When I’m in Kyrgyzstan, I actually don’t shy away from having these conversations with people. Usually, their source of information is some trash content on TikTok/Instagram. They’ve never really heard of Zionism, it’s a simplistic narrative of evil Jews murdering fellow Muslims
It comes from a place of deep ignorance that is only reinforced by antisemitic content that circulates online and feeds into a simplistic narrative of Jews=Israelis=Evil
A hotel in Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second largest city, allegedly put a sign in the door saying “Jews and animals are not allowed” in 3 languages.
I can’t say I’m surprised: this kind of vile and dehumanizing language has become all too common in the region
m.akipress.com/news:892132:...
thank you 🙏
Recorded the first episode of my new monthly Central Asia infused musical radio hour at Sphere Radio, an independent radio station in Leipzig
The first mix includes some of my favorite retro gems from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan
on.soundcloud.com/29fjCOYHfGzS...
Legal avenues for temporary or permanent settlement have been reduced to such an absurd degree extent that it’s hardly surprising to see people use whatever is at their disposal to be able to stay. How this qualifies as “investigative reporting” is beyond me
Honestly quite appalled that the BBC has come out with investigative reporting on asylum seekers “gaming the system” with fake domestic abuse claims
This is unconscionable framing given the UK’s draconian policies towards asylum seekers and migrants
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Russia starts blocking BlueSky
(It's because they're tired of my shitposting)
therecord.media/russia-crack...
Russians who have relocated to Kazakhstan say the country has raised its language requirement for residency permits, with some reporting that applicants must now demonstrate Kazakh proficiency at the B2 level.
meduza.io/en/news/2026...
I read that Palestinization of Xinjiang paper, and unsurprisingly, there's like, literally nothing about the lived experience of Uyghurs in there at all. Just a lot about western powers and Adrian Zenz and whatever, lol
There has been a lot of criticisms of that this piece had AI-hallucinated citations already. Prashad has apologized--and yet it's very telling that he feels more accountable to academic integrity than the 12 million lives whose erasure he and Chak contribute to the erasure of
Once again, the national average pay for adjunct professors with PhDs is a flat fee of $3900 per course.
I know people who lived under Assad’s bombs, fled on overcrowded boats through Greece, made a life for themselves and their families in Germany, learned the language, got citizenship—and are now being told by this chancellor to get lost? Just unconscionable
Syrians are now a part of Germany’s national fabric, they are taxpayers, citizens, entrepreneurs, teachers, doctors, engineers. They’ve reshaped the urban cultural and culinary landscape. They’re an inextricable part of modern Germany and should be celebrated as such
It’s just unbelievable that a German chancellor would say something so preposterous ten years after a flourishing Syrian community has established itself in the country and made a lasting contribution to German society
In post-referendum Kazakhstan, someone very high up decided to pull the plug on this liberal media project
There was always a lot of skepticism toward AIRAN because they were obviously very generously funded and allowed to cover touchy subjects (Russian influence in Central Asia, corruption, nepotism, Nazarbayev’s legacy, Ukraine) but avoided direct criticism of Tokayev
Looks like Kazakh authorities exerted significant pressure on the unnamed financial backers of the channel (a common tactic in KZ) and forced it to go off the air for good.
Airan Media, a very popular news channel in Kazakhstan with high production value (somewhat reminiscent of Russia’s TVRain in its early days) has stopped broadcasting.
Very strange last video with the editor-in-chief stumbling through an explanation of what happened
youtu.be/vSqLTaDc1v0?...
Pavel Kryvets and Idrak Mirzalizade host a podcast-style live show in Warsaw on current events––and I feel like it's hands down the best Russian-language content out there. Equally harsh on Russia, Israel, Lukashenko and Trump
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPkc...
A number of high-profile political prisoners have been released in Kyrgyzstan over the past couple of months, but lots of people still remain behind bars
kloop.kg/blog/2026/03...
This was filmed in the city of Arad in southern Israel. Last night, 115 people were wounded by missiles from Iran which struck apartment buildings in both Arad and the city of Dimona. Nine people were seriously wounded, among them two children. (1/4)
It's a strange thing, because Americans cannot imagine the reality of being bombed like we do to others. We got bombed, so to speak, by another country, once and it completely changed everything. And yet we nevertheless live through constant daily barrages of gun fire that we metabolize as not war.
There are a lot of objectively horrific crimes happening in Israel on a daily basis,but I’ve found the shelters to be places of community and solidarity
Just last week I was literally yanked off the street in the midst of a missile attack in Haifa (the warning system had failed) by a Palestinian Arab man, who brought me to his building’s shelter where Russians, Jews, Arabs and Filipinos sat together and played cards until it was safe to leave
The kind of messaging you rarely see in one place: Free Palestine along with Victory for Ukraine graffiti in Dahab (Egypt).
Once again, the German government has picked a great time to move away from domestic renewables and place a gas company lobbyist in charge of the energy portfolio.
Russia has spoken, and it turns out that wars of aggression are destructive and immoral giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
We're seeing an emergence of a completely new map of desirable and accessible destinations like India, Vietnam, Kenya, Colombia, Sri Lanka
I think it is still underrated the extent to which upwardly mobile young people from the Global South are turning their backs on the West as an aspirational destination. Instead of "wow I wish I could visit" I'm hearing more and more "getting a visa there is such a demeaning hassle, why bother?"
