Kanti Bhatt

[Kanti Bhatt @kantibhatt484]

अतिक्रमण भन्ने शब्द खोज्या खोजै भए

[Routine of Nepal banda @RONBupdates]

गृहमन्त्रीले आफ्नै सम्पतिमा पनि डोजर चलाउन भनेपछि: Home Minister Sudan Gurung's property near lakeside worth huge amount (in crores) is also demolished in yesterday Fewa Lake Action, as per his team. #News

[sassy tharoor @proxymita]

genuinely so happy for her, the badi community has gone through a lot and still continues their fight for dignity and land, to have someone who has seen the horrors the state puts you through be in a position of power to actually do something about it is so refreshing

[Vali Nasr @vali_nasr]

I write in @FT that Iran is playing the long game. In war, geography matters as much as technology. Iran commands the entire northern shore of the Gulf, looming large over energy fields on its southern shore and all that passes through its waters. Its Houthi allies are perched at the entrance to the Red Sea and along the passage to the Suez Canal; Iran is thus perfectly positioned to squeeze the global economy from both sides of the Arabian Peninsula. Those in command of Iran today are veterans of asymmetric wars in Iraq and Syria. They are now applying the same strategy to fighting the US on the battlefield of the global economy. Drones, short-range missiles and mines setting tankers and ports on fire can have the same effect IEDs had in Iraq, only with greater impact — disrupting global supply chains and sending oil prices higher.

Iran could sustain its counteroffensive more easily and for far longer. Furthermore, a ceasefire alone will not lift the shadow of risk that Iran has imposed over the Gulf, which is now experiencing its nightmare scenario. That is why Iranian leaders are saying they will not accept a ceasefire until Washington fully grasps the global economic cost of waging this war. Businesses, investors and tourists may not return to the Gulf states if they assume that war could resume again. Unless the US is prepared to invade Iran to remove the Islamic republic’s leaders and then stay there to ensure stability and security, confidence in the Gulf will only return if the US and Iran arrive at a durable ceasefire.

Iran says it will only accept a ceasefire with international guarantees for its sovereignty, which would probably mean a direct role for Russia and China. It may also demand compensation for war damages and a verifiable ceasefire in Lebanon. The US would then have to agree to some form of the nuclear deal it left on the table in Geneva in February and commit to lifting sanctions. Iran’s leaders entered this war with the goal of ensuring it will be the last one. Either it breaks them or radically changes the country’s circumstances. They are betting on surviving long enough and squeezing the global economy hard enough to realise that goal.

Read full article https://t.co/63RNeA8Bza

[Doctor @DipshikhaGhosh]

This is why they expect daughters-in-law to be everything their sons will never be.

[Dr. Sabreena Ghaffar-Siddiqui @sabreenaGS]

Woah, “Iranian girls left for school and did not return home” - but why? What happened? Did they just run away? Were they abducted by aliens? Are they alive or dead? Who harmed them?

And “the parents in Gaza buried their children beneath the rubble of their classrooms”?! Wth! Why? Were they buried alive?! And if they were dead, who killed them? The parents?

Strange, because when it comes to Afghan girls you are so clear about who their enemy is. It’s so easy for you to point to the Taliban as villains in the stories of these girls, but who’s the enemy, who are the villains in the just as important stories of these Iranian and Palestinian girls?

The “hard truth” is actually this: you know very well that US-Israeli strikes killed these 168 Iranian girls in their school.
And that Israel has murdered hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children.
But you can’t even name, let alone villainise the US - your paymaster, and Israel - it’s arm in the “ME”.

Besides, you literally manufactured consent for these strikes with your “free Iranian girls” propaganda tweets.
So this was just a job well-done and well-paid, as far as you’re concerned.

But now you are being forced to say something because of your undeserved role as some global ambassador for women and girls.

People, I’m telling you, this woman becomes more and more irrelevant as a peace ambassador and more and more complicit in imperialist war crimes with each passing day. Please stop falling for this shit.

[फिक्सन… @SiudiLeep]

हजुर म्याम ! यी पिडितको आँसु चै कसैलाई लाग्छ कि लाग्दैन होला?

[सुदीप खनिया @sudeepkhaniya]

सुनामीमा घाम लाग्दैन, रुख लड्छ।
तर सुदूरमा बसेर एक्लै तारा ट्विङ्कल ट्विङ्कल गर्न सक्छ !

😀

[CG @chandangoopta]

Ranju as the first official win of RSP is symbolic for Nepal's new politics:

She pioneered the youth-driven, alternative wave as the youngest female mayoral candidate in KTM from Bibeksheel Sajha back in 2017.

She decisively beat @RabindraMishra , who betrayed and fractured Bibeksheel Sajha.

