iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Akil N Awan

The Conflict, Violence & Terrorism Research Centre (CVTRC) @cvtrc.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

The CVTRC is excited to welcome @jasonburke2.bsky.social (Guardian) to Royal Holloway this Wednesday for his talk: 'The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists who Hijacked the 1970s’ chaired by CVTRC Senior Fellow, Prof Daniel Beer. 📆11 Feb, 4:15-5:30pm in Shilling Lecture Theatre

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Rutger Bregman @rutgerbregman.com · 25/11/2025

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture. They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

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The Conflict, Violence & Terrorism Research Centre (CVTRC) @cvtrc.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

We're excited to welcome Prof Dan Hicks @profdanhicks.bsky.social to Royal Holloway tomorrow for his talk: ‘Every Monument Will Fall: A Story of Remembering and Forgetting’, chaired by CVTRC Senior Fellow Dr Patrick Doyle. Attendance is open to all. 📆25 Nov, 5:15-6:30pm in Shilling Lecture Theatre

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The Conflict, Violence & Terrorism Research Centre (CVTRC) @cvtrc.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

We're excited to welcome Dr Matthew Ford @warmatters.bsky.social to Royal Holloway next week to talk on: 'War in the Smartphone Age: Conflict, Connectivity & the Crises at Our Fingertips' chaired by CVTRC Snr Fellow @benoloughlin.bsky.social 📆16 Oct, 5:15-6:30pm in Shilling Lecture Theatre

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John Horgan @johnhorgan.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Oh yeah :-) Thanks @akilnawan.bsky.social for this amazing volume of work. Looking forward to diving in!

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The Conflict, Violence & Terrorism Research Centre (CVTRC) @cvtrc.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

📣 The CVTRC is pleased to announce a 1-day Symposium on 'Popular Culture and World Politics: Portraying War, Conflict & Political Violence'. Full Programme below 📆 24/07/25 at Stewart House, London. If you would like to attend, please get in touch: akil.awan@rhul.ac.uk

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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

Decades of mechanistic talk about university degrees as if they were bundles of 'skills' and 'prep' are about to be proved completely wrong (obviously). Want to get a real boost? Do History or English.

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John Horgan @johnhorgan.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

The new book from @rikpeels.bsky.social and I comes out 19 August. The eager beavers among you can access it online now. More information, along with table of contents from our amazing contributors, available here: academic.oup.com/book/60542?s...

academic.oup.com

Conceptualizing Extreme Beliefs and Behaviors: Definitions and Relations

Abstract. This book explores challenging conceptual issues in defining, analyzing, conceptualizing, and operationalizing notions such as extremism, radical

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The Conflict, Violence & Terrorism Research Centre (CVTRC) @cvtrc.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

📣 Deadline extended📣 Due to popular request, the submission deadline for the Symposium on: 'Popular Culture and World Politics: Portraying War, Conflict, & Political Violence' has been extended to Wed 25 June. 📅 The symposium will be held on 24/07/25 at Stewart House, London

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Elizabeth Pearson @lizzypearson.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Registration for the @socterres.bsky.social 17th Intl Conference closes a week today! Join us at @royalholloway.bsky.social's beautiful Egham Campus, near LHR ✈️ for two days of cutting edge research on terrorism and political violence. 7-8 July. 🔜 👇 @akilnawan.bsky.social @dasilvajr.bsky.social

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Akil N Awan @akilnawan.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Better late than never. 1100+ Israeli academics urge Heads of Israeli universities to "mobilize the full weight of Israeli academia to stop the war in Gaza", acknowledging "a horrifying litany of war crimes and even crimes against humanity, all of our own doing." drive.google.com/file/d/1BeAn...

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Society for Terrorism Research (STR) @socterres.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

We are happy to announce that Professor Charlotte Heath-Kelly has been confirmed as a closing Keynote Speaker for the 17th Annual International Conference of the Society for Terrorism Research at the School of Law & Social Sciences and the @CVTRC.bsky.social at @RoyalHolloway.bsky.social. 🧵 1/2

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21/05/2025

RAMAPHOSA: I am sorry I don't have a plane to give you TRUMP: I wish you did. I'd take it. If your country offered the US Air Force a plane, I would take it RAMAPHOSA: Okay

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 20/05/2025

HASSAN: What is habeas corpus? NOEM: Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country HASSAN: That's incorrect

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Pedro Pascal at Cannes on the Trump regime’s war on migrants: “I want people to be safe and protected. I want to live on the right side of history. I am an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile.”

