Josie Glausiusz

Bombing of Iran’s oil infrastructure to have major environmental fallout, experts warn Monitors admit they are struggling to keep track of the environmental disasters arising from widening war

The head of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “Damage to petroleum facilities in Iran risks contaminating food, water and air–hazards that can have severe health impacts especially on children, older people, and people with pre-existing medical conditions.”

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

What is the ‘acid rain’ in the wake of US bombings in Iran? An atmospheric scientist explains This rain would include acids but also likely many other pollutants harmful to humans and the environment. It may be worse than the term ‘acid rain’ conveys.

In the short term, people exposed to this black smoke in Iran might have headaches or difficulty breathing.

In the longer term, exposure to the compounds in the air and in this black rain is potentially increasing people’s cancer risk.

theconversation.com/what-is-the-...

Netanyahu’s latest war has few critics in an Israel embracing militarism Attack on Iran has widespread support, with little questioning of whether it is best option for lasting security

In June, Benjamin Netanyahu declared “a historic victory, which will stand for generations” after the 12-day war on Iran.

Few prominent Israelis have asked questions about why the legacy of one historic victory is another war.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

'I fear Trump and Netanyahu will hand ruins over to the Iranians and walk away' Mehrangiz Kar, a Pioneering Feminist in Iran and a Leading Voice Among the Country's Exiles, Has Very Quickly Lost Any of the Hope She Harbored at the Start of the Israeli-U.S. Attacks on the Regime i...

"People hate this regime and are more angry at it than you can imagine, but we don't know whether the regime will change as a result of this war. With time people lose hope, and that is very bad."

An interview with Iranian feminist lawyer Mehrangiz Kar.

Gift link:

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

‘Dark, like our future’: Iranians describe scenes of catastrophe after Tehran’s oil depots bombed Residents report terror of smoke-filled city, from potentially toxic rain, air and water to food scarcity and difficulty of escape

"When the birds abandon you, you are truly on your own," said Mehnaz, fleeing Tehran. "We have so many cats in the city. If these attacks continue, whoever rules here next, they will rule over a democracy of cats. But then even cats have only nine lives.”

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

The world’s salt lakes are drying up, but solutions are hard to come by An eclectic book asks how humans have shaped these ‘queer’ landscapes and how they can be restored.

My latest book review for @natureportfolio.nature.com
Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History by Caroline Tracey.

Part scientific survey of salt lakes (most of them in the western United States), part coming-of-age memoir and part a glimpse at a field called queer ecology.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

What Israel's wars do to women This International Women's Day, the Region Must Confront a Grim Reality: War Exacerbates Domestic Violence. Cramped Shelters, Sleepless Nights, Reserve Duty and Its Trauma, Closed Schools and a Stalle...

As our states pour their dollars into missile interceptors and defense, there is a vulnerable population liable to suffer the fallout of this war for years to come. It's time to start shielding women from the shrapnel, writes Linda Dayan @haaretzcom.bsky.social

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

One killed, two wounded in central Israel after Iran launches missiles Israel-Iran War Day 10 | Israel Advises Against Travel to Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia Over Iranian Terror Threat. IDF Identifies Second Soldier Killed in Lebanon as Staff Sergeant Or Demry. French...

83 children killed in Lebanon amid escalating hostilities.

Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said: "The figures are staggering. They are a stark testament to the toll that conflict is taking on children."

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

'Night turned into day': Iranians tell of strikes on oil depots Fuel depots were hit in Tehran and Karaj overnight, with videos showing huge fires and plumes of smoke in multiple locations.

A man in his 30s from Karaj in Iran said "it started with a red light that lit up everything followed by a wave that jolted the door".

"Then the sky was lit again and a huge red cloud appeared."

He went up to his rooftop and saw the local oil depot on fire.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

After the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes against Iran last weekend, the Iranians’ response included attacks against nonmilitary targets in countries across the region.

Iranian drones hit two Amazon Web Service data centers in the Emirates and damaged one in Bahrain earlier in the week.

Big Tech’s Uncertain Future in the Persian Gulf

Tech giants like Nvidia, Microsoft, Oracle all poured money into large-scale facilities across the Persian Gulf, including data centers to power their enormous bets on artificial intelligence.

The war with Iran threatens to undermine that cozy business relationship.

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/b...

In War’s First Week, a Punishing Military Campaign With No Coherent Endgame

Among those killed in central Tehran last Saturday morning by a volley of Israeli missiles were people the White House had identified as more willing to negotiate than their bosses, and who might help bring a swift end to the conflict, say American officials.

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/u...

Cancer death rate in Britain down by almost a third since 1980s Huge improvements in prevention, diagnosis and treatment have driven the fall, Cancer Research UK says

The rate of people dying from cancer in the UK has fallen by almost a third since the 1980s amid seismic progress in prevention, diagnosis and treatment, a report by Cancer Research UK (CRUK) has found.

