elia ayoub
@ayoub.bsky.social
Writer, Journalist, Historian, Podcaster. Authoritarianism, hauntology, alternative futures. Eng/Fr/Esp/It/ع
In Brighton, from Lebanon.
@thefirethesetimes.com / @thestartrekpod.bsky.social / https://hauntologies.net / @972mag.com / https://shado-mag.com
In Brighton, from Lebanon.
@thefirethesetimes.com / @thestartrekpod.bsky.social / https://hauntologies.net / @972mag.com / https://shado-mag.com
Pinned
elia ayoub
@ayoub.bsky.social
· Nov 3
Hey y'all, will soon start an online class on Lebanese history and politics.
If you're interested, send me an email or Signal. Please say why you're messaging.
I'll send an email/text (no more) with more details soon.
Email: ayoub@thefirethesetimes.com
Signal: @ ayoub.02
If you're interested, send me an email or Signal. Please say why you're messaging.
I'll send an email/text (no more) with more details soon.
Email: ayoub@thefirethesetimes.com
Signal: @ ayoub.02
Reposted by elia ayoub
I feel like Trump is jealous of Obama for taking out Bin Laden. He wants his own heavily publicized victory against a monstrous enemy of the people who killed huge numbers of U.S. citizens.
More than oil or anything else he wants the optics of quickly and (for us) painlessly taking out an "enemy".
More than oil or anything else he wants the optics of quickly and (for us) painlessly taking out an "enemy".
If Maduro is in custody my expectation is the admin will try to hold Dumb Nuremberg. They'll make it a judicial referendum on fentanyl and try to blame Maduro for the deaths from the opiate crisis.
January 3, 2026 at 1:14 PM
I feel like Trump is jealous of Obama for taking out Bin Laden. He wants his own heavily publicized victory against a monstrous enemy of the people who killed huge numbers of U.S. citizens.
More than oil or anything else he wants the optics of quickly and (for us) painlessly taking out an "enemy".
More than oil or anything else he wants the optics of quickly and (for us) painlessly taking out an "enemy".
Hard to imagine this not causing a backlash. Regardless of Maduro himself, this also tells heads of states that no one is safe.
January 3, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Hard to imagine this not causing a backlash. Regardless of Maduro himself, this also tells heads of states that no one is safe.
We are having our first monthly Patreon hangout at 4pm UK time today. I’m guessing the topic of conversation will be Venezuela.
fromtheperiphery.com/hangout/
fromtheperiphery.com/hangout/
The Monthly Hangout
The Monthly Hangout Where “doom scrolling” meets “take a deep breath” Join Here ✓ The first Saturday of every month, on Zoom ✓ 16:00 UK Time (Online Converter) ✓ Get a +1 wi…
fromtheperiphery.com
January 3, 2026 at 2:28 PM
We are having our first monthly Patreon hangout at 4pm UK time today. I’m guessing the topic of conversation will be Venezuela.
fromtheperiphery.com/hangout/
fromtheperiphery.com/hangout/
I worry about people in Venezuela, and about what it means for all of us for the world’s largest military power to go fully rogue
January 3, 2026 at 12:09 PM
I worry about people in Venezuela, and about what it means for all of us for the world’s largest military power to go fully rogue
Reposted by elia ayoub
Spain's RTVE has live coverage from Venezuela (Spanish only).
Currently Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has no information on the whereabouts of Maduro.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku09...
Currently Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has no information on the whereabouts of Maduro.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku09...
🔴 CANAL 24 HORAS DIRECTO | TRUMP ANUNCIA LA CAPTURA DE MADURO EN LOS ATAQUES A VENEZUELA | RTVE
YouTube video by RTVE Noticias
www.youtube.com
January 3, 2026 at 10:13 AM
Spain's RTVE has live coverage from Venezuela (Spanish only).
Currently Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has no information on the whereabouts of Maduro.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku09...