Pedro Pascal at #Cannes: "I want people to be safe and protected. I want to live on the right side of history. I am an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled a dictatorship and I was privileged enough to grow up in the United States after asylum in Denmark. I stand by those protections, always."

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Shibley Telhami @stelhami.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Israel's Finance Minister Smotrich: "We are destroying everything that remains in Gaza, the world isn't stopping us." www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Grok has more self-awareness than its owner. 🤡 @cnbc.com www.cnbc.com/2025/05/15/g...

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Here is the grad speech that NYU is now withholding the student's diploma for: "As I search my heart today in addressing you all…the only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine."

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

An X USER, to Grok: “Why are you launching into conversations about white genocide, unprompted?” 🤡

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Randi Mayem Singer @rmayemsinger.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Justice Jackson nails where we are right now: “Your argument turns our justice system into a catch me if you can kind of regime from the standpoint of the Executive where everybody has to have a lawyer and file a lawsuit in order for the government to stop violating people’s rights.” 🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯

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Akil N Awan @akilnawan.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Today marks Nakba Day (Palestinian Catastrophe) commemorating the destruction of Palestinian society & homeland in 1948 when Zionist militias expelled 750k Palestinians & captured 78% of historic Palestine. A glimpse into Palestine before the Nakba, in 100 photos. www.aljazeera.com/news/longfor...

aljazeera.com

Palestine before the Nakba, in 100 photos

A glimpse into the places, people and daily life of Palestine before the 1948 Nakba.

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It's Going Down @igd.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Mahmoud Khalil, who said, "Anti-Semitism and any form of racism has no place...in this movement [for Palestine]," and was specifically targeted for deportation, while a white Afrikaner and owner of a granite mine, who openly attacks Jews, has been given special refugee status.

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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Worth repeating that this woman AGREED TO LEAVE THE UNITED STATES. She said she would go back to Europe, where she held a valid visa that would allow her to temporarily stay. She just didn't want to go back to Russia, where she feared returning bc of her past persecution for political activities.

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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 15/05/2025

The plan to defund Planned Parenthood would cost taxpayers $300 million over the next decade, according to a leaked preliminary estimate compiled by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

motherjones.com

The GOP's plan to defund Planned Parenthood would add $300 million to the deficit

So much for cutting costs.

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Akil N Awan @akilnawan.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

NYT: The US carried out 1100 strikes against the Houthis, burned through $1 billion in munitions & couldn't establish air superiority over one of the poorest countries in the world. Houthis meanwhile, shot down 7 MQ-9 drones & almost several F-16/F-35 jets & forced a ceasefire on favourable terms.

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Negin Owliaei @neginowl.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

“The first night was like a walk with death. I feared they were disappearing me.” Badar Khan Suri, the Georgetown professor currently incarcerated by ICE and threatened with deportation, writes today in @truthout.org about his ordeal and his continued support for Palestinian liberation.

truthout.org

As a Political Prisoner, I Won’t Back Down on Supporting Palestine

My only “crimes” are my marriage to a US citizen of Palestinian origin and my support for the Palestinian cause.

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

The cost of Grok: "I can't breathe at home, it smells like gas outside. How come I can't breathe at home and y'all get to breathe at home?"

"HOW come can't breathe at home and y'all get tO breathe at home?""I can't breathe at home, it smells like gas outside," Boxtown resident Alexis Humphreys said through tears, holding up her asthma inhaler during a public hearing about the turbines on A April "HOW come can't breathe at home and y'all get tO breathe at home?"
Alexis Humphreys holds out her asthma inhaler while asking the Shelby County Health epartment rO deny a permit for XAl'S methane gas turbines. | Ariel Wittenberg/POLITICO's E&E News

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

You’re allowed to argue that black people and women are genetically inferior. But you’re NOT allowed to argue they are NOT inferior because that’s divisive. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/u...

This expands a similar purge recently at the Naval Academy library, in Maryland. Last month, civilian Navy officials, following orders originating from Mr. Hegseth, pulled from shelves books including one that critiqued “The Bell Curve,” a 1994 text that argues that Black men and women are genetically less intelligent than white people. But the academy kept “The Bell Curve” itself on its shelves.

