James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social
Executive Director, Middle East Research and Information Project (www.merip.org | @merip.bsky.social). Adjuncting at Rowan University. Historian interested in Turkey, Prodigal Son of Philadelphia. Usual caveats.
Reposted by James Ryan
From Hamdan Ballal, co-director of last year’s Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land.” This is happening now.
February 16, 2026 at 1:26 AM
From Hamdan Ballal, co-director of last year’s Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land.” This is happening now.
Reposted by James Ryan
In a guest lecture last night, I got asked about the future of research funding. And I talked about the reality that we likely need to have an entirely new orientation to the political economy of research.
February 14, 2026 at 5:04 PM
In a guest lecture last night, I got asked about the future of research funding. And I talked about the reality that we likely need to have an entirely new orientation to the political economy of research.
Reposted by James Ryan
If you've seen me post about the Block The Bombs Act before, you should know this Action Network link will let you send a pre-written (but editable) letter to your House rep urging them to cosponsor.
Block the Bombs to Israel!
Join me in asking your Member of Congress to support H.R.3565, the Block the Bombs Act. This bill would prevent the Trump administration from delivering weapons to Israel to inflict genocide against P...
actionnetwork.org
February 13, 2026 at 3:37 AM
If you've seen me post about the Block The Bombs Act before, you should know this Action Network link will let you send a pre-written (but editable) letter to your House rep urging them to cosponsor.
Reposted by James Ryan
SUPPORT MERIP: All of our work, including our new issue, "Reconstruction and Ruin" as well as our entire archive, is free to the public. Help us keep it that way by making a one-time or recurring donation to MERIP today!
Donate
SUPPORT MERIP'S CRITICAL WORK BY DONATING For 50 years, MERIP has published critical analysis of Middle Eastern politics, history, and social justice not available in other publications. Our articles…
buff.ly
February 12, 2026 at 11:35 PM
SUPPORT MERIP: All of our work, including our new issue, "Reconstruction and Ruin" as well as our entire archive, is free to the public. Help us keep it that way by making a one-time or recurring donation to MERIP today!
Reposted by James Ryan
It would be embarrassing under any circumstances to spend a year on this reactionary horseshit, but to have spent the year in which graduate students were sent to concentration camps for op-eds and the federal govt launched a no hold barred attack on academic freedom is just beyond
February 13, 2026 at 1:46 AM
It would be embarrassing under any circumstances to spend a year on this reactionary horseshit, but to have spent the year in which graduate students were sent to concentration camps for op-eds and the federal govt launched a no hold barred attack on academic freedom is just beyond
I read the piece on Mellon and it’s so very wrongheaded about every very real and serious issue it’s addressing.
The Atlantic is Atlanticking extremely hard this morning
February 13, 2026 at 1:25 AM
I read the piece on Mellon and it’s so very wrongheaded about every very real and serious issue it’s addressing.
Fascinating conversation on tracking destruction in Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere via satellite imagery.
NEW in MER 317: "Mapping Destruction--A Conversation with Jamon Van Den Hoek of Conflict Ecology"
Issue editor Deen Sharp interviewed the Conflict Ecology Director on his lab's methods, the politics of satellite access, and measuring the scale of destruction in Gaza and beyond.
Issue editor Deen Sharp interviewed the Conflict Ecology Director on his lab's methods, the politics of satellite access, and measuring the scale of destruction in Gaza and beyond.
Mapping Destruction—A Conversation with Jamon Van Den Hoek of Conflict Ecology
Changing scales of conflict and advances in satellite imagery are reshaping how damage is assessed.
buff.ly
February 12, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Fascinating conversation on tracking destruction in Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere via satellite imagery.
This piece from Iman Ali is so rich, and gets at the profound challenges faced by the Shi’i community in Lebanon at this moment.
