Iran has been under an internet blackout for 70 days. The government has introduced expensive tiered access. In today's post Iranian journalist Yashar Soltani writes about who is financially benefiting from "Internet Pro"& how it's reinforcing structures of economic inequality. tinyurl.com/36ebs3z8

Highway Robbery

"The dark days of internet shutdowns under the pretext of “security” for helpless people" by Yashar Soltani

tinyurl.com

Our new issue, FOREVER WARS, heads to press soon. Featuring a roundtable on Iran with @peymanjafari.bsky.social, Ali Kadivar, Manijeh Moradian, @naghmehs.bsky.social, @alexshams.bsky.social. Plus @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social @harshawalia.bsky.social @dwaldstreicher.bsky.social +

— dispatches from Tehran (translated by @naghmehs.bsky.social), Beirut (@joelleabirached.bsky.social), Baghdad (@nabilsalih.bsky.social), and the West Bank (Raja Shehadeh) — @jlfeder.bsky.social documents the queer face of war in Ukraine — @arh12.bsky.social on Mary McCarthy’s Vietnam reporting

The @economist.com asks Which Iran is America dealing with?The late 90s called and want their headlines back. So did the early 2000s and the 2010s. Is a war this consequential not the time to stop recycling tired cliches such as "Iranian infighting" to explain nothing at all? tinyurl.com/yfdmw2mu

Which Iran is America dealing with?

You'd know if you could, for the love of all that is holy, stop recycling tired old frameworks

open.substack.com

“The messaging has not been only to Iran—that we will crush you, we will send you back to the Stone Age. It has been also to Europeans, to the allies: you will be disciplined.“ From our Monday event with @peymanjafari.bsky.social, Ali Kadivar, Manijeh Moradian, and @naghmehs.bsky.social:

The War on Iran: A Conversation

Four scholars on the consequences of U.S. and Israeli aggression, reactions from Iran and the Iranian diaspora, and the warped analysis that pervades U.S. media.

bostonreview.net

Everyone I know in Iran is waiting to see if the US will bomb them further into the stone age. Read this achingly beautiful letter from Zahra in Tehran to get a sense of what that feels like:"Where can they begin when every beginning might be an end?" open.substack.com/pub/naghmehs...

Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, All Wrapped Up in One, in Iran

A beautiful letter from Zahra in Tehran as she waits for Tuesday

open.substack.com

Join us for an online event on Monday, April 6, 3pm-4pm Eastern, for a conversation about the war on Iran. Featuring @peymanjafari.bsky.social, Ali Kadivar, Manijeh Moradian, and @naghmehs.bsky.social, moderated by @alexshams.bsky.social. Register here: secure.givelively.org/event/boston...

“There was no way to say no. I thought well if I die, at least I’m with my mother, at least my mother won’t feel the loss of a child, and I said okay let’s go.” The director of an art center in Tehran on life under U.S.-Israeli bombardment, translated by @naghmehs.bsky.social:

The Catastrophe That Has Befallen All of Us

The director of an art center in Tehran on life under U.S.-Israeli bombardment.

bostonreview.net

I tried to get across that we need to see Iran & the Middle East not merely as a cause to support but also as place that generates ideas in response to their experiences and take their analyses as seriously as we take our own. You can read some of these thinkers on my substack linked in my bio.

Democracy Now!@democracynow.org · 5mo ago

“A Sense of Despair”: Many Iranians Fear a Prolonged War — and What Comes After

"Did you know glass is impossible to find? A friend whose windows were shattered in one of the strikes has been living for three days in a house without windows. But they have to stay there because the house is now exposed and must be guarded." open.substack.com/pub/naghmehs...

Homes without Windows; Windows without Glass

A newspaper report and a war diary from Iran that take stock of ruin and destruction

open.substack.com

"The fighter jets are flying so low that my mom told me to tidy up my room cause the pilot will see it and it’ll be rude." See 20 translated messages left on SUT telegram channel that reflect wit, humor, and pathos inside Iran today. open.substack.com/pub/naghmehs...

I’m like a comma: wanting an ending, but condemned to continue

Some wit, humor, and pathos in time of war

open.substack.com

"Here, ordinary life is a Sisyphean struggle." Read Maryam Nasr Esfahani, a feminist philosopher & ethicist in Iran on "ordinary life" under war conditions. truethings.naghmehs.com/p/on-ordinar...

