Useful background on Brazilian elections from colleagues @mpaarlberg.bsky.social @atherton.bsky.social: internationalpolicy.org/publications...

Q&A: Brazil's Elections and the Return of Bolsonarismo - CIP

To understand Brazil's election, look beyond material factors to shifts in media, ideology, and narratives hostile to left populism.

internationalpolicy.org

Cian Ward for @thenewarab.bsky.social: "Syria's new rulers and Hezbollah: An unlikely détente?" www.newarab.com/analysis/syr... Includes my thoughts.

Syria’s new rulers and Hezbollah: An unlikely détente?

Analysis: Hezbollah fought to defend the Assad regime while Syria’s new rulers sought to overthrow it. Are both sides now testing the contours of future ties?

newarab.com

Syrian MP Kinan al-Nahhas warns against shift to "predatory capitalism" in absence of strategic economic vision or oversight mechanisms; says delay of reform could endanger state. I wrote about the risk Syria's economy poses to the country's transition: www.foreignaffairs.com/syria/syrias...

@nytimes.com Natan Odenheimer and Adam Rasgon on how top aide to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has functioned as representative of Israeli interests inside U.S. government: www.nytimes.com/2026/10/08/w...

How a U.S. Diplomat Suppressed and Altered Reports Critical of Israel

A top aide to Ambassador Mike Huckabee skewed information to portray the Netanyahu government in a favorable light, according to multiple officials and documents obtained by The Times.

nytimes.com

For anyone who has 40 minutes left on a flight and wants to watch "The Dark Knight Rises: Only the Bane Parts": *1:30 *24:20 41:10 53:55 *1:03:35 *1:11:25 1:17:55 1:20:40 1:23:15 *1:27:40 *1:36:40 1:52:35 2:07:15 2:11:25 2:14:45 2:21:40 2:22:35 (* denotes essential Bane)

@obdincer.bsky.social, Zeynep Sahin-Mencutek, @jabassini.wsocial.eu and Joseph Daher report on why refugee return to Syria does not necessarily equate to stable reintegration: bicc.de/Publications...

ETANA on Syrians' experiences of the country's economic transition, based on focus groups nationwide: etanasyria.org/analysis-exp...

ANALYSIS: Experiences of Economic Transition in Post-Assad Syria – Etana Syria

Following the fall of the Assad regime, considerable attention has focused on sanctions relief, attracting international investment and reintegrating Syria into the global financial system after decades of isolation. While these steps are vital to rebuilding Syria’s economy, their anticipated effects have so far been slow to materialise and have not necessarily translated into meaningful

etanasyria.org

The Policy Initiative team on Lebanon's over-reliance on regressive consumption taxes: www.thepolicyinitiative.org/article/deta...

The Policy Initiative - Stop Taxing What Lebanon Buys, Start Taxing What It Owns

Lebanon’s tax recovery is increasingly paid at the checkout. Consumption taxes now make up almost 79% of tax revenue. VAT takes 23.5% of the poorest fifth's income, compared with 3.6% for the richest fifth.

thepolicyinitiative.org

Cory Booker — who is being floated as a 2028 contender, and who just the other day did not deny the possibility of wanting to become leader of the Senate Democrats — promotes the book of Brett McGurk, a chief architect of the US-backed Israeli genocide of Palestine:

I wrote on Trump's delusional Saudi nuclear deal, the unfolding nuclear proliferation nightmare that everyone predicted, and how progressives can meet a moment that everyone else seems intent on ducking.

Center for International Policy@cipolicy.bsky.social · 3d ago

Trump’s proposed Saudi nuclear deal is both a nuclear proliferation risk and a self-enrichment scheme for the Trump family. Congress should reject it, argues @samratner.bsky.social of @winwithoutwar.bsky.social internationalpolicy.org/publications...

