@matthewjkuiper.bsky.social
Religion Prof. Islam, South Asia, Middle East. Fascinated by religious actors & movements in modernity. Two books on Islamic da'wa (mission, propagation). Other words in sundry other places. Opinions my own; not speaking for my employer. 13.1🏃🏼♂️✅, 26.2🏃♂️✅
…to have a somewhat balanced by comparison Is-Pal policy
Yeah, also HW was the last US president to actually put any (good) pressure on Israeli leadership
Also the face of “I’m having a tantrum because I had a woman or person of color professor (or any prof who didn’t simply confirm my biases), and waaaahhhh!”
And this whole 🧵. Facts. All the way down.
“So again, there is no method to this…madness. What there is, instead, is a man with a fourth-rate intellect and a fifth-rate temperament who treats reality as a television show for which he is the…pampered star. But the world actually exists. Real lives are at stake.“ @jamellebouie.net
🎁 link
Speaking of. Stories like this are appearing literally multiple times a day.
So much for the framing, as for the content of the piece👇
Exactly this. “World changing benefits are here!… or just around the corner!… or once we fix these glitches!… or once version 17.82 comes out!…. or once you all stop your doomerism!…“
Meanwhile, cascades of slop, misinformation, theft, authoritarian & military deployment, death, and on and on
Donald Trump directing a war in a way that helps Russia fight its war is truly on brand. His Russia First policy continues.
The center-right Le Monde editorial board this morning:
Russia is a 100% beneficiary of this war in Iran (high energy prices, revenue windfall, and easing of US sanctions).
For the Trump admin, Russia pays NO COSTS no matter what it does in Ukraine, Europe, and now even acting against US forces in Iran:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Another 5 Palestinians killed in Israel’s genocide in Gaza amid wider war flip.it/.FHGIx
Cascade of A.I. Fakes About War With Iran Causes Chaos Online
Such a great “neutral tool”
Meanwhile, “A severe sandstorm has hit the Gaza Strip, exposing displaced Palestinians to more health risks and destroying their make-shift shelters.”
Not mentioned in the report, but one assumes that the pulverizing to rubble of so much of Gaza is significantly contributing to the dust cloud.
Got up this morning, checked email, saw that my annual self-evaluation is - gulp - due tomorrow. 3 hours later, just got it done and submitted to dept chair. Applause now being accepted.
Classic word-vomit non-logic. If "100% of Iran's military capability" has been destroyed, then nothing, zip, zilch, nada, should be "easy" for them militarily. Beyond parody.
Not a perfect gif, but telling. Interpret that last domino refusing to fall as you will; I can think of a few possible analogies.
Every post from the so called commander in chief is *reactive* (& unhinged). Besides being his norm, it also shows what we all knew from the start: that they had pushed over a domino (the only & last time they were pro-acting not reacting) the results of which they were completely unprepared for.
So often the rhetoric of “resisting change” is just a front for “you’re not letting us (big tech, right wing anti-education forces, etc) into the gates to colonize and take over.” And too often, as I say, admins have offered not too much, but far too little (and where they do, lame) resistance.
Just arrived from the Chronicle. My reaction to this framing? It’s the opposite.
Colleges have been *too open/quick* to change, slavishly giving in to trends, say, in edtech or “job skills”training. Instead of doing what we do best, we’ve offered too little, not too much, resistance to the trendy.
(seen esp in Lebanon)
-As hard reality smashed any initial “success,” they would have to up the ante (more strikes, more destruction)
-They were doing it to generate postable content, distract from other issues
-It would prove incredibly wasteful financially, & more so humanly
-And many others
-They did this w/out a plan beyond blow up stuff & kill regime leaders.
-They were clueless a/b the deadly forces they unleashed which would quickly grow out of their control
-This was going to be a civilian and environmental disaster
-Mass destruction and “wasteland-ification” as the real goal
Two weeks ago this morning many of us awoke to news of the US/Israel attacks on Iran. What a heart sinking moment. Two weeks in, many of the worst fears and foreseen scenarios of smart observers/analysts have proven to almost entirely founded and accurate.
US is bombing the Kharg island, the depot where most of Iranian oil is exported from.
(The first sentence of this report is wrong: Kharg is not close to the Strait of Hormuz, it’s 600kms, as the crow flies, from the strait! People need to use maps more often!)
aje.news/mubl88?updat...
A land grab and with intent to further destabilize the entire country. Netanyahu wants Lebanon’s full collapse. It’s as straightforward and as criminal as that.
A good read. RIP.
This site needs a break. Post 3 good things, none of which are the cessation of a negative.
1. Automatic dishwasher, running now
2. Morning coffee
3. Students eager to learn
right to defend itself = right to destroy every piece of civilian infrastructure within 250km of Israel apparently