Her triumph marks the true fruition of that new wave she helped ignite—now under RSP—proving integrity, vision, and persistence win.

The future is here. #RanjuDarshana #NepalElection2082 #NewPolitics

[Maanchhe @novemberbridges]

Elections are about meeting people from your ward you’d forgotten existed. Seen some people after 20+ years. The aunties are older, your childhood bullies are unrecognisable, your teachers have become grandparents, there are ex crushes, old shopkeepers, it’s a mini carnival.

[Berniegirl No More @Hedgesgurl]

They’re using our entire planet as their own personal chess board to enrich themselves while they murder humanity.

[adam @AdameMedia]

They kidnapped Maduro and assassinated Khamenei before they arrested a single Epstein pedophile….

[Dikshya @isthatdikshya]

Nepali people posting 'protect or pray for my father/mother/family members safety' while westerners posting 'world war outfit/playlist/aesthetic' in response to air strikes in west asia tells us everything we need to know about western barbarism.

[Nabimanya Julius @KatushabeJulius]

I think Law Schools should stop teaching International Law and replace it with US Foreign Policy. Because clearly International Law is US Foreign Policy.

[Kanti Bhatt @kantibhatt484]

Never have i come across such a fascinating documentation of anything of this sort on twitter before. whether to admire the craft or lament the despair of the situation, god knows

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

I am a diplomatic aide in the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

My job is logistics. When two countries that cannot speak to each other need to speak to each other, I book the rooms. I prepare the briefing materials. I make sure the water glasses are the right distance apart. You would be surprised how much of diplomacy is water glasses. Too close and it feels informal. Too far and it feels like a tribunal. I have a chart.

We had a very good month.

Since January, Oman has been mediating indirect talks between the United States and Iran on Iran's nuclear program. The talks were held in Muscat and in Geneva. The Americans would sit in one room. The Iranians would sit in another room. I would walk between them. My Fitbit says I averaged fourteen thousand steps on negotiation days. The hallway between the two rooms at the Royal Opera House conference center is forty-seven meters. I walked it two hundred and twelve times in February. This is good for my cardiovascular health. It was less good for my knees. Both are in the service of peace.

By mid-February, we had something.

Iran agreed to zero stockpiling of enriched uranium. Not reduced stockpiling. Zero. They agreed to down-blend existing stockpiles to the lowest possible level. They agreed to convert them into irreversible fuel. They agreed to full IAEA verification with potential US inspector access. They agreed, in the Foreign Minister's phrase, to "never, ever" possess nuclear material for a bomb. I have worked in diplomacy for seven years. I have never seen a country agree to this many things this quickly. I made a spreadsheet of the concessions. It had fourteen rows. I color-coded it. Green for confirmed. Yellow for pending. By February 21 the spreadsheet was entirely green. I printed it. It is on my desk in Muscat. It is still green.

That phrase took eleven days. "Never, ever." The Iranians initially offered "not seek to." The Americans wanted "will not under any circumstances." We landed on "never, ever" at 2:14 AM on a Tuesday in Muscat. I typed the final version myself. I used Times New Roman because Geneva prefers it. The document was fourteen pages. I was proud of every comma.

Here is what they said, in the order they said it.

February 24: "We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity." — The Foreign Minister, private briefing to Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors. I prepared the slide deck. Slide 14 was the implementation timeline. Slide 15 was the signing ceremony logistics. I had reserved the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Room XX. It seats four hundred. We discussed pen brands for the signing. The Iranians preferred Montblanc. The Americans had no preference. I ordered twelve Montblanc Meisterstucks at six hundred and thirty dollars each. They arrive on Tuesday.

February 27, 8:30 AM EST: "The deal is within our reach." — The Foreign Minister, CBS Face the Nation. He sat across from Margaret Brennan. He said broad political terms could be agreed "tomorrow" with ninety days for technical implementation in Vienna. He said, and I wrote this line for the briefing card he carried in his breast pocket: "If we just allow diplomacy the space it needs." He praised the American envoys by name. Steve Witkoff. Jared Kushner. He said both had been constructive.

I watched from the Four Seasons Georgetown. The minibar had cashews. I ate the cashews. They were nineteen dollars. The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten. But it was a good morning and we were within our reach.

February 27, 2:00 PM EST: Meeting with Vice President Vance, Washington. The Foreign Minister presented our progress. Zero stockpiling. Full verification. Irreversible conversion. "Never, ever." The Vice President used the word "encouraging." His aide took notes on an iPad. The aide did not make eye contact for the last nine minutes of the meeting. I noticed this. Noticing things is the only part of my job that is not water glasses.

February 27, 4:00 PM EST: "Not happy with the pace." — President Trump, to reporters.

