James Ryan

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.

4.8K followers1.9K following3.4K posts

James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

Islamophobia 2.0 really exposes how phony the intellectual pose of Islamophobia 1.0 was.

The Bulwark@thebulwark.com

RFK: "There's five hundred million Arabs in the world. And yet they don't produce science. They don't win the Nobel Prize. They don't win the Fields Prize. They don't win the Wolf Prize. They don't produce literature."

James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

Guys like Sam Harris and Dan Pipes spent decades laundering their base prejudices into academic credentials and arguments serious enough to get smart lay people to listen to them. Real waste of time, it turns out.

James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

And yeah, RFK Jr. isn’t even trying here, obviously. bsky.app/profile/soum...

Soumya Rangarajan, MD, MPP@soumya-goblue.bsky.social

• Ahmed Zewail (Egypt / US): Won 1999 Nobel Prize in #Chemistry • Nader Masmoudi (Tunisia): Won Fermat Prize in #mathematics • Abbas Bahri (Tunisia): also received the Fermat Prize • Sir Michael Atiyah (Lebanese descent / British): #mathematician who won both Fields Medal and Abel Prize.

James Ryan reposted

Shibley Telhami
@stelhami.bsky.social

A commission of United Nations human rights experts said on Monday that Israel was committing genocidal acts against Palestinian civilians in Gaza despite a cease-fire agreement there and carrying out crimes against humanity in the West Bank. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/26/w...

nytimes.comIsrael Has Committed Genocidal Acts in Gaza Since Cease-Fire, U.N. Human Rights Panel SaysThe panel also accuses Israel of committing crimes against humanity in the West Bank. Israel condemned the report.

James Ryan reposted

Sam Heller | سام هيلر
@abujamajem.com

Former Mossad chief says that in June 2025, Israel deliberately fanned Iranian government fears of Israeli infiltrators to provoke mass-scale crackdown in order to camouflage actual Israeli agents among thousands of uninvolved Iranian detainees: www.ynetnews.com/article/sjkr...

ynetnews.comEx-Mossad chief reveals how Israel protected agents in Iran, engineered Hezbollah pager attacksDavid Barnea says Mossad deliberately publicized its operations inside Iran to overwhelm security forces with arrests, while hundreds of tests preceded the explosive pager operation against Hezbollah
James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

What is the opposite of an internationalist?

brent 🌹🗽@therealbrent.bsky.social

Yes well it does require things like “empathy” and possessing a basic understanding that all of our lives are interconnected

James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

NYC—come on through for this event next week!! We’ll talk human rights, war and revolution, and probably some reactions from whatever happens on election night.

Middle East Research and Information Project@merip.bsky.social

LIVE EVENT: Join MERIP contributors Ervand Abrahamian, Heba Gowayed (@hebagowayed.bsky.social), Gabriel Young, Jillian Schwedler (@jillianschwedler.bsk.social) & James Ryan (@jdryan08.bsky.social) at Roosevelt House 11/4 @ 6PM to discuss Human Rights in the Middle East. buff.ly/Zpwr0vf

buff.lyHuman Rights and the New Regional Order in the Middle East/SWANANovember 4, 2026 @ 6PM, Roosevelt House, 47-49 E. 65th Street, New York, NY
James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social
Adam Schwarz@adamjschwarz.bsky.social

Flávio Bolsonaro refuses to concede Brazil's presidential election and will ask for the result to be annulled: "It is impossible to recognise the election results... We are going to ask for the annulment of these elections!"

James Ryan reposted

Brendan Cantwell
@cantb.bsky.social

“does a state school have a special responsibility to provide cut-rate beds to everyone who wants one?” Thats the central question in this story and it’s the wrong thing to ask. Why? www.nytimes.com/2026/10/25/b...

nytimes.comPublic Colleges Are Passing the $50,000-a-Year Mark. For Locals. (Gift Article)At the University of California campuses in Berkeley, Irvine and Santa Barbara, students get an unwitting education in navigating the housing market.
James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

The irony of the film is the titular question is remarkably easy to answer, and yet despite that fact, the case is still “unsolved” by the FBI 41 years later. The perps all live free today—one on parole after serving 20 years for a different Kahanist murder, two in illegal West Bank settlements.

James Ryan reposted

Middle East Research and Information Project
@merip.bsky.social

MERIP has joined 119 civil society and media organizations in condemning the Egyptian government's prosecution of Lina Attalah, editor in chief of Mada Masr, a bastion of independent media in Egypt. See the full statement and signatories in English and Arabic on our website: buff.ly/tjA9wtG

buff.lyMERIP Signs Statement In Support of Lina Attalah and Mada MasrDear Friends and Comrades, MERIP’s Board of Directors has joined the list of 119 civil society and media organizations to condemn an unprecedented attack on Lina Attalah, editor in chief of the…

James Ryan reposted

Senator Chris Van Hollen
@vanhollen.senate.gov

Less than a month after arresting the entire Matsadaash newsroom, the Egyptian govt has now filed baseless charges against the editor-in-chief of Mada Masr, continuing their largest crackdown in years.   This assault on the free press must end NOW. Journalism is not a crime.

