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Reposted by Jessica Lee

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 3h

‘The theme of exile guides the utilitarian design of the new show. Around a hundred archaeological finds from Gaza are laid out in a ground-floor bunker space, complete with strip lights, cold grey-blue walls and chilly steel benches.’

@josephinequinn.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Josephine Quinn · At the Institut du monde arabe: ‘Trésors sauvés de Gaza’

This show has excited controversy: should we even be talking about damage to antiquities in the context of so much...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Reposted by Jessica Lee

Justin Salhani @justinsalhani.bsky.social · 1d

A pair of reports released today by the Cost of War project show that Israel could not have continued war in Gaza and elsewhere across the region without US military & diplomatic support.

US has provided Israel w/ over $31 billion since Oct 2023

www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

Reports: Israel couldn’t wage wars on Gaza, Lebanon Iran without US support

Twin reports from the Costs of War Project find the US has backed Israel with more than $21bn since October 2023.

www.aljazeera.com

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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 1d

The Egyptologist and former minister of antiquities will be the first Arab to lead the UN's cultural organisation.

UNESCO board backs Egypt’s Khaled el-Enany as its next chief

The Egyptologist and former minister of antiquities will be the first Arab to lead the UN's cultural organisation.

bit.ly

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Reposted by Jessica Lee

Laura Ashe @lauraashe.bsky.social · 1d

Epic; no notes

Headline from the Times: "Bestselling novelist Jilly Cooper dies in fall aged 88", illustrated with a rather famous black and white picture of Virginia Woolf

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Reposted by Jessica Lee

News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 2d

NEW: Extraordinary scenes in Amsterdam this afternoon (Sunday, Oct 5).

An estimated 250,000 bring the city to a standstill; people all wearing red to show solidarity with Palestine 🇵🇸

(🎥 Ahmed Zantac)

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Reposted by Jessica Lee

Ticia Verveer @ticiaverveer.bsky.social · 2d

What may be the largest recorded Neo-Assyrian lamassu (winged bull) has been unearthed in the ancient city of Nineveh, Mosul, Iraq. It was found in the remains of the throne room built by King Esarhaddon (681-669 B.C.) and is six meters (20 feet) high.
www.aina.org/news/2025092...

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 2d

Ha. Going to add: It was definitely in use in NZ (by the older generation at least) while I was growing up as well so the phrase did go global thanks to the poms.

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 2d

Both my father (Yorkshire) & mother (Wales) used it all the time. Defo not just a London thing.

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 3d

This ⬇️is pretty good. & no, the plan involving Tony of Arabia, Lord of Gaza & King of the Middle East, isn't going to work. Nothing will work, until Israel are forced to end their occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
www.newstatesman.com/world/middle...

How Israel warped the West

Since the 7 October attacks, humanitarian norms have been buried in the rubble of war

www.newstatesman.com

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 5d

Lol. Everyone who's spent a lot of time in the Middle East has met that guy.

Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 5d

Bill Burr in America: Comic known for his unrelenting critical class analysis

Bill Burr in the Middle East: The racist frat bro on your study abroad in Amman who is just now realizing Arabs are humans too

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 6d

Deep dive into the deep links between Israel & the new wouldbe Viceroy of Gaza, Tony Blair. ⬇️
www.thenerve.news/p/tony-blair...

'WHAT WILL JESUS SAY?' TONY BLAIR, BIG TECH AND THE ISRAEL CONNECTION

As Trump announces the former British PM as his choice to help govern Gaza, Carole Cadwalladr investigates the opaque workings of Blair's institute, its funding from friends of Israel – including bill...

www.thenerve.news

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Reposted by Jessica Lee

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 6d

Please follow @thenerve.news!

Were a new female-founded publication that launched yesterday…& it was a huge team effort to get a website up & this investigation over the line.

