marcos bartolomé

Podcasting at @AJEnglish

[marcos bartolomé @bartoleiros]

Buenas internautas: recordar que Barcelona será todo lo majestuosa que queráis respecto a Madrid pero seguimos hablando de poner todo patas arriba para míster antiabortista en un Estado aconfesional. Ah, y esa-ciudad-tan-elegante-de-la-que-usted-me-habla sigue de resaca olímpica.

[marcos bartolomé @bartoleiros]

"you are attracted to the idea of being young, hot, and famous in a walkable urban neighborhood and having a lot of leisure time" es lo que digo mientras rompo la cuarta pared camino a la panadería en una calle peatonalizada de gràcia.

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

a lot of style advice is like "slouchy butter yellow shirt! bracelet! so good!" but you are not attracted to the butter yellow shirt or bracelet; you are attracted to the idea of being young, hot, and famous in a walkable urban neighborhood and having a lot of leisure time.

[Cangrijo @cangrijo]

Avui he presentat una reclamació patrimonial pels danys morals que m'ha causat Rodalies de Catalunya.

Reclamo 9211,35€ al Ministerio de Transportes i la Generalitat per una negligència continuada que ha afectat greument la meva vida i salut mental.

Aniré a judici si escau.

[marcos bartolomé @bartoleiros]

@Mohamed_Gabobe hi Mohamed, this is Marcos Bartolomé from Al Jazeera’s daily news podcast The Take. What’s the best way to get in touch? Thank you 🙏🏽

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

A few observations on what has been reported as Iran’s three-phase proposal to the United States. I have been able to confirm some elements, though not all.

⏺️Overall, the Iranians appear to be pursuing a grand bargain—without labeling it as such. This is not merely a proposal aimed at securing a ceasefire, or even a formal end to the current conflict, but rather an attempt to resolve the broader U.S.-Iran antagonism that has persisted for the past 47 years. Implicit in this approach is an expectation that both sides would also restrain their respective regional partners and proxies (Israel, Hezbollah, etc.). In many respects, framing the proposal in this way may align more effectively with Trump’s instincts and psychology.

⏺️It is somewhat surprising that the proposal appears to frontload an end to the war before addressing the nuclear issue. If the conflict is fully de-escalated at the outset, Iran risks losing a significant source of leverage over Trump. Iran’s nuclear program alone has not been sufficient to extract meaningful concessions from Washington, as was evident during the recent ceasefire period. This sequencing may reflect a concession to China and other Asian countries, which have grown increasingly frustrated with bearing the economic costs of a conflict initiated by Trump and Israel.

⏺️The call for an international mechanism to guarantee a non-return to war suggests that any final agreement would, at a minimum, need to be codified in a UN Security Council resolution, with Russia and China serving as guarantors. From Tehran’s perspective, Trump’s personal assurances carry no credibility.

⏺️There is also mention of a revised compensation clause within a new framework, indicating that the fees Tehran might seek in the Straits could be modified or reframed. One potentially more acceptable approach for a broad range of states would be to characterize such charges not as tolls, but as maintenance fees shared with Iran and Oman. This could include oversight of environmental and navigational management, particularly given the high volume of maritime traffic that typically transits the Straits.

⏺️The reported proposal for a 15-year enrichment freeze is somewhat surprising. This would make more sense if it remains tied to a needs-based enrichment framework, as outlined in the earlier Geneva proposal. Under that approach, Iran would only enrich uranium sufficient to fuel two reactors: the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) and another reactor not expected to come online for approximately seven years. Given that the TRR already possesses enough fuel for the next 5–7 years, Iran would not require additional enrichment during that period. This timeline could be extended—potentially to 15 years—either by downblending existing 60% enriched uranium and turning it into fuel pads now, or by securing external fuel supplies (from France or Russia, for example) to cover future needs. In that sense, the arrangement would technically not constitute a moratorium.

⏺️Iran’s proposal to negotiate a comprehensive regional security framework in phase three is not new. It dates back to UN Security Council Resolution 598, which ended the Iran-Iraq War. Tehran has pursued such an arrangement for decades. The United States should view this constructively: any framework that enables a reduction of U.S. military presence while encouraging regional actors to assume greater responsibility for their own security aligns with the stated objectives of the Trump administration.

⏺️What remains unclear in the reporting is the scope of sanctions relief Iran would seek in return. If Tehran is indeed aiming for a grand bargain, it will likely expect the lifting of all sanctions—primary and secondary U.S. sanctions, as well as UN-imposed measures.

Let's see what happens.

[Craig Mokhiber @CraigMokhiber]

Except you miss five key points:

First, Iran has a right to reasonably
control non-Innocent passage through the strait.

Second, as a coastal state, Iran can lawfully govern safety, environmental protection, and marine traffic in the Strait, particularly while the extraordinarily lawless activities of the aggressors are occurring there.

Third, Iran can temporarily suspend innocent passage in the Strait during the ongoing aggression against it, as this is essential for its security. 

Fourth, Iran can assert maritime law enforcement in the Strait, especially with regard to ships relating to the aggressor nations, to others complicit in the aggression, as well as those seeking transit to or from the Israeli regime perpetrating apartheid and genocide.