Seems odd that the Syrian Sovereign Fund has advertised its adoption of the Santiago Principles for sovereign wealth funds when the Fund is not, to my best understanding, a sovereign wealth fund: ssf.gov.sy/en 1/2

Mazen Ezzi for The Syria Report on the function of Decree 66 and how Syrian authorities have attempted to remedy the decree's original harm without scrapping the Marota City and Basilia City projects: hlp.syria-report.com/hlp/green-ta...

Marota and Basilia: Reparation and the Limits of Fairness

Legislative Decree No. 66 of 2012 was issued as a tool for rezoning large areas of unlicensed and informal housing in Damascus. Over more than a decade, however, it has become one of Syria’s most sens...

hlp.syria-report.com

Firas al-Shoufi sources enumerate the reasons why Hizbullah currently doesn't see the utility of direct talks with the Americans, were those actually on offer: www.al-akhbar.com/NewspaperArt...

حزب الله وواشنطن: التفاوض المباشر لا يزال بعيداً

كثرت في الآونة الأخيرة الإشارات الأميركية، العلنية والسرية، إلى رغبة واشنطن في فتح قناة اتصال مباشرة مع حزب الله.

al-akhbar.com

@natachadanon.bsky.social for @syriadirect.bsky.social on the present and future of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood: syriadirect.org/syrias-musli...

Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood fights for its future

Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood survived decades of repression and exile. Now, facing regional pressure and internal divisions, can it find a place in Syria’s new political order

syriadirect.org

Australia renews counterterrorism sanctions on Lebanese-Australian head of Syrian Sovereign Fund: www.dfat.gov.au/news/news/li... Via: www.enabbaladi.net/827899/%d8%a...

Syrian Ministry of Public Works promo video for Abyat Hills luxury gated compound: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4-8...

بداية الأعمال التنفيذية لمشروع أبيات هيلز

YouTube video by وزارة الأشغال العامة والإسكان السورية

youtube.com

September 28 statement by Syrian Ministry of Public Works and Housing defending legitimacy of land expropriation – including past expropriation on original, Assad-era terms – and public-private partnerships with investors and developers: www.facebook.com/story.php?st...

@enabbaladi.bsky.social talks to researcher Mohammed Saleh Alftayeh about how the Syrian government relying on energy revenues to fund most public spending is a bad idea, and how public budgeting has so far involved unrealistic expectations: www.enabbaladi.net/827324

55% من الإيرادات.. هل تتحمل الطاقة عبء تمويل الخزانة السورية؟

بينما يحتاج قطاع الطاقة السوري إلى استثمارات بمليارات الدولارات لإعادة تأهيل حقوله وبنيته التحتية، تتجه إيراداته إلى تمويل الأجور والمشاريع الحكومية، في بعد التصريحات الأخير لوزير الطاقة والتي أفاد في...

enabbaladi.net

I learned a lot about Lebanon's IMF talks working with Sami Zoughaib on our 2023 report "The Shadow Plan": thepolicyinitiative.org/article/deta... But at the end, my takeaway was, "Oh, this probably won't happen – Lebanon just won't have an IMF deal." x.com/Mouniryounis... 1/2

Alex Simon on new contestation in Syria over land expropriation and development: peoplesplanet.substack.com/p/syria-reco...

Syria, self-made: The fight against expropriation

Syrians are renegotiating their relationship to power.

peoplesplanet.substack.com

New statement from CIP President and CEO @nancyokail.bsky.social on the harassment of Iranian-American experts and journalists. internationalpolicy.org/publications...

Statement on Renewed Online Harassment of Iranian-American Experts and Journalists - CIP

CIP condemns the renewed campaign of harassment, defamation, and threats against Iranian-American policy experts and journalists

internationalpolicy.org

Mounir Younes: President Aoun mounts late legal challenge to bank resolution law: today.lorientlejour.com/article/1549...

