Ihsan Yilmaz

Foreign interference can be hidden in plain sight. Here’s how countries use ‘sharp power’ in Australia Authoritarian nations are using new tactics, from emotional manipulation to digital surveillance, to sway diaspora attitudes in their favour.

Foreign interference can be hidden in plain sight. Here’s how countries use ‘sharp power’ in Australia

theconversation.com/foreign-inte...

Foreign interference can be hidden in plain sight. Here’s how countries use ‘sharp power’ in Australia Authoritarian nations are using new tactics, from emotional manipulation to digital surveillance, to sway diaspora attitudes in their favour.

Foreign interference can be hidden in plain sight. Here’s how countries use ‘sharp power’ in Australia

theconversation.com/foreign-inte...

The Dam of Gaza Genocide Denial Has Broken Several prominent media outlets are coming off the fence over Israel’s actions, but a conspiracy of helplessness still prevails

The dam of Gaza genocide denial has well and truly broken. While Israel’s supporters in the West still reject the charge, many media outlets are coming off the fence. Genocide scholar Martin Shaw reflects on the shift for @newlinesmag.bsky.social

Episode 31: Conspiracy Nation Book Launch with Ariel Bogle and Cameron Wilson Read Them Sideways · Episode

Happy publication week! 🎉

I had the genuine pleasure of chatting with @arielbogle.bsky.social and @cameronwilson.bsky.social last week about their new book, CONSPIRACY NATION.

Can confirm, it’s an excellent read.

You can hear their thoughts on the link below: open.spotify.com/episode/00Go...

👇

The mathematics of starvation: how Israel caused a famine in Gaza Israel controls the flow of food into Gaza. It has calculated how many calories Palestinians need to stay alive. Its data shows only a fraction has been allowed in

The mathematics of starvation: how Israel caused a famine in Gaza www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

How India Became One of the Biggest Buyers of Russian Oil

How India Became One of the Biggest Buyers of Russian Oil www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/b...

Western World to recognize Palestine as a state in September if it's still there PARIS/LONDON/OTTAWA – The governments of France, the UK and Canada have said they will do what’s morally right and recognize Palestine’s right to exist as a nation as early as September, providing som...

Western World to recognize Palestine as a state in September if it’s still there

Leading Israeli human rights group accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza | CNN A leading Israeli human rights group has accused Israel of “committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” becoming the first such organization to make the claim.

www.cnn.com/2025/07/28/m...

Peace in Turkey must not become a smokescreen for repression A deal with the Kurds is welcome. Erdogan’s authoritarianism is not

The country’s president is counting on the outside world’s silence to be able repress political opposition. So far he is succeeding

Israel’s food points are not just death traps – they’re an alibi for the starvation of Gaza | Alex de Waal We saw famine in Biafra and Ethiopia. In the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s ‘aid distribution system’ we see an attempt to destroy a whole society, says academic and writer Alex de Waal

Israel’s food points are not just death traps – they’re an alibi for the starvation of Gaza | Alex de Waal

Adam Shatz · The World since 7 October The war with Iran is far more than an attempt to prevent nuclear weapons from getting in the hands of mullahs (if it...

‘The inability of Western powers to condemn Israel’s conduct – much less bring it to an end – has made a mockery of the rules-based order that they claim to uphold.’

Adam Shatz on the world since 7 October: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Morrison introduced this idiotic fee schedule to discourage a liberal education.
Reversing it should’ve been an easy week-1 fix for Labor.
You can support science without penalising humanities.
#auspol

Australia Says Gaza Situation Beyond ‘Worst Fears’ as Pressure Mounts on Israel Some of Israel’s closest allies have stepped up criticism of its restrictions on aid to Gaza, where doctors and aid organizations say people are dying of starvation.

Canada, Australia and Britain have increased pressure on Israel over the starvation and the killing of civilians in Gaza, with Australia’s prime minister on Friday saying the situation has “gone beyond the world’s worst fears.”

Peace in Turkey must not become a smokescreen for repression A deal with the Kurds is welcome. Erdogan’s authoritarianism is not

A deal with the Kurds is welcome. Erdogan’s authoritarianism is not

Joint statement on Gaza from AFP, AP, BBC News and Reuters

Written with all the care of a thinks-he's-more-clever-than-he-actually-is undergraduate, the sheer chutzpa of writing a piece like this, without reference to actual experts, is mind-blowing

‘We faced hunger before, but never like this’: skeletal children fill hospital wards as starvation grips Gaza For months Israel kept food shipments to Gaza far below starvation rations. Now the death toll is rising rapidly * Starvation in Gaza is destroying communities – and will leave generational scars Mohammed’s skeletal arms stick out of a romper with a grinning emoji-face and the slogan “smiley boy”, which in a Gaza hospital reads as a cruel joke. He spends much of the day crying from hunger, or gnawing at his own emaciated fingers. At seven months old, he weighs barely 4kg (9lbs) and this is the second time he has been admitted for treatment. His face is gaunt, his limbs little more than bones covered in baggy skin and his ribs protrude painfully from his chest. Continue reading...

