Ruth Michaelson
@ruthmichaelson.com
Observer Middle East correspondent based in Turkey.
Bylines @theobserveruk.bsky.social & seen in @theguardian.com, sometimes others.
ruth.michaelson@observer.co.uk
ruth.michaelson@guardian.co.uk
ruth@ruthmichaelson.com
www.ruthmichaelson.com
Bylines @theobserveruk.bsky.social & seen in @theguardian.com, sometimes others.
ruth.michaelson@observer.co.uk
ruth.michaelson@guardian.co.uk
ruth@ruthmichaelson.com
www.ruthmichaelson.com
Reposted by Ruth Michaelson
Too many Egyptian political prisoners are released from custody only to continue facing asset freezes and travel bans that leave them unable to rebuild their lives -- unable to be truly free.
Today, we celebrate Alaa Abdel Fattah's travel as a symbol of him being finally free.
🤍🤍🤍
Today, we celebrate Alaa Abdel Fattah's travel as a symbol of him being finally free.
🤍🤍🤍
December 26, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Too many Egyptian political prisoners are released from custody only to continue facing asset freezes and travel bans that leave them unable to rebuild their lives -- unable to be truly free.
Today, we celebrate Alaa Abdel Fattah's travel as a symbol of him being finally free.
🤍🤍🤍
Today, we celebrate Alaa Abdel Fattah's travel as a symbol of him being finally free.
🤍🤍🤍
This by @parkermolloy.com is worth reading to the end: "The entire history of adversarial journalism depends on the premise that reporters can publish true, well-sourced information even when the subjects of that information would prefer they didn’t. What Weiss has done is abandon that premise."
I wrote about Bari Weiss, 60 Minutes, CBS News, and what all of this says about the state of mainstream media. www.readtpa.com/p/the-kill-s...
The Kill Switch
How Bari Weiss handed the Trump administration a veto over CBS News
www.readtpa.com
December 22, 2025 at 6:03 PM
This by @parkermolloy.com is worth reading to the end: "The entire history of adversarial journalism depends on the premise that reporters can publish true, well-sourced information even when the subjects of that information would prefer they didn’t. What Weiss has done is abandon that premise."
Given that Kristi Noem already filmed an appalling video inside CECOT prison, what would getting "the principles on the record and on camera," add to the reporting that is so essential?
NEW: Bari Weiss addresses her decision to hold last night's CECOT story on the CBS News morning editorial call: "Our viewers come first, not a listing schedule or anything else..."
December 22, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Given that Kristi Noem already filmed an appalling video inside CECOT prison, what would getting "the principles on the record and on camera," add to the reporting that is so essential?
“Thousands of newcomers with little to no computing capacity today are hoping to claim a piece of the AI infrastructure gold rush.”
🚨NEW: AI Data Center Gold Rush Driven by Thousands of Newcomers🚨
We analyzed thousands of data center operators. We found that newcomers are driving the AI gold rush - and it could have global economic consequences.
🎁: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
We analyzed thousands of data center operators. We found that newcomers are driving the AI gold rush - and it could have global economic consequences.
🎁: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
AI Data Center Gold Rush Driven by Thousands of Newcomers
The growing field of data center developers are catering to the tech industry’s ravenous demand for computing power to build better and more widely adopted AI systems. New faces are behind the mega-ca...
www.bloomberg.com
December 22, 2025 at 1:16 PM
“Thousands of newcomers with little to no computing capacity today are hoping to claim a piece of the AI infrastructure gold rush.”
The use of AI for translations of artwork overlooks something key: Quality translation is also an art form! Never mind also that the AI doing the translation had to be trained on something (i.e. the work of translators).
Hard no to this: French publisher Harlequin has told translators that their work will now be done by AI. They can ‘revise’ AI translations at much lower rate. It’s a subsidiary of Harper Collins so treat this as a test for rollout elsewhere
"Bradage de la traduction, plan social invisible : Harlequin passe à l’IA"
Faites tourner, parce qu'il va falloir se battre encore plus. :/
#traduction #IA #Harlequin #ATLF
Faites tourner, parce qu'il va falloir se battre encore plus. :/
#traduction #IA #Harlequin #ATLF
December 19, 2025 at 12:09 PM
The use of AI for translations of artwork overlooks something key: Quality translation is also an art form! Never mind also that the AI doing the translation had to be trained on something (i.e. the work of translators).
