Nicholas Danforth

On Cultural Muslims How Muslim identity in the West is becoming more like Judaism

I wrote about the Muslims

Is it important to call Israel's carnage in Gaza 'genocide'? There's One Common Cause Between Those Who Believe That Israel's Devastation in Gaza Justifies the Term 'Genocide', and Those Who Insist It's an Exaggeration: They Both Hope Their Arguments Will Influ...

A thoughtful piece by my @centuryintl.bsky.social colleague Dahlia Scheindlin

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

The Muslim Brotherhood still isn't a terrorist organization I have a new piece out in Foreign Policy (gift link) arguing against the Trump administration's executive order designating branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations. It was a stra...

Designating MB as terrorist is “comparable to what RFK Jr is doing to vaccines –a manifestly harmful policy driven by crackpot ideologues using state power to impose their fringe views based on no evidence to win applause from the worst right wing radicals.”
abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/the-muslim-b...

This is a true story

Another spot-on essay from @joestieb.bsky.social

Reuben Silverman on the rise and fall of Turkey’s Democrat Party Turkey Book Talk #259 – Reuben Silverman on “The Rise and Fall of Turkey’s Democrat Party: The Cold War and Illiberalism, 1945–60” (Cambridge University Press). It is an excellent book …

New episode 📢📢

Reuben Silverman (@reubensilverman.bsky.social) on the rise and fall of Turkey’s Democrat Party

👇👇

turkeybooktalk.com/2025/12/09/r...

The Only War the White House Is Ready for Is Culture War The new U.S. National Security Strategy is a moral and strategic disaster.

My assessment of the Trump national security strategy: "it sees the United States’ adversaries as partners in that war, but it does not see how much U.S. power relies on the voluntary assistance of other countries."

Trump’s New Corollary The President’s invocation of the Monroe Doctrine is rhetorically satisfying but carries real risks.

A great piece by Jay Sexton on Trump and the Monroe Doctrine

foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/08/m...

Silverman's going to be a huge name in Turkish Studies... and his monograph directly addresses a large gap in the English-language scholarship.

Israel is talking itself into a rivalry with Turkey that both aggrandizes Turkey's actual role in the region and compounds the isolation that Israel has suffered because of overstretch during the Gaza War.

46028222.hs-sites.com/press-releas...

You don't have to draw some kind of causal link here to criticize GWOT drone strikes on their own terms

A lot of countries have started murdering drug dealers without ever electing Obama president.

A Perpetrator’s Peace From Nagorno-Karabakh to Gaza, Trump’s approach to conflict resolution has rewarded aggression and perpetuated ethnic cleansing.

"In eschewing justice and accountability and neglecting the root causes of these conflicts, these Potemkin peace plans risk returning us to a model of conflict resolution where might makes right and to the genocidaire go the spoils.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/26/t...

Which isn't to say the spread of crazy conspiratorial bullshit - on this and so many other topics - isn't still a huge problem

From the outset, the whole critique of "disinformation" contained some condescending assumptions about who could accurately define the truth

In Homs, Revenge Is the Only Law Left Standing A political economy built on predation and vendettas is taking root in post-Assad Syria

a true must read:

newlinesmag.com/reportage/in...

Some great stuff from this year's @foreignpolicy.com Holiday Gift guide foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/26/h...

Syria’s Yazidi Community Faces the Future With Concern Having survived Assad and the Islamic State, Yazidis remain suspicious of Sharaa’s government.

Having survived Assad and the Islamic State, Yazidis remain suspicious of Sharaa’s government.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/28/s...

Some great stuff from this year's @foreignpolicy.com Holiday Gift guide foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/26/h...

Also did you publish it over the course of two years?

A Perpetrator’s Peace From Nagorno-Karabakh to Gaza, Trump’s approach to conflict resolution has rewarded aggression and perpetuated ethnic cleansing.

"In eschewing justice and accountability and neglecting the root causes of these conflicts, these Potemkin peace plans risk returning us to a model of conflict resolution where might makes right and to the genocidaire go the spoils.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/26/t...

Trump is a genius, as shown by his ability to win over people like me...

David Brooks really sucks.

‘Make Them Talk to Each Other’ Lessons in peacemaking from 21 days at Dayton.

"By the second course, I was out of small talk, so I plunged in: 'How did this war start, anyway?

foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/20/m...

The infamous rainbow B-52 meme

I hate this sort of meme.

“The only difference between the parties is whether the power to destroy human civilization rests in the hands of leaders who think gays, women, and black people should have their rights acknowledged.”

Even if true, how is Rainbow B-52 not infinitely preferable?

‘Make Them Talk to Each Other’ Lessons in peacemaking from 21 days at Dayton.

"By the second course, I was out of small talk, so I plunged in: 'How did this war start, anyway?

foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/20/m...

The Atlantic, explaining why you shouldn't let AI have your conversations for you:

lol. i have to admit i also expected pinker though

What we talk about when we talk about Turkey How English-language commentary shifted from 'Is Erdoğan democratic?' to 'Is Erdoğan necessary?'

I wrote about writing about Turkey

An Unusual Election in Iraq Offers the U.S. an Unusual Opportunity Baghdad is turning away from Tehran. Can Washington capitalize on it?

My latest, for @foreignpolicy.com:
"Twenty-two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, it’s worth acknowledging: Iraq is still standing, still voting, and still trying."

Gift Link here: foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/17/i...