Not happy with the pace.

We had achieved zero stockpiling. Full IAEA verification. Irreversible fuel conversion. Inspector access. And the phrase "never, ever," which took eleven days and cost me two hundred and twelve trips down a forty-seven-meter hallway.

Every American president since Carter has failed to get Iran to agree to this. Forty-five years.

Not happy with the pace.

February 27, 9:47 PM EST: The Foreign Minister's flight departs Dulles for Muscat. I am in the seat behind him. He is reviewing Slide 14 on his laptop. The implementation timeline. Vienna technical sessions. The signing ceremony. The pens.

I fall asleep over the Atlantic. I dream about water glasses.

February 28, 6:00 AM GST: I wake up to push notifications.

February 28: "The United States has begun major combat operations in Iran." — President Trump.

Operation Epic Fury. Coordinated airstrikes. The United States and Israel. Tehran. Isfahan. Qom. Karaj. Kermanshah. Nuclear facilities. IRGC bases. Sites near the Supreme Leader's office. Israel called their half Operation Roaring Lion. Someone in both governments spent time choosing these names. Epic Fury. Roaring Lion. I spent eleven days on "never, ever." They spent it on branding. The President said Iran had "rejected American calls to halt its nuclear weapons production."

Rejected.

Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling. Iran had agreed to full verification. Iran had agreed to "never, ever." Iran had agreed to everything in a fourteen-page document that I typed in Times New Roman.

The President said they rejected it.

I do not know which document the President was reading. I know which one I typed.

February 28, 18:45 UTC: Iran internet connectivity: four percent. — NetBlocks, confirmed by Cloudflare. Ninety-six percent of a country went dark. You cannot negotiate with a country at four percent connectivity. You cannot negotiate with a country that is being struck. You cannot negotiate. This is not a political opinion. This is a logistics assessment.

February 28: The governor of Minab reported forty girls killed at an elementary school.

I do not have logistics for that. There is no slide for that. The water glass chart does not cover that.

February 28: Lockheed Martin: up. Northrop Grumman: up. RTX: up. Dow futures: down six hundred and twenty-two points. Gold: five thousand two hundred and ninety-six dollars. An analyst at AInvest published a note titled "Iran Strikes: Tactical Plays." The note recommended positions in oil, defense stocks, and gold.

The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten was nineteen dollars. The most expensive pen I have ever ordered was six hundred and thirty dollars. The math suggests I have been working in the wrong industry. Defense stocks do not require water glasses. Defense stocks do not require eleven days. Defense stocks require one morning.

February 28: Israel closed its airspace and its schools. Iran launched retaliatory missiles toward US bases in the Gulf. The Supreme Leader promised a "crushing response." Israel's defense minister declared a permanent state of emergency. Everyone is using words I recognize in an order I do not. I recognize "permanent." I recognize "emergency." I do not recognize them next to each other. In diplomacy, nothing is permanent and everything is an emergency. In war it is the reverse.

February 28: The Foreign Minister has not made a public statement.

The briefing card is still in his breast pocket. It still says "within our reach."

[Nicki 🫧🪷 @nickimoraa]

There’s no “teen mom crisis” without asking why grown men are impregnating girls.

There’s no “gold digger epidemic” without acknowledging wealthy older men deliberately pursuing women decades younger and then acting shocked when money is part of the dynamic.

There’s no panic about “women in prostitution” without confronting the male demand and the financial vulnerability that makes exploitation profitable.

There’s no outrage about “promiscuous Gen Z girls” without acknowledging that the same internet and media landscape is sexualizing and grooming them early.

There’s no “masculinity crisis because of feminism.” There is a crisis of entitlement when men are no longer centered.

There’s no widespread “false allegation epidemic.” There is a long, documented history of sexual violence being minimized, excused, and defined by men in power.

There’s no hysteria about “mean exclusionary lesbians.” There is discomfort when women set firm sexual boundaries.

Over and over again, the spotlight is turned onto women a their behavior, sexuality, choices instead of interrogating the structures that advantage men.

It’s misogyny. It’s deflection. It’s a system that seeks to individualize women’s behavior while protecting male power.

[Sanjeev Satgainya @SanjeevSatgainy]

Democratic dilemma —
Nepal is heading into landmark elections this March. Yet the upcoming elections are unlikely to provide the answers Nepali society has long been seeking. If anything, confusion has already begun. 1/9

[Kanti Bhatt @kantibhatt484]

@dishinterestedd @kirkiriputti With all due respect to her work in the inheritance of loss, this latest novel appears to lose its charm midway and begins to feel somewhat like a daily soap opera. Expected more from her. However, it's interesting the way each character's fragility is portrayed