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

It's impossible to explain how something so daft was so enjoyable.

“There was a long queue for gas and they were rationing,” she said. “The Rey depot, you won’t believe, was still on fire and it’s insane because in the night it looked like day and in the day, it was so dark, it looked like a new moon night. So, so dark, just like our futures.”

‘Dark, like our future’: Iranians describe scenes of catastrophe after Tehran’s oil depots bombed Residents report terror of smoke-filled city, from potentially toxic rain, air and water to food scarcity and difficulty of escape

"When the birds abandon you, you are truly on your own," said Mehnaz, fleeing Tehran. "We have so many cats in the city. If these attacks continue, whoever rules here next, they will rule over a democracy of cats. But then even cats have only nine lives.”

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

War Begins Again by Tishani Doshi - Rattle: Poetry Oh, beautiful, beautiful, this time, we will pack a box of soil from home and run.

A mother
finds a footprint of her dead child in the garden
and makes a shrine over it to keep the wind
from blowing it away.

"War Begins Again"
Tishani Doshi

@rattlepoetry.bsky.social

rattle.com/war-begins-a...

New York Review of Books @nybooks.com

I'm out of words here

CNN reports blackened rain in Tehran | CNN Thick black clouds and oil‑saturated rain are shrouding Iran’s capital this morning after major airstrikes hit refineries and storage sites south and west of the city. CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen reports....

Thick black clouds and oil‑saturated rain are shrouding Iran’s capital this morning after major airstrikes hit refineries and storage sites south and west of the city. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports.

CNN operates in Iran only with government permission.

edition.cnn.com/2026/03/08/w...

Marsupials previously thought extinct for millennia discovered in New Guinea The chances of finding one mammal species thought to be lost was ‘almost zero’ and finding two is ‘unprecedented’, biologist Tim Flannery says

Two marsupial species that were thought extinct for 6,000 years are alive in rainforest in remote West Papua.

One of the species is a striped possum with an extraordinarily elongated 4th digit that it uses to extract and feed on wood-boring insect larvae.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

100 Years of Women Who Changed History (Gift Article) Revisiting the obituaries of a century of notable women to show how they were remembered — and what history may have left unsaid.

There were women who were introduced to the public in the shadows of famous men.

“I did neither suppress nor invent. I reported it exactly as it was.”

Martha Gellhorn 1908 - 1998

Daring war correspondent who oh by the way married Ernest Hemingway

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Fool’s Errands | Joost Hiltermann It took Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu many years of persistent effort before he succeeded in finding a US president willing to help him

Even if Iran’s power is severely curtailed, the regime might still survive. Its repressive apparatus could well intensify, crushing any hint of dissent among the proportion of the Iranian people whose hatred of their leaders has been on full display. @nybooks.com

www.nybooks.com/online/2026/...

All while the Soviet Union was gradually and systematically denying women fundamental rights. For an excellent biography of this period I recommend "Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, From Revolution to Autocracy," by @juliaioffe.bsky.social

The Blogs: Spa day no more From the blog of Josie Glausiusz at The Times of Israel

Although in truth IWD "evolved" in the Soviet Union to a kitschy mishmash of Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, where bosses would give red roses to female employees and spas and boutiques now offer deals to women.

As I wrote here some years ago:

blogs.timesofisrael.com/spa-day-no-m...

The Lie of ‘Preventive’ War | David Cole In January, during a lengthy New York Times interview with President Donald Trump, one of the paper’s reporters asked him whether he saw “any checks” to

The attacks on Venezuela and Iran will cost US taxpayers billions of dollars—billions that won’t be spent creating jobs, building houses, or providing health care, the things the American people actually want from their government. @nybooks.com

www.nybooks.com/online/2026/...

International Women's Day was first proposed by German Communist Clara Zetkin. On the eve of World War I campaigning for peace, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day. No surprise that it's not a big US holiday.

www.internationalwomensday.com/Activity/155...

I’m in Brazil right now and some random woman wished my friend and me “Feliz Dia das Mulheres!” (Happy Women’s Day!). Granted Brazilians love to celebrate everything, but it would be nice if the holiday was appreciated *a bit* more in the US.

Michelle stayed by her Israeli patient. One wall saved one life, took another Mary Ann De Vera, Known as Michelle, Remained With the Woman She Cared for in Their Tel Aviv Apartment Instead of Going to a Shelter. When a Missile Fired From Iran Struck Nearby, Rachel Survived With...

Mary Ann De Vera, known as Michelle, remained with the woman she cared for in their Tel Aviv apartment instead of going to a shelter. When a missile fired from Iran struck nearby, Rachel survived with a scratch on her forehead. Michelle was killed.

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

"just in time for International Women's Day on March 8."