Alex MacDonald
@alexjaymac.bsky.social
Middle East Eye, reporter/commentator. Mainly talk about Iraq, Iran, Israel-Palestine, UK and Turkey. Folk musician. He/him. DM any story tips!
Pinned
‘We want change, not destruction’: Iranian protesters reject US and Israeli interference
While some opposition figures have pushed the US or Israel for regime change, there's wariness of their true goals
www.middleeasteye.net
Wrote an article with an Iranian colleague on the Israeli-US attempts to co-opt the protests in Iran and how the protesters are receiving them:
"Israel wants a weak Iran, and unfortunately the Islamic Republic has been moving exactly in that direction"
"Israel wants a weak Iran, and unfortunately the Islamic Republic has been moving exactly in that direction"
Since the end of WW2 the UK's entire foreign policy has been (largely) dictated by the US and now its not even a member of the main geopolitical bloc in its region.
So I can easily see the UK walking away from Denmark and Greenland. The question is, what would Europe do in retaliation?
So I can easily see the UK walking away from Denmark and Greenland. The question is, what would Europe do in retaliation?
January 17, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Since the end of WW2 the UK's entire foreign policy has been (largely) dictated by the US and now its not even a member of the main geopolitical bloc in its region.
So I can easily see the UK walking away from Denmark and Greenland. The question is, what would Europe do in retaliation?
So I can easily see the UK walking away from Denmark and Greenland. The question is, what would Europe do in retaliation?
"Its borders are artificial."
Whereas the borders of every other country on Earth were formed perfectly intact since the break-up of Pangea, of course.
Whereas the borders of every other country on Earth were formed perfectly intact since the break-up of Pangea, of course.
Sure, so a lot of so-called “people” might die and we might turn a country of ninety million into an ungovernable nightmare ruled by local warlords, like everywhere else we have done this has. Who knows? Who gives a shit, what’s for breakfast
January 17, 2026 at 12:10 PM
"Its borders are artificial."
Whereas the borders of every other country on Earth were formed perfectly intact since the break-up of Pangea, of course.
Whereas the borders of every other country on Earth were formed perfectly intact since the break-up of Pangea, of course.
It is hard to keep up sometimes with whether the PKK and SDF are pawns of Israel or Iran:
January 16, 2026 at 5:53 PM
It is hard to keep up sometimes with whether the PKK and SDF are pawns of Israel or Iran:
Reposted by Alex MacDonald
X still allowing users to post sexualised images generated by Grok AI tool www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
X still allowing users to post sexualised images generated by Grok AI tool
Despite restrictions announced this week, Guardian reporters find standalone app continues to allow posting of nonconsensual content
www.theguardian.com
January 16, 2026 at 8:03 AM
X still allowing users to post sexualised images generated by Grok AI tool www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
No he didn't.
Obama actually won his Nobel Peace Prize.
January 15, 2026 at 10:30 PM
No he didn't.
Pretty sure you could just televise the average Friday afternoon in any newsroom and achieve the same results.
New: CBS News seems to be preparing a new segment called "Whiskey Fridays with Tony Dokoupil," per sources.
Some staff were only first made aware of it as they encountered CBS testing out set designs of a faux-stocked bar in the newsroom, featuring a large sponsor banner for Jack Daniels.
Some staff were only first made aware of it as they encountered CBS testing out set designs of a faux-stocked bar in the newsroom, featuring a large sponsor banner for Jack Daniels.
January 14, 2026 at 9:04 AM
Pretty sure you could just televise the average Friday afternoon in any newsroom and achieve the same results.
One thing you need to remember about the Islamic Republic is that it's not just one guy and his family like Assad in Syria or Saddam in Iraq - it's a whole bunch of state bodies, military and security organisations, charities, legal and labour bodies and other networks.
January 14, 2026 at 8:22 AM
One thing you need to remember about the Islamic Republic is that it's not just one guy and his family like Assad in Syria or Saddam in Iraq - it's a whole bunch of state bodies, military and security organisations, charities, legal and labour bodies and other networks.