On Ordinary Life

A short essay by feminist philosopher and ethicist, Maryam Nasr Esfahani

truethings.naghmehs.com

@naghmehs.bsky.social talks to @prx.org "A brief history of US-Iranian relations" theworld.org/segments/202...

A brief history of US, Israeli and Iranian relations - The World from PRX

The war in the Middle East is just under a week old, but the history of US intervention in Iran dates back to the 1950s. We take a step back to look at the history of relations between Iran and the Un...

theworld.org

🗓 20th Anniversary Symposium On April 23-24, we invite you to join us in envisioning the future of the Middle East (in person and via livestream). Register now: www.brandeis.edu/crown/events...

Iran's draconian hijab bill is now in limbo.This great piece by @kahal.bsky.social uses the occasion to do a deep dive into how women's economic gains have both empowered them & made them vulnerable to economic punishments seen in that bill. Must read! www.brandeis.edu/crown/public...

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Chastity and Hijab Law and the Weaponization of Women’s Economic Vulnerabilities

brandeis.edu

This Crown Conversation with Haian Dukhan & Daniel Neep is genuinely excellent. From misconceptions re: what Assad's fall means for the region to prospects for the future of #Syria, it manages to provide insight through the uncertainties. Great read. www.brandeis.edu/crown/public...

Beyond Assad: The Rise of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and Syria’s Uncertain Future

brandeis.edu

A new Crown Center for Middle East Studies seminar recording, which I’ll be watching later: “Life and Death Under Humanitarian Law in Gaza and Beyond.” youtu.be/GESiDI4Ieck?...

Life and Death Under Humanitarian Law in Gaza and Beyond Source

YouTube video by Crown Center for Middle East Studies

youtu.be

Gonna try this here: #skystorians: What articles do you like to use to teach historical methods to undergrads? I'm aware of the classic books, but I would like some shorter & accessible pieces. Thanks! And please reshare!

Iran's Kentucky Fried Chicken store first opened in 1973 but since it did not have the rights, it was called TFC Tehran Fried Chicken.During the revolution, they distributed free fried chicken to the demonstrators some of whom didn't accept it cuz of rumors that it was poisoned. Random fact for 2day

Huh? Isn’t this what we’re doing anyway? “instead of a professor lecturing about historical facts — because those are all in the textbook — they can instead focus on things like ‘How do we think about this particular text? and How can we think about it differently?” newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/comp...

“Unlike in 2016, when Iranian ground forces complemented Russian air support in the siege of Aleppo, neither patron demonstrated the will or capability to launch a similar counteroffensive…For Russia and Iran, Assad was their man until he wasn’t.” @nicolegrajewski.bsky.social

Arang Keshavarzian@keshavarziana.bsky.social · 2y ago

A good piece on why Iran did not come to aid of Assad carnegieendowment.org/middle-east/...

Reading US foreign policy experts pontificate on Syria and Iran is like watching a dog chase its tail but less funny.

a small white dog standing on a wooden floor with the hashtag russellmadness

ALT: a small white dog standing on a wooden floor with the hashtag russellmadness

media.tenor.com

Syria doesn’t have to be Libya, Yemen, or Iraq 2.0. Syrians will hopefully carve out a system that will bring justice, equality, and tolerance. I have no reason to doubt them. I do have many reasons to doubt foreign states near and far.

I'm writing about revolutionary joy in Iran 79, trying to separate post-revolutionary anguish & disappointment from the moments in which a people freed of a dictator felt a singular sense of happiness & possibility. With the toppling of Assad in Syria & release of long time prisoners

Here it is. With exclusive details & insights, our deep look at what really went down in #Aleppo - with @michaeldweiss.bsky.social in @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/reportage/th...

The Backstory Behind the Fall of Aleppo

New Lines reports exclusively on the details leading up to Aleppo's fall

newlinesmag.com

Listening to the Harris campaign staff on @podsaveamerica.bsky.social say they ran a good campaign but were defeated by time reminds me of my favorite Soviet joke. An apparatchik goes to a small town & says how things are great in the Soviet Union.