Frederick Deknatel
@freddydeknatel.bsky.social
Journalist, fellow at Century International, editor of @Hidden-Cities.com https://www.hidden-cities.com/
Previously: Founding executive editor, Democracy in Exile @dawnmenaorg.bsky.social; managing editor @wpr.bsky.social; staff editor @foreignaffairs.com
Previously: Founding executive editor, Democracy in Exile @dawnmenaorg.bsky.social; managing editor @wpr.bsky.social; staff editor @foreignaffairs.com
Pinned
Syria’s Reconstruction Risks Cutting Out the Syrian People
Damascus’s battered fairgrounds, on the outskirts of the city, hosted a reconstruction fair this fall, billed as an international exhibition to rebuild
tcf.org
“Reconstruction risks ushering in a new era of clientelism and corruption in Syria.”
My piece on opaque reconstruction under Sharaa, who so far has prioritized shady investment deals with foreign patrons over any plan to rebuild a country in ruins. @tcfdotorg.bsky.social tcf.org/content/comm...
My piece on opaque reconstruction under Sharaa, who so far has prioritized shady investment deals with foreign patrons over any plan to rebuild a country in ruins. @tcfdotorg.bsky.social tcf.org/content/comm...
The Axios-style "smart brevity" take on AOC's stumble (which you won't find in Axios) is that America's One China policy doesn't make much sense.
America's One China policy, from which strategic ambiguity over Taiwan emerges, is such a logic-defying formulation that very few people who aren't China specialists can accurately articulate or explain it, and even some China specialists stumble at times.
The political media will now spend the week covering AOC's stumble to articulate America's policy of "strategic ambiguity" on Taiwan—rather than analyzing and explaining that policy, why it is ambiguous in the first place, and most of all, what the current president actually thinks of it.
February 16, 2026 at 10:46 PM
The Axios-style "smart brevity" take on AOC's stumble (which you won't find in Axios) is that America's One China policy doesn't make much sense.
Reposted by Frederick Deknatel
America's One China policy, from which strategic ambiguity over Taiwan emerges, is such a logic-defying formulation that very few people who aren't China specialists can accurately articulate or explain it, and even some China specialists stumble at times.
The political media will now spend the week covering AOC's stumble to articulate America's policy of "strategic ambiguity" on Taiwan—rather than analyzing and explaining that policy, why it is ambiguous in the first place, and most of all, what the current president actually thinks of it.
February 16, 2026 at 10:24 PM
America's One China policy, from which strategic ambiguity over Taiwan emerges, is such a logic-defying formulation that very few people who aren't China specialists can accurately articulate or explain it, and even some China specialists stumble at times.
We can now count on the NYT to print every Trump quote verbatim, right? Especially ones where he "struggled at times to formulate succinct answers"? www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/u...
February 16, 2026 at 10:02 PM
We can now count on the NYT to print every Trump quote verbatim, right? Especially ones where he "struggled at times to formulate succinct answers"? www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/u...
Reposted by Frederick Deknatel
Have you ever once seen the New York Times quote Trump like this?
February 16, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Have you ever once seen the New York Times quote Trump like this?
Reposted by Frederick Deknatel
Twitter down AGAIN. They keep boasting about how easy it was to fire 90% of engineers… well yeah firing them was easy. But the price was an app that now collapses every week.
February 16, 2026 at 1:46 PM
Twitter down AGAIN. They keep boasting about how easy it was to fire 90% of engineers… well yeah firing them was easy. But the price was an app that now collapses every week.
The Trump administration “is telling American manufacturers, ‘You guys go build gasoline cars again.’ The Chinese government is telling its manufacturers, ‘You go build the advanced vehicles that are going take over the world.’” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/c...
With Latest Rollback, the U.S. Essentially Has No Clean-Car Rules
www.nytimes.com
February 16, 2026 at 12:28 PM
The Trump administration “is telling American manufacturers, ‘You guys go build gasoline cars again.’ The Chinese government is telling its manufacturers, ‘You go build the advanced vehicles that are going take over the world.’” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/c...
Imagine a prominent Democrat whose message is not, “we’re tough on immigration too, look how many people we deported!,” but instead challenges the entire fanatical narrative — set by the right — of a borderless country “invaded” by migrants.
