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Chris Osieck

@chrisosieck.bsky.social
14K followers 425 following 2.3K posts

I digitally investigate stuff, somehow my findings travel from spreadsheets to international media and research collectives; views are my own.

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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 1h
When you have a cold, you should ask your favorite Indian spot to bring you an extra spicy vindaloo.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 23h
A pro-Houthi journalist: “What is silly is that we see that all the international community and the Saudis are crying out loud that the price of oil will increase and the price of shipping is increasing. I mean, what about Yemenis?”
politico.com
Why Trump May Want to Avoid Messing With the Houthis
The Houthis say they’re just defending Yemen, but their moves are damaging global commerce.
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Reposted by Chris Osieck
Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Perhaps growing recognition that the Houthis might have absorbed enough standalone capabilities from the IRGC to continue escalating even if the Iranian regime eventually falters might now have forced the Saudis to widen their involvement
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This is an incredibly orientalist generalization. Across the Middle East, traditions of retribution coexist with deep traditions of forgiveness and reconciliation. From forgiveness workers in Iran to Palestinian 'sulha,' emphasizing restored social relations and preventing violence.
In Middle Eastern societies, seeking revenge is an acceptable way for men to cope with grief and wounded pride from the violent loss of loved ones. Since 1979 this approach has also been an important part of Iran’s foreign policy. The export of the revolution, the assassination of antiregime expatriates, and terrorism against foreign enemies are means to get even for the injuries, real or imagined, the West has inflicted on Iran and Islam.

WSJ's op-ed "Revenge Is a Central Pillar of Iranian Foreign Policy." Read here: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/revenge-is-a-central-pillar-of-iranian-foreign-policy-d1584fec?mod=e2two
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The fries aren't even that good or special, to be honest.
theguardian.com
‘We are in a kind of war’: row over viral Amsterdam chip shop lands in court
Neighbours say crowds drawn to Fabel Friet are clogging the picturesque canal street and attracting litter, gulls and rats
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Finished reading @hamidrezaaz.bsky.social’s book and I highly recommend others to also read it, especially if you work on the Middle East as an analyst, journalist, or open source investigator.
The Axis Of Resistance by Hamidreza Azizi.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
When you are doing open-source research or visual investigations on a professional level related to war, I recommend colleagues consider therapy. Organizations, in my experience, will say that mental hygiene is important, but won’t take the step of arranging it for you.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
An important point in Hamidreza Azizi’s book on the Axis of Resistance: without a political settlement and with continued occupation, as in southern Lebanon and southern Syria, resistance reappears, perhaps not under the same banner, but in some form nonetheless.
"Still, what survived was not insignificant. The idea of resistance - framed as defiance against occupation, against western hegemony, against perceived injustice - remains deeply resonant in the Middle East. The ideological and emotional appeal of confronting a powerful enemy, of standing firm even in defeat, continues to animate large segments of the region's population. In this sense, Nasrallah's words quoted earlier were more than rhetorical defiance. They were a reminder that, for the axis, survival has never depended solely on military victory or political control. Above all, it has rested on persistence - always."
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“Although their [the Gulf’s] vulnerability gave them an urgent reason to seek an agreement, it also led them to resist a deal on terms that would entrench Iran’s dominance. Their refusal to attend showed that Iran’s ability to disrupt their trade has not translated into acceptance of Iranian terms.”
time.com
How the War is Changing the Geography of Iran’s Influence
"Iran remains under enormous military and economic pressure, but its setbacks in its traditional centers of influence have not ended its ability to impose costs elsewhere," writes Hamidreza Azizi.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"Our work is rooted in the dialogue between contemporary architecture and local culture."
metropolismag.com
HOOBA Design Group Crafts with Materials and Light
Windows, openings, tiling, and tectonics are forms of expression for this Tehran-based firm.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In response to Iranian and AoR presence under Assad, Israel developed the "Campaign Between Wars," or mabam: military action below the threshold of full-scale war. In a sense, what we're seeing in Gaza and Lebanon today, during a "ceasefire," is an extension of that doctrine.
aimed at preventing the transfer of precision-guided missiles and other advanced weaponry to Hezbollah and hindering the establishment of permanent Iranian military bases in Syria. The CBW essentially operated within the framework of "gray zone" warfare - performing actions that fall short of full-scale war but are designed to counterbalance adversaries, in this case Iran." A gray zone is an ambiguous space where the aggressor can advance its goals while staying below the threshold that would provoke a decisive military response.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
An older but still relevant piece by Arang Keshavarzian on Iran's combative society: local protests producing two steps back but also one forward, and the U.S.-Israeli misunderstanding of how the regime's weblike structure is anchored across Iranian society.
