Howard Eissenstat

I'm hardly a specialist. I'd start with Mazower's The Balkans: A Short History by Mark Mazower and maybe Jelavich's History of the Balkans and then narrow your focus on things that you are specifically interested in.

Look, it isn't like we need additional evidence.

Hegseth is pro-war crime.

Trump is pro-war crime.

They bonded over their shared belief that war-crimes were a demonstration of "toughness."

This isn't new information. We're just getting additional data points supporting the initial observation

For a class or for personal interest? As a textbook or as a monograph?

So... a student came to me in tears today. Her uncle's green card had expired and he was deported. Her family is taking care of his two kids, both American citizens, both under ten.

Everyday cruelty.

This looks like a great volume!

The Pope left Beirut a couple of hours ago and there are already reports of Israeli drones flying low over parts of the city.

"Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in helping drug traffickers move hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States."

I think Soylu is a solid journalist with excellent contacts in TR. But I also think he tends to treat what his contacts say as "the truth" in a way that is maybe a little gullible.

shoutout to the guy buying several cases of beer and a thing of adult male diapers on an early tuesday morning looks like you’ve got your day all sorted

Cowards and bullies. The lot of them.

Learning that the great Turkish political scientist Taha Parla has passed. He was the first to really theorize Kemalism as a corporatist ideology. His book, /Corporatist Ideology in Kemalist Turkey: Progress or Order?/ Co-authored with Andrew Davison, was absolutely foundational for my own work.

Firstly, I'd be very surprised if Israel compromises on this.

Secondly, the main barrier to other countries deploying is not whether Turkey participates or not, but rather the expectation that the stabilisation force will help disarm Hamas. Needless to say, Hamas has no intention of disarming.

Another reason the damage from this administration will long outlive it.

I'm not a big substack guy (I don't subscribe to *any*), but this is an extremely informative essay.

And again

Azerbaijan Ambassador to Ankara, Memedov: "Karabakh victory marks triumph of ‘two states, one nation’" Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Ankara, Rashad Memmedov, described the fifth anniversary of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh victory as a triumph of “two states, one nation,” and said efforts toward peace with Armeni...

Azerbaijan Ambassador to Ankara, Memedov: "Karabakh victory marks triumph of ‘two states, one nation’"

Between Repression and Resilience: The Civil Society Struggle in Turkey Observatorium 87 | November 2025 | An essay by John McManus on the current civil society struggle in Turkey.

"The creation of a pro-regime civil society sector in 🇹🇷 is an example of how contemporary competitive autocracies often avoid relying solely on repression. The Turkish state is dependent on these organisations for the more culturally-focused edge of its vision" +
www.maecenata.eu/en/2025/11/2...

3. This would create just a unending flow of zero-value paperwork, amidst a culture of fear. Just all the best aspects of the USSR in one neat package.

In Homs, Revenge Is the Only Law Left Standing A political economy built on predation and vendettas is taking root in post-Assad Syria

a true must read:

newlinesmag.com/reportage/in...

Why the New Turkey‐PKK Peace Process Is Likely to Fail In fall 2024, the Turkish government suddenly proposed that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) disarm and disband in return for unspecified concessions. Abdullah Ocalan, the group's long-incarcerated...

Why the New Turkey-PKK Peace Process Is Likely to Fail

"A key problem with the current initiative is that the two sides continue to frame the long-running conflict in starkly different terms"
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

He can be the "law and order" mayor!

It's been remarkably successful at selling this so far...

Ukraine's naval drones strike Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea off the Turkish coast Ukraine has used Sea Baby naval drones to strike two Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea. An official from Ukraine’s security services told The Associated Press about the attack on Saturday.

Ankara wants to have its cake and eat it, too, regarding the war apnews.com/article/tank...

Final exam prompt:

5 pages on:

To what extent did the conflict over Palestine define the contours of wider Middle Eastern processes? To what extent did it not? In other words, how central is the conflict over Palestine to understanding broader trends in the Middle East since 1948?

Just a lovely morning run. An empty trail, relaxed pace, and lovely light.

#running
#runningwithdogs
#bordercollie
##dogsofbluesky

In Homs, Revenge Is the Only Law Left Standing A political economy built on predation and vendettas is taking root in post-Assad Syria

“Behind every crime lie layered, often hidden motives — economic grievances, personal vendettas and the opportunism made possible by gaps in security.”

Kamal Shahin examines the sectarian killings in Syria’s Homs, for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

MEM Book Prize

"Black Knights compellingly re-frames Arabic epic within a broader global history of race, thus prompting medievalists [...] to reconsider how racial formations, heroic imaginaries, and epic narrative structures intersect across time and space."

Sah-weet.

www.middleeastmedievalists.com/book-prize/

Collateral circuits: The impact of the Sudan's war on arms markets and mercenary networks in Chad and Libya The war in Sudan has transformed far more than its own frontlines. It has reshaped the security economies of its neighbours, activating new supply nodes and embedding weapons and combatants into cross...

Highly recommend this excellent new report by @emadbadi.bsky.social on the UAE's supply lines to the RSF via Libya and Chad to ayone interested in the regional conflict complex in which the war in Sudan is enmeshed, and in the networks serving UAE interests.
globalinitiative.net/analysis/imp...

Enjoyed this conversation a lot--take a listen

Final exam prompt:

5 pages on:

To what extent did the conflict over Palestine define the contours of wider Middle Eastern processes? To what extent did it not? In other words, how central is the conflict over Palestine to understanding broader trends in the Middle East since 1948?