New blog. From Didim: A Conversation with @sophiefullerton.bsky.social on Laura Loomer's Ukraine Pivot. renanetjes.substack.com/p/from-didim...
Sophie Fullerton
@sophiefullerton.bsky.social
Professor on MENA & political theory. Researcher on conflicts & disinformation. Political Scientist via Columbia University. Find my writings in The Washington Post, Formiche, Index on Censorship & elsewhere. Opinions expressed are my own. 📍IST/NYC
On a trip to Ukraine, Loomer argued that the country functioned better than other parts of Europe because of its "lack of Muslims." The irony is that Muslim volunteer battalions have played an integral role in Ukraine's armed forces, with Muslim fighters receiving recognition from Zelensky himself.
Sophie Fullerton@sophiefullerton.bsky.social · 2w agoMy latest: Far-right activist Laura Loomer spent her career spouting pro-Putin propaganda. Now overnight, Loomer has become an outspoken supporter of Ukraine’. For Türkiye Today I explore what’s behind her dramatic shift. www.turkiyetoday.com/opinion/hidd...
On a trip to Ukraine, Loomer argued that the country functioned better than other parts of Europe because of its "lack of Muslims." The irony is that Muslim volunteer battalions have played an integral role in Ukraine's armed forces, with Muslim fighters receiving recognition from Zelensky himself.
Sophie Fullerton@sophiefullerton.bsky.social · 2w agoMy latest: Far-right activist Laura Loomer spent her career spouting pro-Putin propaganda. Now overnight, Loomer has become an outspoken supporter of Ukraine’. For Türkiye Today I explore what’s behind her dramatic shift. www.turkiyetoday.com/opinion/hidd...
My latest: Far-right activist Laura Loomer spent her career spouting pro-Putin propaganda. Now overnight, Loomer has become an outspoken supporter of Ukraine’. For Türkiye Today I explore what’s behind her dramatic shift. www.turkiyetoday.com/opinion/hidd...
Hidden contradictions in Laura Loomer’s pro-Ukraine pivot - Türkiye Today
Inside Laura Loomer’s pivot to a pro-Ukraine stance lies a deep friction within the MAGA movement over the Iran war
turkiyetoday.com
I am sitting here in #Didim, Turkey, a beach town with a vibrant nightlife scene filled with bars and clubs, surrounded by sunbathing women in bikinis, reading tweet after tweet from Loomer claiming that Turkey is some “Islamic caliphate.”
The irony, of course, is that thousands of Muslims serve in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including Muslim religious leaders like Sheikh Said Ismagilov. There are even Muslim-majority units such as the Sheikh Mansur Chechen Peacekeeping Battalion. There are Muslim-majority units.
Yes, you don’t know what you’re talking about beyond regurgitating Assadist talking points. It was the Assad regime that released Islamist militants and jihadists from the regime’s prison system with the aim of co-opting and radicalizing the revolution.
A lot of the Western far-left’s foreign policy is simply paternalism, racism, and Islamophobia dressed up as progressivism. Never mind that millions of Syrians supported the revolution against Assad. Never mind that hundreds of thousands have died for a free Syria rid of Assad.
Türkiye is NATO’s 2nd-largest military power. Yet US colleges offer few opportunities to study the country. My latest article explores how outdated academic frameworks leave students with little understanding of one of the most strategically important countries www.turkiyetoday.com/opinion/turk...
Türkiye is NATO's second power, but why won't American universities study it? - Türkiye Today
Outdated post 9/11 academic frameworks have marginalized Turkish studies in American universities, leaving students with limited options
turkiyetoday.com
So that’s TWO ex-wives, two daughters and an immediately family member that he physically abused and/or threatened. Just an insane story
The Associated Press@apnews.com · 4w agoICE officer who shot Colombian man in Maine has history of threatening behavior and mental illness, family and court documents say.
In all seriousness, Trump and Republicans are setting the stage right now to attack our democracy, steal our elections, and violently crush any dissent. Wake up, America.