nybooks.com
Iran Transformed | Arang Keshavarzian
On February 28 Israeli warplanes assassinated Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, by dropping thirty bombs on his compound in Tehran. It was the opening salvo of
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This might not fit well in today’s world of purity tests and identity politics. But I’ve always tried to look less at binaries like “good” or “bad” and more analytically at the conditions that make someone feel a certain way or make a certain choice.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The olive tree remains rooted in the land, unlike the pine forests planted over it.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"Alsaloum and the senior Houthi official said the Iranian flight, which later landed, brought Revolutionary Guard advisers, who joined other advisers from the Guard — and Iran’s Lebanese ally, Hezbollah — already based in Yemen."
apnews.com
Iranian advisers helped Houthis seize Yemen’s Red Sea coast in less than 48 hours, sources tell AP
Iranian Revolutionary Guard advisers helped seize Yemen's Red Sea coast from pro-government forces.
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Reposted by Chris Osieck
Silvia Lazzaris @silvialazzaris.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Our investigation on the IPCC’s conflict of interest policy is out
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
“This is the paradox of Bab al-Mandab: the narrow stretch of water commands the attention of states and militaries far beyond Yemen, yet many of the people living on its shores have experienced little of the prosperity or development that such strategic importance might imply.”
newlinesmag.com
The Seven-Day Lightning Offensive That Changed Yemen’s War
How the Houthis seized the country’s western coastline and reached for Bab al-Mandab
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I believe there was a moment when Iran had considerable leverage over the U.S., but eventually let it slip and overplayed its hand. The disruption at the SoH remains serious, but the U.S. and Gulf states have adapted better than Iran has to the naval blockade.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A lot of people don’t understand how culturally rich that area is. The world and region would be so much better off if southern Iran and the Arabian peninsula had deep(er) commercial ties
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
“Although the Strait of Hormuz has become a geopolitical chokepoint, the area has long been a hub of economic and cultural exchange. For centuries, merchants from Iran and the Arabian Peninsula sailed across the Gulf on wooden dhows, ferrying saffron, pearls, spices and pottery.”
newlinesmag.com
In Dubai, Trade Continues on the Front Lines of the Iran War
The flow of food from the Islamic Republic to the restaurants of the Gulf shows the difficulties involved in severing economic ties
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Reposted by Chris Osieck
Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 15/09/2026
Combatants are hunting civilians from the sky with small drones more than ever before - and the international community isn’t doing enough to stop it. My latest on the ways we can protect civilians from drones, written with Nathaniel Raymond of @hrl-yalesph.bsky.social :
foreignpolicy.com
The Laws of War Must Change for the Drone Age
Hunting civilians from the sky is growing disturbingly common.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Queues are stretching more than a kilometre outside gas stations in Makassar, Indonesia. Energy Minister Lahadalia said customers have been scrambling for subsidised fuel to shield themselves from oil price hikes caused by the war in the Middle East.
reuters.com
Indonesia's Pertamina pledges fuel supply boost in Makassar city to cut 1-km-long queues
Indonesia's state energy company Pertamina said on Tuesday that it has stepped up efforts to make more fuel available in Makassar, the ​biggest city in eastern Indonesia, where queues stretching more ...
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"It felt surreal and overwhelming. While the economic issues and big pictures dominated in Riyadh, and partially in Qaisumah, politics felt personal in Kuwait."
newlinesmag.com
How a Journey to Kuwait During the Iran War Revealed a Divided Gulf
When a drone strike closed an airport, a writer was forced to make his way home from Saudi Arabia. Along the road, perceptions of the conflict and its politics varied widely
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Israel wants to keep its freedom of action, which means that a withdrawal from Syria will likely not happen, as it can now continue preventing Syria from becoming a state that can stand on its own feet with a capable military, which Israel perceives as a threat.
english.aawsat.com
Syria Rejects Sovereignty Violations, Netanyahu’s Entry into Its Territory
Syria on Saturday renewed its rejection of violations of its sovereignty and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entry into its territory, as Israeli forces continued a weeklong escalation of ...
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
A piece worth reading, featuring photography of nineteenth-century Tehran’s gardens and showing how older Iranian horticultural traditions evolved alongside new technologies, plants and influences arriving from across the world.
ajammc.com
Gardening with the Times: Horticultural Innovation in Nineteenth-Century Tehran - Ajam Media Collective
Persian gardens have long been a potent symbol of Iranian cultural identity, imagined as a timeless, unchanging tradition. But photographs of the gardens of Tehran in the 19th century reveal a landsca...
