Agnostic Pessimist
scandired.bsky.social
Agnostic Pessimist
@scandired.bsky.social
Northern European with a recreational obsession with geopolitics. Esp. Oman/GCC/Arab Gulf/Yemen, Palestine-Israel, MENA, European rightward lurch, imperialism old and new, racism at home and abroad, in that order.

Medical student on the side.
Cathartic analysis by @nathalietocci.bsky.social, among so much Euro-pessimism, vague statements and sanewashing. The optics of LatAm courage to stand up to Trump over Madure vs. European cowardice feels similar to Brazil's ability to prosecute Bolsonaro vs. US' inability to do so with Trump.
January 17, 2026 at 7:38 PM
I've been thinking about for the last few years: Norway likes to think of itself as somehow special, and EU scepticism is a bit of s defsult position for the public, but I'm not sure how feasible it is for NO to sit outside of EU going forward in this environment.
Trump vows tariffs on eight European nations over Greenland
Trump said additional 10% import tariffs would take effect on February 1 on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Britain, and they would rise to 25% in Jun...
www.reuters.com
January 17, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
This is the argument of slave owners. If we free them they will kill us all. It’s like the ghosts of Haiti and the US South mixed in with South African Apartheid, which that man is clearly still a fan of. He never evolved beyond any of this shit.
January 10, 2026 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
Small peeve: Punditry (or GOP boosterism) that pretends Greenland would be the 51st state.

Of course it wouldn't. We bought the Virgin Islands from Denmark a century ago. More than 2x the population of Greenland. It's a territory, and its citizens don't have voting DC reps. Neither would Greenland.
January 16, 2026 at 3:12 PM
Listened to an MEI podcast interview with Ken Pollack about "US' options in Iran" until I had to stop for fear of losing my sanity. Attacking oil infra was last in line because "that could impact the US".
January 15, 2026 at 7:39 PM
The horsemen of the apocalypse are riding across the sky tonight and it fills me with dread. I fear that much in the next decade can ultimately be traced back to this.
January 14, 2026 at 9:48 PM
DK FM: "we agree with the Americans that we need to talk about together to determine how much we disagree"
January 14, 2026 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
These people are terrifying and genocidal through and through

x.com/aaronbastani...
January 14, 2026 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
I think of data centers as modern Moai heads that can actually talk and convince us to keep building more and more of them until our civilization collapses.
January 14, 2026 at 8:20 AM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
Lists of Jews?

LISTS OF JEWS???
January 14, 2026 at 3:57 AM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
🔴 Gaza Health Ministry Director-General: At least 24 people in Gaza have died from extreme cold and collapsing shelters, including 3 deaths yesterday & a child, bringing the number of children killed by exposure to seven (it has since risen to 8).

The humanitarian crisis is worsening fast. While...
January 13, 2026 at 11:53 PM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
This is what the IRGC and Basij crackdown looks like on the ground in Iran, chasing protesters through alleys, firing at them from behind. Footage reportedly from January 4 shows the brutality firsthand. Thousands are already reported killed, even more wounded, with the real toll likely higher.
January 12, 2026 at 9:58 PM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
“[B]ehind the scenes, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar are telling the White House that an attempt to topple the Iranian regime would rattle oil markets and ultimately hurt the U.S. economy, according to Arab Gulf officials. Most of all, they fear the blowback at home.”
Iran’s Gulf Rivals Warn U.S. Against Strike on Iran
Saudi Arabia is leading the charge to persuade Washington not to intervene.
www.wsj.com
January 13, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
+3k dead (let alone +10k) is insane. In the darkest days of Houla, Bayda, Banyas and Aleppo i do not think the Baath reached these numbers in a 1 week timeframe
January 13, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
The new season of the Middle East Political Science Podcast launches today with Rana Khoury’s new boom on international aid and changing modes of activism in Syria’s long war. Listen here and dig into the liner notes!

abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/internationa...
International Aid in Syria's War
I'm delighted to announce the launch of the fifteenth (!) season of the Middle East Political Science Podcast! For over a decade, I've been hosting authors of new books and articles in the field to ta...
abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io
January 13, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
This CBS interview is an incredible a psychological profile of this man. He is incredibly open about his egotism, showing absolutely no remorse about encouraging people to risk their lives while he risks nothing
January 13, 2026 at 5:47 AM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
No EU-level entity has managed to organize one boycott or sanction against Israel for over 2 years of genocide, decades of colonization, apartheid, and occupation, against the Palestinians, but in only a matter of days they are able to do this
January 13, 2026 at 5:54 AM
Reposted by Agnostic Pessimist
Interesting analysis on Oman's view of the latest Yemen developments by my friend Farea Al-Muslimi

www.chathamhouse.org/2026/01/oman...
Oman, eastern Yemen, and the fragile geometry of neutrality
Yemen’s neighbour has learned the painful lesson that neutrality in the conflict next door offers no immunity, only the hope of containment.
www.chathamhouse.org
January 11, 2026 at 9:10 AM