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Glenn Kessler @glennkessler.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

A year ago, The Post documented the heartbreaking story of 6-year-old Hind Rajab and the paramedics who were killed trying to save her in Gaza (free link). Read this article (a Pulitzer finalist) and think of the children starving in Gaza today. www.washingtonpost.com/world/intera...

washingtonpost.com

Palestinian paramedics said Israel gave them safe passage to save a 6-year-old girl in Gaza. They were all killed.

A Washington Post examination raises questions about Israel’s assertion that its forces were “not present near the vehicle or within the firing range” of 6-year-old Hind Rajab.

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Akil N Awan @akilnawan.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley tells @mehdirhasan.bsky.social about the harrowing conditions Tufts Uni student, Rümeysa Öztürk is facing in detention. Abducted by masked ICE thugs, she's been held for 6 weeks without charge, all for writing an op-ed on Palestine. @zeteo.com zeteo.com/p/hijab-was-...

zeteo.com

‘Hijab Was Removed Without Her Consent’: Congresswoman Tells Mehdi About Visit With Detained Student

Rep. Ayanna Pressley describes the ‘harrowing’ details behind Rümeysa Öztürk’s detention, who was kidnapped by masked ICE agents in late March.

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WIRED @wired.com · 06/05/2025

NEW: Tulsi Gabbard, now the US director of national intelligence, used the same easily cracked password for different online accounts including a personal Gmail account and Dropbox over a period of years, leaked records reviewed by WIRED reveal.

wired.com

Tulsi Gabbard Reused the Same Weak Password on Multiple Accounts for Years

Tulsi Gabbard, now the US director of national intelligence, used the same easily cracked password for different online accounts including a personal Gmail account and Dropbox over a period of years, ...

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Akil N Awan @akilnawan.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Conservatives break ranks 👏 "An opportunity for Britain to show leadership, to be on the right side of history & to uphold the principles we claim to champion. More than 140 UN member states have already recognised Palestine – it is time for the UK to do the same” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

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Techpriest @techpriest.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

*uses time machine to burst into a room ten years ago* "I don't have much time, but for the love of god choose Chaos with Ed Miliband™ "

David Cameron's "chaos with ed Miliband" tweet

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Jesse Eisinger @jeisinger.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Amid all the other news, it's easy to become inured to the basic facts here. Öztürk: -Is not accused of committing any crime -Is nonviolent -Was in this country legally -Merely engaged in speech that the administration objects to -Has been locked up for six weeks

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Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 06/05/2025

EXCLUSIVE: A police officer questioned the legality of arresting peaceful student protesters without probable cause at a pro-Palestine demonstration at the University of Texas at Austin, audio from body camera footage provided to Rolling Stone shows.

rollingstone.com

'What Are They Doing Illegal?' Officer Says Before Arresting Pro-Palestine Students

Audio reveals an officer admitting University of Texas students weren’t breaking the law before they were arrested during a pro-Palestine protest.

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Akil N Awan @akilnawan.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Hopefully a couple of these 20+ AI fellowships will also go to AI ethicists and other scholars pointing a critical and skeptical lens on these new technologies and what they offer.

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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

We hadn’t won World War II by May 8th. I know because my family and I were still in an internment camp in Tule Lake, California.

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

“The issue is that Khalil and the others who have been abducted in recent weeks are being jailed because they were dissident protesters, student organizers, op-ed authors, and anti-genocide activists. In other words, they have been targeted for their political views. They are political prisoners.”

Setting aside the fact that there have always been political prisoners in the United States, I am in a position to know what we’re looking at. And let me tell you—it is the same worn textbook.

The issue is not that Mahmoud Khalil holds a green card, nor is it only that his arrest violated “due process,” though many liberal Americans indeed wish us to take issue with only that. The issue is that Khalil and the others who have been abducted in recent weeks are being jailed because they were dissident protesters, student organizers, op-ed authors, and anti-genocide activists. In other words, they have been targeted for their political views. They are political prisoners.

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nicky woolf @nickywoolf.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

keep coming back to this Hannah Arendt line from Origins of Totalitarianism:

“In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, …under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.”

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Akil N Awan @akilnawan.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Sage advice! As a historian, I might be a tiny bit biased, but there's no doubt that chronic levels of historical illiteracy have played a big part in getting us into the mess we're in.

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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

JUST IN: Judge HOWELL rules forcefully in favor of Perkins Coie against Trump's punitive executive order, comparing him to a Shakespearean character who famously called to "kill all the lawyers" in order to amass power. ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...

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