We’re all exhausted but we want to do journalism that matters & we need your support. Thank you!!🙏

www.thenerve.news

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 6d

Lol, chicken thief knows she's been bad & is sulking on the carpet.

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 6d

My cat just jumped through the window with a raw chicken leg it has thieved from somewhere so fingers xd my neighbours didn't spot the culprit.

I've spent the last 10 minutes chasing the cat around the house. She's now very upset I wouldn't allow her to have a raw meat picnic under my bed.

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 7d

Look, I love @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social as much as anyone else who reads a lot of fiction in translation but their typesetting fucks me right off.

Whhhhhyyyyy do you keep doing the stupidly wide page margins & tiny font.

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 7d

Lol. I hadn't been on the tcdd website for ages🤣.

Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 8d

Travel logistics update!

Tcdd are now selling tickets for the international Van-Tebriz-Tehran rail journey on their website!
cc @seatsixtyone.bsky.social

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 8d

In other news: I explained to an editor that they need to get rid of a place-POI because it doesn't exist, due to being submerged under a dam. The editor has replied, asking if we can save the POI because she only wants to delete POIs that are closed.

How is something not existing, NOT closed?

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 8d

Ahh, here he is in all his glory: Lord of the Middle East, Earl of Gaza & Baron of Palestine*

Every white guy's TE Lawrence wet dream come true. (I kind of imagine little Rory Stewart crying himself to sleep that he wasn't offered this role)

*I will keep on making up titles for him.

Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 8d

the idea of Blair acting alongside Trump in a peacemaking role in the Middle East surprised some in his Labour party

One UK minister said: “It’s like a mini-series where the scriptwriters have lost the plot. It has jumped the shark and should be taken off air.”

www.ft.com/content/527b...

Tony Blair set to serve on Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza

Some in former UK prime minister’s Labour party react with surprise at his proposed role in Palestinian territory

www.ft.com

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Reposted by Jessica Lee

Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 8d

With all the talk of eternal peace, Israel killed at least 30 people today so far, half of them were waiting for food.

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 8d

This piece by Samanth Subramanian on what happens when you lose the internet is great. I don't think many people realise how interconnected everything is now & how, without the internet, services fall apart.
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/se...

Extremely offline: what happened when a Pacific island was cut off from the internet | Samanth Subramanian

A colossal volcanic eruption in January 2022 ripped apart the underwater cables that connect Tonga to the world – and exposed the fragility of 21st-century life

www.theguardian.com

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 8d

'A Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza will be created by convening a panel of experts who have helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East.'

'modern miracle cities'

Hope he's not been taking notes from NEOM

www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Here’s the full text of Trump’s 20-point plan to end Israel’s war on Gaza

The White House says its proposal would end the war on Gaza immediately if both sides accept.

www.yahoo.com

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Reposted by Jessica Lee

Nisrin Elamin @nisrinelamin.bsky.social · 8d

It’s terrifying what we are witnessing in El Fashir. The UAE backed RSF encircling the city to starve and exterminate people, while the so-called intl. community treats the UAE as a peace broker.

#KeepEyesOnSudan

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Reposted by Jessica Lee

Aaron Burch @aaronburch.bsky.social · 8d

"AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations" is such a good sentence.

JB_AU @jbau.bsky.social · 9d

This whole section really.

Finally: AI cannot do your job, but an AI salesman can 100% convince your boss to fire you and replace you with an AI that can't do your job, and when the bubble bursts, the money-hemorrhaging "foundation models" will be shut off and we'll lose the AI that can't do your job, and you will be long gone, retrained or retired or "discouraged" and out of the labor market, and no one will do your job.
AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations:

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Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 8d

Just reposting this because it seems apt.

Jessica Lee @jessofarabia.bsky.social · 12d

I see well-known Middle East peacemaker, Tony Blair, co-murderer of only about 650,000 Iraqis, is trying to become Lord of Palestine, 1st Earl of Gaza, the Baron of Rafah, and Duke of Khan Yunis.