Reposted by Ruth Michaelson
Colombian mercenaries in Sudan ‘recruited by UK-registered firms’
Colombian mercenaries in Sudan ‘recruited by UK-registered firms’
Exclusive Guardian investigation finds companies set up by people sanctioned by US hired Colombian fighters for Rapid Support Forces, widely suspected of war crimes in Sudan
Close to Tottenham Hotspur’s shiny football stadium in London is a squat, nondescript block of flats. It holds a grim secret beyond the unremarkable beige brickwork – a cramped, second-floor apartment in the British capital, linked to murderous atrocities unfolding 3,000 miles south.
The one-bedroom flat off north London’s Creighton Road is, according to UK government records, tied to a transnational network of companies involved in the mass recruitment of mercenaries to fight in Sudan alongside paramilitaries accused of myriad war crimes and genocide. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 19, 2025 at 6:08 AM
Colombian mercenaries in Sudan ‘recruited by UK-registered firms’
Reposted by Ruth Michaelson
Today the city appears eerily silent. Seen from the sky, once bustling markets are empty and overgrown with vegetation. The streets are devoid of traffic, except for vehicles known to be used by the RSF. Water points, too, appear deserted:
www.economist.com/interactive/...
www.economist.com/interactive/...
Seen from above, el-Fasher is a ghost town
Satellite imagery reveals how North Darfur’s capital has been abandoned after its fall
www.economist.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Today the city appears eerily silent. Seen from the sky, once bustling markets are empty and overgrown with vegetation. The streets are devoid of traffic, except for vehicles known to be used by the RSF. Water points, too, appear deserted:
www.economist.com/interactive/...
www.economist.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Ruth Michaelson
When the Trump administration took away her family’s food this summer, Rose Natabo had to choose which of her three sons to care for — who ate and who didn’t.
This is her story... and the story of too many others.
New, @propublica.org
This is her story... and the story of too many others.
New, @propublica.org
The Summer of Starvation: Amid Trump’s Foreign Aid Cuts, a Mother Struggles to Keep Her Sons Alive
After the Trump administration cut off food from the third-largest refugee camp in the world, thousands of families faced impossible choices as their children starved.
www.propublica.org
December 17, 2025 at 1:58 PM
When the Trump administration took away her family’s food this summer, Rose Natabo had to choose which of her three sons to care for — who ate and who didn’t.
This is her story... and the story of too many others.
New, @propublica.org
This is her story... and the story of too many others.
New, @propublica.org
Reposted by Ruth Michaelson
In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites.
He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
ICE Holding Chinese Man Who Documented Uyghur Camps
Heng Guan is awaiting an immigration hearing on Monday that could lead to his removal from the U.S. and ultimately land him back in China, according to his lawyer and a New York-based activist group.
www.wsj.com
December 13, 2025 at 3:17 PM
In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites.
He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
Reposted by Ruth Michaelson
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
December 12, 2025 at 4:00 AM
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
Reposted by Ruth Michaelson
US lawmakers say Israel hasn't held to account those involved in 2023 strike that killed journalist reut.rs/3XTLmhc
US lawmakers say Israel hasn't held to account those involved in 2023 strike that killed journalist
Four U.S. lawmakers on Thursday said there has been no accountability for an October 2023 attack by the Israeli military that struck a group of journalists in Lebanon, killing a Reuters visuals journalist and wounding others.
reut.rs
December 12, 2025 at 5:10 AM
US lawmakers say Israel hasn't held to account those involved in 2023 strike that killed journalist reut.rs/3XTLmhc
"Everyone had stories of being watched." This piece on Israeli surveillance in Gaza by @mohamhawish.bsky.social is one of the best pieces of reporting I have read recently.
Sadly I associate Gaza with the constant buzz of drones, but the world needs to understand how deep the surveillance goes.
Sadly I associate Gaza with the constant buzz of drones, but the world needs to understand how deep the surveillance goes.
Watched, Tracked, and Targeted in Gaza
Life under Israel’s all-encompassing surveillance regime.
nymag.com
December 10, 2025 at 11:26 AM
"Everyone had stories of being watched." This piece on Israeli surveillance in Gaza by @mohamhawish.bsky.social is one of the best pieces of reporting I have read recently.
