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The Vatican's top diplomat warned that the ongoing U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran undermine international law and ​said nations do not have a right to launch "preventive wars", ‌in an unusually direct criticism of the military campaign. For @Reuters: reuters.com/world/top-vati…

“By the time we arrived, the entire school had collapsed on top of the children,” the mother told NBC News. “People were pulling out children’s arms and legs. People were pulling out severed heads.” nbcnews.com/world/iran/kno…

It is only from a lack of understanding that overthrowists and Israel assume that by assassinating Khamenei chaos will prevail. If Khamenei is assassinated he will die the ideal death that he and his base can imagine: martyrdom while resisting Zionism and by the hands of the ultimate imperialist, Trump. He has already got a solid ideological base and this will only add to his glory in the eyes of his followers as he will leave this earth like his comrades in the "axis of resistance did". Death in this way will only popularize him more amongst his base (compare this with dying of old age). Also, the Iranian military rank is pretty much like any other military in the world. One leader gone, next one will be appointed. The notion of "chaos" only comes from a naive, Western reductionist gaze both from Iran's enemies and its "activists": one that assumes Iran's establishment is a haphazard system that with one person gone at the top, the system will fail.

India’s relationship with Iran predates the existence of Israel and the United States. So many Iranians, and people of Iranian origin, call India home. If Narendra Modi had a spine or even a shred of national self-respect he’d condemn Israel today. He’s a coward: so he won’t.

A JNU students’ constitution from 1980 publicarchives.wordpress.com/2022/01/03/jnu…

