Max J. Joseph

To make people without histories, to make them without futures. To make them prisoners of the present.

Even the dog they posted is like "u wot m8?"

The Assyrian Church of the East (ACOE) has equalized those saints who built the church with their own blood with the same partisan militia that disarmed and deserted Assyrians and Yazidis to genocide by ISIS in 2014. While still representing a sad loss of life/condolences should be offered to the families, by metaphorically canonizing 6 slain Peshmerga as being "martyred" and becoming "martyrs" in an official patriarchal statement regarding the recent Iranian missile attack, the Church is doing a lot more than offering condolences and calling for peace. The sacred title of 'Sahda' - once reserved for those who defied empires for their faith or gave their lives to advance Assyrian national rights - is now handed out like currency to the security forces of a regional government that treats Assyrian land as a spoils-of-war buffet to this day. From the perspective of the Church, I don’t really know how the Patriarchate finds the theological flexibility to grant the crown of martyrdom to Kurdish soldiers when that same grace is conspicuously absent when - for example - it comes to honouring slain Yazidis. For the thousands of Yazidis slaughtered on the slopes of Sinjar after the Peshmerga’s withdrawal, the Church offered only the sterile, hollow language of victimhood/humanitarian fluff speak. From a civic perspective, there are no patriarchal proclamations of "Yazidi Martyrs" - only a clinical acknowledgement of a shared tragedy with them that conveniently demands nothing of the KDP’s conscience (nothing ever does) - nevermind accountability. To the Church hierarchy, what happened to the Yazidis was a tragedy - but one that does not warrant similar lip service. This is because Yazidis are a group whose suffering provides no political capital, meaning the value of blood in the Nineveh Plains is determined by its proximity to power further north, not the circumstances in which it was spilled. You could call this pragmatic diplomacy or merely dutiful Church leaders abiding by local formalities, but there is something particularly odious and obsequious about using the word "martyr" in this context. This is a word that really means something: both from a Church perspective, and a nationalist one. It is the highest honorific you could bestow onto someone who was killed. Its top shelf - there is no honour greater. Using it in this uneven, politically deferential manner almost as a reflex empties the word of its meaning and represents another instance of subordination of the institution of the Church to Kurdish nationalism - legitimising the recent words of the Governor of Dohuk by referring to Assyrian martyrs as "Martyrs of Kurdistan" in January 2026.

Even the milk in America messes with me.

I've joined the world of Substack! Just in time for last minute debates on the Assyrian New Year. Appreciate any thoughts/comments/questions. Link: profjnormanhermiz.substack.com/p/what-the-ass… #assyrian #assyriannewyear

Assyrian (also known as Syriac) alphabet - keep it handy

If politicians in states worldwide do not actively start promoting and pursuing energy sovereignty and tech sovereignty during/beyond this 4 year term, they're not serious politicians.

@hhherm @tatiyanayitat Unfairfield finally about to become Fairfield.

@tatiyanayitat A change to believe in

i think I’m gonna run for mayor of fairfield

Max Dowman. That's all. That's the tweet.

"The Refugee Tells" - by Assyrian writer and poet from Iraq, Sargon Boulos (1944-2007).

Yet there remains little to no scrutiny out of the US of the same political and psychological phenomenon for fully partisan peshmerga/their fiefdoms further north and their role in this paralysis, esp. with regards to contesting specific territory and security? This was more than tolerated; they were positively positioned as a privileged minority within the state. Perhaps the short-term interests of having 'friends' in the area, regardless of their many contributions to local and national instability, was part of the status quo you've identified that successive US admins. did not have the courage and imagination to help change. Because at least they're our guys, right?

Yup, the first time a cross-sectarian bloc had the seats to form a government. Not the last, happened in 2021 too. Always blocked. This is the problem with 'the project', as Adel Abdalmahdi referred to it to me years back. The project is about freezing time in Iraq and making every day the day after the Baath fell. It doesn't matter how society changes, how memory of the Baath fades. Iraq must always be run by Shiite militants, an Iraqi IRGC that believes they are owed everything due to their war records, which are honestly rather unimpressive. It happens everywhere there is a former paramilitary generation in a post-conflict weak state environment. After political change, the men with the guns think they deserve adulation and back-payment for something they said was a cause at the time.

Crazy.

I don't need to add any obvious caveats about Iran or its regime to justify this position: Assyrians and other minorities suffer the most in failed and disintegrating states after violent foreign intervention. Cheering for more of it is morally reprehensible.

A good time to recommend one of the classic sci-fi novels written by a Vietnam vet: The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

/ Kahanye West.

@afcstuff No thanks.

Anthony Gordon to Arsenal. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Discuss. 👇

Barwarnaye all have the same head shape.

Sky News (AU) talk to Assyrian genocide survivors from Syria who recount their terrible experiences on the anniversary of ISIS' attack on the Khabour villages. The young man was inspired to become an architect to rebuild his home & village that he saw burn when he was kidnapped.

I don't think I'll ever get used to how almost every TV ad in the US is for drugs.

I mean...