Natosha Hoduski, PhD

Severe drought is devastating war-torn Syria The most severe drought in decades is gripping much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East following the impacts of climate change, leading to a particularly dire situation in Syria.

apnews.com/projects/syr...

Quite a difficult (though not entirely unexpected) conclusion to a long negotiation.

Following 10 days of negotiations, #INC5 talks to develop a global #PlasticsTreaty adjourned on 15 August in Geneva without consensus on a text of the instrument.

Negotiations will resume at a future date to be announced: www.unep.org/news-and-sto...

US under Trump is not content with hampering international action on climate change. It’s also lobbying other countries to oppose an ambitious plastic pollution treaty
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Syria's wheat war: drought fuels food crisis for 16 million Rival Syrian and Kurdish producers are scrambling for shrinking wheat harvests as the worst drought in decades follows a devastating war, pushing more than 16 million people toward food insecurity.

The worst drought in 60 years may push Syria into a serious crisis, warns the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Some 16.3m people risk food insecurity in 2025. As with oil, Syria relies on wheat imports from Russia—a first shipment arrived in April.

@afp.com: www.france24.com/en/live-news...

The impact of water shortages from #climatechange are going to be brutal this summer. In Lake Dukan in northern #Iraq, the water levels have dropped nearly 60% in 6 years time impacting farmers and households depending on it www.scmp.com/news/world/m...

Thinking about Max Weber’s claim that modern states hold a “monopoly on the use of force.” Increasingly, in an era of mass media and lawfare, it is a “monopoly on defining violence.” Legitimate / illegitimate. Peaceful / violent. Terror / collateral. Protest / insurrection. Order / resistance.

Ringing the Alarm Bells Syria May Be Facing Its Worst Drought in Decades

Benjamin Fève on drought in Syria

The Thirst for Power The Middle East has battled water insecurity for centuries, but today, the region is on a razor’s edge. Tackling the politics and power dynamics that have exacerbated scarcity is the only way to…

"The trends are clear: By 2050, every single country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will live under extremely high water stress," warns @mideast.csis.org expert @natashahall.bsky.social

Learn more:

Striking stat from @kellycnbc.bsky.social on this:

The rise in treasury yields since Trump’s tariffs were announced leads to an increase in US debt interest payments that is larger than all the DOGE savings.

Update! The senate at Indiana U-Bloomington has passed an identical resolution to the Rutgers Senate's calling for a Big Ten defense compact!!

And the Rutgers Senate is meeting tomorrow in a special emergency session to plan next steps. Read their open letter to President Jonathan Holloway below.

Just two weeks ago UNICEF warned “More than 500,000 [Syrian] children under five are suffering life-threatening malnutrition, while 2 million more on the verge of becoming malnourished.”

Haley Britzky @halbritz AFRICOM commander Gen. Langley tells senators that China is "trying to replicate" USAID programs in Africa as the US scales back USAID. "They're trying to use that as an extension of the Belt and Road Initiative to gain favor by the African countries," Langley said.

Wow who could’ve guessed that this would happen

It’s almost as if USAID was a pillar of American soft power and influence in the world

It’s almost as if it was entirely predictable that America’s adversaries would work to fill the void left by USAID’s destruction

Trump’s ‘climate’ purge deleted a new extreme weather risk tool. We recreated it The Guardian has recreated a searchable climate future risk tool developed by Fema but then deleted

This is cool. The Guardian recreated a searchable climate future risk tool (wildfire, extreme heat, drought, hurricane, and coastal flood) for the US that was developed by FEMA but deleted by the Trump administration’s ‘climate’ purge.

Leaders of Harvard’s Middle Eastern Studies Center Will Leave Harvard University has been under pressure by the Trump administration to follow directives related to diversity and combating antisemitism.

“Now their universities are on notice that the government is looking for a settlement that includes abridging the autonomy of centers and departments devoted to the study of the Middle East,” Professor Bali said…. “I’ve never seen anything comparable to this. This is totally unprecedented.”

YouTube video by House Committee on the Judiciary Rep. Jamie Raskin sets the record straight

Rep. Raskin sets the record straight: In America, Congress makes the laws. The President’s job is to take care that the laws are faithfully executed—not thwarted, frustrated and trashed.