I am a diplomatic aide in the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. My job is logistics. When two countries that cannot speak to each other need to speak to each other, I book the rooms. I prepare the briefing materials. I make sure the water glasses are the right distance apart. You would be surprised how much of diplomacy is water glasses. Too close and it feels informal. Too far and it feels like a tribunal. I have a chart. We had a very good month. Since January, Oman has been mediating indirect talks between the United States and Iran on Iran's nuclear program. The talks were held in Muscat and in Geneva. The Americans would sit in one room. The Iranians would sit in another room. I would walk between them. My Fitbit says I averaged fourteen thousand steps on negotiation days. The hallway between the two rooms at the Royal Opera House conference center is forty-seven meters. I walked it two hundred and twelve times in February. This is good for my cardiovascular health. It was less good for my knees. Both are in the service of peace. By mid-February, we had something. Iran agreed to zero stockpiling of enriched uranium. Not reduced stockpiling. Zero. They agreed to down-blend existing stockpiles to the lowest possible level. They agreed to convert them into irreversible fuel. They agreed to full IAEA verification with potential US inspector access. They agreed, in the Foreign Minister's phrase, to "never, ever" possess nuclear material for a bomb. I have worked in diplomacy for seven years. I have never seen a country agree to this many things this quickly. I made a spreadsheet of the concessions. It had fourteen rows. I color-coded it. Green for confirmed. Yellow for pending. By February 21 the spreadsheet was entirely green. I printed it. It is on my desk in Muscat. It is still green. That phrase took eleven days. "Never, ever." The Iranians initially offered "not seek to." The Americans wanted "will not under any circumstances." We landed on "never, ever" at 2:14 AM on a Tuesday in Muscat. I typed the final version myself. I used Times New Roman because Geneva prefers it. The document was fourteen pages. I was proud of every comma. Here is what they said, in the order they said it. February 24: "We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity." — The Foreign Minister, private briefing to Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors. I prepared the slide deck. Slide 14 was the implementation timeline. Slide 15 was the signing ceremony logistics. I had reserved the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Room XX. It seats four hundred. We discussed pen brands for the signing. The Iranians preferred Montblanc. The Americans had no preference. I ordered twelve Montblanc Meisterstucks at six hundred and thirty dollars each. They arrive on Tuesday. February 27, 8:30 AM EST: "The deal is within our reach." — The Foreign Minister, CBS Face the Nation. He sat across from Margaret Brennan. He said broad political terms could be agreed "tomorrow" with ninety days for technical implementation in Vienna. He said, and I wrote this line for the briefing card he carried in his breast pocket: "If we just allow diplomacy the space it needs." He praised the American envoys by name. Steve Witkoff. Jared Kushner. He said both had been constructive. I watched from the Four Seasons Georgetown. The minibar had cashews. I ate the cashews. They were nineteen dollars. The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten. But it was a good morning and we were within our reach. February 27, 2:00 PM EST: Meeting with Vice President Vance, Washington. The Foreign Minister presented our progress. Zero stockpiling. Full verification. Irreversible conversion. "Never, ever." The Vice President used the word "encouraging." His aide took notes on an iPad. The aide did not make eye contact for the last nine minutes of the meeting. I noticed this. Noticing things is the only part of my job that is not water glasses. February 27, 4:00 PM EST: "Not happy with the pace." — President Trump, to reporters. Not happy with the pace. We had achieved zero stockpiling. Full IAEA verification. Irreversible fuel conversion. Inspector access. And the phrase "never, ever," which took eleven days and cost me two hundred and twelve trips down a forty-seven-meter hallway. Every American president since Carter has failed to get Iran to agree to this. Forty-five years. Not happy with the pace. February 27, 9:47 PM EST: The Foreign Minister's flight departs Dulles for Muscat. I am in the seat behind him. He is reviewing Slide 14 on his laptop. The implementation timeline. Vienna technical sessions. The signing ceremony. The pens. I fall asleep over the Atlantic. I dream about water glasses. February 28, 6:00 AM GST: I wake up to push notifications. February 28: "The United States has begun major combat operations in Iran." — President Trump. Operation Epic Fury. Coordinated airstrikes. The United States and Israel. Tehran. Isfahan. Qom. Karaj. Kermanshah. Nuclear facilities. IRGC bases. Sites near the Supreme Leader's office. Israel called their half Operation Roaring Lion. Someone in both governments spent time choosing these names. Epic Fury. Roaring Lion. I spent eleven days on "never, ever." They spent it on branding. The President said Iran had "rejected American calls to halt its nuclear weapons production." Rejected. Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling. Iran had agreed to full verification. Iran had agreed to "never, ever." Iran had agreed to everything in a fourteen-page document that I typed in Times New Roman. The President said they rejected it. I do not know which document the President was reading. I know which one I typed. February 28, 18:45 UTC: Iran internet connectivity: four percent. — NetBlocks, confirmed by Cloudflare. Ninety-six percent of a country went dark. You cannot negotiate with a country at four percent connectivity. You cannot negotiate with a country that is being struck. You cannot negotiate. This is not a political opinion. This is a logistics assessment. February 28: The governor of Minab reported forty girls killed at an elementary school. I do not have logistics for that. There is no slide for that. The water glass chart does not cover that. February 28: Lockheed Martin: up. Northrop Grumman: up. RTX: up. Dow futures: down six hundred and twenty-two points. Gold: five thousand two hundred and ninety-six dollars. An analyst at AInvest published a note titled "Iran Strikes: Tactical Plays." The note recommended positions in oil, defense stocks, and gold. The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten was nineteen dollars. The most expensive pen I have ever ordered was six hundred and thirty dollars. The math suggests I have been working in the wrong industry. Defense stocks do not require water glasses. Defense stocks do not require eleven days. Defense stocks require one morning. February 28: Israel closed its airspace and its schools. Iran launched retaliatory missiles toward US bases in the Gulf. The Supreme Leader promised a "crushing response." Israel's defense minister declared a permanent state of emergency. Everyone is using words I recognize in an order I do not. I recognize "permanent." I recognize "emergency." I do not recognize them next to each other. In diplomacy, nothing is permanent and everything is an emergency. In war it is the reverse. February 28: The Foreign Minister has not made a public statement. The briefing card is still in his breast pocket. It still says "within our reach."