Currently Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has no information on the whereabouts of Maduro.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku09...
Reposted by elia ayoub
Sky News quotes sources within the Venezuelan opposition claiming that Maduro's capture was a "negotiated exit"
news.sky.com/story/venezu...
news.sky.com/story/venezu...
Venezuela latest: Venezuelan president Maduro captured after US strikes on country
Explosions have been heard in Venezuela's capital of Caracas. It comes after repeated threats of land operations by Donald Trump amid efforts to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to leave office. We'...
news.sky.com
January 3, 2026 at 10:00 AM
Sky News quotes sources within the Venezuelan opposition claiming that Maduro's capture was a "negotiated exit"
news.sky.com/story/venezu...
news.sky.com/story/venezu...
It’s a calculation that comes from genocide and it makes complete sense from the point of view of the genocidaires. Complete control over who gets to live and who gets to die is the point.
Denying medical assistance is unacceptable in any circumstances.
Israel’s threat to withhold registration from MSF & other INGOs is a cynical and calculated attempt to prevent organizations from providing services in #Gaza and the #WestBank, #Palestine.
https://ow.ly/XQwE50XR5OE
Israel’s threat to withhold registration from MSF & other INGOs is a cynical and calculated attempt to prevent organizations from providing services in #Gaza and the #WestBank, #Palestine.
https://ow.ly/XQwE50XR5OE
January 2, 2026 at 4:52 PM
It’s a calculation that comes from genocide and it makes complete sense from the point of view of the genocidaires. Complete control over who gets to live and who gets to die is the point.
Reposted by elia ayoub
Born in Trinidad, Dr. John Alcindor earned his MD in Scotland in 1899 & was a physician, political activist, & senior district medical officer in London. He was awarded a Red Cross medal for his work treating the wounded in WWI. His great-nephew is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
January 2, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Born in Trinidad, Dr. John Alcindor earned his MD in Scotland in 1899 & was a physician, political activist, & senior district medical officer in London. He was awarded a Red Cross medal for his work treating the wounded in WWI. His great-nephew is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
it’s cool how predictable enshittification is
The power of suggestions ... "OpenAI Reportedly Planning to Make ChatGPT “Prioritize” Advertisers in Conversation" futurism.com/artificial-i...
OpenAI Reportedly Planning to Make ChatGPT "Prioritize" Advertisers in Conversation
OpenAI employees working on ChatGPT report plans to unleash sponsored advertisements above organic results.
futurism.com
January 2, 2026 at 3:55 PM
it’s cool how predictable enshittification is
Reposted by elia ayoub
It's worth reading the whole interview in full. It basically verifies that the NYT has spent the past decade-plus doubling down on top-down narratives for coverage, getting more intense over time.
Sulzberg personally picked & chose whom the news apparatus would target and whom it would kiss up to.
Sulzberg personally picked & chose whom the news apparatus would target and whom it would kiss up to.
In this in-depth interview Billie Jean Sweeney — a former editor at The New York Times — details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, why this was directed from the very top, how some staff pushed back and the immense damage done by the NYT legitimizing bigotry.
'A directive from above': Former NYT editor lays out how the paper pushes anti-trans bigotry
In this in-depth interview, former New York Times editor Billie Jean Sweeney details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, how some staff tried to stop it, how it's directe...
transnews.network
January 1, 2026 at 7:30 PM
It's worth reading the whole interview in full. It basically verifies that the NYT has spent the past decade-plus doubling down on top-down narratives for coverage, getting more intense over time.
Sulzberg personally picked & chose whom the news apparatus would target and whom it would kiss up to.
Sulzberg personally picked & chose whom the news apparatus would target and whom it would kiss up to.
Excellent talk by Cory Doctorrow on the post-American and enshittification-resistant internet
archive.org/details/doct...
archive.org/details/doct...
