Ranja

Kurdistan & Middle East observer | Geopolitics, culture & on-the-ground realities | Photos & videos from Kurdish regions 🏔️

[Ranja @ranjamama]

I wish my mom was around, I’ve felt like I’ve been doing most of my growing up in the years since she’s been gone 😔 if only she was alive i would be the most happiest person on the world. Mom i miss your bright and Charisma 💔

[Samira Ghaderi @Samira_Ghaderi]

The sudden passing of Senator Lindsey Graham marks the loss of one of the Kurdish people’s most steadfast advocates in the U.S. Congress.

Through efforts like the Save the Kurds Act, Senator Graham consistently recognized that standing with America’s Kurdish allies was both a moral responsibility & a strategic imperative.

May you rest in peace, Senator @LindseyGrahamSC

🇺🇸 ☀️

[Ranja @ranjamama]

Tesla owners are built different 😂

Bro turned his frunk into a live fish tank and went for a cruise!

Fresh catch delivered in the most electric way possible 🐟

Video: Kurdistan - Sulaimaniyah
@elonmusk @MarioNawfal
#Tesla #Model3 #Frunk #TeslaLife #EV #FishTank #Kurdistan

[Sporting Adeptos @Sporting_CPAdep]

💚 @Cristiano

[World Cup 2026 @ofootball__]

From 2006 to 2026. What a journey. Thank you for everything, Ronaldo. ❤️🇵🇹

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇺🇸 SpaceX wants up to 1 million AI satellites in orbit

Elon confirmed the name today: Starmind.

And it’s exactly what it sounds like.

A constellation of satellites purpose-built for AI compute in space, not just internet like Starlink.

Each one will carry racks of chips, run inference and training workloads using abundant solar power and the natural cold of space, then beam the results back down to Earth.

That’s the real advantage.

While every other AI company is fighting for land, electricity, and cooling water on the ground, SpaceX is planning to largely skip the planet.

The FCC filing went in at the end of January 2026 requesting authorization for up to 1 million satellites.

The first two test units, called AI1, are targeted for launch in early 2027.

Each prototype will measure roughly 70 meters wide (solar arrays) and deliver around 120-150 kW of compute power.

People shrugged at @Starlink too… right up until it owned the sky.

Source: Data center dynamics, Teslarati / Writers: Daniyal, Daniel

[Ranja @ranjamama]

@elonmusk I have been using the Starlink onboard and honestly it was an amazing flight i have ever had. I was even watching live Football over 35000 Feet. Just unbelievable what Starlink and Qatarairways offering onboard. Thank you 😊

[Mahshad M. Barzani @ma1shad]

Today it’s a dream. Tomorrow it will be reality. One day, we will have our team in the World Cup. ❤️☀️💚

[NVIDIA @nvidia]

Water usage has been a hot topic in the AI data center world, but the numbers may surprise you.

According to the Manhattan Institute, data centers use 0.2 percent of daily water usage in the U.S. and that number has dramatically decreased in the past few years due to a new method: liquid cooling.

By moving to 45°C liquid cooling, AI factories in favorable climates can use dry coolers instead of conventional cooling-tower-based systems, cutting facility cooling water use from roughly 2.6M gallons per MW per year to near zero.

Liquid cooling enables AI factories to be both water and energy efficient, while creating opportunities for heat reuse and dispersal to local communities, allowing these factories to become energy grid assets.

Learn more below ⬇️

https://t.co/7WanoPNKTR

[Jino Victoria Doabi ‏ژینۆ ویکتوریا دو‌آبی @_jvd9]

Germans and Kurds celebrate Deniz Undav’s performance with traditional Kurdish dance while waving German flags.☀️

[Samira Ghaderi @Samira_Ghaderi]

“For us as Kurds and Yezidis, as a minority within a minority, life has never been a given or easy. We were persecuted, driven out, and attacked from all sides. That too is part of our history. And part of our history is that we are millions of Kurds worldwide and to this day have neither a country of our own nor a national team. Perhaps that's why these goals touch us so deeply. Because they are more than sporting successes. They grant visibility, recognition, and heal something that words often cannot reach.” ♥️

#Undav #Kurdistan #FIFA

[DogeDesigner @cb_doge]

BREAKING: Iraq has approved Starlink’s operating license, clearing the way for its satellite internet service to enter the country.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Iraq Tom Barrack welcomed the approval of Starlink’s operating license.