Factually incorrect. Political scientists widely argue that under the Assad regime, Syria had entered into the status of a “partially failed state” due to the regime’s inability to control its territory, its dependence on Russia, & the breakdown of public services & the economy
Turkey houses one of the largest asylum seeker populations in the world, including both Muslim & Christian asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Russia, & Ukraine. Bangladesh houses more than 1 million Rohingya refugees, Jordan & Lebanon combined have registered over 1.6 million Syrian refugees.
Over the past couple of days, we have seen how the regime has stopped people from providing aid to survivors in some of the hardest-hit areas and turned away medical and emergency personnel simply because they are perceived as being against the regime
Reminder that this is the type of governmental structure Western “anti-imperialist” far-left organizations like CodePink have spent years sanitizing in regard to Venezuela…
For years Russia has positioned itself as a preferable “anti-colonial” alternative to Western influence across Africa. Any African country or leader that still subscribes to such a narrative is living in a delusional state…
A better question is why Israel seems intent on creating yet another existential threat for itself, unless elements within the Israeli government believe that continued instability and chaos throughout the region serve their interests and their interests alone.
MELONI, to Trump: “.. my popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours.”
The statement comes across as extreme because this is how extremists talk. There’s no need to intellectualize genocidal rhetoric. If someone tells you who they are believe them. Trying to explain away this language is like justifying a man beating his wife because he grew up with an abusive father
It should not be lost on anyone that collective punishment was actively used by the Nazis themselves as “atonement exercises.” In 1941, the Nazis killed around 4,000 Serbs as an atonement for attacks that killed German soldiers.
DSA's base is anti-West & reflexively opposed to any form of Western foreign policy, Ukraine comes to represent everything they despise (i.e U.S. NATO, etc.) Many of them have an infantile worldview when it comes to foreign policy....
"An alley tucked away." Today's #history article pick from Damn History, my free newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to writer @sophiefullerton.bsky.social! Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/from...
From James Baldwin to modern exiles on Istanbul's Ebe Hanim Street - Türkiye Today
Tracing footsteps of James Baldwin on Ebe Hanim Street reveals hidden history of literary exiles finding sanctuary in Istanbul
turkiyetoday.com
It’s Flag Day, & let’s counter the dumpster fire at one of our most historic public sites with all the great public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books in my 280th #ScholarSunday thread! Add more below, share widely, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ + blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
#ScholarSunday Thread 280 (6/14/26) – Black and White and Read All Over
It’s Flag Day, & let’s counter the dumpster fire at one of our most historic public sites with all the great public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books in my 280th #ScholarSunday thre...
blackwhiteandread.com
One of Russia's greatest successes in contemporary times has been its ability to accelerate polarization within the US through a "post-trutherism" approach. (1)
Beautiful.♥️🧵
Sophie Fullerton@sophiefullerton.bsky.social · 2mo agoMy latest for Türkiye Today explores African American novelist & intellectual James Baldwin's decade in Istanbul, where he carved out a home for himself in the Beyoğlu neighborhood & how this particular neighborhood has always attracted the intellectual nomad www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/from...
In 2018–2019, Russia was systematically bombing hospitals and medical facilities in Syria by using coordinates obtained through a UN “no-strike list” designed to protect hospitals from attack. Through this method, Russia was able to strike 4 separate hospitals within a 12-hour period within Syria
My latest for Türkiye Today explores African American novelist & intellectual James Baldwin's decade in Istanbul, where he carved out a home for himself in the Beyoğlu neighborhood & how this particular neighborhood has always attracted the intellectual nomad www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/from...
From James Baldwin to modern exiles on Istanbul's Ebe Hanim Street - Türkiye Today
Tracing footsteps of James Baldwin on Ebe Hanim Street reveals hidden history of literary exiles finding sanctuary in Istanbul
turkiyetoday.com
During the height of the Syrian conflict, Turkey housed the largest population of Syrian refugees in the world (3.2 million), followed by Lebanon (1.5 million) and Jordan (620,900), not to mention Iraq and Egypt also hosted sizable refugee populations. (1)
Many Russia whitewashers live in a perpetual state of projection. In a recent podcast, Greenwald argues that EU countries want to send more people to become cannon fodder on the frontlines of Ukraine because “they are running out of people” to continue their warmongering “obsession” with Russia (1)