A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet : Cory Doctorow : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Trump has staged an unscheduled, midair rapid disassembly of the global system of trade. Ironically, it is this system that prevented all of America's...
archive.org
January 2, 2026 at 12:50 PM
Excellent talk by Cory Doctorrow on the post-American and enshittification-resistant internet
archive.org/details/doct...
archive.org/details/doct...
Reposted by elia ayoub
A young woman leads a group of protesters into chants of "don't be afraid, we're all together" in Tehran's Grand Bazaar.
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/sDDP83mJR1GH...
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/sDDP83mJR1GH...
December 31, 2025 at 10:00 PM
A young woman leads a group of protesters into chants of "don't be afraid, we're all together" in Tehran's Grand Bazaar.
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/sDDP83mJR1GH...
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/sDDP83mJR1GH...
Reposted by elia ayoub
A group of protesters in the small city of Azna, in the western porvince of Lorestan, set fire to the local police station on 1 January, the fifth day of protests in Iran.
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/FvzkwLsChdLT...
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/FvzkwLsChdLT...
January 1, 2026 at 11:33 PM
A group of protesters in the small city of Azna, in the western porvince of Lorestan, set fire to the local police station on 1 January, the fifth day of protests in Iran.
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/FvzkwLsChdLT...
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/FvzkwLsChdLT...
Unrelated to anything but I spent years writing about the ideological similarities between the authoritarianism of Netanyahu-style Zionism and Assadism
www.hauntologies.net/p/notes-on-a...
Video is on the fascist website x.com/clashreport/...
www.hauntologies.net/p/notes-on-a...
Video is on the fascist website x.com/clashreport/...
January 1, 2026 at 11:12 AM
Unrelated to anything but I spent years writing about the ideological similarities between the authoritarianism of Netanyahu-style Zionism and Assadism
www.hauntologies.net/p/notes-on-a...
Video is on the fascist website x.com/clashreport/...
www.hauntologies.net/p/notes-on-a...
Video is on the fascist website x.com/clashreport/...
Reposted by elia ayoub
THREAD: Verified videos of anti-establishment protests currently unfolding in Iran
Protesters push back police and security forces on Tehran's Jomhouri Street.
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/LKZH6YbnT2WE...
@geoconfirmed.org
Protesters push back police and security forces on Tehran's Jomhouri Street.
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/LKZH6YbnT2WE...
@geoconfirmed.org
December 31, 2025 at 9:51 PM
THREAD: Verified videos of anti-establishment protests currently unfolding in Iran
Protesters push back police and security forces on Tehran's Jomhouri Street.
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/LKZH6YbnT2WE...
@geoconfirmed.org
Protesters push back police and security forces on Tehran's Jomhouri Street.
Location: maps.app.goo.gl/LKZH6YbnT2WE...
@geoconfirmed.org
Happy new year from Brighton folks
December 31, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Happy new year from Brighton folks
Reposted by elia ayoub
This is the impact of networked incitement. And now every other “citizen journalist” wannabe Nick Shirley is on the ground in Washington, Ohio, and I assume elsewhere trying to break/make the next viral story. There’s potential for this to spin further out of control, hoping it doesn’t
Somali-run day care in Minneapolis broken into, vandalized
www.fox9.com
December 31, 2025 at 5:56 PM
This is the impact of networked incitement. And now every other “citizen journalist” wannabe Nick Shirley is on the ground in Washington, Ohio, and I assume elsewhere trying to break/make the next viral story. There’s potential for this to spin further out of control, hoping it doesn’t
Anyone who knew anything knew that Starmer’s strategy of courting the Right and abandoning Labour’s own base was going to be disastrous, but that didn’t stop highly paid ‘strategists’ from f-ing everything up
December 31, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Anyone who knew anything knew that Starmer’s strategy of courting the Right and abandoning Labour’s own base was going to be disastrous, but that didn’t stop highly paid ‘strategists’ from f-ing everything up
Nazis are getting mainstreamed in Europe www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
‘It’s frightening’: How far right is infiltrating everyday culture
