Subscribe
Sign in
Home
Notes
Archive
About
Latest
Top
Discussions
Returning to Syria's Sea of Rubble
The ruins stretched for mile after mile. We drove on over dust to what had once been the suburbs of Damascus.
Jul 3
3
3
June 2026
How the Iran War Shattered the Gulf's Illusions of Stability
The image of a well-heeled safe haven is hard to reconcile with air raid sirens and sudden explosions of missiles and drones.
Jun 18
•
Frederick Deknatel
3
2
'Both Sides of the Looking Glass,' a Poem by Adam Makary
A strike on Beirut lands in Cairo. It lands anywhere anyone is still listening.
Jun 16
•
Adam Makary
2
1
Scholar Dalia Ghanem on the End of the Gulf’s Gilded Age
For Gulf states fearing the Iran war’s fallout, “narrative control is economic survival.”
Jun 1
•
Frederick Deknatel
7
4
May 2026
'Style Guide,' a Poem by Adam Makary
Say clash, say escalation, say cycle of violence / even if one side owned all the sky.
May 27
•
Adam Makary
6
3
How Sisi's Militarized Urbanism Is Remaking Egypt
Sisi's regime has securitized public spaces and built mass surveillance into urban planning in a quest to turn Egypt into the “perfect military camp.”
May 20
•
Hossam el-Hamalawy
36
13
'Ritaj Rihan,' a Poem by Vaheed Ramazani
She went on her own two feet / and she came back to me on a stretcher.
May 14
1
Hamid Khalafallah Refused Selective Outrage
On the life and work of a young Sudanese scholar who never stopped demanding attention for his people.
May 8
2
3
Selling Syria's Reconstruction
My new piece in Foreign Policy on Sharaa's murky investment campaign to rebuild the country, pitching high-rises amid all the rubble.
May 1
•
Frederick Deknatel
2
2
April 2026
Looking to Space for a Glimmer of Hope and Solidarity
Amid a regional war with planet-wide consequences, the Artemis II mission managed to capture a fleeting global moment of rare optimism.
Apr 28
•
Hagai El-Ad
1
A Ledger of Destruction, From One War to Another
It was inevitable that what applied in Palestine would also apply in the Levant and beyond.
Apr 20
•
Amal Ghandour
1
The Catastrophic Cost of an Israeli Victory Over Iran
Imagine not the cease-fire into which the Iranians succeeded in maneuvering Trump, but Netanyahu’s scenario of “total victory.”
Apr 17
•
Hagai El-Ad
2
2
This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please
turn on JavaScript
or unblock scripts