James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

Proud of our organization for standing up for the essential work Lina Attalah and Mada Masr have been doing for more than a decade.

Middle East Research and Information Project@merip.bsky.social

MERIP has joined 119 civil society and media organizations in condemning the Egyptian government's prosecution of Lina Attalah, editor in chief of Mada Masr, a bastion of independent media in Egypt. See the full statement and signatories in English and Arabic on our website: buff.ly/tjA9wtG

buff.lyMERIP Signs Statement In Support of Lina Attalah and Mada MasrDear Friends and Comrades, MERIP’s Board of Directors has joined the list of 119 civil society and media organizations to condemn an unprecedented attack on Lina Attalah, editor in chief of the…
James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

Murat Metinsoy’s magnificent “The Power of the People” — a groundbreaking study of popular resistance and “infrapolitics” in Turkey under Atatürk is now out in a Turkish translation (and I think updated?). www.kitapyurdu.com/kitap/halkin...

kitapyurdu.comHalkın Gücü & Modern Türkiye'nin Oluşumunda Gündelik Direniş ve MuhalefetHalkın Gücü & Modern Türkiye'nin Oluşumunda Gündelik Direniş ve Muhalefet - KOÇ ÜNİVERSİTESİ YAYINLARI - Murat Metinsoy - Türkiye’nin si
James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

It is an absolute shame that among the many hundreds of public figures persecuted by Erdoğan, this clown has more truck in US media than Selahattin Demirtaş or Osman Kavala or so many others who are actually invested in fighting for democracy.

James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

The thing about this that gets me is he sounds like a 7th grade social studies teacher. Palestinians of course face far worse, but the point is if normies like Lander don’t stand up for them, the fascists will come for them next.

Brad Lander@bradlander.bsky.social

I’ve been released from IDF custody with a “warning,” apparently because of my public profile (I told them I wasn’t even a congressmember yet, just a nominee). But several dozen rabbis & participants harvesting olives with me are still in detention.

James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

The PKK disarmed itself unilaterally earlier this year and Turkish democracy is only getting more theoretical as a result.

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James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

I, personally, am an advocate for nonviolence. I would prefer positive change happen that way. I am also a historian and, well, history is more complicated.

James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

We talk a lot about the Palestine exception, but the case of the AHA is one where it’s really a misnomer. Creating the exception there has led it to extending those restrictive and censorious policies across the whole organization. Truly shameful conduct.

Stacy Fahrenthold@sfahrenthold.bsky.social

In this explosive follow up to the story about the American Historical Association's use of DC lobbyists to silence AHA member Palestine advocacy, we have this: AHA is conducting a witchhunt of its Council. Loyalty oaths. Lawyers. Threats. Authoritarian behavior. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

chronicle.comOpinion | The AHA Goes BallisticIn response to internal leaks, the scholarly organization spies on members and imposes loyalty oaths.

James Ryan reposted

Shibley Telhami
@stelhami.bsky.social

The bold thing about this from the point of view of Netanyahu is the level of ambition. Israel and the UAE combined have a citizen population of fewer than 12 million. Iran and territories controlled by its allies have over 120 million. Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan and KSA have a half a billion.

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James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

One thing I think is important about El Sayed’s response to that question is that while Tommy is obviously a bad faith actor, plenty of people believe these things in good faith and responses like that can actually puncture some of that bias. AES’ situation is unfair, but no less important for it.

James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

To elaborate a bit, I think there are conservative Christians who have these irrational fears and disabusing them of these fears is one way to drive a wedge between them and the Christian Nationalists like Tommy.

James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

I might take some issue with @cantb.bsky.social on the cost-sustainability issue. I’d say it is only so in relation to state budgets, but higher ed spending is small in the federal budget and I don’t see why we couldn’t sustain much larger federal investments.

James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

I’m also struck by the explanation here of why IDCs on federal grants are so high—leads me to think there’s a possibility that research funding is going to move outside the academy more and more…

James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

Another one in the file of every accusation being a confession…

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social

SCOOP: 'Tommy' from the now-viral exchange with Abdul El-Sayed is Thomas Teepell, a former staffer for Republican Senator Josh Hawley with close ties to Christian Nationalist Sean Feucht. He's the son of a former Bobby Jindal staffer whose consultant work was instrumental in getting Hawley elected.

thehandbasket.co'Tommy' from viral El-Sayed video is former Sen. Hawley staffer with Christian nationalist tiesThomas Teepell is the son of a former long-time Bobby Jindal staffer who's close to Sean Feucht.
James Ryan
@jdryan08.bsky.social

It’s absolutely true. A world class hater. His geography takes in Innocents Abroad are fireballs straight from hell.

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