Michael Brill
@michaelpbrill.bsky.social
PhD candidate in Near Eastern Studies @princeton.edu | Faculty Specialist @umdpublicpolicy.bsky.social | Analyst for Red Sea Futures | Former Non-Resident Fellow at Institute for Future Conflict & @wilsoncenter.org
For 20 years, the chemical-biological defense budget barely moved while every national security strategy warned louder about the threat. warontherocks.com/possible-is-...
Possible Is Not Plausible: How Nightmare Scenarios Hijack Unconventional Weapons Policy
Current conversations surrounding unconventional weapons — chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear — have become so fantastical as to be
warontherocks.com
“For displaced women living with HIV — already at the margins after years of insurgent violence and sexual abuse — the collapse of care has hit particularly hard, turning a manageable condition into a looming death sentence.”
The ‘Zero’ People Who Died After USAID Was Dismantled
Both Elon Musk and Marco Rubio claim that no one has lost their life as a result of aid cuts. New Lines went to northeastern Nigeria to test that claim
f.mtr.cool
"To win in the South Pacific, the United States need not destroy the PLA’s entire network. It merely needs to make a specific PLA decision late or doubtful long enough for a friendly force to act." -Matt Smokovitz, Institute for Future Conflict ifc.usafa.edu/articles/chi...
Institute for Future Conflict (IFC)
ifc.usafa.edu
"A concrete example of its political use came during the Iranian Revolution.. Ayatollah Khomeini portrayed the shah as the tyrannical Yazid & himself as a Husayn-like figure returning from exile to save the Iranian people from injustice." @us.theconversation.com theconversation.com/why-arbaeen-...
Why Arbaeen – the Shiite Muslim pilgrimage of mourning – has a deep significance that brings millions to Iraq each year
Each year, millions of Shiite Muslims walk to Karbala to honor Husayn, the prophet’s grandson, whose death continues to shape their faith.
theconversation.com
Interesting overview of Iran-Kuwait relations over the years aside from repeating the long ago refuted canard that the United States deliberately encouraged Saddam's invasion of Kuwait to justify US dominance of the region. As if US policy had ever been this engaged or coherent!
Middle East Eye (Unofficial)@middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · 2d agoHow loyalty between Iran and Kuwait gave way to mistrust - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/how-loyalty-between-iran-and-kuwait-gave-way-mistrust
"The invasion killed about 1,000 civilians, left hundreds missing and unleashed a wider war whose human and political fallout still reverberate across the Middle East." @newarab.com.web.brid.gy www.newarab.com/news/iraqs-i...
36 years on from Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the consequences are still felt across the region
36 years after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the war’s fallout continues to shape the region, with the worst consequences felt in Iraq itself
newarab.com
"The most important lesson that should be recalled on the anniversary of August 1990 is therefore that Gulf security cannot be built on assumptions or external guarantees alone." english.alarabiya.net/amp/views/20...
On the anniversary of the Kuwait invasion, the risk of invasion remains
These days bring back memories of August 1990, when Saddam Hussein’s regime invaded Kuwait and plunged the Gulf into the greatest danger it had faced up to
english.alarabiya.net
“'Few individuals had a greater impact on the final chapter of the Cold War than President Wałęsa,' said Dr. Christian Ostermann, executive director of the National Cold War Center." www.kait8.com/2026/08/04/n...
Nobel laureate Lech Wałęsa to headline Cold War Week in Blytheville
Former Polish President Lech Wałęsa and author John Grisham are coming to Blytheville for a special Cold War conversation.
kait8.com
Iran is home to one of the largest Middle Eastern Jewish communities outside of Israel, numbering around 10,000 people today. Jewish Iran by Daniel Amir explores the 20th C history of Iranian Jews as they grappled with global political movements & Iranian national identity https://ow.ly/B52E50ZtB2W
"The contributors show how research in these unique archives challenges previous assumptions about Ba'thist Iraq & the workings of authoritarian regimes." @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social @lisablaydes.bsky.social @samuelhelfont.bsky.social @stanfordpress.bsky.social pocketcasts.com/podcast/new-...
Lisa Blaydes and Samuel Helfont eds., "Ba‘thist Iraq Through Archives: Reflections, Explorations, and Opportunities" (Stanford UP, 2026)
The opening of Iraq's Ba'th Party archives revolutionized the study of Iraqi politics and history, offering scholars unprecedented access to the inner workings of one of the world's…
pocketcasts.com
Here’s the article itself icymi www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
“Propaganda of the Victims”: Atrocity Denial, Ethnic Nationalism, and the Disparagement of Assyrians in Middle East Studies | Review of Middle East Studies | Cambridge Core
“Propaganda of the Victims”: Atrocity Denial, Ethnic Nationalism, and the Disparagement of Assyrians in Middle East Studies
cambridge.org
If you're ever feeling helpless with a few minutes to spare and are decent at reading old handwriting, may I suggest you channel your helpless feelings into indexing a few cards for this project making documents on the victims of Nazi persecution more accessible: arolsen-archives.org/en/participa...