Bank resolution: Joseph Aoun resorts to Constitutional Council, reigniting the battle over powers

The law on bank reforms has not yet resolved the disagreements it was intended to help overcome. President Joseph Aoun lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Council challenging Article 3 of the...

today.lorientlejour.com

This is completely insane

Chris Messina@chrismessina.me · last wk.

For an inside look into the mind of the Trump Administration: 1. Go to america.gov 2. type “hello” 3. type “play Minecraft” 4. watch the agent’s reality implode 5. ??? 6. PROFIT!

Haddon Barth for @syriatransition.bsky.social on how depictions of Syria as "rubble" – that is, a blank slate – make it easier to ignore the real politics of how Syria now rebuilds and resources are redistributed: www.syriaintransition.com/en/home/opin...

Syria in Transition – Rubble as an 'Anti-Politics Machine'

Long a fixture of Syria policy writing, the metaphor has found a new political use under the Syrian authorities.

syriaintransition.com

Syria’s General Secretariat of the Presidency imposes immediate governmental cost-reduction measures, ordering ministries and public agencies to deprioritize non-urgent projects, spend less money, and use less fuel. Probably not a great sign. alikhbariah.com?p=87294

الأمانة العامة لرئاسة الجمهورية تصدر تعميماً لترشيد الإنفاق العام

تتجه الجهات العامة إلى إعادة ترتيب أولويات الإنفاق وضبط النفقات غير الأساسية، بموجب بلاغ حكومي أصدرته الأمانة العامة لرئاسة الجمهورية، ألزم الوزارات والجهات العامة ذات الطابعين الإداري والاقتصادي باتخ...

alikhbariah.com

My latest for @foreignaffairs.com on potentially destabilizing effects of rapid liberalization of Syrian economy: www.foreignaffairs.com/syria/syrias...

Syria’s Imperiled Transition

How shock therapy threatens the post-Assad peace.

foreignaffairs.com

Sam Heller | سام هيلر@abujamajem.com · 2w ago

Hasan Ghura for Jusoor on scholarly critiques of economic "shock therapy" in the post-Soviet space and risks now for Syria, given its lack of strong institutions and inequitable distribution of economic pain: jusoor.sy/ar/details/%...

Hasan Ghura for Jusoor on scholarly critiques of economic "shock therapy" in the post-Soviet space and risks now for Syria, given its lack of strong institutions and inequitable distribution of economic pain: jusoor.sy/ar/details/%...

هل الألم شرط للإصلاح الاقتصادي في سوريا أم ذريعة له؟ مناقشة علمية | جسور للدراسات

هل الألم الاقتصادي حتميّ قبل التعافي؟ وهل تملك نظرية «وادي الدموع» سنداً علمياً كافياً؟

jusoor.sy

@haidhaid22.bsky.social on Syrian government's fuel price hike and parliamentary attempts at accountability: en.majalla.com/node/333185/...

Fuel price hikes and government response anger Syrians

Citizens were already peeved at the rising cost of petrol, but the government's reactive response also raises important questions about the point of parliament

en.majalla.com

ترجم موقع "نون بوست" مقالي الأخير لـ @foreignaffairs.comحول الضغوط المعيشية المتزايدة في سوريا وسياسات الحكومة: www.noonpost.com/384769/

سوريا على المحك: كيف يعرّض "العلاج بالصدمة" استقرار ما بعد الأسد للخطر؟

تواجه سوريا أزمة اقتصادية خانقة بعد الأسد، مع ارتفاع أسعار الخبز والوقود والكهرباء والإيجارات وتراجع القوة الشرائية. ويرى المقال أن العلاج بالصدمة الاقتصادي قد يفاقم الفقر والسخط ويهدد استقرار المرحلة...

noonpost.com

in your next zoom interview have not only a cup of ice coffee but seven or eight different cups of various beverages just off camera and casually drink from each of them throughout the interview the drinks should have fancy straws or colorful parasols or large pieces of fruit on the edge of the cup