Wrote an article with an Iranian colleague on the Israeli-US attempts to co-opt the protests in Iran and how the protesters are receiving them:
"Israel wants a weak Iran, and unfortunately the Islamic Republic has been moving exactly in that direction"
"Israel wants a weak Iran, and unfortunately the Islamic Republic has been moving exactly in that direction"
‘We want change, not destruction’: Iranian protesters reject US and Israeli interference
While some opposition figures have pushed the US or Israel for regime change, there's wariness of their true goals
www.middleeasteye.net
January 13, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Wrote an article with an Iranian colleague on the Israeli-US attempts to co-opt the protests in Iran and how the protesters are receiving them:
"Israel wants a weak Iran, and unfortunately the Islamic Republic has been moving exactly in that direction"
"Israel wants a weak Iran, and unfortunately the Islamic Republic has been moving exactly in that direction"
Reposted by Alex MacDonald
I am once again reminding you all that the UK government introduced an Online Safety Act that is effectively a porn ban on most adult porn websites, but is dithering over banning a website that is actually creating child porn.
January 13, 2026 at 11:03 AM
I am once again reminding you all that the UK government introduced an Online Safety Act that is effectively a porn ban on most adult porn websites, but is dithering over banning a website that is actually creating child porn.
Reposted by Alex MacDonald
In news which should be shocking to absolutely no-one with an ounce of commonsense or humanity, providing gender affirming care to trans young people reduces risks of harm.
Preventing trans young people accessing treatment has never been about "protecting children"
www.advocate.com/health/trans...
Preventing trans young people accessing treatment has never been about "protecting children"
www.advocate.com/health/trans...
Transgender youth who receive hormone therapy are less suicidal: study
"Suicidality significantly declined" among trans youth who receive hormone replacement therapy, a new study has found.
www.advocate.com
January 12, 2026 at 8:23 AM
In news which should be shocking to absolutely no-one with an ounce of commonsense or humanity, providing gender affirming care to trans young people reduces risks of harm.
Preventing trans young people accessing treatment has never been about "protecting children"
www.advocate.com/health/trans...
Preventing trans young people accessing treatment has never been about "protecting children"
www.advocate.com/health/trans...
You would not.
If Kamala were president today:
You'd be waking up reading about Grok and X being removed from app stores and investigated by the FTC and DOJ.
You'd be waking up reading about Grok and X being removed from app stores and investigated by the FTC and DOJ.
January 12, 2026 at 11:42 PM
You would not.
There were famously no protests over policing before Trump.
Before Trump, law enforcement were trained to behave professionally. At a traffic stop they would start with words such as "Mam, may I see your drivers license and registration."
ICE evidently trains their goons to start a stop with screamed profanity, quickly followed by violence.
ICE evidently trains their goons to start a stop with screamed profanity, quickly followed by violence.
January 12, 2026 at 11:17 PM
There were famously no protests over policing before Trump.
Reposted by Alex MacDonald
It is very telling that I had forgotten Nandy was culture secretary because she has basically made no intervention over the social media site the govt uses posting child porn.
don't really understand how this article alone hasn't shamed Nandy into, y'know, appearing
If the UK government had a Culture Secretary, that person would be in a position to take a view about whether child porn on demand was a good thing, or a bad thing. thecritic.co.uk/brin...
January 12, 2026 at 11:05 PM
It is very telling that I had forgotten Nandy was culture secretary because she has basically made no intervention over the social media site the govt uses posting child porn.
Reposted by Alex MacDonald
Told @FRANCE24 that when we zoom out and look at the evolution of protests in Iran over the course of the past 20 years, we can see a dramatic radicalization, which ultimately is a reaction to continued repression and the failure to deliver change.
www.france24.com/en/absence-o...
www.france24.com/en/absence-o...
'Absence of credible alternatives' has allowed Iranian regime to survive, analyst says
www.france24.com
January 12, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Told @FRANCE24 that when we zoom out and look at the evolution of protests in Iran over the course of the past 20 years, we can see a dramatic radicalization, which ultimately is a reaction to continued repression and the failure to deliver change.
www.france24.com/en/absence-o...
www.france24.com/en/absence-o...
Its because the people touting the idea that London has become a crime-ridden hellhole equate the presence of non-white people with a rise in crime.
In our new Frontline series, Symeon Brown has been granted rare access to see how the Met Police’s elite teams are tackling crime, as new statistics today show a fall in London's murder rate.
📩 Read the full newsletter:
📩 Read the full newsletter:
Met Police winning fight against serious violent crime in London - but losing information war
In our new Frontline series, Symeon Brown has been granted rare access to see how the Met Police’s elite teams are tackling crime, as new statistics today show a fall in London's murder rate.
channel4news.substack.com
January 12, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Its because the people touting the idea that London has become a crime-ridden hellhole equate the presence of non-white people with a rise in crime.
