🗓 20th Anniversary Symposium

On April 23-24, we invite you to join us in envisioning the future of the Middle East (in person and via livestream). Register now:

www.brandeis.edu/crown/events...

Iran's draconian hijab bill is now in limbo.This great piece by @kahal.bsky.social uses the occasion to do a deep dive into how women's economic gains have both empowered them & made them vulnerable to economic punishments seen in that bill. Must read! www.brandeis.edu/crown/public...

same! it's been a (long) while!

🤣

This Crown Conversation with Haian Dukhan & Daniel Neep
is genuinely excellent. From misconceptions re: what Assad's fall means for the region to prospects for the future of #Syria, it manages to provide insight through the uncertainties. Great read. www.brandeis.edu/crown/public...

A new Crown Center for Middle East Studies seminar recording, which I’ll be watching later: “Life and Death Under Humanitarian Law in Gaza and Beyond.” youtu.be/GESiDI4Ieck?...

Gonna try this here: #skystorians: What articles do you like to use to teach historical methods to undergrads?

I'm aware of the classic books, but I would like some shorter & accessible pieces.

Thanks! And please reshare!

Iran's Kentucky Fried Chicken store first opened in 1973 but since it did not have the rights, it was called TFC Tehran Fried Chicken.During the revolution, they distributed free fried chicken to the demonstrators some of whom didn't accept it cuz of rumors that it was poisoned. Random fact for 2day

Huh? Isn’t this what we’re doing anyway? “instead of a professor lecturing about historical facts — because those are all in the textbook — they can instead focus on things like ‘How do we think about this particular text? and How can we think about it differently?” newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/comp...

“Unlike in 2016, when Iranian ground forces complemented Russian air support in the siege of Aleppo, neither patron demonstrated the will or capability to launch a similar counteroffensive…For Russia and Iran, Assad was their man until he wasn’t.” @nicolegrajewski.bsky.social

Reading US foreign policy experts pontificate on Syria and Iran is like watching a dog chase its tail but less funny.

Syria doesn’t have to be Libya, Yemen, or Iraq 2.0. Syrians will hopefully carve out a system that will bring justice, equality, and tolerance. I have no reason to doubt them. I do have many reasons to doubt foreign states near and far.

I'm reminded of how important it is to acknowledge the sense of release that such moments hold even as that emotion is full of foreboding & even if (or when) things take a turn for the worse. (Along with endless op-eds the titles of which @nytpitchbot.bsky.social has already written :-)

I'm writing about revolutionary joy in Iran 79, trying to separate post-revolutionary anguish & disappointment from the moments in which a people freed of a dictator felt a singular sense of happiness & possibility. With the toppling of Assad in Syria & release of long time prisoners

Here it is. With exclusive details & insights, our deep look at what really went down in #Aleppo - with @michaeldweiss.bsky.social in @newlinesmag.bsky.social

newlinesmag.com/reportage/th...

A guy gets up & says Hello my name is Igor. If everything is so good then why is everything so bad? A year later the same apparatchik goes to the same town & gives the same speech about how things are great in the Soviet Union. A guy gets up and says Hello. If everything is so good, where's Igor?

Listening to the Harris campaign staff on @podsaveamerica.bsky.social say they ran a good campaign but were defeated by time reminds me of my favorite Soviet joke. An apparatchik goes to a small town & says how things are great in the Soviet Union.