NEW in MER 317: "Repair Amid Ongoing Ruination--Rebuilding the Dahiyeh Once More"
Iman Ali has been researching in the Shi'i neighborhoods of the Dahiyeh, and compares the enormous challenges of reconstruction with the wake of the 2006 war.
Iman Ali has been researching in the Shi'i neighborhoods of the Dahiyeh, and compares the enormous challenges of reconstruction with the wake of the 2006 war.
Repair Amid Ongoing Ruination—Rebuilding Dahiyeh Once More
Standing beside a destroyed building in Dahiyeh in September 2025, a fruit seller said to me, “I want to bring Naim Qassem [Hizballah’s new secretary general] here. I want to show him the damage. Our…
buff.ly
February 12, 2026 at 4:54 PM
This piece from Iman Ali is so rich, and gets at the profound challenges faced by the Shi’i community in Lebanon at this moment.
This piece does a fantastic job of capturing the scale and stakes of urban reconstruction in Mosul and Damascus.
NEW in MER 317: "The Struggle for the City--Urban Recovery and Dispossession in Mosul and Damascus"
Craig Larkin reports from the ground in two cities that have witnessed extensive devastation, interviewing residents about the uneven processes and prospects of reconstruction.
Craig Larkin reports from the ground in two cities that have witnessed extensive devastation, interviewing residents about the uneven processes and prospects of reconstruction.
The Struggle for the City—Urban Recovery and Dispossession in Mosul and Damascus
A walk through the old city of Mosul, Iraq, reveals an urban landscape still scarred by the violence of war and transfigured by ongoing reconstruction. Rubble-lined narrow streets give way to…
buff.ly
February 11, 2026 at 9:52 PM
This piece does a fantastic job of capturing the scale and stakes of urban reconstruction in Mosul and Damascus.
Great on-the-ground coverage of a central Khartoum neighborhood in the midst of the war.
NEW in MER 317: "Burri Under Siege--How War Remade Everyday Life in a Sudanese Neighborhood"
Niema Alhessen spoke with residents of the Khartoum neighborhood that has been remade as a warscape following the end of a siege in March 2025.
Niema Alhessen spoke with residents of the Khartoum neighborhood that has been remade as a warscape following the end of a siege in March 2025.
Burri Under Siege—How War Remade Everyday Life in a Sudanese Neighborhood
In March 2025, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) retook key areas of eastern, central and southern Khartoum. Their advance ended the Rapid Support Force’s (RSF) two-year siege of Burri—a neighborhood…
buff.ly
February 11, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Great on-the-ground coverage of a central Khartoum neighborhood in the midst of the war.
Reposted by James Ryan
NEW in MER 317: "Rebuilding Gaza from the Ground Up"
Issue editor Hannah Sender speaks with Minerva Fadel, founding volunteer at Architects for Gaza, on the challenges of reconstruction faced by Gazans in the wake of genocide.
Issue editor Hannah Sender speaks with Minerva Fadel, founding volunteer at Architects for Gaza, on the challenges of reconstruction faced by Gazans in the wake of genocide.
Rebuilding Gaza from the Ground Up
An Interview with Minerva Fadel of Architects for Gaza
buff.ly
February 11, 2026 at 5:00 PM
NEW in MER 317: "Rebuilding Gaza from the Ground Up"
Issue editor Hannah Sender speaks with Minerva Fadel, founding volunteer at Architects for Gaza, on the challenges of reconstruction faced by Gazans in the wake of genocide.
Issue editor Hannah Sender speaks with Minerva Fadel, founding volunteer at Architects for Gaza, on the challenges of reconstruction faced by Gazans in the wake of genocide.
Our new issue is up! It includes on-the-ground perspectives from Khartoum, the Dahiyeh, Damascus, Mosul and elsewhere, demonstrating how the politics of war are often continued through reconstruction.
NEW: "Reconstruction and Ruin" the Winter 2025 Issue of Middle East Report is now live!
This issue captures the challenges facing ordinary people in the Middle East as the warfare politics of dispossession and division continue amidst efforts to rebuild urban landscapes.