[Hiwa Afandi @HiwaAfandi]

Germany, a nation of 84 million people, is playing Curaçao, a nation of just 158,000.

Without FIFA and international football, many around the world would never know Curaçao exists as a nation. Yet it has a flag, an anthem, and a place on the world stage.

A reminder that more than 50 million Kurds still have no state of their own.

[Seth Frantzman @sfrantzman]

Who are the Kurds who stood the line with us against ISIS? This is what the frontline in Telskuf on Nineveh plains was like with the Peshmerga in 2015.

I spent a lot of time with them on 600 miles of line like this, and it was mostly the same. Young and old men who came to the front. They brought their own weapons and kit. They held it against ISIS. They fought and died alongside Americans. They never took anything. They did their duty. Defended their homeland and broke the back of ISIS.

The best people you could ever ask for on a frontline.

[Samira Ghaderi @Samira_Ghaderi]

What exactly do the Kurds “take”? The benefits of their own oil and resources? The right to exist on their own land? The dignity of defending the homes they are willing to die for?

Kurds buried thousands fighting ISIS while much of the world issued press statements. If anything, the world has taken from the Kurds for generations, their land, rights, language, lives, and sacrifices, while giving them betrayal in return.

@POTUS

[Ranja @ranjamama]

A wonderful view of Darband located in or very near Pishdar / Raniya district in Kurdistan ♥️ ☀️ 💚

[Duhok Buzz @Duhok_Buzz]

An Airbus-shaped restaurant project in Feydiyê, Duhok, created by a Kurdish business owner originally from Kobani and now based in Duhok.

The project will also feature a summer swimming pool, set to open this season. ✈️🧑‍🍳

[Seth Frantzman @sfrantzman]

Why, when people discuss Kurdish issues, it's "the Kurds"...it's not the individual group, it's the whole community of tens of millions of people seemingly blamed.

Do we do this with other groups. Considering the fact that Kurds are divided by four countries and in those countries they have numerous political groups and armed groups...how come if one small group is accused of something, all the people are blamed?

Kurdish journalists have tried to ask questions about this story but they never get strait answers. Instead it's always "the Kurds"...

This discussion really should be better. Arms have been provided to other groups over the years; to Afghan Mujahideen in the 1980s, to the Syrian rebels; and arms have been monitored in other bizarre operations such as "Fast and Furious"....but let's be clear here, if some arms got sidetracked in backing the rebels, we don't say "the Arabs"...we might say "Syrians" but usually it would be "Syrian rebels" or even the specific group. If you look up "Fast and Furious" it's usually about "the cartels" not "the Mexicans."

So let's be clear here. If a Kurdish group is accused of this, then name the group. If there is no group then let's move on. Because it's not "the Kurds".

[Hiba Nasr @HibaNasr]

‼️ A senior State Department official on #Iraq :

I think that the Iraqi leaders, including the Prime Minister-designate, understand what the United States is looking for. We’re looking for action, not words.

There is a very blurry line right now between the Iraqi state and these militias. And it would start with expelling terrorist militias from any state institution, cutting off their support from the Iraqi budget, denying salary payments to these militia fighters. Those are the type of concrete actions that would give us confidence and say that there's a new mindset.

Certain elements of the Iraqi state have continued to provide political, financial and operational cover for these very terrorist militias. I'm not underestimating the severity of the challenge or what it would take to disentangle these relationships. It could start with a clear and unambiguous statement of policy that the terrorist militias are not part of the Iraqi state.

We experienced more than 600 attacks against U.S. facilities in Iraq during the regional conflict.

[Meysam Moradi @MeysamMoradi92]

حکومەتی هەرێمی کوردستان، بە یارمەتی ئەمریکا، باڵۆنێکی چاودێری لە جۆری "تارس"ی TARS لە ئاسمانی هەولێر جێگرکردووە بۆ چاودێری و ناسینی فڕۆکەی بێفڕۆکەوان و مووشەک. ئەم سیستەمە ڕادارییە تا مەودای ۳۲٠ کیلۆمتر دەتوانێت ئامانجەکانی بناسێنێت و زانیارییەکان بگوازێتەوە بۆ سیستەمی بەرگریی.