@nicholasdanfort.bsky.social and I are going LIVE to talk about Hungary's elections, (and whether there are lessons in there), as well as the devastating school shootings in Turkey this week.
open.substack.com/live-stream/...
I think it's precisely because religion has proved more divisive in the actual history of the middle east that historians are more drawn to less plausible alternate histories featuring religious co-existence.
By 1914, the Ottoman empire looked much more promising as a multiethnic society than a multireligious one.
foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/10/o...
A growing number of historians argue that the Ottoman Empire’s decline was overstated and its collapse was not predestined.
For the weekend: my brief foray into the alternate history of the Ottoman Empire based on some excellent recent books
foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/10/o...
Funny, yeah thinking about this after I finished the article I was like no way Britain is letting them keep Basra.
Most notably Mustafa Aksakal's remarkable "The War That Made the Middle East: World War I and the End of the Ottoman Empire." www.amazon.com/War-That-Mad...
Thinking through the hypothetical today with the help of some excellent recent history books:
foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/10/o...
Okay, but what if the Ottoman Empire somehow survived World War One?
I see a number of people disagree...
"Agreeing or disagreeing with McGurk’s body of work is, in a sense, a Rorschach test for whether one thinks U.S. policy in the Middle East this century has been a success or failure.
foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/09/b...
A term whose time has come
The Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process was a rare one to which Trump made a real contribution. But now there are worries both in Baku and Yerevan that Iran has distracted the White House from the work that still needs to be done. Me in @foreignpolicy.com
foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/08/i...
Went to an anti-war protest by the White House last night. Giant Iranian flags. Speaker declaring "our missiles" closed Hormuz. Joined abt 4 other people on the opposite corner in the anti-war, anti-regime camp. Would be great to see some non-tankie protests going forward but not holding my breath.
My chat with @diegocupolo.bsky.social at @turkeyrecap.bsky.social on Turkish - Israeli relations.
The dynamics of the Middle East are changing radically, I argue. And it is Israel, rather than Turkey, that is the main disrupting force
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyzX...
in persian culture, telling someone "we're going to kill you all" is considered deeply offensive
I suspect if the pilot is captured Tehran will now make a big show of treating them well to score a global pr win
“if Trump is looking for a rerun of the 1991 Gulf War, he is likely to be disappointed”: the wonderful and blueskyless Daniel Neep on the how the US’s fading relationship with the UN reveals that escalation, not limited war, is the sole way forward the US has left open for itself
what were the actual tweets? its always annoying when articles like this dont quote them
Personally, I think your willingness to appear on TRT should directly reflect your willingness to appear on Russia Today.
Great new piece by @selimkoru.bsky.social on Turkey, democracy and national solidarity:
foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/27/t...
my job as an academic isn't to predict the future, but "this will be even worse than you think it will be" has yet to serve me wrong as a guide to any given government choice during the Trump years
Graeber was the leftist Malcolm Gladwell.
And to think some people believed him...
It's important to think about what work the claim "Crash Bandicoot is political" is doing in a conversation, and that work is usually supporting the claim "now I get to yell at you about Crash Bandicoot".
A fundamental misreading of the world affectionately dubbed "moynism"
