Antoine Roth

Very happy to announce that my article on "Face-work in East Asia's diplomatic culture" has just been published in the East Asia journal (and in open access!) Link in the next post.

"Saudi Arabia is pressing the U.S. to drop its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and return to the negotiating table, fearing President Trump’s move to close it off could lead Iran to escalate and disrupt other important shipping routes." wsj.com/world/middle-e…

EXCLUSIVE: Behind the scenes, the Trump administration has been wielding its vast power to transform the midterm elections. This is the untold story of Trump’s efforts to, as he has called it, “take over” the midterms.

Israelis harassed L’Espresso magazine so much claiming the vile israeli soldier photo is fake, they published the full video | via @MareLontano

What if we called this a "sunset clause", and packaged with it others measures in a plan of action, perhaps one that was joint and also comprehensive?

"For the first time in the history of this war, Ukraine has captured an enemy position using only ground robots and drones. The occupiers surrendered. The operation was carried out without infantry participation and with zero losses on our side." - Zelenskyy.

Former Israeli official Daniel Levy: "Talk of a Greater Israel dominion might be treated as typical wartime hyperbole. Recent Israeli policy tells us it would be a mistake to do so. A permanent war orientation runs deep in Israel’s political class, government and opposition, security establishment, new-right elite and media. This thinking, however, carries tremendous potential for overreach and blowback; it is a danger for Israel itself and something the region will not accept. In the long list of postwar challenges, deterring and containing this project of Greater Israel dominion might be among the most important." theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

This is the Al-Furqan neighbourhood in Aleppo—the number of solar panels is genuinely impressive.

The whole US “foreign policy elite” has brain rot and is beyond redemption

ΔO_BSOH>0 ⇒ f(f(O))>f(O) is worth understanding. Ghalibaf is mathematically making the point that the oil prices will be much worse as a result of BSOH = Blockade Strait of Hormuz. There the first order effect f(O), and possibly a significant second order effect, f(f(O)). In simple language the mathematical equation is saying, Trump if you worsen Hormuz disruption (positive delta), then the resulting gas prices will be much higher than even the first round of increases — you’ll miss the current ‘high’ prices. Ghalibaf qualified as an engineer!

Piker treats working class people a lot better than your version of Democratic party does.

European businesses are seriously spooked by China's new supply chain law EU Chamber in China statement says companies will struggle to comply with both EU rules and Chinese ones. Absolutely caught in a bind

Hasan Piker: “My goal is to instill class consciousness in people and help them identify who is actually causing harm to them and in my assessment it’s the billionaires and the corporations not the vulnerable populations. It’s not a trans person or a Guatemalan migrant that’s raising your rent, it’s your landlord”

Don’t worry, folks—if the Houthis block the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, Trump will just double blockade it.

This must surely be a joke. The US has for decades tried to destroy the Iranian economy through pressure that goes beyond what North Korea has endured. When that failed, it went for war. Now that war has failed, it's going back to...economic pressure? This is Trump's play?

when I got my degree in history with a concentration in medieval Europe, I did not foresee my knowledge of mad emperors attacking the pope would become useful again

Killing diplomatic representative who come to negotiate was a practice morally abhorred by 5,000 years of civilization. But now--after the last month's wanton killings of leaders--it seems to have become accepted as a normal practice. The descent into extraordinary barbarism is extraordinarily rapid.

“Israel continued its large-scale bombing of Hezbollah targets” - NYT “Israeli jets drop 160 bombs on Hezbollah targets” - LA Times “Israel's military called it the largest coordinated strike in the current war, striking more than 100 Hezbollah targets within 10 mins” - PBS/AP

I doubt Pope Leo XIV will lose any sleep over this, before he begins his pilgrimage to Africa tomorrow. But the rest of us should. Because it is unhinged, uncharitable and unchristian. Is there no bottom to this moral squalor?

The talks over Israeli-Lebanese normalization have broken down due to intense opposition from the majority of the Lebanese people: 1) Prime Minister Salam postponed his planned trip to the U.S. on April 11, 2026, citing the need to "safeguard the security of the Lebanese people and preserve national unity" amidst a domestic firestorm. 2) Polls consistently show that a vast majority of Lebanese citizens, ranging from 75% to 89%, reject recognizing or normalizing ties with Israel. Many view Israel as Lebanon's primary enemy and a major regional threat. 3) A major sticking point remains the lack of a ceasefire. Lebanese officials have stated there will be no negotiations while Israeli strikes continue, whereas Israel has insisted on holding the talks "under fire" without pausing military operations. 4) Thousands have recently demonstrated in Beirut against Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s government following reports of planned direct negotiations with Israel. Protesters have labeled these moves a betrayal and a "Vichy regime" tactic. 5) Lebanese law explicitly prohibits normalization and any direct contact with Israeli citizens. Violations are treated as high treason and can carry severe penalties, including life imprisonment or the death penalty. 6) Therefore, Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri have repeatedly stated that normalization is "out of the question" and that Lebanon is "far from" diplomatic ties. Lebanon maintains it will not enter a peace agreement except within a broad Arab regional framework, specifically the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. Israel will not be able to bomb and bully Lebanon into normalization. The only way to reach peace is to treat its neighbors as equals and move towards a Palestinian state.