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Ideas alone don’t change policy. People do.

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“Instead of a quick war that sought to topple Iran’s regime, Donald Trump has started a regional conflict that risks severely disrupting energy supplies and prices – and triggering a global recession” — my latest for @theguardian.com

The US war on Iran is spinning out of control | Mohamad Bazzi

Trump’s conflict keeps escalating, with Saudi Arabia joining airstrikes in Iraq and reportedly planning an attack on the Houthis. A recession could follow

theguardian.com

Al Jazeera’s outlets ended their collaboration with 25 journalists, photographers and contributors in Gaza. What’s the story behind this decision?

It's believed Assad left £40 million of his money in an HSBC London branch before he left to become President in 1994 and that millions accrued in interest in the years since. Can it be recovered and used to compensate his victims? From @ruthmichaelson.com: observer.co.uk/news/interna...

‘The money must be there’: The hunt for Bashar-al Assad’s...

The Syrian dictator is said to have left £40m in a London bank when he went home in 1994. Campaigners want to see it returned to victims of the regime, but face a battle with HSBC

observer.co.uk

While Presidents Aoun & Trump met, I joined @aljazeera.com to discuss how the US can support the Lebanese government's disarmament efforts by ensuring Israel ceases fire & withdraws from Lebanon, allowing Aoun to show that the state can deliver security & sovereignty without armed nonstate actors.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun met with Trump at the White House today. His big accomplishment? Trump promised to restore direct flights between the US and Lebanon. Meanwhile, Israel has been systemically razing entire villages in south Lebanon, with the Lebanese government helpless to stop it

I went to Jobar - an area near Damascus that was made uninhabitable by the Assad regime & allies attacks - and talked to people who want to rebuild their homes but say the government will not let them. www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

In Syria’s Jobar, locals struggle to rebuild their destroyed homes

Jobar was held by rebels for much of Syria's 13-year war but was destroyed by repeated government assaults.

aljazeera.com

Dispatch from Damascus on the recent explosions here. Security forces arrested what they said was an ISIL-linked cell last night. Locals said the attacks are fear-inducing but most are forced to carry on as normal. www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

Bomb attacks rattle Damascus but for most Syrians, life goes on

The Damascus attacks appeared to be attempts to cause instability, but don't signal total security breakdown in Syria.

aljazeera.com

Dispatch from Damascus on the recent explosions here. Security forces arrested what they said was an ISIL-linked cell last night. Locals said the attacks are fear-inducing but most are forced to carry on as normal. www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

Bomb attacks rattle Damascus but for most Syrians, life goes on

The Damascus attacks appeared to be attempts to cause instability, but don't signal total security breakdown in Syria.

aljazeera.com

“But no matter how the Balogun story ends, it wasn’t at its core about politics or favoritism” - the things we tell ourselves to maintain our sense of denial.

Spectacular self-delusion. “But no matter how the Balogun story ends, it wasn’t at its core about politics or favoritism...It was about righting a wrong and minimizing the damage done to a team’s chances of winning the World Cup. What nation in the same situation wouldn’t have done the same thing?”

Martin Calladine@uglygame.bsky.social · last mo.

Imagine writing about sport without having any sense of what makes sport precious. www.nytimes.com/athletic/742...

‘Resentment of Hamas among ordinary Gazans is widespread, even if the rage against Israel is much greater. Many people have lost everything since 7 October. Tens of thousands have died.’ Muhammad Shehada on Palestine’s future. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Muhammad Shehada · ‘I would never release him’: Marwan Barghouti and Palestine’s future

Marwan Barghouti enjoys unparallelled popularity and is often described as Palestine’s Nelson Mandela. Like Mandela,...

lrb.co.uk

I can't believe I have to say this but the point is not "corrupt World Cups are not new". It's that this specific World Cup has been a succession of "f**k yous" to various parts of the global football community, and this is the latest one. And I doubt it will be the last.

Ben Jacobs@jacobsben.bsky.social · last mo.

🚨 Exclusive: The White House made a direct call to FIFA to ask Gianni Infantino to review Folarin Balogun’s red card. FIFA approached for comment and referred to the findings of its independent committee.

I wrote about the psychological impact of having one's village erased by Israel. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/...

Psychological toll mounts as Lebanese villages erased by Israel’s war

Displaced Lebanese face a void as war annihilates the physical and emotional anchors of their past and identity.

aljazeera.com

Non-violence was pursued as a strategy for decades, most prominently during the Great March of Return in 2018-19... Over eighteen months of demonstrations, Israel killed more than two hundred protesters, as well as paramedics, journalists and children, and injured at least 34,000 people."

Adam Shatz@adamshatz.bsky.social · last mo.