And fifth and most importantly, international law is not a smorgasbord. You can’t assert significantly less important provisions on commercial navigation (fees) while supporting aggression and genocide(the most serious crimes). And you can’t condemn measures adopted in self-defense by the victim while defending the aggressors. Unless you are hopelessly corrupt or a soulless hypocrite, of course.

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

To understand how Trump is undermining his own diplomacy by quickly declaring victory and trying to humiliate Iran whenever Tehran takes a deescalatory step, it is instructive to remember what happened when Iran and the GCC had negotiated new guardrails for the war. (See the full account in the tweet below).

In short, Iran and the GCC were in the process of agreeing to a deal that would see the end of Iranian attacks on the GCC as long as their territories ceased being used for attacks on Iran. Theran would first message taking steps in this direction, followed by GCC reciprocity. But before the GCC got a chance to respond, Trump declared victory on TruthSocial, insulted and humiliated Iran, and even issued further threats of “complete destruction. On top of that, the US/Israel also attacked a water desalination plant at Qeshm Island.

Needless to say, this sabotaged the sensitive de-escalation talks, and a promising opening was destroyed.

Trump's need for the optics of victory trumps what should be far more important: Advancing US interests by ending this war and reaching a longer-term deal with Tehran.

It appears that this same phenomenon occurred in the past few days. When the Iranians - in a very vague tweet - declared that the Strait is open as a deescalatory step (in their terminology, it has never been closed, though; Tehran is only determining who can pass and who cannot while charging tolls), Trump failed to reciprocate and instead could not resist the temptation to declare victory and insult the Iranians.

What was designed to become the beginning of a mutual off-ramp was instead turned by Trump into an escalatory ladder, resulting in additional threats by him this morning to "knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran."

Trump's lack of discipline and focus, and his infantile prioritization of optics over reality, are becoming significant obstacles to him achieving his own goals: Exiting the war and striking a strong deal with Tehran.

This is not the Art of the Deal - it's the Art of the Self-Sabotage.

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

In the same sentence, Kallas manages to correctly describe Russia's invasion of Ukraine as "Russia’s war of aggression" while describing Israel & the US's war of aggression against Iran as solely "the war in the Middle East."

No mention of the culprit, the victim, or the crime. IN THE SAME SENTENCE.

[Federica Mogherini @FedericaMog]

It took us 12 years and an immense amount of technical work, anyone seriously thought an agreement could be reached in 21 hours….? #Jcpoa #Iran

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

Insane that a former president is tweeting about college sports while the current president is pledging genocide tonight at 8pm.

The inanity of top Dems in a single tweet:

[Proyecto Salvación @Garcismos]

No puedes ser de un partido "socialista" en Asturias y decir esta barrabasada, es que me parece hasta ofensivo.

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

Israel bombed the Rafie Nia Synagogue in Tehran.

Yes, you read that right. Israel bombed a synagogue. In Iran.

Most Americans probably didn't know that there are ~100 synagogues in Iran, 30 of which are in Tehran.

[marcos bartolomé @bartoleiros]

Gente muy válida retuiteando esto como si las Convenciones de Ginebra no prohibiesen la destrucción de infrestructura civil en primer lugar.

[Javier Blas @JavierBlas]

Iran is likely to deploy human shields to its bridges and power plants tonight. The use of civilians as human shields is banned under the Geneva Conventions (article 51).

[Pau Llonch Méndez @paullonch]

ESP.
Hi ha 27.000 persones amb més de 10 habitatges. Entre elles tenen + de 1.000.000 d'habitatges i els 10 propietaris + grans n'acumulen més de 200.000. Només el 21% dels qui lloguen són multiarrendadors, però concentren el 60,3% de tots els habitatges de lloguer.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

And it's precisely people like you - whose ideology is, unfortunately, that of the majority of European elites - who did immense, irreparable harm to Europe.

It's now beyond painfully obvious that if Europe had at least applied basic common-sense precautionary principles and told itself that maybe, just maybe, it was insanely dangerous to bet the prosperity and security of 450 million Europeans on the assumption that the most aggressive, interventionist power in modern history would forever make an exception for Europe - we might still have some sovereignty left.

This isn't an "extreme left" vs others thing (and the fact you think it is shows you still don't get it at all), it's just a logic vs dumb thing: how can you observe a country systematically destroying anyone who gets in its way over decades and conclude "yes, let's make ourselves entirely dependent on these people, what could possibly go wrong?"

That's not liberal sophistication. That's the dumbest bet in the history of geopolitics.

[marcos bartolomé @bartoleiros]

A must read https://t.co/TVCfPojoau

[marcos bartolomé @bartoleiros]

@rajolesdebcna @romi_bcn on es poden trobar aquestes rajoles? Em moro per tenir-ne algunes penjades a casa meva

[Philip Proudfoot @PhilipProudfoot]

Average Iranian leader CV:

- 8-years fighting in the Iran-Iraq war under brutal conditions

- PhD (Sorbonne) “From Being-toward-Death to Being-toward-Drone: A Heideggerian Account of Asymmetric Warfare”

- Head of UAV operations, IRGC.

- Enjoy classic music in my free time.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

I can't find words strong enough to express the amount of contempt Europeans should feel for this guy 👇

I started writing a long explanation why, but I deleted it because at this stage it's just so painfully obvious. You guys know.

[marcos bartolomé @bartoleiros]

@PinstripeBungle @mohamedhemish