Sidy Nyassi

It's better to die pursuing something meaningful, than live a 1000 years doing something meaningless.

[Sidy Nyassi @SidyNyassi]

As a tradition, attached is my top 10 "reads" Y2021. Grateful to all the authors for the classic work.
#2021TopTen #PersonalArchieves #SidyNyassi

[Ben Jacobs @JacobsBen]

🗣️ Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei. "I am very happy to be representing the great and proud and strong nation of Iran. I am glad we are all here from my country.

"I hope football will bring about joy and enjoyment and it will bring closer the cultures and countries. I hope the World Cup will go well despite the travel problems we have had. I hope it won't affect the quality of our play."

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

It’s a Trumpian World Cup for racism — why don’t those who condemned Qatar 2022 say so?

My piece for The Guardian on the blatant hypocrisy and double standards on full display. https://t.co/NKmtaTF2bH

[Premier League @premierleague]

The best match from the 2025/26 season, as voted by YOU 🫵

🔴@Arsenal 2-3 @ManUtd ⚫️

https://t.co/WhEOpy1OFt

[Abdikarin Dahir @Abdikarindahirr]

🚨| 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 : 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗶 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗢𝗺𝗮𝗿 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻 has arrived in Mogadishu to an extraordinary welcome, Crowds gathered in the capital to honor the award-winning referee best Referee, who remains a symbol of pride and inspiration for Somalia.

Omar Artan Was going to be first Somali to officiate at a World Cup.
@BBCNews @DailyMail @SkySports
@BBCSport @CNN @TheAthleticFC @Telegraph @AJEnglish @clashreport @mirrorsportslk @Sports @sistoney67 @lnstantFoot @Polymarket @TouchlineX

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

What an absolute disgrace. A FIFA-certified referee being denied entry to the United States purely because he is Somali.

The World Cup is meant to bring people together. This is racism, plain and simple. Shameful.

https://t.co/rpSgTmmPU4

[Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus @DrTedros]

Omar Artan didn’t just make the #FIFAWorldCup, he made history as the first Somali referee to get there, and as #Africa’s best. That milestone stands no matter what. So sorry to see this, Omar. You reached the summit of your profession and inspired a generation back home just by getting there, and being kept off the pitch you earned doesn’t change that. This won’t be the end of your story on the world stage. The world stands with you as one family, wishing you resilience now and many more major finals to come. Solidarity. #Somalia

[Sulaiman Ahmed @ShaykhSulaiman]

JUST IN: ENGLAND LEGEND IAN WRIGHT LABELS US HOSTING OF THE 2026 WORLD CUP AS “WORLD CUP OF CHAOS”

“Is this how the hosts behave for the greatest tournament in the world?”

The English legend also called out Somali referee Omar Artan being denied entry into the US:

“Fans denied. Players denied. Officials denied. Journalists denied. Now Referees?”

[Glenn Diesen @Glenn_Diesen]

There is a strange development in which academics of international politics are expected to publicly condemn adversarial countries before they are allowed to participate in public discourse. The complexity of international politics is reduced to a moral question of good versus evil, and academics must make moral declarations before even discussing facts, history, strategy, and interpretations. Academics should explain why states behave as they do; they are not moral validators.

What value does it bring to an analysis if the analyst "condemns" one side? After Russia invaded Ukraine, the former Norwegian foreign minister actually argued that "this is not the time to understand, but to condemn". This ridiculous position is pushed on academics. However, understanding is not endorsement, explanation is not advocacy, and ignorance is not strength. I argue it is in Russia's security interest to push NATO away from its borders, it is in Iran's interest to control the Strait of Hormuz, and it is in China's interest to create a new international economic architecture. This is not advocacy, nor is it a normative position about how the world should work; rather, it is a recognition of how the world actually works.

An academic should examine interests, capabilities, and strategic calculations that produce such policies—not participate in ritualised declarations of virtue that contribute absolutely nothing. Furthermore, moralism and condemnation often lead to a lack of understanding and increased conflict. When the conclusion is always that the good guys are confronting the bad guys, then the solution is always "peace through strength", "weapons are the path to peace", and defeating the latest reincarnation of Hitler. If you want war, condemn the other side as pure evil. If you want peace, the first step is to understand the other side.

[Pedro Sánchez @sanchezcastejon]

Quienes consideran que ondear la bandera de un Estado es “incitar al odio”, o han perdido el juicio o han sido cegados por su propia ignominia.

Lamine solo ha expresado la solidaridad por Palestina que sentimos millones de españoles. Otro motivo más para estar orgullosos de él.

[Dr. Omar Suleiman @omarsuleiman]

My people.
Unbreakable.

Those that did this to them. Unbearable.

[Glenn Diesen @Glenn_Diesen]

John Mearsheimer: U.S. Expands Iran War & Divorces Europe
https://t.co/ZfsTQtUjcG

[Glenn Diesen @Glenn_Diesen]

John Mearsheimer: U.S. Expands Iran War & Divorces Europe
https://t.co/qRGLLX5UjA

[Ben Mezrich @benmezrich]

#NewProfilePic

[Shaiel Ben-Ephraim @academic_la]

Today Israel celebrates its 78th Independence Day. For Palestinians, this day marks 78 years since they were expelled from their homeland and 78 years of being killed for trying to go back. They continue to do the same thing today in Gaza and Lebanon.

1) In 1948, over 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled from their homes. Dozens of massacres were carried out and over 400 villages were destroyed. Many bulldozed specifically so that refugees could never come back.