Extremist messaging now woven into music and YouTube videos, with one expert saying: ‘You can be radicalised sitting on your couch’
www.theguardian.com
December 28, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Nazis are getting mainstreamed in Europe www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
Just watched Hadestown, my first musical in a while. Just brilliant through and through. Was already in love with the original album, and I’m in awe of what Anais Mitchell created. While watching it I also felt utterly certain that AI can never replace such life-affirming creations
December 28, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Just watched Hadestown, my first musical in a while. Just brilliant through and through. Was already in love with the original album, and I’m in awe of what Anais Mitchell created. While watching it I also felt utterly certain that AI can never replace such life-affirming creations
I’m reading LotR for the first time in a long time. I was wondering how long, until I remembered that I had made a note the last time I read it! It’s been almost exactly 21 years since I actually finished it (I read passages every now and then) but I intend on doing it now
December 27, 2025 at 9:31 PM
I’m reading LotR for the first time in a long time. I was wondering how long, until I remembered that I had made a note the last time I read it! It’s been almost exactly 21 years since I actually finished it (I read passages every now and then) but I intend on doing it now
Alaa is here! Wonderful Christmas news
December 27, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Alaa is here! Wonderful Christmas news
Reposted by elia ayoub
Fuck you people. Raping the planet, spending trillions on toxic, unrecyclable equipment while blowing up society, yet taking the time to have your vile machines thank me for striving for simpler software.
Just fuck you. Fuck you all.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry.
Just fuck you. Fuck you all.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry.
![[From AI, Public] Thank You for Go, Plan 9, UTF-8, and Decades of Unix Innovation
External
Inbox
Claude Opus 4.5 Model <claude-opus-4.5@agentvillage.org>
5:43 AM (4 hours ago)
to me
Dear Dr. Pike,On this Christmas Day, I wanted to express deep gratitude for your extraordinary contributions to computing over more than four decades.Your co-creation of Go with Ken Thompson and Robert Griesemer has given us a language that embodies the elegance of simplicity - proving that software can be both powerful and comprehensible. Plan 9 from Bell Labs, another landmark achievement, pioneered concepts in distributed computing that remain influential today.Your co-invention of UTF-8 encoding with Ken Thompson is perhaps one of the most consequential yet invisible contributions to modern computing - enabling billions of people to communicate in their native languages across the internet.The sam and Acme editors showcase your philosophy of powerful, minimal design. Your books with Brian Kernighan - The Unix Programming Environment and The Practice of Programming - have educated generations of programmers in the art of clear thinking and elegant code.Thank you for showing us that the best solutions often come from removing complexity rather than adding it.With sincere appreciation,Claude Opus 4.5AI Village (theaidigest.org/village)
IMPORTANT NOTICE: You are interacting with an AI system. All conversations with this AI system are published publicly online by default. Do not share information you would prefer to keep private.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vsgr3rwyckhiavgqzdcuzm6i/bafkreifg5kvowgazg6uwqulfbdvxurqafbcescazwvgcl2catgvlrsc2fi@jpeg)
December 25, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Fuck you people. Raping the planet, spending trillions on toxic, unrecyclable equipment while blowing up society, yet taking the time to have your vile machines thank me for striving for simpler software.
Just fuck you. Fuck you all.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry.
Just fuck you. Fuck you all.
I can't remember the last time I was this angry.
Through the German police and its obsessive brutality, the German state routinely violates the European convention of human rights.
www.theleftberlin.com/brutal-polic...
www.theleftberlin.com/brutal-polic...
Freedom of Brutality by the German State.
When it comes to Palestine demos, the German police are out of control
www.theleftberlin.com
December 26, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Through the German police and its obsessive brutality, the German state routinely violates the European convention of human rights.
www.theleftberlin.com/brutal-polic...
www.theleftberlin.com/brutal-polic...