I’m afraid I can’t recall the source (Joby Fanon?) and AI thinks I’m wrong but if I hadn’t had strong evidentiary reasons to write this I wouldn’t have said so.

I had assumed as much and said so in earlier pieces, but while researching the book I learned that Fanon hadn’t studied with him at lycée. That he fell under his influence there is no doubt of course, but his principle teacher was a disciple of the pacifist philosopher Alain.

Scene of destruction in southern Lebanon, with two Israeli tanks in the foreground moving along demolished homes and buildings. Text Block: THE LRB PODCAST The War in Lebanon With Adam Shatz, Joelle Abi-Rached and Mohamad Bazzi

“The Lebanese army has been kept weak and ineffective on purpose. That’s part of the Israeli-US strategy” — my conversation on Lebanon with Adam Shatz and Joelle Abi-Rached for @lrb.co.uk podcast | www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...

The War in Lebanon Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 17 April · 48min

‘The Lebanese army has been kept weak and ineffective in many ways on purpose. And that’s part of the Israeli-US strategy.’

@mbazzi.bsky.social on Lebanon, on the podcast, with @joelleabirached.bsky.social and @adamshatz.bsky.social.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Podcast: Adam Shatz, Mohamad Bazzi and Joëlle Abi-Rached · The War in Lebanon

www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...

Hours before the ceasefire was announced, I spoke with Mohamad Bazzi and Joëlle Abi-Rached about the war in (and on) Lebanon.

The War in Lebanon Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 17 April · 48min

On the podcast: @adamshatz.bsky.social is joined by @joelleabirached.bsky.social and @mbazzi.bsky.social to discuss life on the ground in Lebanon, Israel’s strategic objectives in the region and Hizbullah’s relationship to the the Lebanese state. Listen here:

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

In short, Zohran Mamdani has shown what leadership with integrity looks like, and how to use power to improve people’s lives, not to destroy them.

Trump’s latest - genocidal - threat against Iran reminds one of a quote often attributed to Oscar Wilde: “America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.”

Splendid reporting by my friend Eyal Press in the @newyorker.com — must-reading for anyone curious about the impact of Israe’s destruction of Gaza (and wars against Iran, Lebanon, etc) on practicing American Jews. @epress.bsky.social

Among American Jews, disagreements over the war in Gaza have disrupted family dinners, upended friendships, and splintered congregations. Eyal Press reports from a synagogue divided over Israel. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/7FQbEQ

Israel Passes Law to Hang Palestinians Convicted of Deadly Attacks

In Israel’s descent into fascism there appears to be no bottom. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/30/w...

Amjad Iraqi · Short Cuts: From Gaza to Iran It’s no surprise that Operation Roaring Lion (Israel’s name for its campaign) and Operation Epic Fury (as the US...

Amjad Iraqi in the @lrb.co.uk on how Gaza served as the laboratory for the US-Israeli war against Iran. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

My colleague Jeremy Harding, one of the finest nonfiction writers of our time, who started out as a reporter in southern Africa, has a new book of essays on African cultural politics in an age of decolonization, destined to be a classic.

Breaking Point Beirut | The Point Magazine One million. That is the latest figure from the Lebanese government briefing of the number of people who have been displaced in the nineteen days […]

Zeead Yaghi on Israel’s war on Lebanon, a campaign that has produced massive destruction, displacement, and terror, while also reigniting sectarian tension. A harrowing article. thepointmag.com/forms-of-lif...

What Next in Iran? Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 11 March · 59m

On the podcast: @adamshatz.bsky.social, Robert Malley and Esfandyar Batmanghelidj discuss the chaos of Trump’s Iran strategy, whether the US and Israel’s objectives are aligned and what Iran’s future might look like. Listen wherever you get podcasts, or here:

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

What Next in Iran? Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 11 March · 59m

‘It’s hard to imagine any other president rolling the dice with such disregard for any norms and human life and the consequences of his actions.’

Robert Malley joins Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and @adamshatz.bsky.social on the podcast to discuss Trump’s Iran strategy
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Podcast: Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, Robert Malley and Adam Shatz · What next in Iran?

"Netanyahu and Trump are not aligned. Netanyahu has a vision, and Trump doesn't. You can't align something with nothing."

www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...

A great pleasure and an honor to speak to Rob Malley and Esfandyar Batmanghelidj about Trump and Netanyahu’s war against Iran, and the internal dynamics of the Islamic Republic. Highly illuminating conversation.

Les affrontements entre Israël et le Hezbollah s'intensifient.
Mais que sait-on vraiment du « Parti de Dieu » ? Dans les médias français, le mouvement est décrit de manière binaire : organisation terroriste pour les uns, force de résistance pour les autres. 🪡 Fil en 6 points. ↓

"And then I heard Jimmy Garrison, and I began to see that the bass was more than what I was hearing." - William Parker

Happy Birthday Jimmy Garrison
born March 3, 1934

Iran After Khamenei An interview with sociologist Asef Bayat on the U.S.-Israeli war, democratic opposition to the Islamic Republic, and the country’s uncertain future.

www.bostonreview.net/articles/ira...

Superb interview with Asef Bayat:

‘Iran’s leftists are also frustrated with the Western left, which they believe mischaracterizes the Islamic Republic as “anti-imperialist” and overlooks the real struggles of Iranians fighting for dignity and democracy.’

Adam Shatz · ‘A Little Feu de Joie’: Khomeini rises The Iranian Revolution was a revolt against Western-imposed modernisation in favour of an enchanted path to modernity...

An old piece about the rise of Khomeini and the Islamic Republic. Though dated in some ways, the piece offers useful context for thinking about the IR’s brutality— and about the history of American aggression against Iran.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v3...

Fuck Trump

Fuck Netanyahu

Fuck Khamenei

It is entirely possible, nay completely rational, to hold all these opinions at once.

The peoples of the USA, Israel and Iran deserve so much better.

#NoWar #NoWarWithIran

Israel is at it again, this time bombing Iran in partnership with their friends in the White House

As a Jew, I'd love to go a month without having to denounce yet another bombing of yet another country by the genocidal state that falsely claims to act in our name.

James Meek · Far-Right Wellness Product: Romania’s Far Right Călin Georgescu’s entire political programme, in so far as he has one, is based on the need to heal Romania by...

‘Georgescu had already spoken out against chemotherapy, questioned whether cancer is real and promoted whatever version of natural, traditional healing suited the moment (his wife, Cristela, is a prominent “natural” wellness influencer).’

James Meek in Romania:

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

one of the most exquisite albums I’ve heard in some time, to which I’ve listened on repeat in a permanent, not a ‘near permanent,’ state of wonder.

Alexander Hawkins Taylor Ho Bynum - A Near Permanent State Of Wonder

Alexander Hawkins: piano
Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet, flugelhorn

Liner Notes: Bill Dixon
Available early September
roguart.com/product/a-ne...

Jameel Jaffer · Thought Control Ideological exclusion at the border seems anachronistic now, when all human knowledge is accessible online, video-...

‘The effect of the court’s decision was to leave unsettled the question of whether the First Amendment prevents the government from denying admission to foreign citizens simply because it doesn’t approve of what they have to say.’

Jameel Jaffer on ideological exclusion
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Trump’s threats against Iran, and the strangling of Cuba, are a reminder that imperialism isn’t just about extraction, theft, exploitation: it’s the right to completely fuck with another people’s lives on a whim.