You can’t really, can you?
You can’t really, can you?
Hillary Clinton: "More people were deported under my husband and Barack Obama without killing American citizens and without putting children into detention camps than were in the first Trump term or this first year of Trump's second term."
February 16, 2026 at 12:28 AM
Imagine a prominent Democrat whose message is not, “we’re tough on immigration too, look how many people we deported!,” but instead challenges the entire fanatical narrative — set by the right — of a borderless country “invaded” by migrants.
You can’t really, can you?
You can’t really, can you?
The State Department channeling the AfD and its Völkisch nationalism.
How long until Rubio calls the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a "monument of shame”?
How long until Rubio calls the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a "monument of shame”?
February 15, 2026 at 3:42 PM
The State Department channeling the AfD and its Völkisch nationalism.
How long until Rubio calls the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a "monument of shame”?
How long until Rubio calls the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a "monument of shame”?
“Baghdad has always been a city remade by power. It is happening again now—as its inhabitants decide what to forget, what to carry forward, and what to surrender to money or modernity. In a place that has learned too well how to bury the past, remembering becomes its own kind of architecture.”
What’s Buried by Baghdad’s Construction Boom
The politics of rebuilding in a city of memories.
foreignpolicy.com
February 15, 2026 at 3:29 PM
“Baghdad has always been a city remade by power. It is happening again now—as its inhabitants decide what to forget, what to carry forward, and what to surrender to money or modernity. In a place that has learned too well how to bury the past, remembering becomes its own kind of architecture.”
Trump’s readymade excuse for not recognizing the authority and oversight of a Democratic House — and maybe Senate — will be that it only came to power through “voter fraud.”
It’s the same propaganda that allows him to pretend he didn’t lose in 2020 and has never lost the popular vote.
It’s the same propaganda that allows him to pretend he didn’t lose in 2020 and has never lost the popular vote.
I will continue to beat this drum: this is not about what happens on Election Day, but afterwards.
The key tell is her articulation of the core MAGA belief that the legitimacy of elections is entirely determined by the results: if they win, it’s legitimate; if they lose, it’s not.
The key tell is her articulation of the core MAGA belief that the legitimacy of elections is entirely determined by the results: if they win, it’s legitimate; if they lose, it’s not.
Kristi Noem: "When it gets to Election Day, we've been proactive to make sure we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders to lead this country."
February 14, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Trump’s readymade excuse for not recognizing the authority and oversight of a Democratic House — and maybe Senate — will be that it only came to power through “voter fraud.”
It’s the same propaganda that allows him to pretend he didn’t lose in 2020 and has never lost the popular vote.
It’s the same propaganda that allows him to pretend he didn’t lose in 2020 and has never lost the popular vote.
Reposted by Frederick Deknatel
I will continue to beat this drum: this is not about what happens on Election Day, but afterwards.
The key tell is her articulation of the core MAGA belief that the legitimacy of elections is entirely determined by the results: if they win, it’s legitimate; if they lose, it’s not.
The key tell is her articulation of the core MAGA belief that the legitimacy of elections is entirely determined by the results: if they win, it’s legitimate; if they lose, it’s not.
Kristi Noem: "When it gets to Election Day, we've been proactive to make sure we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders to lead this country."
February 14, 2026 at 10:35 PM
I will continue to beat this drum: this is not about what happens on Election Day, but afterwards.
The key tell is her articulation of the core MAGA belief that the legitimacy of elections is entirely determined by the results: if they win, it’s legitimate; if they lose, it’s not.
The key tell is her articulation of the core MAGA belief that the legitimacy of elections is entirely determined by the results: if they win, it’s legitimate; if they lose, it’s not.
This shows that Columbia didn’t need to cave, neither did the big law firms. They said they had to “strike a deal” with Trump—capitulate—because they didn’t want to fight.
This is a genuinely huge, sweeping victory today for the University of California—or rather, for us, its faculty, acting through our faculty associations, while the UC itself maintained a strict policy of deer-in-headlights silence.
The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:
The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:
Trump administration drops appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement
The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked its $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations. It will...
www.latimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 7:29 PM
This shows that Columbia didn’t need to cave, neither did the big law firms. They said they had to “strike a deal” with Trump—capitulate—because they didn’t want to fight.
