Ed Caesar

The War Within • EQUATOR The Islamic Republic, fearing for its own survival, presides over a bloodbath

This piece from inside Iran @equatormag.bsky.social is fascinating and horrifying: www.equator.org/articles/the...

Manchester 1976, what a photo

I'm into behindcore, but could get on board with the steak and eggs bit

Deutsche Bank’s $10-Billion Scandal How a scheme to help Russians secretly funnel money offshore unravelled.

The bank has form.

Ten years ago, I wrote about DB's wild mirror-trading scheme: www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...

Deutsche Bank offices raided in money laundering probe Officials searched offices in Frankfurt and Berlin in relation to

A two act play...

Yesterday: Deutsche Bank's offices raided in German investigation into money-laundering. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Today: Deutsche Bank announces record profits of 9.7 billion euros. www.db.com/news/detail/...

This is possibly my favourite quote about politics. paw.princeton.edu/article/stil...

Can confirm that being a journalist is occasionally very sick indeed.

it's no "AKA Kim Jong Un" for sure

His fellow indictees, not to be outdone:

Strong AKA game from the freshly-indicted Ryan Wedding:

Rifaat al-Assad, Paramilitary Leader and ‘Butcher of Hama,’ Dies at 88

Rifaat al-Assad has died. This obit in NYT omits a) he used to own Witanhurst, and b) his vast offshore wealth was partly managed for nearly a decade by Mark Bridges, the Queen's private solicitor. (Obit does mention: Mitterand gave him the Legion D'Honneur ffs.) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/w...

I actually spat out a little coffee.

The US granted visas to Jews but only allowed 30,000 in from Germany a year. You had to wait for your number to come up.

Meet Robert Smallbones. An unassuming British diplomat who 'hacked' this system so effectively (saving 48 THOUSAND Jews) the UK government kept his scheme secret for decades /1 🧵

We're absolutely delighted to welcome Sophie Heawood and @nivenj1.bsky.social to The Fence as columnists for the print magazine in 2026. Their first outings will be in Issue 27. Subscribe today to get eyes on their words first.

www.the-fence.com/shop/

The Prime Minister of Belgium speaks:

Cleminson Street, Salford. Salford pioneered play streets, traffic-free from 8am till sunset (borrowed from New York) in the 1930s. Legislation followed: there were 700 in England and Wales in the 1950s, all but forgotten by the 1980s.

I also really enjoyed the piece.

When a Man Loves a Cello For the concert soloist Steven Isserlis, the perfect instrument is a blessing—and a curse.

Lovely essay by John Phipps about a man and his cello. (Contains the word "luthier", which improves any piece.)
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

'She was long in the body, but strong of limb and rib,
and her muscles moved under the skin
like currents in a bay of the river.
She was swift as the wind or as the summer swallow . . .'

from Sean Jennett's ‘I Was A Labourer’.
Photograph: Chris Killip

The Italian cocaine kingpin Raffaele Imperiale told prosecutors: "it's really very difficult to arrange a liquidation in Dubai." Difficult, but as we've seen, not impossible.

Turkish mobster shot dead in rare Dubai gangland hit Local police have reportedly taken a “zero tolerance” approach to the reputed damage to the city’s image and reputation following the brutal killing

There is one rule for criminals in Dubai: no violence. Someone forgot the rule. The Turkish gangster Şeyhmus Muhittinoğlu was shot dead in Dubai just before Christmas. Some eighty Turkish nationals have since been arrested by Dubai police. What a place. www.crimeworld.com/internationa...

A Battle with My Blood When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family.

Tatiana Schlossberg, daughter of Caroline Kennedy, has died at 35. In November, she wrote about receiving a terminal diagnosis following the birth of her daughter.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me/hsZC7S

Dubai talks & Daniel DPP files... latest in plot to bring down Kinahan cartel GARDAI hope 2026 will be a “significant year” in their bid to topple the Kinahan cartel and bring down its three leaders — including mob boss Daniel Kinahan. Det Chief Supt Seamus Boland confirmed …

In other Dubai extradition news, the Irish police sound bullish about getting Daniel Kinahan on a plane, and in front of an Irish court soon. www.thesun.ie/news/1631117...

The Kingpin Who Kidnapped Migrants for Ransom An Eritrean trafficker promised to help Africans desperate to reach Europe—then brutalized them inside a Libyan compound while extorting their families back home. With his fortune, he partied in Dubai...

Over Christmas, something remarkable: the Dutch extradited Kidane Habtemariam, an Eritrean people trafficker, from the U.A.E. He will now stand trial in the Netherlands.

I wrote about Kidane's life and many crimes here: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Congratulations Mike!

Great culture can save lives. Literally.

Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

V good interview and discussion, thank you

Make it even more vulgar.

I would watch: "inspired by mythical events..."

"Based on a story by..."