James Ryan

Because they all agree with him. Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism are completely normalized on today’s right.

Drinking water warning issued for millions as Iran war threatens supply Conflict is placing drinking water at risk as missile and drone strikes encroach on desalination plants that sustain the region.

I spoke to Newsweek on desalination and the war in the Gulf.

www.newsweek.com/drinking-wat...

Statement by UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Edouard Beigbeder, on the rise in child casualties amid escalating hostilities in Lebanon 83 children killed and 254 injured in the past 7 days, while hundreds of thousands flee their homes

On average, more than 10 children have been killed every day across Lebanon over the past week, @unicef.org says. Israeli military operations and evacuation orders have also displaced nearly 700,000 people, including around 200,000 children www.unicef.org/press-releas...

Burri Under Siege—How War Remade Everyday Life in a Sudanese Neighborhood In March 2025, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) retook key areas of eastern, central and southern Khartoum. Their advance ended the Rapid Support Force’s (RSF) two-year siege of Burri—a neighborhood…

And read Niema's article, from our Winter 2025 issue Reconstruction and Ruin here:

buff.ly/GCLeIZf

The podcast feed is going to be active the next few weeks. Check out this conversation and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

The MERIP Podcast Episode 17: Niema Alhessen Today’s episode of the MERIP Podcast features an interview with Niema Alhessen, a Sudanese researcher based in Cairo who is focused on urban conflict and displacement. She is the author of “Burri…

NEW PODCAST: Niema Alhessen joins James Ryan and Deen Sharp to discuss her recent article, "Burri Under Siege--How War Remade Everyday Life in a Sudanese Neighborhood."

Listen at the link below, or wherever you get your podcasts!

buff.ly/rHlDP65

This discussion is happening today/Monday at 2pm (EST). Hope to see you

Help us build a wayback machine. We might need it sooner or later.

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This is one of the best podcasts I've listened to lately, a deep dive into a community and conflict with rich, granular insights.

This gets at the Burkean argument for international law: power politics are beset with unknowns and unintended consequences. Faced with that, following international law is a good way of avoiding some of the most obvious pitfalls. “An inheritance from our forefathers,” paid for in blood.

One of the lessons of the Iran war is that it was a huge mistake not to even try to put any of the Iraq war architects in prison. We shouldn’t make it again.

Iran Transformed | Arang Keshavarzian On February 28 Israeli warplanes assassinated Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, by dropping thirty bombs on his compound in Tehran. It was the opening salvo of

My essay for NYRB maps out how iran got to this point. “But January’s protests werenot just the prelude to a geopolitical contest. They offer a window intothe fortunes of Iran’s citizens, the changing structure of its state, & the trajectory of the regime the US now seeks to obliterate.”

In Pipes’ case, since he’s not based in DC, it’s a function of regional parochialism more than anything else.

Rest in peace Walid Khalidi, giant of the historical field and of Palestine!

Remember when the IDF had a squad dress up as medical personnel to enter a hospital and execute an injured man in his hospital bed

Are they even trying on that front? I feel like at this point they have nothing real to offer that tracks with their base other than pure racism.

The war is unnecessary regardless of the status of the jcpoa.

I was in Tehran this time last year. I want you to see how beautiful my city is. I want you to see the city the US/Israel is trying to wipe off the face of the earth

Seems like?

Disgraceful from Tapper. The US is not spending a billion dollars a day on troops. It’s spending it on missiles and jet fuel.

Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet entering the newsletter arena. Worth a follow.

Sweet Halva to Humble Pie: The Risks of the US-Israeli War on Iran Iranians have an expression: Nobody distributes sweets (halva) in a fight—a cue that conflict is neither gentle nor generous. All sides are now experiencing this truism in real time. Eight days into t...

“…certain radical factions—some possibly supported from abroad to advance separatist aims—receive disproportionate attention in the West. They do not…reflect the consensus among many Iranians who simultaneously adhere to national and regional identities.”

the-tempered-view.ghost.io/sweet-halva-...

But the general idea that signing up to work at that place corrodes your critical capacities is correct.

Unfortunately, I disagree with you. It’s just the smart(er) ones don’t work on Iran.

One of the side-effects of the way we talk about this technology is that human intention and human judgement get drained out of situations we're they still, in fact, decisive.

Exclusive: AI Error Likely Led to Iran Girl's School Bombing Pentagon investigators believe a bombing of a girls' school in Iran on Saturday likely resulted from inaccurate information provided by AI.

This reporting is frustrating. It's vague on the specifics of how AI is actually used in these contexts and manages to frame human decisions as technological inevitabilities.

US/Israelis have started hitting infrastructure. Reports of 30 reserve oil tankers around Tehran. Videos are horrible. A good friend works at the Tehran refinery. Extremely worried.

Ah, I may have crossed this with something he said to another outlet! Thankfully he’s here @mchrislow.bsky.social and perhaps could answer for us.

My kids are not getting spoonfed Hillary Duff flag waving about dead Iranian schoolgirls. Cold comfort, I know, but it’s progress of a kind.

The difference between then and now is the stupid discourse is even stupider, more racist and mean spirited, and more entrenched in power but, somehow, less prevalent in the broader culture and politics.