Reposted by Frederick Deknatel
It's not a new observation at this point but that wild Noem/Lewandowski story in WSJ really brings home the extent to which all the Trump 2 cabinet-level goblins see their jobs as flying private, doing short-form video, and screaming at underlings. They all hate each other and none of them can read.
February 13, 2026 at 4:48 AM
It's not a new observation at this point but that wild Noem/Lewandowski story in WSJ really brings home the extent to which all the Trump 2 cabinet-level goblins see their jobs as flying private, doing short-form video, and screaming at underlings. They all hate each other and none of them can read.
Kathy (“Uncle Jeffrey") Ruemmler is resigning from Goldman, she says, since the "media attention was becoming a distraction"—not because she regrets her actual relationship with Epstein, as the emails reveal.
The through line in the Epstein files is the elite shamelessness of his many accomplices.
The through line in the Epstein files is the elite shamelessness of his many accomplices.
February 13, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Kathy (“Uncle Jeffrey") Ruemmler is resigning from Goldman, she says, since the "media attention was becoming a distraction"—not because she regrets her actual relationship with Epstein, as the emails reveal.
The through line in the Epstein files is the elite shamelessness of his many accomplices.
The through line in the Epstein files is the elite shamelessness of his many accomplices.
Reposted by Frederick Deknatel
On top of the cost of the lease, something like $10,000 per flight hour.
February 13, 2026 at 2:32 PM
On top of the cost of the lease, something like $10,000 per flight hour.
So what is the total cost of waste, fraud and abuse at DHS that is paying for Noem and Lewandowski's affair—including the 737 MAX jet, "with a private cabin in back," that they fly around the country? www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
February 13, 2026 at 2:14 PM
So what is the total cost of waste, fraud and abuse at DHS that is paying for Noem and Lewandowski's affair—including the 737 MAX jet, "with a private cabin in back," that they fly around the country? www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Reposted by Frederick Deknatel
Extremely telling that Tricia McLaughlin won’t put her name behind the defenses of like 12 different scandals here and is instead quoted as an anonymous “DHS spokeswoman.”
February 13, 2026 at 12:21 PM
Extremely telling that Tricia McLaughlin won’t put her name behind the defenses of like 12 different scandals here and is instead quoted as an anonymous “DHS spokeswoman.”
"That Assad, with his hubris and lack of foresight, was soon to fall may be less puzzling, in retrospect, than the fact that he lasted so long. The reason he did goes back to his father, who built a regime so sturdy and ruthless that it survived 25 years of the son’s mismanagement."
The Fall of the House of Assad
A detached ruler, obsessed with sex and video games, refused every lifeline he was offered.
www.theatlantic.com
February 12, 2026 at 6:32 PM
"That Assad, with his hubris and lack of foresight, was soon to fall may be less puzzling, in retrospect, than the fact that he lasted so long. The reason he did goes back to his father, who built a regime so sturdy and ruthless that it survived 25 years of the son’s mismanagement."
(We are absolutely scouring the streets to disappear people and deny people their civil rights and due process).
Homan: "ICE is a legitimate federal law enforcement agency. We're not out scouring the streets to disappear people or deny people their civil rights or due process."
February 12, 2026 at 2:42 PM
(We are absolutely scouring the streets to disappear people and deny people their civil rights and due process).
Reposted by Frederick Deknatel
My "we're not disappearing people and denying people their civil rights" T-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt.
Homan: "ICE is a legitimate federal law enforcement agency. We're not out scouring the streets to disappear people or deny people their civil rights or due process."
February 12, 2026 at 2:30 PM
My "we're not disappearing people and denying people their civil rights" T-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt.
Reposted by Frederick Deknatel
"Why Palestine is at its core a struggle against fossil capitalism—and why the battle for survival waged by Palestinians today, in Gaza and beyond, is inseparable from the fight for the future of the planet."
New in @hidden-cities.com by Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox & Rafeef Ziadah:
New in @hidden-cities.com by Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox & Rafeef Ziadah:
Why the Struggle for Palestine Is a Struggle Against ‘Fossil Capitalism’
By Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox, and Rafeef Ziadah
www.hidden-cities.com
February 10, 2026 at 3:47 PM
"Why Palestine is at its core a struggle against fossil capitalism—and why the battle for survival waged by Palestinians today, in Gaza and beyond, is inseparable from the fight for the future of the planet."
