And that means we’re still on an escalatory path that could yet result with troops on the ground - something no one had seriously entertained before Saturday. We have few, if any off ramps right now.
This is a war the US/Israel and Iran have been waging for almost 50 years…now in maximalist mode.
Meanwhile for Iran, this existential, zero-sum approach is altering the regional security map that will reverberate for decades. Just as alliance with US is now a live social contract Q for the GCC, the perception of detente with Iran being realistic or deterrent in measure is ultimately destroyed.
And GCC now has to acknowledge and reconcile with the reality that war is not just a question of their physical and economic security, but a larger, more existential question about their geopolitical security and alliances. There are now fundamental Q’s to be answered about alliances and protection.
Whilst “regime change” is unlikely, neighbouring GCC states will act (as they have done overnight) to prevent such calls, it’s the mother of all ironies that US war with Iran threatens leadership of one of its strongest allies more than it does Iran right now. Bahrain was always the weakest link.
Bahrain has long been a powder keg, ready to implode. This is not Sunni/Shia, just as it wasn’t in 2011. Nowhere in the Gulf is deep-seated anger and disgust at US presence & alliance more palpable than there. US military presence in Bahrain is being physically & politically dismantled in real time.
Spare a thought for all the Lebanese and Palestinian, Iraqi and Syrian, Yemeni, Sudanese, Afghan, who already fled war at home to now live war in exile. Wars almost all started by the US and/or Israel.
The Gulf is not just your white man’s tax haven, it is a safety net for millions. #IranWar
15 years. #Jan25
According to at least one independent group “More than 25,000 children have been killed and 45 girls raped while fleeing the North-Darfur city of El Fasher since Sudan’s war began”
Utterly horrific, making global silence on #Sudan ever more unconscionable
sudantribune.com/article/3077...
Amnesty’s report on the carnage at the hands of the RSF at Zamzam, April 2025:
Sudan: “A Refuge Destroyed”: RSF Violations in Darfur’s Zamzam Camp for Internally Displaced Persons
www.amnesty.org/en/documents...
In Lebanon. Can hear the Israeli drone constantly now. I’ve only been back for a day but folks here deal with it 24/7, for months. It’s psychological torture. You can even see it, just flying around. The Israelis want to let everyone know that they can kill whoever they want whenever they want.
Many congratulations to my colleague and dear friend Randa Slim:
Stimson Center Welcomes Randa Slim to Lead Middle East Program
www.stimson.org/2025/stimson...
The problem in Sudan, the major battle to ending the war, only comes with acknowledging that everyone has blood on their hands.
Again I ask: are we going to discuss when and how Shabana Mahmoud was radicalised?
There is no other explanation for this.
Pure heartless cruelty.
The entire Parliamentary Labour Party owns this. All of them, heartless, cruel, racist, bigoted, incompetent, careless and unfeeling idiots.
Are we asking what/who radicalised Shabana Mahmoud yet? Because honestly, I don’t see any other explanation.
To all the US officials who have stayed silent as Israel killed 271 Palestinian journalists, assassinated Shereen Abu Akleh:
there have been few public figures, advocates or voices more staunchly committed to Palestinian self-determination in our region, than Jamal Khashoggi, Allah yerhamo.
Additional interview highlights from Afraa:
www.instagram.com/reel/DRKvTOu...
Our beautiful Afraa bravely sharing her thoughts, interviewed yesterday by @channel4news.bsky.social over the new measures announced by the Home Secretary yesterday
cc @thesyriacampaign.org
www.instagram.com/reel/DRK2otj...
Confiscating jewellery from survivors of a war zone makes you look like a fucking Nazi. And the obscene thing is, that is the intention. It's there to look appropriately harsh. Indecent. Filthy. A moral stain. And no-one of good character would have ever proposed such a thing in the first place.
Bezabt. Da esmo a7a.
Indeed, I remember that well
What. The. Actual. F***
Enjoy!!
Important investigative work outlining the pillaging of the Horn of Africa - not just in Sudan:
How gold tarnished Tigray
www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...
Very, very good read from Amb. Jeffrey Feltman:
Sudan’s deadly divide: The RSF and SAF’s reign of terror
www.brookings.edu/articles/sud...
Sudan has always been the holy grail of regional security, stability & supply. It’s where all conventional, traditional & natural alliances blow up as all external actors compete for the same resources. Public disaccord amongst them isn’t surprising - that they’ve made this competition zero-sum, is.
We all have, I was referring to how we have been screaming at the world for elevating and supporting people for their pro-Palestine stances, ignoring the fact they’re Assadists.
It’s taken two years of shouting into the void as pro-Palestine activism whitewashed and covered up all the pro-Assad voices who created a heinous and violent online space of defending his barbarism during social uprising, but now the Gaza War is slowing, people are finally listening.
The cover of The Continent, dated 8 November 2025 (Issue 219), bears the headline “Tanzania’s darkest week” and features a striking political cartoon by Gado that echoes Honoré Daumier’s 1831 caricature Gargantua. At the top, the masthead appears in bold black letters on a beige background. Below it, the illustration dominates the page. It shows a woman seated on a throne-like chair, drawn to resemble Tanzania’s leader. Her mouth is open wide, and a long wooden ramp extends from her mouth, down which small, faceless figures carry large sacks labeled “Corruption,” “Incompetence,” “Fear,” and “Election Fraud.” They march upward to feed these vices into her mouth, while behind them, a long line of weary people stretches toward the horizon, waiting their turn. To the left stands a sign reading “Abductions”, beside a huge pile of skulls — a chilling symbol of death and repression. Below, masked soldiers with rifles shoot civilians on a blood-spattered ground, surrounded by the bodies of the fallen. The entire scene conveys chaos, violence, and fear. The image is a nod to Daumier’s Gargantua, which depicted France’s King Louis-Philippe as a grotesque giant devouring the people’s wealth while rewarding his cronies. Here, that 19th-century metaphor of gluttonous tyranny is adapted to Tanzania’s present moment — portraying a leader who consumes corruption, fear, and human lives themselves.
All Protocol Observed
Welcome to Issue 219 of The Continent
Protests, an internet blackout, and deadly force marked Tanzania’s Election Day. Once online again, 37 readers shared what they witnessed.
Read their stories: bit.ly/219_TC
Honestly, I just laughed through most of this article:
““When you flush the toilet, the stuff goes downhill, right?” the architect asked…“We’re going to have hundreds of shuttle cars running back and forth, picking up the sewage on retractable bridges.””
End of The Line ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
