Intensional

@bastermamano @nabihbulos Not sure it was anything like a regional leader after 1961

The 1979 treaty is often sold as a victory for getting land back, but it actually marked the start of Egypt’s decline from a regional leader to a sidelined state. By signing away its military flexibility, Egypt agreed to strict limits on its own troops in the Sinai, effectively compromising its own sovereignty over its territory. This wasn't just a military shift, it was a total pivot that traded Egypt’s independent foreign policy for a permanent reliance on foreign aid. Since then, the country has been trapped in a cycle of debt and dependency that has hollowed out the economy. Beyond the numbers, the deal shattered Egypt's standing in the Arab world. The country went from being the cultural and political heart of the region to being completely isolated, even getting kicked out of the Arab League for a decade. While the government maintains a "cold peace" to keep the aid money flowing, the Egyptian people have seen almost no benefit from this arrangement. Instead of the prosperity that was promised, the decades following the treaty have been defined by rising costs, lost influence, and a government that is more answerable to its foreign backers than to its own citizens. Any Egyptian knows that "peace" on paper didn't fix their country.

If no Iranian oil ever goes to China again, then China will just... buy oil from elsewhere, pushing up prices for everyone else By far the worst takes over the past six weeks have come from the folks in DC trying to spin this war as some brilliant 4D chess move against China

@AlexAlmeida2020 @reg1075360 these views are compatible

@reg1075360 This mindset is why your continent has accounted for a diminishing share of global economic, industrial, and military power for the past 50+ years, while America, for all its noxious vulgarity, still mostly holds on own - which at least merits a certain kind of respect.

Problem with this is that America really is fucking actively disgusting and fascist, while Europe isn't uniformly that bad, not really museum-and-hospice at all.

@TrueSlazac @plextonic he was endorsed in more than one plebiscite. He had real popular support.

Liberal and nationalist revolutions happening pretty much everywhere throughout Europe, most of them succeeded at first but were later brutally crushed This one is in France, the only country which had a successful regime change (only for them to elect Napoleon’s nephew and for him to become a dictator)

So cool how we have photos of the 1848 revolutions

@jbarro if the staff is decently paid, tips should be taxed. If not, tips shouldn't be taxed. not that hard to determine what decently paid should mean.

It's exactly the same strain of thinking that says there shouldn't be a tip credit on the minimum wage -- people think tips aren't labor income and also aren't gifts, but are some weird third thing

@APHClarkson . what's distasteful is opting to recite well-known facts vs. sham opponents, and keeping mum about the repugnant use of those tactical means, presumably in a self-regarding and empty display of savvy.

A reason I find "lol Amerikans stoopid" schadenfreude over Trump's strategic vandalism distasteful is that the US military under his control has the tactical means to kill 10 000s more people and permanently cripple economies of Iran and dozens of other states before this is over

@p_vanostaeyen @hxhassan @KamranBokhari @newlinesmag Shocked by such obliviousness en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St….?wprov=sfla1

Iran stoked conflict abroad for 40 years to avoid ever fighting at home. But the end of American restraint set off a cascade that led to the ‘Third Gulf War’ and the likely hollowing out of the regime (@hxhassan and @KamranBokhari in @newlinesmag) newlinesmag.com/essays/the-thi…

#Syria: a former Regime element accused of involvement in Karam Zaytun massacre was arrested in #Homs province. The Karam Zaytun massacre, targeting Sunni residents in early 2012, led to the execution of entire families with knives and at point blank range - over 220 victims are documented. The areas raided were later razed and human remains are still uncovered to this day.

#Syria: Easter Sunday mass in Izraa (N. #Daraa), with local (Sunni) notables congratulating the Christian community on the occasion. Izraa has the most important Christian presence in the province, even if small compared to other regions.

@mikenelson586 @AlexAlmeida2020 . Also dumb if you can't distinguish between 1945 Japan & ordinary willingness to die fighting the invader e.g. France & Germany 45, Vietnam Afghanistan, Britain fighter pilots 1940 etc etc

This statement goes hard if you're stupid and haven't read any history

#د24: استشهاد عنصرين من الجيش السوري (الفرقة 72) "موسى خلف السالم" و" ابراهيم خليل السمعو" جراء انفجار لغم أرضي من مُخلّفات قسد في قرية #خربة_عبود شمال #الرقة. #أخبار_ديرالزور #ديرالزور_24

@AJEnglish @p_vanostaeyen As if the operation wouldn't continue and pay tribute no matter what

A French court has found cement company Lafarge guilty of financing armed groups during the Syrian war. Prosecutors said the company paid millions of dollars to ISIL and the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front between 2013 and 2014 to keep its factory operating.

This will get tricky as a number of Iran-linked tankers make bogus port calls in Saudi Arabia and Iraq with the help of AIS spoofing. Good luck with that, CENTCOM.

A blockade to block the blockade that's blocking the Strait that wasn't blocked before being blocked due to war of choice launched by Trump. Strategery!

@AlexAlmeida2020 Le Monde was doubtful that the US is really going to board Chinese-flagged tankers.

Pretty clear this was always going to be the case, but good it get on paper. Sending those destroyers into Hormuz during the talks was a smart & gutsy play. And the blockade ups the pressure on Iran without returning to kinetics. Feels like we're finally smartening up a bit.

@MacWBishop it's a quantum-mechanical thing, best understood via a double-slit thought experiment.

So… the US Navy is gonna blockade the Strait of Hormuz… to open it?

@scaredycat102 @qunfuz2 yes indeed. FWI I've always thought Assad made great efforts to implicate Alawites, whatever their involvement or non-involvement, in his atrocities.

@qunfuz2 Beautiful piece.

If you missed it at New Lines, please read it here.... my article about Alawite-Sunni myths of each other. qunfuz.com/2026/04/12/sec…

@aronlund "gamal" may be semitic, but its roots are Sumerian rather than semitic. Amazing, a civilization completely unknown until the 20th century. biblearchaeology.org/research/conte…

A splendid beast

@BeirutCalling . Lebanon is an indelibly confessional polity and society. Any gestures to eliminate the chief Shia power there are just that - gestures. They will be met with counter-gestures, and remain that way unless there is moralistic interference from ignorant Western forces.

I find Hezbollah’s efforts to intimidate the government both unacceptable and foolish, because it will exacerbate Shia-Sunni tensions, yet it confirms what I’ve long been saying: that negotiations with Israel cannot succeed absent a national consensus. janoubia.com/2026/04/10/%D9…

The call is coming from inside the house