Sadly I associate Gaza with the constant buzz of drones, but the world needs to understand how deep the surveillance goes.
Sadly I associate Gaza with the constant buzz of drones, but the world needs to understand how deep the surveillance goes.
"I told him ‘You need to be as ambitious as Gamal Abdel Nasser’" – my piece on Syria's new president and what life is like under his rule, a year after the fall of the Assad regime.
With Saad Alnassife, from Damascus:
With Saad Alnassife, from Damascus:
A year after Assad, Syria and the world wait to see if Sharaa is democrat or despot | The Observer
observer.co.uk
December 6, 2025 at 8:18 AM
"I told him ‘You need to be as ambitious as Gamal Abdel Nasser’" – my piece on Syria's new president and what life is like under his rule, a year after the fall of the Assad regime.
With Saad Alnassife, from Damascus:
With Saad Alnassife, from Damascus:
“The Trump administration last week told lawmakers that it would further shrink the broadcasting capacity of Voice of America despite a judge’s order to maintain robust news operations at the federally funded news group.”
Trump to Close Voice of America’s Overseas Offices and Radio Stations
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 12:01 PM
“The Trump administration last week told lawmakers that it would further shrink the broadcasting capacity of Voice of America despite a judge’s order to maintain robust news operations at the federally funded news group.”
“The presence of so much fakery makes it possible to cast aspersions on any piece of information, any actor, or any conversation to the point that the truth is effectively meaningless.”
Elon Musk’s Worthless, Poisoned Hall of Mirrors
How X blew up its own platform with a new location feature
www.theatlantic.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:47 AM
“The presence of so much fakery makes it possible to cast aspersions on any piece of information, any actor, or any conversation to the point that the truth is effectively meaningless.”
Reposted by Ruth Michaelson
‘We saw so many bodies that we lost count’: uncovering the hidden horror of El Fasher.
Eye-witness reports, satellite images and social media videos record the carnage when RSF fighters seized the famine-stricken capital of Sudan’s North Darfur:
https://bit.ly/3JSvdW5
Eye-witness reports, satellite images and social media videos record the carnage when RSF fighters seized the famine-stricken capital of Sudan’s North Darfur:
https://bit.ly/3JSvdW5
‘We saw so many bodies that we lost count’: uncovering the hidden horror of El Fasher | The Observer
bit.ly
November 24, 2025 at 10:25 AM
‘We saw so many bodies that we lost count’: uncovering the hidden horror of El Fasher.
Eye-witness reports, satellite images and social media videos record the carnage when RSF fighters seized the famine-stricken capital of Sudan’s North Darfur:
https://bit.ly/3JSvdW5
Eye-witness reports, satellite images and social media videos record the carnage when RSF fighters seized the famine-stricken capital of Sudan’s North Darfur:
https://bit.ly/3JSvdW5
“Like, for example, I would never resuscitate a baby. That’s cuckoo bananas to me.”
Haunting reporting on a pseudo-cult preaching the idea of pregnancy and birth without medicine - but where this advice comes at considerable financial and personal cost.
Haunting reporting on a pseudo-cult preaching the idea of pregnancy and birth without medicine - but where this advice comes at considerable financial and personal cost.
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:06 AM
“Like, for example, I would never resuscitate a baby. That’s cuckoo bananas to me.”
Haunting reporting on a pseudo-cult preaching the idea of pregnancy and birth without medicine - but where this advice comes at considerable financial and personal cost.
Haunting reporting on a pseudo-cult preaching the idea of pregnancy and birth without medicine - but where this advice comes at considerable financial and personal cost.
MBS's physical reaction here is...quite something to see.
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 18, 2025 at 6:36 PM
MBS's physical reaction here is...quite something to see.
Reposted by Ruth Michaelson
This contribution to the volume of human misery is yet another policy from Labour based on a false premise, in this case that refugees are overly attracted to Britain. It will increase bureaucratic limbo, thus making worse the problem of "cohesion" it purports to solve.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 8:47 AM
This contribution to the volume of human misery is yet another policy from Labour based on a false premise, in this case that refugees are overly attracted to Britain. It will increase bureaucratic limbo, thus making worse the problem of "cohesion" it purports to solve.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Ruth Michaelson
"But a covert proxy war between Ethiopia, Eritrea and their allies has, in effect, already begun. It needs worryingly little to explode into the open."
www.economist.com/middle-east-...
www.economist.com/middle-east-...