#everynamecounts | Arolsen Archives
#everynamecounts is a crowdsourcing initiative of the Arolsen Archives: In cooperation with hundreds of thousands of volunteers throughout the world, we’re building a digital memorial to the victims o...
arolsen-archives.org
Well, I’m going to talk in public about my latest article—why it’s important to write critiques like this, the challenges, what editors tell us to leave out—with the great Mariam Georgis. Register here if you’re interested 🙏🏽 us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Guterres walked through Saydnaya. But Saydnaya was one prison among more than a hundred —and around 95 are reportedly back in use: same cells, new jailers, no oversight. The archives stay closed; not one family has a documented answer about a missing relative. One prison is shown.The system runs on.
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"The Syrian authorities must suspend implementation of & substantially amend Law No. 20 of 2022 on Combating Cybercrime, passed by the former Bashar al-Assad government, to bring it in line with Syria’s obligations under international human rights law." @amnesty.org www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...
Syria: Suspend use of Assad-era cybercrime law pending reform
It is alarming that the transitional authorities have continued to use the repressive Assad-era cybercrime law against individuals who voice criticism of Syria’s authorities.
amnesty.org
"The US policy community should closely track & evaluate cases of effective conversions of civilian technology that created or improved specific PLA systems or capabilities, along with the private companies that participated in weapon R&D for the PLA." -Elliot Ji ifc.usafa.edu/articles/is-...
Institute for Future Conflict (IFC)
ifc.usafa.edu
"Having processed more than 75,000 documents & sharing information with key partners, the institution has also been focusing on missing migrants & children & those disappeared by terrorist group Da’esh following the fall of the Assad regime in late 2024." news.un.org/en/story/202...
Syria ‘not alone’ in locating missing persons, tackling displacement
Syria is not alone in tackling challenges, including the hundreds of thousands who remain missing during past tumultuous decades, the head of a UN institution said on Thursday as António Guterres depa...
news.un.org
From today’s NTY op-ed page: My essay riffing on terrorism themes in my upcoming book ‘The Jackal,’ including why Carlos-style terrorism-for-hire is making a comeback. Free link. @scribnerbooks.bsky.social We Live With the Violent Mayhem Carlos the Jackal Unleashed www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/o...
Opinion | Carlos the Jackal’s Violent Chaos Endures
The type of terrorism that was his signature brand is having a remarkable resurgence, and Americans are nowhere near prepared to deal with it.
nytimes.com
Die ZEIT has published millions of SA and SS personnel files, ending a decades-long struggle. Why this corrective to Nazi history is only now available to everyone.
SA and SS personnel files: What these documents reveal about the Nazi perpetrators
Die ZEIT has published millions of SA and SS personnel files, ending a decades-long struggle. Why this corrective to Nazi history is only now available to everyone.
zeit.de
"According to Al-Tikriti's own confessions, crimes including starvation, sexual harassment, mass killings and fatal torture were systematically committed against civilian detainees." @qantarade.bsky.social qantara.de/en/article/i...
Iraq's Anfal campaign: The survivor who brought her torturer to justice | Qantara.de
After decades in hiding, the head of a notorious prison during the 1988 campaign against Iraq's Kurds has been sentenced to death. For survivor Fazila Mohammad, who helped identify him, the verdict is...
qantara.de
U.S. presidents have promised short, decisive wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. All have proved much more difficult than advertised and fallen far short of the political goals set at the beginning. n.pr/4yxVtJO
Why is it so hard for the U.S. to win wars?
U.S. presidents have promised short, decisive wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. All have proved much more difficult than advertised and fallen far short of the political goals set at the beginning.
n.pr
On almost every issue with Iraq that has frustrated Washington for two decades—corruption, militias, sovereignty, and Iranian influence—this time is different, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi tells Vivian Salama in a rare interview.
Iraq’s Man in the Middle
The country’s new prime minister is trying to navigate between Washington and Tehran.
bit.ly
The Houthis Drop the "B" Word on Saudi Shipping open.substack.com/pub/redseafu...
The Houthis Drop the "B" Word on Saudi Shipping
The Red Sea Brief, Issue 15, July 16-22
open.substack.com
"The sense of fear is particularly potent in Kuwait, which is still scarred by the trauma of the 1990 Iraqi invasion – a unique experience that sets it apart from other Gulf Arab states." @irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com/world/middle...
Kuwait, scarred by 1990 Iraqi invasion, becomes Iran’s softest Gulf target
Kuwait’s proximity to Iran and high concentration of US troops make it an easy target for Tehran’s missiles
irishtimes.com
As a new commemorative $1 coin is announced, here is a look at other countries with political leaders on currency.
Iraq, Syria, Libya: Countries With Political Leaders on Coins Trump Joins
newsweek.com