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Beautiful resistance as Salama Muhanna and his daughter Hanadi regrow local seeds deeply connected to Palestinian land, so far benefiting around 200 farmers in Gaza, with hopes that this can be key to future food sovereignty.
theguardian.com
Seeds of hope: how a local farming project is offering a lifeline to Gaza
Family-run Al-Qarara Seed Bank is helping to counter acute food insecurity after being destroyed in the war
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This reinforces my view, but says it better. These states keep fooling the public with the same old playbook, using such decisions to evade responsibility and the core issue: "The settlement enterprise is an all-Israeli undertaking of the government and indeed the entire system."
haaretz.com
Opinion | The U.K. is wrong. Israel is the settlements, and the settlements are Israel
The Green Line disappeared a long time ago, and no other line separates the West Bank from Israel, apart from the line of apartheid. All of us are settlers
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
When it comes to Israel/Palestine, it helps to incorporate the realist school of international relations. It might make you less susceptible to wishful thinking, which many desperate for light at the end of the dark tunnel engage in after the UK’s ban on settlement goods.
politico.eu
How ‘Made in Israel’ is powering European security
The EU’s sovereignty push is colliding with growing reliance on Israeli defense firms.
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Reposted by Chris Osieck
Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 09/09/2026
The last few days is like a DDOS attack from these companies 🙄 I just finished drafting an op-ed and then see another OMG Machine god is going to kill everyone 😱 post Ok walk me through the step by step action this super intelligent chatbot takes to render everyone us extinct?
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
“To prevail in its economic war, the Trump administration will thus need to asphyxiate 25 million households and more than one million firms. But as breathing slows in parts of Iran’s economy, ample oxygen will remain for the country’s elite.”
foreignaffairs.com
Why America Can’t Strangle Iran
The sources of Tehran’s economic resilience.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Miliband is carrying the water to the sea and it fits a historical pattern that Western states have repeatedly used when it comes to Israel. The fact that people continue to fall for this, remains fascinating to me.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
“If tyranny is where democracies go to die, inequality is the cause of death.” This article is drawn from Anand Gopal’s book, Days of Love and Rage: A Story of Ordinary People Forging a Revolution, on Syria.
newyorker.com
How ISIS Seduced the Syrian City of Manbij
The rebellion against Assad led to sudden freedom, but also to crime and inequality. The Islamic State took advantage.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
This is exactly why I don't trust politicians or governments who suddenly "change their tune" or "policy." Then again, my work on this subject predates late 2023, so I already didn't believe in the political theatre that followed, nor do I believe in it now.
Breaking the cycle
During Israel’s 2008-9 assault on Gaza, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Norway all halted or revoked certain export licenses to Israel. Norway was the only one of the three not to subsequently return to its previous policy. During the 2014 assault on Gaza, the British government again reviewed its arms licenses and threatened suspensions. And amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the UK and Belgium once again imposed restrictions on military exports in 2024.

The emerging pattern is one of sanctions imposed only after Israeli violence reaches a level that makes continued military cooperation politically untenable, and then abandoned as soon as the immediate aggression recedes. Such measures have done little to halt these campaigns in real time, and even less to dismantle the relationships and infrastructure that facilitate future ones.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
“When it comes to the regime in Tehran, the Trump administration appears to still be in the early learning stages. The regime has never been monolithic. And everyone in the upper circles of the Trump administration — given the risks they are taking with this war — should know this.”
politico.com
The Iranian Regime’s Dynamics Are Fooling Trump
The government in Tehran has plenty of debates over tactics, but it’s not fracturing — yet.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
A reminder that while it's great to see many people contribute to verification and geolocation during conflicts, it doesn't really matter who was first. Sure, you deserve credit for your work. But we're not playing "wartime GeoGuessr" here. What matters most is getting it right.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
This "Iranian misfire" narrative was used before in Minab, where evidence identified a U.S. Tomahawk. Now @easybakeovensz.bsky.social has identified remnants reportedly recovered in Kuhestak as Boeing-made SLAM-ER components. Repeating the "misfire" claim without evidence is irresponsible.
"Another narrative circulating on social media is that Iran itself misfired a missile, which landed at the wedding venue. This contradicts the account reported by Iranian outlets. There were also reports in July of Iranian media alleging that the US attacked Iran’s Kouhestak."
