Lisel Hintz

I use Gemini when I'm bored — and it's better than doomscrolling It became my ultimate distraction

WHAT IF YOU JUST READ A FUCKING BOOK

One of the best AI and research ethics pieces I've read. From a formidable migration + methods scholar

"Political scientists who study authoritarian technology adoption, information operations, or transnational repression cannot afford to treat AI literacy as synonymous with research productivity"

📢 We are hiring an Assistant Professor in Middle East Politics.
Come and work with us in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University.

Details here: durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Closing date: 7 April 2026

I can't compete with this.

Part of the horror of how Trump revels in describing harm - “walking around without legs, without arms” re: the Iranian regime’s violence - is that he’s playing for audience effect.

Dramatic or comedic, violence is entertainment material for him.

You can tell here he’s setting up a punchline.

The APSA @interpretivemm.bsky.social Research Digest No. 2 is out!

In addition to our usual 10 substantive articles, we highlight two state-of-the-discipline publications, including @jennpiscopo.bsky.social's excellent survey of LGBTQIA+ research.

www.interpretivemethods.com/research-dig...

Have Vance and Trump said thank you?

EXCLUSIVE: I’m the Palestinian Who Has Been in ICE Detention for Almost a Year Don't forget us on International Women's Day, writes Leqaa Kordia.

Leqaa Kordia, in her own words, for @zeteo.com.

Leqaa should be free. Her captors, and whichever outside organization collaborated with them, should be the ones in cages.

I read Kitchen Confidential while in cooking school, and probably watched every No Reservations episode at least twice.

Bourdain's thoughtful amplification of cuisines and cultures was inspirational.

I would give a lot to hear him respond to Trump's "I'm not learning your damn language." RIP

Hard Feelings The Iranian diaspora is fracturing in real time, across dinner tables, on WhatsApp, and in the silence of blocked numbers.

Incredibly moving piece on the tensions of Iranian diaspora.

My colleague and friend Narges Bajoghli identifies an “anguished double consciousness”: deep loathing for the Iranian regime but unwillingness to celebrate the war’s deaths and destruction.

nymag.com/intelligence...

Trying to tune out the creepy warmongering swirling around Turkey.

A reality is that the daughter of urban planner and academic Tayfun Kahraman is growing up waiting for her father while he waits for justice.

He’s one of those, including Osman Kavala, unjustly jailed in the “Gezi Park” trial

So according to the WSJ a US Senator conspired with another country to manipulate the US into starting a war, am I getting this right

'An Iranian missile landed on him': Sky News speaks to son of expat who died in United Arab Emirates Saleh Ahmed, 55, was delivering drinking water when he was fatally struck by debris after a missile attack on the first day of the war. His son tells Sky News he does not believe his father knew the c...

Victims in our countries seldom get profiled and humanised in Western media. This is a portrait of a life cut short. What a tragedy.

"Saleh Ahmed (55) lived in the UAE as an expat for 25 years, sending under £500 per month in earnings to Bangladesh for his wife and four children."

This week was dire. Very tough for scholars from MENA who are studying/working abroad.

I am continually impressed by those who join our Zoom sessions despite so many challenges. This week a frequent participant defended her PhD dissertation!

Next week we begin Week 150. Email me if interested

Scream this from the rooftops.

Trump and bros are turning violence and even death into entertainment. Sometimes it’s masked ICE. Sometimes it’s a mashup of clips from Top Gun with real “kill” footage.

They’re in the business of selling violence. They vilify care about civilian casualties as “woke”

We went down the same rabbit hole...

Iraq must not be a staging ground for war with Iran | Brookings Iraq has long balanced between Washington and Tehran, but the coming weeks will test Iraq’s resolve and capability like never before.

My article for @brookings.edu with @hamzehhadad.bsky.social on the value of Iraqi stability for the region, and the cost of allowing it to descend into the regional war: www.brookings.edu/articles/ira...

In case anyone's unclear about the identity politics of the SecDef's vision of the US' war in the Middle East.

Others in the US govt have different motivations, hence the cross-talk.

But the civilizationalist Us v Them framing is clear from Hegseth. It's written all over him (literally).

A Turkish official's depiction of the Iranian missile shot down by NATO forces as "off course" - whether targeted at İncirlik air base or not - makes a lot of sense.

It's in Turkey's interest, for many reasons, to signal they don't want a rupture with Iran. But that NATO's there if Iran pushes.

At least 148 dead after reported strike on school, Iran says Iran has blamed the US and Israel for the strike; the US is looking into reports of the incident, while the IDF says it is

The mass murder of civilians in Gaza, the brazen attacks on hospitals and schools, without any accountability has created a new kind of warfare that should terrify and enrage all of us.

Every child lost is someone’s whole world. Every life lost matters www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

If I had to imagine the most abominable agglomeration of autocratization, foreign policy, capital, and tech a year ago, there's no way I could have come up with this.

Trump admin briefing that Iran planned missile attacks on US positions in region which this attack preempted is the most insulting, laughable lie I’ve heard in my career, and I’ve heard a lot of them. It isn’t remotely credible and frankly reeks of desperation reaching for any justification.

X Is Drowning in Disinformation Following US and Israel’s Attack on Iran WIRED has reviewed hundreds of posts on X that promote misleading claims about the locations and scale of the attack.

NEW: X Is *drowning* in disinformation following US and Israel’s attack on Iran. WIRED has reviewed hundreds of posts on X that promote misleading claims about the locations and scale of the attack.

read @davidgilbert.bsky.social:

Hacked Prayer App Sends “Surrender” Messages to Iranians Amid Israeli Strikes As Israeli airstrikes hit Tehran this morning, millions of Iranians received mysterious push notifications saying that “help is on the way”, promising amnesty if they surrender.

From our team in the Middle East: As Israeli airstrikes hit Tehran this morning, millions of Iranians received mysterious push notifications saying that “help is on the way”, promising amnesty if they surrender.
wrd.cm/4l0QScB

Adding our populist foreign policy take with @berkesen.bsky.social and Tudor Onea to the bevy of pieces on how Trump’s attack on Iran becomes possible

Personalization, hyper-mediatization, anti-elitism, grandiose history, faux revisionism, extortion, self interest

foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/19/t...

Good thread on how no one could stop Trump’s illegal, baseless war on Iran.

A NATO ally might complicate things though. Turkey denies reports of providing airspace for strikes.

Turkey’s diplomatic efforts at avoiding conflict failed, but it may still try to insert itself to mediate an outcome.

Yeah this spin by Summers is abominable.

It means to cover a multitude of sins we're now aware of. It hopes the public will forget how he referred to someone he considered a mentee. AND it obscures who does his work in his absence.

Hoping most decide not to listen to his forthcoming "commentary."

The many mid-career military personnel I taught at SAIS are some of the most diligent, talented students I've worked with.

I learned from them just as they learned from me and their classmates.

First instinct is: if only US FP decision-makers knew more about signaling and deterrence.

But the US doesn’t function by that logic now.

Populist leaders deliberately provoke international crises to extract concessions and (try to) gain status at home + abroad

foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/19/t...

I still remember the biggest pushback I got in drawing lessons from Turkey for the US was on media. It was an Oct 2024 event.

People thought no way would US media get captured.

But when we stop thinking "state takeover/closure" (although VOA/PBS...) and think crony capitalism, it's much clearer.