Dr. Zayna N. Bizri

Just did a mass follow - there are a lot more of us here than when I first joined (and then promptly ignored for over a year) this platform. #ReturnToSocials

My sister had that specially made for me so it's left handed and that side faces me when I use it. My students only see my name!

I feel like I should post something commenting on the circus of the last few days but...I got nothing. #AlreadyExhausted

Keller: Shah's death caused shift in Iranian demands; Reagan's election sped negotiations as Iran did not want to negotiate with more hawkish Reagan administration - Iranian pundits considered Reagan "the more fascist" candidate ##PATNW2025

Keller: Iran framed hostages as operatives from a "den of spies"; US framed them as average folks, distancing from the work they did at the embassy, neutering the political discussion #PATNW2025

Keller: US decision to admit shah for medical treatment a factor in the crisis, as Iranians feared another US backed reinstatement of the hated former ruler #PATNW2025

Keller: To maintain control, US supported secret police, trained by CIA in brutality and torture, increasing anti-US sentiment #PATNW2025

Keller: Shah supported modernization and secularization, both supported by US interests, a lot of US investment in Iranian companies #PATNW2025

Last up: Jacob Keller, Reclaiming the Throne: How the Iran Hostage Crisis Redefined Power in Iran and Beyond #PATNW2025

Kissel: USSR loss in Afghanistan more due to the economic strain, leading to political strain; international outrage about invasion led to isolation, all factors in the fall of USSR #PATNW2025

Kissel: Recent SALT2 Treaty gave US leverage; US economic sanctions against USSR caused more strain on the Soviet economy, already strained by this war and multiple domestic stressors #PATNW2025

Kissel: Afghan society and culture a core of strength to their resistance to Soviet invasion; leaders of Afghan government had no intention of changing existing Afghan society and culture to suit Soviet needs and desires #PATNW2025

Kissel: USSR did not intend to invade initially, intervention was to support and protect existing economic relationship #PATNW2025

Kissel: USSR and Afghanistan had a long history of support, USSR among the first to recognize Afghan independence, Brezhnev doctrine demanded USSR intervene in nations when their pro-Communist gov'ts were threatened. #PATNW2025

Next: Emily Kissel, The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and its Economic Dimensions as a Factor in the Soviet Union's Dissolution #PATNW2025

Nguyen: British Mandate and then support of friendly leaders worked like colonialism, but under a different name. #PATNW2025

Nguyen: King Faizal was an outsider to Iraq, no local power base, chosen by Brits bc they thought he'd be easy to control, he was not - clashed with Brits regularly, chose his own cabinet in defiance #PATNW2025

Nguyen: opposition in Britain as well, gov't argument that they'd get oil profits didn't hold up as opponents argued those profits would go to private coffers, not public #PATNW2025

Nguyen: British Mandate over Iraq meant Britain got access to Iraq's oil fields, Iraqi people resented and resisted British control from the start #PATNW2025

The EO that included restoring monuments/memorials on federal property is a full-on embrace of Confederate ideology. Beginning Monday @uncpress.bsky.social will make my book No Common Ground available to read FOR FREE for the next two weeks. Educate yourself about what this embrace means. ✊

First up, Jaron Nguyen, Between Iraq and a Hard Place: The Evolution of the Colonial Model in a Postcolonial World #PATNW2025

Last panel of #PATNW2025: The Middle East in the 20th Century

Excellent panel, and I will be encouraging all of these scholars to submit to #SMH2026 if they plan to continue these projects. The future of military history looks good from #PATNW2025. @smh-historians.bsky.social

Malloy: veterans were admitted to asyla and hospitals with depression or other mental illnesses, caused by "Army life" #PATNW2025

Malloy: signs of what we call PTSD today were termed Soldier's Heart, because the identified symptoms were usually cardiac #PATNW2025

Malloy: guerilla warfare adds to battle trauma, as there's no clear battle, just raids where the enemy escapes, along with brutality of Native mutilation of enemy bodies #PATNW2025

Malloy: frontier wars had more casualties from disease and accidents than battles; weather conditions were terrible, causing damage to troop readiness before battle began #PATNW2025

Malloy: mental health issues among soldiers spike during guerilla warfare, highest rate of veteran suicide was in 1883, then spiked during Vietnam and the 21st century wars #PATNW2025

Next, Robert Malloy, Soldier's Heart: Signs and Symptoms of Mental Trauma Among Federal Troops Serving in the Indian Wars. 1866-1890" #PATNW2025

Chavez: British mismanagement of prisoners supported pre-war belief that American colonists were second-class British citizens, added to the independence movement #PATNW2025