Reposted by Alex MacDonald
Ultimately it’s not a hard question, or shouldn’t be: if there were a website called creepywank dot org, where you could upload any picture or screengrab of anyone and get AI to produce a photorealistic picture of that person, regardless of age, in a state of undress…should it be legal in the UK?
Stephen has been bang on with this aspect of Badenoch's leadership from the start, and it has culminated in a position of being squeamish on banning a site mass-producing CSAM images because something something "Labour might ban it"
The premise of everything Kemi says and does is “if Labour are doing it, it must be bad”, and everything else is about her making intellectual pretzel shapes around that.
January 12, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Ultimately it’s not a hard question, or shouldn’t be: if there were a website called creepywank dot org, where you could upload any picture or screengrab of anyone and get AI to produce a photorealistic picture of that person, regardless of age, in a state of undress…should it be legal in the UK?
Bluesky is obviously less of a cesspit than Twitter these days, but there is also a certain sense that you can replace "immigration" with "Putin" as the source of all the world's problems on here.
January 12, 2026 at 11:32 AM
Bluesky is obviously less of a cesspit than Twitter these days, but there is also a certain sense that you can replace "immigration" with "Putin" as the source of all the world's problems on here.
"In the UK there was rising fury from women’s rights campaigners at the govt’s failure to bring into force legislation passed last year that would have made this creation of non-consensual intimate imagery illegal.
"Officials were unable to explain why the legislation had not yet been implemented"
"Officials were unable to explain why the legislation had not yet been implemented"
‘Add blood, forced smile’: how Grok’s nudification tool went viral
The ‘put her in a bikini’ trend rapidly evolved into hundreds of thousands of requests to strip clothes from photos of women, horrifying those targeted
www.theguardian.com
January 11, 2026 at 9:29 AM
"In the UK there was rising fury from women’s rights campaigners at the govt’s failure to bring into force legislation passed last year that would have made this creation of non-consensual intimate imagery illegal.
"Officials were unable to explain why the legislation had not yet been implemented"
"Officials were unable to explain why the legislation had not yet been implemented"
Reposted by Alex MacDonald
I asked an Iranian refugee living in the UK, who crossed the English channel some years ago, about the latest legislation by the Labour government targeting asylum seekers:
'Making asylum harder does not remove the reasons people flee - it only increases the risks they face'
'Making asylum harder does not remove the reasons people flee - it only increases the risks they face'
Phone seizures denounced as latest 'inhumane' asylum seeker policy in UK
Refugees and rights groups warn new legislation increasingly undermining Britain's status as a safe haven
www.middleeasteye.net
January 10, 2026 at 10:11 AM
I asked an Iranian refugee living in the UK, who crossed the English channel some years ago, about the latest legislation by the Labour government targeting asylum seekers:
'Making asylum harder does not remove the reasons people flee - it only increases the risks they face'
'Making asylum harder does not remove the reasons people flee - it only increases the risks they face'
Everything is ideological. Just a reminder.
January 10, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Everything is ideological. Just a reminder.
I quite like David Bowie. I do not understand the fanaticism he seems to inspire.
‘The Beethoven of our day’: Fans on what David Bowie meant to them 10 years after his death
‘The Beethoven of our day’: Fans on what David Bowie meant to them 10 years after his death
At the annual gathering at the Starman memorial in south London devotees talk about the immense impact the artist’s life and death had on them
www.theguardian.com
January 10, 2026 at 6:04 PM
I quite like David Bowie. I do not understand the fanaticism he seems to inspire.
Reposted by Alex MacDonald
Indonesia has banned Grok - the AI created by Elon Musk which has been used to make CSAM.
Indonesia temporarily blocks access to Grok over sexualised images
Indonesia temporarily blocked Elon Musk's Grok chatbot on Saturday due to the risk of AI-generated pornographic content, becoming the first country to deny access to the AI tool.
www.reuters.com
January 10, 2026 at 9:34 AM
Indonesia has banned Grok - the AI created by Elon Musk which has been used to make CSAM.
Reposted by Alex MacDonald
once again we are all tapping the sign
January 9, 2026 at 11:45 PM
once again we are all tapping the sign