"Of the more than 700 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire over the six months of the ceasefire, 269 were shot near the yellow line, according to UN data. Of these, more than 100 were children."
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
Looking forward to watching this.
There is a webinar on "Spatialising Security, Securitising Space: Ways into the Politics of the Middle East and North Africa" in two days (16/04/2026) at 17:00 CEST.
"The special editors Javier Bordón and Simon Mabon, discussant Tamirace Fakhoury (Fletcher School), and ...
I encourage you to check out the festivals (if you haven’t recently). Lots of energy, lots of positivity. Not denying the everyday reality, but there are interesting things happening.
And yet it’s far better than it was a few years ago. Lots of energy around light up Lancaster and the various festivals; the city becomes a different place. The physical space needs ideas and work though.
I think I've figured what "double-sided ceasefire" means, it means both sides have a different version of the ceasefire.
A group of new accounts on the prediction market Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed bets on whether the U.S. and Iran would reach a ceasefire on April 7, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for these new customers.
Before heading to bed, my 16 year old asked me “just a quick question - was there almost nuclear war today?” We cannot normalize this.
Everyone I know in Iran is waiting to see if the US will bomb them further into the stone age. Read this achingly beautiful letter from Zahra in Tehran to get a sense of what that feels like:"Where can they begin when every beginning might be an end?"
open.substack.com/pub/naghmehs...
There must be a lot of people who don't use violent rhetoric or share conspiracy theories, but also cannot remember how they got to a Waffle House. Some will end up at IHOP, but America is divided.
None of his supporters will care about this, but they should.
Newly unearthed Nigel Farage videos reveal support for rioter, neo-Nazi event and far-right slogans
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-i...
In Lebanon, Israel seems to be following the same logic it deployed in Gaza: emptying out entire areas through what amounts to ethnic cleansing.
@joelleabirached.bsky.social writes from Beirut as bombs rain down once again:
Jeff Whyte.
⚠️New #openaccessarticle online!
🇪🇺 Spatialising Security, Securitising Space: Ways into the Politics of the #MiddleEast and #NorthAfrica
🔍 Discover more: shorturl.at/ucjfY
✒️ Javier Bordón & @profmabon.bsky.social (@lancasteruni.bsky.social)
Nothing says “we are liberating you from a bad regime to give you a better life” like bombing desalination plants and oil refineries
Bahrain says an Iranian strike damaged a desalination plant overnight, following the US/Israeli attack on Iran’s desalination plant on Qeshm Island.
If water infrastructure is now considered a target it’s going to be disastrous for the people living there.
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Professor of International Relations Simon Mabon is interviewed for a Conversation podcast about how “The Gulf's delicate balancing act between the US and Iran is now in flames”
theconversation.com/the-gulfs-de...
“Iran has, for the first time, shattered the illusions of Gulf citizens about their immunity from regional politics… and brought them firmly, and likely permanently, back into geographical reality.“
@abuaardvark.bsky.social on Iran’s Gulf retaliation and the hollowness of US security guarantees:
Systematic Iranian attacks on radar facilities to degrade missile defense systems
Simon Mabon talks to The Conversation Weekly podcast about how the evolution of the relationship between Iran and its Gulf neighbours.
📢 New #SpecialIssue Online!
👉 Spatialising Security, Securitising Space: Ways into the Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
🔗 Read it here: www.tandfonline.com/toc/rspe20/6...
“The linkages flow in both directions. Wars unleash gargantuan amounts of planet-warming emissions…Those extra emissions drive deadlier heat…and other impacts that..[make] armed conflict more likely… Yet war has the perverse effect of pushing the climate story down the news agenda.”
‘Iran’s aim now seems to be not to secure immediate victory but to raise the cost of the war to prohibitive levels. It sees the conflict as existential. If regime change is the declared objective, then compromise is not an option.’
@eskandarsadeghi.bsky.social:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ma...
On Navigating the Vortex | Ethnopolitics Edition, I talk about the special issue I co-edited with Simon Mabon, and how it frames debates on power sharing and contentious politics in divided societies
Bad idea for everyone except those seeking regional anarchy and forever war. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/u...
Last night I recorded an episode of Radio 4’s Moral Maze on whether it is moral to attack Iran. Short answer: it’s not. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, gave a truly unhinged interview on Tucker that zealously genuflected to the Israeli right (see left).
Huckabee’s interview was so insane that it united the whole rest of the region—including the UAE—to make a joint statement against his remarks (see right).
Exciting workshop by @maricalc.bsky.social & @profmabon.bsky.social for @europeanisa.bsky.social 's EWIS in Izmir this year: "Empire without Hegemony:
The unmasking of US dominium over the Middle East and beyond" eisa-net.org/wp-content/u...
This was a good watch, with @victorkattan.bsky.social and @profmabon.bsky.social not being shy about blasting the stupid idea of having Blair run Gaza. Who ever thought of that one should read some history books. It's hardly a secret why that's a terrible idea. www.aljazeera.com/video/inside...