New in @hidden-cities.com by Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox & Rafeef Ziadah:
New in @hidden-cities.com by Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox & Rafeef Ziadah:
Seamus Culleton, an Irish immigrant in ICE detention in Texas since September: "It’s a modern-day concentration camp, with filth and sickness and disease."
His lawyer: “When I went to see Seamus, he looked jaundiced. They don’t let them spend enough time outside. It’s cruelty. Pure cruelty.”
His lawyer: “When I went to see Seamus, he looked jaundiced. They don’t let them spend enough time outside. It’s cruelty. Pure cruelty.”
An American dream morphs into a nightmare - The Boston Globe
Seamus Culleton, an Irish immigrant married to a US citizen last year and living in Boston for more than 20 years, has been held in squalor in Texas for five months.
www.bostonglobe.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:54 PM
Seamus Culleton, an Irish immigrant in ICE detention in Texas since September: "It’s a modern-day concentration camp, with filth and sickness and disease."
His lawyer: “When I went to see Seamus, he looked jaundiced. They don’t let them spend enough time outside. It’s cruelty. Pure cruelty.”
His lawyer: “When I went to see Seamus, he looked jaundiced. They don’t let them spend enough time outside. It’s cruelty. Pure cruelty.”
"Why Palestine is at its core a struggle against fossil capitalism—and why the battle for survival waged by Palestinians today, in Gaza and beyond, is inseparable from the fight for the future of the planet."
New in @hidden-cities.com by Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox & Rafeef Ziadah:
New in @hidden-cities.com by Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox & Rafeef Ziadah:
Why the Struggle for Palestine Is a Struggle Against ‘Fossil Capitalism’
By Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox, and Rafeef Ziadah
www.hidden-cities.com
February 10, 2026 at 3:47 PM
"Why Palestine is at its core a struggle against fossil capitalism—and why the battle for survival waged by Palestinians today, in Gaza and beyond, is inseparable from the fight for the future of the planet."
New in @hidden-cities.com by Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox & Rafeef Ziadah:
New in @hidden-cities.com by Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox & Rafeef Ziadah:
"See, we don’t need to go to Dubai anymore because Dubai came to us."
Great dispatch on the "Dubaization" of wealthy enclaves of Baghdad—or “money laundering as urban development," remaking parts of the city for "the power brokers" and "gangster aristocrats of Baghdad." www.ft.com/content/aa7c...
Great dispatch on the "Dubaization" of wealthy enclaves of Baghdad—or “money laundering as urban development," remaking parts of the city for "the power brokers" and "gangster aristocrats of Baghdad." www.ft.com/content/aa7c...
Where Baghdad’s moneyed elite like to hang out
Dijlah Village is an emblem of Iraq’s unexpected economic boom
www.ft.com
February 10, 2026 at 2:51 PM
"See, we don’t need to go to Dubai anymore because Dubai came to us."
Great dispatch on the "Dubaization" of wealthy enclaves of Baghdad—or “money laundering as urban development," remaking parts of the city for "the power brokers" and "gangster aristocrats of Baghdad." www.ft.com/content/aa7c...
Great dispatch on the "Dubaization" of wealthy enclaves of Baghdad—or “money laundering as urban development," remaking parts of the city for "the power brokers" and "gangster aristocrats of Baghdad." www.ft.com/content/aa7c...
"The impetus for normalization with Israel is not about diplomacy alone—it is about consolidating the region’s primary centers of wealth and power within a single bloc aligned with US interests." Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox, and Rafeef Ziadah in @hidden-cities.com www.hidden-cities.com/p/why-the-st...
Why the Struggle for Palestine Is a Struggle Against ‘Fossil Capitalism’
By Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox, and Rafeef Ziadah
www.hidden-cities.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:01 PM
"The impetus for normalization with Israel is not about diplomacy alone—it is about consolidating the region’s primary centers of wealth and power within a single bloc aligned with US interests." Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox, and Rafeef Ziadah in @hidden-cities.com www.hidden-cities.com/p/why-the-st...