Begum Zorlu
@begumzorlu.bsky.social
Interested in contentious politics, gender and the dynamics of solidarity. Based at the Department of International Politics at City, St. George's University of London.
"A person close to the Trump administration accused Machado of “creating a civil war in [the] opposition” because of early talks she held with other opposition leaders to set up a structure to work with the U.S. on a transition." www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
How Trump took control of Venezuela’s democratic transition
The U.S. has sidelined opposition leader María Corina Machado and bet on a “serious” but little-known regime critic as it tries to restore democracy in Venezuela.
politico.com
youtube.com/watch?v=JQQG... informative profile and the dynamics of coalition politics in Israel
Gadi Eisenkot, the challenger to Benjamin Netanyahu | The Global Story
YouTube video by BBC News
youtube.com
Informative read on Nicaragua theworld.org/stories/2026...
From liberator to dictator: Nicaragua’s Ortega says no more elections - The World from PRX
Sunday marked 47 years since the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) toppled Nicaragua’s dictatorship. To mark the occasion, the former leader of that guerrilla movement and now president of t...
theworld.org
*NEW PSA BLOG* What are the prospects of #Turkey's opposition choosing exit over a captured party? New blog by @begumzorlu.bsky.social and @cananozbey.bsky.social ➡️ 5 minute read buff.ly/iIvfPfw @psaturkish.bsky.social #Politics #InternationalRelations #PIR #PolSci #TurkishPolitics
A New CHP? The Prospects of Turkey’s Opposition Choosing Exit over a Captured Party - Political Studies Association
AUTHORS Dr Begum Zorlu, ESRC Research Fellow at City, University of London Canan Ozbey Gul, Laboratory for the Study and Research of Economics, Policies and Social Systems Since 2016, Turkey has…
buff.ly
The 10-day Athens to Venice cruise was blocked from Turkey after authorities published a statement online saying the cruise was chartered “by groups known for behaviours that do not align with the structure of our society and our moral values”. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
LGBTQ+ cruise ship refused entry to Egypt days after Turkey turned it away
Scarlet Lady’s 2,000 passengers told of change as one of those onboard says they will ‘sparkle and spend elsewhere’
theguardian.com
The battle over the Bell hotel www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
The battle over the Bell hotel: how a year of asylum protests tore apart a pretty, prosperous Essex town
Last summer, a 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by an asylum seeker in Epping and this small community was engulfed in protest. Can it recover?
theguardian.com
...and publishing a diverse range of topics in politics and IR. You can read more about the news here: buff.ly/ZgvWpnr @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @sagepub.com #polsci #polisky
The University of York Team to Edit Political Studies for a Second Term - Political Studies Association
The Political Studies Association (PSA) is delighted to announce that the existing team from the University of York will edit its flagship journal Political Studies for a second three-year term from…
buff.ly
english.elpais.com/culture/2026...
Antonio Scurati on his monumental saga about Mussolini: ‘The last page of fascism is the worst of all’
The fifth and final volume of ‘M’ concludes 3,000 pages on the life of the Italian dictator and questions his ideological legacy at a time when the movement is making a comeback
english.elpais.com
Tracking the Rising Death Toll From U.S. Boat Strikes www.nytimes.com/video/world/...
Video: Tracking the Rising Death Toll From U.S. Boat Strikes
The New York Times has been investigating the number of boat strikes and the death toll in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific carried out by the Trump administration. Eric Schmitt, a national security ...
nytimes.com
As the regime shut down Bilgi University, a little bit context about Turkey's universities. Private universities are more common in Turkey than they're in Europe. State universities have lost their critical power primarily in 2016-17 when the regime dismissed thousands of+ bianet.org/haber/istanb...
İstanbul Bilgi University shut down by presidential decree
The institution was one of Turkey's first private universities.
bianet.org
Background on what has been going on. Earlier on Saturday Turkish police had detained 13 people under an investigation into the 2023 congress. They face charges of "violating the law on political parties", "accepting bribes", and "laundering assets derived from crime" apple.news/Al6bP16FrTfa...
Ousted Turkish opposition leader calls for party congress in 40 days — Reuters
The ousted leader of Turkey's main opposition party called on Saturday for a new party congress to be held as soon as possible - in some 40 days - after a court ruling this week unseated its leadersh...
apple.news
“Drone warfare means that today the defence has the upper hand over the attack, giving the advantage to dug-in Ukrainian troops over Russian advances at prohibitive cost.” apple.news/ARsFZkvEPSXy...
Putin has destroyed Russia and lost the war — The i Paper
With all the evidence that the Russian President is a military nincompoop, why is he portrayed as a mortal threat to the West?
apple.news
Patriot interceptor missiles can take up to 36 months and $4 million to build. So far in the Iran war, the U.S. military has fired more than 1,200 of them. Some were used to shoot down $35,000 Shahed drones, which Iran can churn out at a rate of at least 200 a month. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/u...
Iran War Exposes Shortcomings in U.S. Military Industrial Base
nytimes.com
New interview with Global (Dis)Order Research Center at City St Georges 👇 Sasikumar Sundaram, @begumzorlu.bsky.social and I talked about how Turkey, Russia, China, India, Brazil "contest Western hegemony and stake a claim to leadership in an emerging multipolar order" youtu.be/HmMxlQ6sRG8?...
Talking Back to the West: Turkey, Counter-Hegemony, and the Global Communication Order
YouTube video by Global Disorder Research Centre
youtu.be
"Israel’s defense spending of more than 140 billion Israeli shekels ($47 billion) appears to be no match for drones that can reportedly be purchased online for as little as $300 each." www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...
Israel’s drone dilemma: Hezbollah’s low-cost threat reshapes Lebanon front
While Israeli and Lebanese delegations are set to meet in Washington for the third time, the Israeli military faces a growing threat from Hezbollah’s cheap yet highly lethal drones.
al-monitor.com
In Conversation with Photis Lysandrou: Global Disorder, Dollar Dominance and the Euro Challenge www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Sn...
In Conversation with Photis Lysandrou: Global Disorder, Dollar Dominance and the Euro Challenge
YouTube video by Global Disorder Research Centre
youtube.com
The world is threatened by a “suicidal” model of capitalism that is leading to war, fascism and the potential extinction of humanity, Colombia’s president has said www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Suicidal’ model of capitalism leading to war and fascism, climate summit told
Colombia president Gustavo Petro tells 57-country talks on a green energy transition that fossil fuel interests could destroy humanity
theguardian.com
Was a great film. www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ap...
The Blue Trail review – hypnotic tale of older-people rebellion in the Amazon in chilling dystopian fable
A cross between road movie and sci-fi, this is a subversive and bittersweet story about a 77-year-old who refuses to be shipped off to a ‘colony’
theguardian.com
9 million people in the UK could be stripped of their British citizenship. People of colour are twelve times as likely to be at risk as their white peers. reprieve.org/uk/2025/12/1...
Stripped: The Citizenship Divide
This report released by the Runnymede Trust and Reprieve shows that up to nine million people are vulnerable to having their British citizenship stripped, three million more than previously estimated....
reprieve.org
“Iran’s strategy is not about dominance but entanglement. It doesn’t need battlefield superiority if it can draw its adversaries into a conflict that is too costly to resolve and too complex to conclude.” theconversation.com/middle-east-...
Middle East conflict looks increasingly like a war nobody can win
But the longer it continues the more damage it does to the whole world.
theconversation.com
Loss for words again. Soldier Used Classified Information to Bet on Maduro’s Ouster, U.S. Says www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/n...
Soldier Used Classified Information to Bet on Maduro’s Ouster, U.S. Says
nytimes.com