Essential piece from @muhammadshehada.bsky.social Muhammad Shehada: Marwan Barghouti and Palestine’s future app.lrb.co.uk/2026/06/26/m...

Essential piece from @muhammadshehada.bsky.social Muhammad Shehada: Marwan Barghouti and Palestine’s future app.lrb.co.uk/2026/06/26/m...

Muhammad Shehada: Marwan Barghouti and Palestine’s future

‘I would never release him’Muhammad Shehada on Marwan Barghouti and Palestine’s future‘You made a serious mistake by leaving Gaza,’ my friend Ibra…

app.lrb.co.uk

I wrote about the psychological impact of having one's village erased by Israel. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/...

Psychological toll mounts as Lebanese villages erased by Israel’s war

Displaced Lebanese face a void as war annihilates the physical and emotional anchors of their past and identity.

aljazeera.com

It disgusts me that Sudan is once again surfacing through the whataboutist politics of Zi@nists who don’t care about Sudan but are trying to distract from their own genocide. It’s partly a failure of the lack of internationalism within the N American left that they are able to do so.

Always worth reading Sami Halabi: The Lebanon-Israel agreement paves the way for the next war www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...

The Lebanon-Israel agreement is paving the way for the next war

And the agreement has ensured that Lebanon will be blamed for it.

aljazeera.com

The current internal dynamic in Lebanon is not exactly new. I see it as a case of center vs periphery to an extent. Beirut and Mt Lebanon are the center, everything else is periphery. The will of the periphery has often been overlooked. This is why Hezbollah, Bekaa tribes, militias in Tripoli, etc

I wrote about the 2019 Lebanon uprising for the Decolonial Centre decolonialcentre.org/2026/06/19/t...

The 2019 Lebanon Uprising - DECOLONIAL CENTRE

The 2019 uprising in Lebanon, locally known as Hirak (movement) or Thawra (revolution), was a series of decentralised protests that dominated Lebanese politics in the final months of 2019 and beginnin...

decolonialcentre.org

a lot of the schools in the area have emptied out. reports of attacks, mostly drone strikes, are still ongoing but heavily reduced... it's wonderful that some people will be able to return home in (relative?) safety. Many people I've spoken to have no homes to go back to though.

Megaphone News@megaphone.news · last mo.

After weeks of displacement, southern families returned to their villages this week. Watermelons were there to welcome them.

As the fifth round of talks begin today in Washington, DC, between Israel and Lebanon, Israel has violated yet another delicate ceasefire by opening fire in Nabatieh, killing two people in the process who were reportedly clearing roads and removing bodies from the rubble.

What I REALLY love about the Democrats is that even when they say that "an end to America's illegal war on Iran is a good thing" they don't cite innocent civilians in Iran and the wider region as the main cause or even one of the causes. Quite telling.

Have literally never used it. Very capable of writing my own slop, thank you very much. (And without writing the slop, you can’t write the good stuff.)

Laura Keating@lorekeating.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I keep seeing "all authors use AI, the real issue is they're being forced to be sneaky about it" headlines. Full stop No. This is a lie peddled for normalization. It's schoolyard-level pressure tactics "C'mon, all the cool kids are already doing it. We won't tell. It's fine. We're on your side."

After leaving Beirut, journalist @justinsalhani.bsky.social realized what was missing was community. The way to rebuild it was through soccer. Football is inherently political — and when you get a group of people sharing a cause, other things follow. Our Copa bonus episode is out now.

“Trump and his aides must realize that they won’t be able to negotiate their way back to the prewar status quo. Trump’s ill-fated war emboldened Iran – and its leaders will seek to extract a higher price for future concessions” — my latest for @theguardian.com

So is the US war with Iran over? In a word: no | Mohamad Bazzi

The much-hyped deal, which is set to be formally signed on Friday in Geneva, doesn’t end the war. It’s essentially a 60-day extension of a ceasefire

theguardian.com

BG is objectively a horrible man who has advocated for some of the most violent policies. The only reason to oppose sanctions against him is inherent racism that the Arabs he advocates against are somehow worse than he is.

Reuters@reuters.com · 2mo ago

No consensus for EU sanctions against Israel's Ben-Gvir, top diplomat says reut.rs/4uWzY2l

Without a Israeli-Lebanese agreement on full Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon, the next regional escalation is just around the corner. It would involve Israeli attacks on Beirut, Iranian missiles on Israel, Israeli attacks on Iran, and the suspension of movement through Hormuz Straits.

I hope the ceasefire holds mostly so people can go home, rebuild, and bury their dead loved ones. It would also be really nice if this Israeli drone got out of our skies once and for all...