This issue captures the challenges facing ordinary people in the Middle East as the warfare politics of dispossession and division continue amidst efforts to rebuild urban landscapes.
Reconstruction and Ruin
Winter 2025
buff.ly
February 11, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Our new issue is up! It includes on-the-ground perspectives from Khartoum, the Dahiyeh, Damascus, Mosul and elsewhere, demonstrating how the politics of war are often continued through reconstruction.
Reposted by James Ryan
Andras Riedlmayer, art historian at Harvard's Aga Khan program, has passed away. A great loss for Ottoman Balkan history. 🖤 Among many feats, Andras testified about the deliberate destruction of religious and cultural sites in the 1990s wars in Bosnia and Kosovo humanrights.uconn.edu/icty-digital...
The Andras Riedlmayer Collection | Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute
The Andras Riedlmayer CollectionIntroduction to the Andras Riedlmayer Collection Southeastern Europe has long served as a cultural intersection, where major ...
humanrights.uconn.edu
February 10, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Andras Riedlmayer, art historian at Harvard's Aga Khan program, has passed away. A great loss for Ottoman Balkan history. 🖤 Among many feats, Andras testified about the deliberate destruction of religious and cultural sites in the 1990s wars in Bosnia and Kosovo humanrights.uconn.edu/icty-digital...
Reposted by James Ryan
Removal proceedings against Turkish PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk FINALLY terminated.
Trump officials, especially Rubio, said Öztürk was a security threat. They knew they had no evidence. They were testing the waters.
Öztürk co-wrote an op-ed and was snatched off the street for it.
Geçmiş olsun
Trump officials, especially Rubio, said Öztürk was a security threat. They knew they had no evidence. They were testing the waters.
Öztürk co-wrote an op-ed and was snatched off the street for it.
Geçmiş olsun
An immigration court dropped its case against Turkish graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, a little less than a year after federal agents arrested her on a street near Tufts University
Immigration Court Drops Case Against Tufts Student Rumeysa Ozturk
The Turkish national had been arrested by plainclothes federal officers outside her apartment.
on.wsj.com
February 10, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Removal proceedings against Turkish PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk FINALLY terminated.
Trump officials, especially Rubio, said Öztürk was a security threat. They knew they had no evidence. They were testing the waters.
Öztürk co-wrote an op-ed and was snatched off the street for it.
Geçmiş olsun
Trump officials, especially Rubio, said Öztürk was a security threat. They knew they had no evidence. They were testing the waters.
Öztürk co-wrote an op-ed and was snatched off the street for it.
Geçmiş olsun
Reposted by James Ryan
New definition of sovereignty dropped
February 10, 2026 at 1:43 PM
New definition of sovereignty dropped
Reposted by James Ryan
Receiving reports of a harsh crackdown on protesting students at Boğaziçi today.
Boğaziçi Üniversitesi abluka altında
Kulüp odalarının Hisar Kampüsü’ne taşınmasına karşı öğrencilerin yapmak istediği eyleme polis biber gazıyla müdahale etti.
buff.ly/iJ5eEsd
Kulüp odalarının Hisar Kampüsü’ne taşınmasına karşı öğrencilerin yapmak istediği eyleme polis biber gazıyla müdahale etti.
buff.ly/iJ5eEsd
February 9, 2026 at 3:24 PM
Receiving reports of a harsh crackdown on protesting students at Boğaziçi today.
Reposted by James Ryan
Reposted by James Ryan
This Super Bowl Sunday, I’d like to introduce you all to the magical curse bowls used in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria in late antiquity. Written in Mandaic (as here) or Syriac Aramaic, they trap demons who trespass on a household by sucking them in with spiraling spells to the center of the bowl.
February 8, 2026 at 2:28 PM
This Super Bowl Sunday, I’d like to introduce you all to the magical curse bowls used in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria in late antiquity. Written in Mandaic (as here) or Syriac Aramaic, they trap demons who trespass on a household by sucking them in with spiraling spells to the center of the bowl.
