@paultlevin.bsky.social
Director of the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies. Managing Director Consortium for European Symposia on Turkey. Docent (Assoc. Prof.) of and pontificator on international relations. Opinionated. Painter.
Highly recommend this one, by @kellygrieco.bsky.social. Very astute and insightful analysis that makes it clear Iran considers the global economy by way of the Gulf states, and not Israel, the enemy's center of gravity.
IR 101: It is not wise to alienate one’s allies. One day, you might need their Godzilla and all you get is Mothra.
Swedish Coast Guard + Police special operators seizing control of false-flagged shadow tanker SEA OWL 1 last night.
New vid from Coast Guard.
The original source is probably the Secretary of WAR. So don't come telling me they didn't plan for this contingency.
Nothing says lethality like Godzilla!
Well, since reality regularly Trumps (pun intended) comedy these days, sarcasm is tricky.
This was even predicted:
“There is a risk that North Korea could miscalculate the relocation of some of these weapons as a pretext for low-level provocations to test the allies’ defence postures," said Choi Gi-il, a military studies professor at Sangji University.
Al Monitor’s @amberinzaman.bsky.social interviews a key figure in the largest Kurdish party in Iran, Asso Hassan Zadeh of the KDPI. The “Kurdish option” of an armed Kurdish insurgency that works with the U.S. and Israel in Iran is still on the table.
What’s a dictator gotta do to get some attention around here?
Hehe, that’s probably true on an individual level. But that’s why you have an interagency process. This sh*tstorm is what happens when you forego all of that in favor of whatever the last person told an aging narcissistic man with megalomania.
Yeah I got the BlueSky handle wrong. Sorry for that!
That should have been @alexzfinley.bsky.social.
Oh sorry to both! Thanks.
And here is another delightfully exasperated rant on the complete absence of planning by @malcolmnance.bsky.social. This is bomb and hope. Watch the whole thing for why using special operations forces to take control over the Straits of Hormuz is a bad idea.
substack.com/@malcolmnanc...
Epic rant by @alexfinley.bsky.social on the Trump administration’s failure to consider that Iran might, well, respond if attacked.
In Turkish, these are called "havuz medyası," pool media. (The government asked businessmen to pool funds together to buy media companies and ensure that they remained friendly. In return, they got government contracts and other favorable treatment.)
"More fake news from CNN. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better."
The Trump administration wants a "patriotic press" and uses oligarchs to create it. Observers of democratic backsliding in Turkey and elsewhere will recognize this, but at least Erdoğan did it quietly.
Apropå ingenting särskilt.
Betryggande.
In case you aren't keeping up with the Orwellianisms: starting a war is ending a war.
Wait, the public demands clarification of that claim at the end of the first sentence!
Lol, I have never been so deeply offended. It should be read with a Tennessee twang!
Precis.
* OCH stärkte Iran
Trump's America: No longer the world's police but the world's gung-ho gunslinger bad-guy-taker-outer! Yippee!
Denna insikt är vad som borde styra Sveriges inställning till Netanyahus & Trumps krig. Vi borde ha lärt oss. Saddam var en grym diktator men Irakkriget bidrog till framväxten av IS stärkte Iran. Detta krig kommer att få lika omfattande & svårförutsägbara konsekvenser. Men de kommer ej gagna Europa.
😂
På tal om Dark-Jönssonligan spelade jag för en halvtimme sedan upp Ragnar Grippes klassiska tema från originalfilmerna för min galet musikaliska son, som omedelbart påpekade att det är samma ackordföljd som i Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”
The hubris and stupidity of the ruling elite in the country that was once the leader of the free world is a tragic thing to behold.
A victory for Trump, Putin and Netanyahu.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov: “To be honest, I don’t even understand now how anyone can call on others to follow the norms and principles of international law. In fact, it no longer exists.”
What’s bonkers is less that this leadership in Israel wants chaos and mayhem in the region than that so many European leaders seem fine with it. Hey, civil war in Syria worked out great for Europe so what’s not to like?