and Vakıflı, the views towards Mount Musa are spectacular.
open.substack.com
Spotted on the NYC subway. “One prompt, job gone!”
RIP Sonny Rollins, last survivor of the "Great Day in Harlem" photo among other things.
Brent S. Sirota@brentsirota.bsky.social · 2mo agoAnd now they are all gone. RIP Sonny Rollins.
Sonny Rollins, one of the most influential Jazz musicians of our time, died this afternoon. He was 95
New episode 📢📢 Jennifer Hattam (@jenhattam.bsky.social) on updating the Lonely Planet travel guide to Turkey. The conversation touches on the epic work involved, her impressions of places visited, and how Turkey has changed over the years. 👇👇 turkeybooktalk.com/2026/05/26/j...
Jennifer Hattam on writing the Lonely Planet guide to Turkey
Turkey Book Talk #271 – Long-time Istanbul-based journalist Jennifer Hattam on her work updating the Lonely Planet travel guide to Turkey. The conversation touches on the immense amount of wo…
turkeybooktalk.com
Music in the Ottoman Empire, Iran, Caucasus and Central Asia 27.05.2026, 5:00 p. m. Philipp Ther (University of Vienna) Compositional Encounters between the post-Habsburg Musical Modernism, Turkey and Egypt Zoom-Link and further information: orientalistik.univie.ac.at/fachrichtung...
Inventing a new thing called “the blechdel test” where in order to pass a woman has to throw up in a movie without it meaning she’s pregnant
Millions of documents chronicling generations of trauma saved from Gaza and East Jerusalem in 10-month Unrwa operation
The secret mission to rescue the UN’s vital Palestinian refugee archive
theguardian.com
😡 Trump Bulldozed a 1,000-Year-Old Archeological Site to Make Room for a Second Border Wall theintercept.com/2026/04/30/a...
Trump Bulldozed a 1,000-Year-Old Archeological Site to Make Room for a Second Border Wall
DHS was in talks with the wildlife refuge that hosts the 1,000-year-old archeological site to make sure it was protected, a local said.
theintercept.com
The next class on modern Lebanese history and politics starts this Saturday! I still have two spots available if you're interested. There will also be recordings if you can't attend every session. You can book your spot here. thefirethesetimes.com/lebanonclass/
Lebanon Masterclass
Registration is now open for the May 2026 class! Beware of Small States: Lebanon since 1975 In this 5-parts class, you will get an overview of Lebanese history and politics from 1975, with a focus …
thefirethesetimes.com
How LA childhood and freeways inspired this Tucson poet's newest book 'Southwest Reconstruction' www.kjzz.org/the-show/202...
How LA childhood and freeways inspired this Tucson poet's newest book 'Southwest Reconstruction'
Raquel Gutiérrez is a poet, essayist, writer and educator based in Tucson — their newest book is called "Southwest Reconstruction." It’s their first book of poetry and draws inspiration from both the ...
kjzz.org
Hi everyone! My book, Egypt's Mediterranean, came out with @ucpress.bsky.social on Tuesday 💙💛 It's a new look at how Egypt fit into the political economy of the Ottoman Empire and eastern Mediterranean. Please enjoy the *beautiful* cover art by Mohamed Gohar (@mohamed.gohar on IG)