2) Ben-Gurion authorized the army to establish free-fire zones along the ceasefire lines. In 1949 alone, over 1,000 returning refugees were killed, the majority civilians. They weren't fighters. They were families walking home.

3) Israeli historian Benny Morris documented that this so-called "infiltration" was a direct consequence of the dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Refugees sought to reunite with family, tend crops, recover lost possessions and see their homes one last time.

4) A 1951 Israeli military trial revealed what happened when young Palestinians crossed into the town of Majdal (now Ashkelon) just to visit their parents. The court found that soldiers felt they were free to treat Arabs "as they pleased" and that killing them was considered acceptable.

5) In that same trial, a father testified that his son had come back from Gaza to see him. The boy was captured by soldiers and executed. The father described finding his son's body with bullet wounds to the chest, head, and back.

6) Written orders to soldiers after the ceasefire stated: shoot every Arab in the area up to the armistice line. The verdict in one case confirmed that the orders made no distinction between men or women, armed or unarmed, fleeing or surrendering.

7) By 1956, this free-fire policy is estimated to have killed between 2,700 and 5,000 Palestinian refugees. No Israeli soldier, policeman, or civilian was ever tried for killing an unarmed Palestinian refugee.

8) Jaber Shaban, born in the village of Simsim in 1938, testified: "My father owned around 400 dunams of land. Our life used to be peaceful and tranquil, and the produce of our land was our source of sustenance." His family was expelled in 1948. He has lived as a refugee in Gaza ever since.

9) In 2018, when Palestinians in Gaza marched peacefully for the right of return, Israeli snipers shot over 6,100 demonstrators, killing 183. Jaber Shaban, then 80, joined the march. He said: "I participated in the hope of returning to my village with my siblings, children and grandchildren."

10) Since October 2023, Israel has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, destroyed homes and infrastructure, and displaced over 90% of the population. Israeli officials have declared the ethnic cleansing of Gaza as a central objective, with Finance Minister Smotrich saying Gaza will be "completely destroyed."

11) In southern Lebanon, Israel has paved roads over demolished homes, ensuring displaced people can never return. Israel's Defense Minister announced the acceleration of home demolitions "in accordance with the Beit Hanoun and Rafah models in Gaza."

In 1949, a Palestinian father found his son's body riddled with bullets because the boy tried to visit his parents. In 2018, an 80-year-old man who was expelled as a child marched to the fence hoping to see his village one last time, and watched as snipers shot the people around him. In 2025, Israel destroyed every home in northern Gaza so no one could return. That is Israel. That is what they are celebrating. A nation built on the destruction of Palestine.

[Seyed Abbas Araghchi @araghchi]

Blockading Iranian ports is an act of war and thus a violation of the ceasefire.
Striking a commercial vessel and taking its crew hostage is an even greater violation.

Iran knows how to neutralize restrictions, how to defend its interests, and how to resist bullying.

[Dr. Yasir Qadhi @YasirQadhi]

When the tyrannical king of the Sassanids tore up the letter of the Prophet ﷺ in contempt, the Prophet ﷺ remarked, “God shall tear his kingdom up as he tore my letter.”

We learn from the Qur’ān: “Whoever commits evil will be repaid with its like” [4:123].

While we don't gloat over anyone's sickness, we see a clear lesson here: Never invoke the punishment of God on innocent people, lest you become the subject of your own curse.

[Glenn Diesen @Glenn_Diesen]

We are told that security in the Middle East requires defeating Iran, security in East Asia requires defeating China, and security in Europe requires defeating Russia. We never discuss security in terms of how to learn to live together by harmonising interests and managing competition. This is by design. This is hegemonic peace, in which security depends on defeating rivals rather than managing a balance of power.

Subsequently, security relies solely on deterrence rather than reassurance; diplomacy is dismissed as appeasement; peace agreements are temporary and deceptive; and war is peace. Our rivals do not have legitimate security concerns, as their policies are allegedly always motivated by aggressive, irrational, or expansionist behaviour.

We have convinced ourselves that our liberal hegemony is a force for good, and that our opponents oppose our dominance because they reject our benign values of freedom. Discussing the security concerns of adversaries is believed to “legitimise” their policies, which is treasonous. The world is divided into good guys (liberal democracies) and bad guys (autocracies). We should not ask how defeating Russia, as the world's largest nuclear power, is a rational security strategy, or why our governments refuse to even speak with Moscow to discuss the European security architecture and end the war. Our governments have relabelled nuclear deterrence as nuclear blackmail to signal that there can be no more constraints.

All empires can become irrational during decline. Leaders take greater risks to avoid decline, legitimacy crises at home must be distracted with enemies abroad, outdated strategies from a bygone era of strength are still embraced, and there is a tendency to double down on narratives of being indispensable, representing universal values, and dismissing all opposition as illegitimate and dangerous. Are we the fanatics?

[محمدباقر قالیباف | MB Ghalibaf @mb_ghalibaf]

كما قلتُ ليلة أمس أيضاً، إن وقف إطلاق النار لم يكن إلا نتيجة لصمود حزب الله واتحاد محور المقاومة؛ وسوف نتعامل مع وقف إطلاق النار هذا بحذر، وسنبقى معًا حتى التحقق الكامل للنصر.

أشكر الجهود الوسيطة لدولة باكستان والجنرال عاصم منير لإقرار وقف إطلاق النار هذا.

إنّا على العهد...

[Glenn Diesen @Glenn_Diesen]

The American public’s views on Israel are undergoing a sea change. This situation only gets worse with the passage of time
https://t.co/ijRZPG8IhN