His own wife refuses to engage with Bill Gates. He is accused of being part is a pedophile ring but is being garlanded in India coz this is the land where sexual predators are garlanded. Appointed to high office. Laanat.

The British Museum has removed the word “Palestine” from its Ancient Middle East displays — despite the term appearing in Herodotus, Roman records, medieval maps, Ottoman sources, and even Shakespeare. Erasing a word erases a people. I’ve written about why this matters, and what we can do next. 👇 open.substack.com/pub/1taghrid/p… #HistoryIncludesPalestine @21WIRE @AsaWinstanley @s_m_marandi @alon_mizrahi @FranceskAlbs @guychristensen_

@nehavermani Yes! I've worked in the Maharashtra state archives, but more notably all around the branches of the Gujarat state archives where the local staff were the most helpful.

Appreciation post for the unsung, rare, erudite archivists at regional archives. Came across these handwritten references frm 2010 that late Punam Joiya at Bikaner archive copied for me when he learned of my research on feasting practices. He also taught me to read old Marwari.

Since Columbus’ “greatness” is back in the news 😵‍💫 , find time to read my former colleague’s brilliant book that inverts the Eurocentric assumption that Columbus “discovered” America in 1492 to show how Indigenous Americans discovered Europe.

Deepak Chopra emailed Jeffrey Epstein in 2017 with just two lines: "God is a construct Cute girls are real" The man built a billion-dollar brand on spiritual enlightenment and this is how he talks to a convicted sex offender...

#NewRelease Storytelling, Seafaring, and Travel Writing The Arabian Gulf and the Indian Ocean eds. Nuha Alshaar et al. BRill 2026 brill.com/display/title/… Preliminary Material PDF brill.com/display/book/9… academia.edu/41534075/Story…

Possibly the best, crispest piece I have read on workers' rights in the gig economy. By @desaisantosh “When labour is so central to the gig economy, why does it become the one variable that must not move?”

My piece ! I was suspended from Jamia Millia Islamia for leading a students’ protest. That is not rhetoric. It is my life. And while suspensions are often wrapped in administrative language, what followed stripped away any pretence of neutrality. karvaanindia.com/post/najeeb-ju…

THE TIMELINE IS TOO PERFECT TO IGNORE • June 25-26, 2017: Modi meets Trump in the US. • July 4-6, 2017: Modi visits Israel. • July 9, 2017: Epstein emails: "IT WORKED!" Are we supposed to believe this is just a coincidence? Or was Indian foreign policy being influenced by a sex offender’s advice? We need an independent inquiry, not a whitewash.

Extremely shameful!! Narendra Modi’s name has surfaced in the Epstein files. America’s serial rapist, child sex offender, and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein wrote in an email on July 9, 2017: 👇 “The Indian Prime Minister Modi took advice and danced and sang in Israel for the benefit of the US President. They had met a few weeks ago. IT WORKED!” Epstein clearly states that Modi took advice from him and went to Israel, where he danced and sang for the benefit of the US President. He also said that it worked. 👉PM Modi was on a visit to Israel from July 4 to 6, 2017. Epstein wrote this email just three days later. 👉Just before the Israel visit, on June 25–26, 2017, Modi had met US President Donald Trump in America. 👉 Connecting the dots in Jeffrey Epstein’s emails reveals that Modi went to America in June 2017 and took advice from Epstein there. 👉 One week later (July 4 to 6, 2017), Modi arrived in Israel and, as per that advice, danced and sang there, and it WORKED! Now it is clear that Prime Minister Modi has a very deep and long-standing connection with Jeffrey Epstein, which is shameful for India. This is a matter of national dignity and international reputation, for which Prime Minister Modi must answer. ❓What kind of advice was Narendra Modi taking from Jeffrey Epstein? ❓Why was Modi dancing and singing in Israel? How did Trump benefit from it? ❓ Epstein wrote, “IT WORKED!” So what does that mean? PM Modi, the nation wants to know: What is your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein? 👉Link to the document on US Department of Justice Website: justice.gov/epstein/files/…