Reposted by James Ryan
Just a reminder that the last time the Patriots were in the Super Bowl the @philadelphiaeagles.bsky.social backup QB beat them. Stay tuned to Thai account tonight for more petty facts from a petty Eagles fan.
February 8, 2026 at 11:54 PM
Just a reminder that the last time the Patriots were in the Super Bowl the @philadelphiaeagles.bsky.social backup QB beat them. Stay tuned to Thai account tonight for more petty facts from a petty Eagles fan.
Reposted by James Ryan
It's always easy to just ask that people give money to something, but if you read my feed you should definitely be reading MERIP pieces. They're where I learn so much.
February 8, 2026 at 1:57 AM
It's always easy to just ask that people give money to something, but if you read my feed you should definitely be reading MERIP pieces. They're where I learn so much.
Reposted by James Ryan
Thread below by James is a wonderful read— if you get to the end you'll learn that MERIP managed to have one of their busiest years ever last year on just a budget of $70,000.
For such quality work that's astonishing, and you should consider donating so they can have an even larger output in 2026.
For such quality work that's astonishing, and you should consider donating so they can have an even larger output in 2026.
February 8, 2026 at 1:55 AM
Thread below by James is a wonderful read— if you get to the end you'll learn that MERIP managed to have one of their busiest years ever last year on just a budget of $70,000.
For such quality work that's astonishing, and you should consider donating so they can have an even larger output in 2026.
For such quality work that's astonishing, and you should consider donating so they can have an even larger output in 2026.
MERIP has a long, storied history in independent media and Middle East Studies. When I took charge nearly two years ago, the org had made some shrewd decisions to try and wade through a challenging environment of the late-teens/early 2020s. We closed the DC office in 2017 and went virtual. 1/
I really can't emphasize enough that this is one of the most important periodicals/projects and it deserves far more support than it gets.
SUPPORT MERIP: We rely on the support of our readers to publish all of our content without paywalls. If you value independent research and analysis on the Middle East, please consider a donation today!
February 8, 2026 at 1:34 AM
MERIP has a long, storied history in independent media and Middle East Studies. When I took charge nearly two years ago, the org had made some shrewd decisions to try and wade through a challenging environment of the late-teens/early 2020s. We closed the DC office in 2017 and went virtual. 1/
Reposted by James Ryan
I'll add more over time to the extent that I can. In the meantime if you aren't really a *book* reader, please check out @merip.bsky.social
OK, *ongoing* thread of books to read on Palestine. Some recent, some not at all so recent.
I’ve been thinking on this as I read more. Also how the settlers trigger response that the army uses to validate excessive force.
Also, I’ve concluded 100 Year War on Palestine. Do you have other suggestions for reading? If you don’t mind. I’d actually love a thread if you do. Not that you have to.
Also, I’ve concluded 100 Year War on Palestine. Do you have other suggestions for reading? If you don’t mind. I’d actually love a thread if you do. Not that you have to.
February 7, 2026 at 1:22 AM
I'll add more over time to the extent that I can. In the meantime if you aren't really a *book* reader, please check out @merip.bsky.social
Demonstrative of the higher ed funding crisis post-2008: if it’s necessary to accompany billionaires to pedo-island to keep the lights on at your college, then you really are in deep trouble.
BREAKING: Bard College President Leon Botstein’s name appears in the Epstein files more than 2,500 times, including arranging travel to Epstein’s island and hosting a visit with “girls” on campus…
As a Bard student parent, I demand Leon Botstein’s immediate removal.
As a Bard student parent, I demand Leon Botstein’s immediate removal.
February 7, 2026 at 6:22 PM
Demonstrative of the higher ed funding crisis post-2008: if it’s necessary to accompany billionaires to pedo-island to keep the lights on at your college, then you really are in deep trouble.