Gerard Russell

Writer and consultant, Arabic speaker, author of Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms (on MidEast minorities). RT = interest not endorsement.

[David Benedict 🏳️‍🌈🕎 @eggsbened]

Nightmare for a friend of mine.
Please share.

[AmericanAccolon @AccolonsMetal]

It’s the emperors birthday, treaty signed with Persia, gladiatorial games done in front of the Capitol in celebration.

Trump is Caesar Maxxing this weekend

[Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn]

I'm so sad to hear that Alex Younger died yesterday. Not only was he the ultimate spy's spy and loved by all who served under him, he was also incredibly generous to far lesser mortals like me.

Alex always picked up the phone (after retiring from MI6 I should say), even if it was only to say he was too busy to help that day. He had been ill for some time, but stubbornly refused to let that get in the way of what he thought was his duty to try to cast some light on an ever more confusing world.

One day in late November last year, during a particularly gruelling chemo round, he answered from the Marsden hospital. "Sure. I'll get in a cab and be home in 20 minutes," was his extraordinary response to my hapless plea to come on an emergency podcast on Ukraine.

Alex's integrity was as impeccable as his judgement. He was a wonderful Brit and a true patriot, and he will be very much missed.
https://t.co/h3J7nS6aoG

[BBC News (World) @BBCWorld]

Selling children to survive: Afghan fathers forced to make impossible choices https://t.co/dQ1YJdElHX

[Ted ☦️🐒 @Tawadros15]

So many Catholics don't know Saint Simon Stock was English and his visions of Our Lady of Mount Carmel did not occur on Mount Carmel but somewhere south of London. The exact place is lost because of Thomas Cromwell tearing the shrine apart brick by brick.

[tmuxvim @tmuxvim]

I put a prompt injection into my LinkedIn bio and recruiters are messaging me in Old English and calling me Lord.

[David Sheen ☩ @cappellanus]

Ascension Day at Brasenose College is peak Oxford and peak Anglican with the traditional beating of the bounds, welcoming @SMVOxford and @smng_oxford then through to Lincoln College for some penitential Ivy Ale, and then listening some Ascension day singing and the penny drop. This evening we will crown the day with a joint BNC / Lincoln Choral Eucharist for Ascension Day. Our guest preacher will be @WestLondonMan Regius Professor of Pastoral & Moral Theology. This year Lincoln chapel is hosting.
#AscensionDay
#Oxford
#BrasenoseCollege
#LincolnCollege

[Cairo Smith @cairoasmith]

There's a common misconception that Brutalist buildings were unpainted, but thanks to microscopic analysis of the exteriors we can now recreate what they looked like in their prime.

[Gerard Russell @GSJRussell]

@ccsahner It was an excellent lecture

[Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis @chiefrabbi]

“The time has come for the silent majority to raise their voices!”

[Rapid Response 47 @RapidResponse47]

Profound words from @POTUS this morning:

"Long before Americans had a nation or a Constitution, we first had a culture, a character, and a creed. Before we ever proclaimed our Independence, Americans carried within us the rarest of gifts — moral courage — and it came from a small but mighty kingdom across the sea.

For nearly two centuries before the Revolution, this land was settled and forged by men, women who bore in their souls the blood and noble spirit of the British. Here, on a wild and untamed continent, they set loose the ancient English love of liberty and Great Britain's distinctive sense of glory, destiny, and pride — and that's what it is, glory, destiny, and pride.

The American Patriots who pledged their lives to Independence in 1776 were the heirs to this majestic inheritance. Their veins ran with Anglo-Saxon courage. Their hearts beat with an English faith in standing firm for what is right, good, and true.

In recent years we have often heard it said that America is merely 'an idea' — but the cause of freedom did not simply appear as an intellectual invention of 1776. The American founding was the culmination of hundreds of years of thought, struggle, sweat, blood, and sacrifice on both sides of the Atlantic.

Fate drew a long arc from the meadow at Runnymede to the streets of Philadelphia that ran through the lives of people born and bred on the British code that 'no man should be denied either justice or right.'

American Patriots today can sing 'My Country 'Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty' only because our colonial ancestors first sang 'God Save the King.'"

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Lithuanian composer and conductor Mindaugas Piečaitis, directs his orchestra on the notes of Nora the cat playing the piano.

She earns a standing ovation.

[Auschwitz Memorial @AuschwitzMuseum]

Sister Katarzyna Celestyna Faron (born on 24 April 1913), a Servant of the Immaculate Conception of Stara Wieś (SNMNP), kindergarten teacher, mother superior of the house of the order in Brzozów. Arrested on a denunciation of the contacts the nuns had with an underground organisation. Deported to Auschwitz on 6 January 1943 (prisoner number 27989). In the camp, she taught young women inmates mathematics and foreign languages.

She died of exhaustion on Easter, on 9 April 1944.

More about the fate of Christian clergy and religious life in Auschwitz: https://t.co/QiieRW8i62

[Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 @MLJHaynes]

BREAKING: Pope Leo XIV on Trump’s warning to Iran of “civilization” destruction —

“This is truly not acceptable. Here there are certainly questions of international law, but even more than this a question of morality for the good of people.”

He adds the war is “continuing to escalate and is not resolving anything… is only provoking more hatred throughout the world.”

“attacks on civilian infrastructure are against international law, but it is also against sign of the hatred and division that we are capable of.”

Video @Reuters

[Ronen Bergman @ronenbergman]

Information reaching Israel suggests that in recent hours, the chances of a pause in the war have significantly increased.

·The current assessment is that even before President Trump’s ultimatum expires, the two sides—Iran and the United States—may reach an agreement on (at least):
o A short ceasefire (one or two weeks);
o The reopening (possibly in a somewhat limited capacity) of the Straits of Hormuz;
o Negotiations between the parties with the involvement of mediating countries.

This development comes against the backdrop of a request from the Prime Minister of Pakistan to President Trump to extend the ultimatum deadline by two weeks (a timeframe the President is known to be quite partial to), as well as a certain Iranian softening regarding their previous demand to finalize only a comprehensive agreement and their refusal to discuss a limited ceasefire.

[NASA @NASA]

Hello, Moon. It’s great to be back.

Here’s a taste of what the Artemis II astronauts photographed during their flight around the Moon. Check out more photos from the mission: https://t.co/rzM1P0QbOl

[Syed @Gypsy_heart8]

This is mind blowing. In the caves of Oman, Dr. Al-Jallad found an inscription, from around a thousand years before the birth of prophet Muhammad, that uses the name Mhmd as a divine epithet for the sun god Shams. The inscription also uses bismika and astaghfirullah. >>

[Gerard Russell @GSJRussell]

@amwilson_opera I think they demolished a 60s extension to build this, though I can’t quite be sure. They are keeping the house at 19. It’s Teddy Hall’s work: https://t.co/rnRjRoh2Or

[Hugh Thomas @DrHughT]

Hey, I know those! (Check out @PAKEP_KSA for information)

But this photo is weird. It appears to be quite old. However, its been flipped horizontally, and the avenue/tombs go further than this. It's like they photoshopped out additional tombs in the distance.

[Orthodox Christian @orthodox_33ad]

Celebrating Palm Sunday in Ramallah, Palestine.