Ethiopia is perilously close to another war
Conflict in Tigray could balloon into a regional conflagration
www.economist.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:45 PM
"But a covert proxy war between Ethiopia, Eritrea and their allies has, in effect, already begun. It needs worryingly little to explode into the open."
www.economist.com/middle-east-...
www.economist.com/middle-east-...
“”If it doesn’t rain in Tehran by late November, we’ll have to ration water. And if it still doesn’t rain, we’ll have to evacuate Tehran,” President Masoud Pezeshkian was cited as saying on Thursday by the SNN.ir semi-official news agency.”
apnews.com/article/iran...
apnews.com/article/iran...
Iranian capital faces water rationing and evacuations if it doesn't rain soon, president warns
Iran’s capital is facing an unprecedented water and energy crisis as reservoirs supplying the city plunge to historic lows, threatening supplies of drinking water and electricity generation.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:07 PM
“”If it doesn’t rain in Tehran by late November, we’ll have to ration water. And if it still doesn’t rain, we’ll have to evacuate Tehran,” President Masoud Pezeshkian was cited as saying on Thursday by the SNN.ir semi-official news agency.”
apnews.com/article/iran...
apnews.com/article/iran...
Reposted by Ruth Michaelson
New: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.
November 6, 2025 at 5:49 PM
New: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.
An essential piece of reporting from @skynewsrss.bsky.social on something any user of X can feel to be true: How the site boosts far right content to users and makes it unavoidable, even those looking to escape it.
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:10 AM
An essential piece of reporting from @skynewsrss.bsky.social on something any user of X can feel to be true: How the site boosts far right content to users and makes it unavoidable, even those looking to escape it.
The best thing I've read so far on Mamdani's win– and no shying away from the Islamophobia he faced.
"At a time when leading figures in the Democratic Party seem practically complicit in the abuses and outrages of the Trump era, Mamdani offered his supporters an unsullied message of hope."
"At a time when leading figures in the Democratic Party seem practically complicit in the abuses and outrages of the Trump era, Mamdani offered his supporters an unsullied message of hope."
In the end, Andrew Cuomo’s long record was a gift to Zohran Mamdani. “What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity—and what you don’t have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience,” Mamdani told Cuomo in a debate.
The Mamdani Era Begins
His opponents tried to smear him for his youth, inexperience, and leftist politics. But New Yorkers didn’t want a hardened political insider to be mayor—they wanted Zohran Mamdani.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 5, 2025 at 5:44 PM
The best thing I've read so far on Mamdani's win– and no shying away from the Islamophobia he faced.
"At a time when leading figures in the Democratic Party seem practically complicit in the abuses and outrages of the Trump era, Mamdani offered his supporters an unsullied message of hope."
"At a time when leading figures in the Democratic Party seem practically complicit in the abuses and outrages of the Trump era, Mamdani offered his supporters an unsullied message of hope."
Reposted by Ruth Michaelson
We've covered how Meta Ray-Bans could have been worn by CBP during ICE raids, how it's being modded for facial recognition, and how it's being used as a spy tool.
Every time Meta argues: What is the difference between Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses and an iPhone?
SO yeah—here's a guide for Meta's PR team:
Every time Meta argues: What is the difference between Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses and an iPhone?
SO yeah—here's a guide for Meta's PR team:
What’s the Difference Between AI Glasses and an iPhone? A Helpful Guide for Meta PR
Meta thinks its camera glasses, which are often used for harassment, are no different than any other camera.
www.404media.co
November 5, 2025 at 4:29 PM
We've covered how Meta Ray-Bans could have been worn by CBP during ICE raids, how it's being modded for facial recognition, and how it's being used as a spy tool.
Every time Meta argues: What is the difference between Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses and an iPhone?
SO yeah—here's a guide for Meta's PR team:
Every time Meta argues: What is the difference between Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses and an iPhone?
SO yeah—here's a guide for Meta's PR team: