Philological Essayist

On the CIA backed coup in Iran in 1953: the flagship journal of Middle East Studies did a roundtable on the topic just two years ago, which includes authoritative summaries of the events, state of the field questions etc- and its all free and open access here:

Tonight, two of the white nationalists I reported on in this piece showed up to attempt to intimidate me on a private night out at a small music venue.

I’ll have more to say tomorrow. I’m safe.

They also didn’t pay cover 🖕

"War" from Old High German *werra* meaning “confusion, discord, chaos” and "Monger" from Old English *mangere* meaning a “dealer or trader”

With the aid of "security" personnel. It wasn't a 1-to-1 fight, either (essential additional info for the podcast dudebros, who may conclude from that -correctly!- that Sheehy is a coward).

They didn't just remove him - Senator Sheehy (R-Montana) literally broke his arm.

Photo showing the Modarres Expway with the greenery & trees lining the road

Aerial photo of Tehran with abundant greenery

A street in Tehran lined with trees

Photo of a Tehran blvd with cars and threes on sides of the road and in the middke

Among the things that makes me really sad is the loss of the trees. Tehran is relatively green, being in the mountains and benefitting from glacial streams. Some trees are quite old and they help much to control the air pollution. Their loss is devastating.

There's so much to be depressed about right now, particularly if you are connected to or focused on the Middle East.

This podcast with @rachelschine.bsky.social, talking about her recent monograph on race in medieval Islam, gave me joy.

music.youtube.com/podcast/M_PM...

Cf. the ablative '-āt' / '-ād' ending in Sanskrit.

A bronze coin from Roman-era Beneventum, with Apollo's head and the text "Benven-tod" on one side, from the Classical Numismatic Group

In ancient southern Italy, there was a settlement known as something like Malies in the local Oscan language, rendered in Greek as Malioenton.

This became Maleventum to the Romans, but that by accident sounded unlucky (like 'evil-wind'). So, it got renamed Beneventum – today, the city of Benevento.

As the Kurds who had depended on US support, were betrayed and massacred in their thousands in the 70s, Kissinger famously dismissed the deaths: "covert action should not be confused with missionary work."

After losing in court one can now safely mention that the Müller brand of milk products is owned by an AfD (Germany's officially declared "extreme right wing" party) supporting billionaire. Whose giant family relocated to Switzerland in 2003 btw, to avoid 30% inheritance tax when he passes.

WeSteRN CiViLizAtiOn

YouTube video by Breaking Points Professor Jiang Predicts: US WILL LOSE Iran War

Okay, okay: I am going to poast this one, just for your reference. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ql2... Things get quite heated up at the end (from 13:55 onward). Luckily someone is still keeping an eye on those insidious Jesuits e.a.! ^^

"We are on the same page in terms of getting this terrible regime in Tehran ... um ... um ... away."

It's when Merz tries to speak English that his defining qualities come through most clearly – stupidity and boorishness.

Professor Jiang, no notes (because there's nothing of worth to pen down).

Onironisch, ja. Je zou komaf moeten maken met dat geromantiseer van dat gesubsidieerde rapalje...

GOP man on #Radio4 saying US military is better when it works with UK. But UK military isn't better joining a war with no plan, no exit strategy, no goal. Also illegal.

Germany’s @taz.de on Merz’s trip to Washington: “Clueless tourist stranded in crisis zone”

Das ist schon ziemlich krass das zu sehen, wie Trump über Spanien und Großbritannien herzieht und der deutsche Bundeskanzler zu glauben scheint, sich der Maßregelung seiner europäischen Partner anschließen zu müssen. Auweia.

Now there's a cheap way to completely freak out the world: place 1M$ on one of these dates, a week or two before, and make the money trail impossible to trace.

Trump Lays Out His ‘Worst Case’ Scenario in Iran

“I guess the worst case would be we do this and somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person,” he said. “Right, that could happen? We don’t want that to happen.”

That is not even close to the worst case scenario.

John Fetterman says "I think they just blew up 80 of Iran's mullahs too. Which, I mean, that was pretty great actually!"

God this fucking flippancy about killing people just makes me sick. This supposed to be the US's deliberative body and they're out here trying to be funny about mass death.

Rumours emerging that T-rump/Netanyahu are now enabling Iraqi Kurdish fighters to enter Iran, presumably to start a phase of ethnic infighting (Chaney & Co. scenario)

This is where unfamiliarity w the realities on the ground + massive defunding of ME studies field will come to bite both in the ass.

Other than 'kutubkhanah', Malaysian & Singaporean Malay used to have 'ajaibkhanah' as a term for "museum" until it was later displaced by, well, 'muzium'...

Guess that "l" (it is an "l") is hardly -if ever- found in Middle Egyptian. It is, however, often found in the Ptolemaic era (let's hope no one is in a Ptolemaic stage, that would not be too good for the health of any following generations).

It’s extremely obvious that there was no particular imminent threat and the negotiations were a smokescreen to buy time until military assets got to the Gulf (the US conditions made that clear). US and Israel wanted to attack now so they did, that’s really all there is.

🎶"Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy, I've come home. I'm so cold. Let me in-a-your window"🎶

Oh yes, very French, that game.