‘We faced hunger before, but never like this’: skeletal children fill hospital wards as starvation grips Gaza

At this point in history, any country that does not have independent electoral commissions to determine electoral boundaries and run elections probably doesn't get to call itself a full democracy.

YouTube video by Turkey recap Media and politics in 'New Turkey' with Lisel Hintz

Lisel Hintz is one of the true stars of contemporary Turkish Studies.

Listen to her hear, talking about media and politics in the "New Turkey" with @diegocupolo.bsky.social for @turkeyrecap.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbcV...

Scientists reportedly hiding AI text prompts in academic papers to receive positive peer reviews Research papers found carrying hidden white text giving instructions not to highlight negatives as concern grows over use of large language models for peer review Academics are reportedly hiding prompts in preprint papers for artificial intelligence tools, encouraging them to give positive reviews. Nikkei reported on 1 July it had reviewed research papers from 14 academic institutions in eight countries, including Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore and two in the United States. Continue reading...

Scientists reportedly hiding AI text prompts in academic papers to receive positive peer reviews

Two-thirds of Australians want a review of AUKUS, while less than half think it will make us safer: poll - The Australia Institute 66 per cent of Australians support a Parliamentary Inquiry into the AUKUS security agreement, according to new polling commissioned by The Australia Institute.

New polling by @australiainstitute.org.au has found that 66% of Australians support a parliamentary inquiry into Aukus. A previous poll found 57% support.

In a healthy democracy, scrutiny of a deal the size and scope of Aukus should be welcomed.

australiainstitute.org.au/post/two-thi...

I made a totally new X Twitter account and let it feed me whatever it wanted to and I understand so much better now how so many people have come to believe such absurd, awful and frankly inhuman things about Gaza, about Trump, about immigrants, about everything. It’s a true menace to democracy.

Kevin Okoth · The Pessimist’s Optimist: Beyond the Postcolony Achille Mbembe is the pessimist’s optimist: he delivers a devastating analysis of the contemporary moment while never...

‘Normative accounts of democracy claim that the arbitrary use of force stands in opposition to democratic rights. For Mbembe, however, necropolitics isn’t democracy’s opposite but its dark underbelly.’

Kevin Okoth on Achille Mbembe:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

This is true, and shocking after the last few decades, but it's important to understand that this is pretty much how it's always been in Latin America. The historical exception has been the moments when the US was a pro-democracy force.

A structural equation model of far-right attitudes, religiosity, and Islamophobia

🚨 🚨 🚨 New OA publication in Research&Politics @respol.bsky.social.bsky.social‬ out today: #Islamophobia in Western Europe is unrelated to ✝️ #religiosity but highly correlated with #farright attitudes. A short 🧵

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Infographic titled “One Court, Two Standards” compares how the Supreme Court used emergency powers to rule on lower-court injunctions against the Biden and Trump administrations. Two panels show: • Biden Administration: Lower courts blocked policies in 21 cases. All 21 cases are represented by red squares, indicating that 0% of injunctions/TROs were lifted by SCOTUS. • Trump Administration: Lower courts blocked policies in 86 cases. 66 green squares and 20 red squares show that 77% of injunctions/TROs were lifted by SCOTUS. Key takeaway box below reads: “Using its ‘shadow docket,’ the Supreme Court granted emergency relief to lift 77% of lower-court injunctions against the Trump administration. It lifted 0% of those against the Biden administration.” Sources and notes below include: CourtListener data through July 7, 2025; analysis by Adam Bonica.

The Supreme Court’s “shadow docket” has cast very different shadows depending on which party holds the White House.

When lower courts blocked Trump admin policies, SCOTUS intervened on an emergency basis to lift those orders in 77% of cases.

For the Biden administration, that number was 0%.

This column does not express support for Palestine Action – here’s why | Owen Jones In Britain’s increasingly authoritarian society, any sort of protest can find itself at odds with the law. You might even go to jail, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones

“An injury to democracy, once inflicted, cannot be contained. It becomes immediately infected, and the sickness spreads.”

Powerful must-read column by @owenjones.bsky.social

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot launches into antisemitic rant amid updates Grok, the chatbot built by Musk’s start-up xAI, is integrated into X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

A chatbot created by Elon Musk’s AI company launched into an antisemitic tirade Tuesday and invoked Adolf Hitler, days after Musk said that updates would reduce its reliance on mainstream media and train it on information that is “politically incorrect.”