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
From diplomacy to deterrence: How war reshaped Iran's nuclear debate.
clingendael.org
From diplomacy to deterrence: How war reshaped Iran's nuclear debate
By Saeid Jafari, journalist and independent Middle East analyst based in RomeEditor’s introduction
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This is about Ashraf al-Mansi’s militia in Izbat Beit Hanoun. If you read what’s available, alongside Haaretz’s recent investigation, you really start to think of U.S. backing for warlords and criminals in Afghanistan, which failed and is now doing the same to Israel.
36 members of Israel-backed militia in Gaza surrender to Hamas.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
An article in Iran’s reformist newspaper Shargh Daily describes growing “repair poverty”: the cost-of-living crisis is eroding people’s ability to maintain what they already have. Many can no longer afford to replace broken appliances, but increasingly cannot afford to repair them either.
sharghdaily.com
فقر تعمیراتی؛ زندگی با وسایل خراب
کولر خودرو از اوایل تابستان از کار افتاده است. هر بار که پشت فرمان می‌نشیند، شیشه‌ها را پایین می‌کشد تا شاید باد گرم خیابان کمی از گرمای داخل خودرو را کم کند. از ابتدای هفته اما دیگر خودرو را داخل پار...
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I welcome open-source analysis of the same subject, as different investigators bring different perspectives. But too often, I see more of the same. If you revisit something, I believe you should be additive. Otherwise, you're adding nothing new.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
“The emerging emphasis on proactive military action and sense of military regeneration could establish a lower threshold for Iranian military escalation than Washington assumes.”
time.com
Dire Strait: Why Economic Threats Might Escalate the War in Iran
"Instead of unclogging Hormuz and bringing Iran to heel, Washington’s so-called “economic D-day” might drive Tehran to double down," writes Hamidreza Azizi.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
“Now the hardest part of the job remains: not to let the truth, responsibility and memory die with him. Mladić’s death is another moment in which we must decide what we will remember and, more importantly, what we will not allow to be erased.”
theguardian.com
‘The butcher may be gone, but to many he is a hero’: victims condemn glorification of Mladić
Architect of Srebrenica genocide is dead but those scarred by his atrocities say his ideology is still shockingly pervasive
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The Netherlands has a fantastic and enormously talented community of open-source investigators, some of whom have published work in international media and beyond. Yet Dutch media and newspapers are so behind, or so unwilling, that they haven’t made use of this community like they could.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
When the January protests happened and the Islamic Republic responded brutally, a Palestinian author expressed sympathy for the protesters. Later, after backlash from her über-leftist base, she retracted it, saying she had made a mistake. Unfortunately, it's a pattern.
Rashid Khalidi and Nadia Abu El-Haj retracted their signatories from the letter in solidarity with Iranian prisoners.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
There’s an in-depth study by Fariba Adelkhah of Iran in the 1990s and the period after the war with Iraq, called Being Modern in Iran. If you read that, you would’ve had doubts about what was commonly reported as a “new guard” ruling the Iranian regime. amwaj.media/en/article/i...
At first glance, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s recent reshuffle of the military upper echelons may appear to signal a major strategic shift. However, most of the new commanders are not newcomers; rather, they are veteran figures who previously served as deputies to their predecessors. More than anything, this month’s appointments suggest that Khamenei is focused on internal consolidation rather than a rupture in policy.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The day the trials of Assad, Netanyahu, and Putin happen, will be the day my faith in humanity begins to return.
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Reposted by Chris Osieck
Eman El-Sherbiny @emansh.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Hadatha, South Lebanon on August 24 compared to June 25 shows further destruction to the point the town no longer exists Source: Sentinel-2 imagery
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
If you’ve never had a sandwich with peanut butter and sambal, you’re missing out. Especially sambal from Indonesia.
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
“As if longing for my country is controversial. Orientalist narratives reduce one of the oldest and most beautiful countries to sand dunes, to bombs, to — nothing. It’s like asking why you would want to be held in your mother’s arms. Why wouldn’t I?”
michigandaily.com
Iran; the lost art of nuance
Home. A fragment of a sentence. Fragments of fields, pieces of a place. How can you have nostalgia for a place you’ve never been? For a language that struggles to sit on your tongue because you cannot...
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Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
"It's a big honour for me, my family and my country," Yusuif Ahmed, 16, from Sudanese descent, said. "I hope it shows that anything can happen and that education really can change your life."
bbc.com
Birmingham student 'first of Sudanese heritage' to attend Eton
Yusuif Ahmed, 16, will study at the famed school from September after securing a scholarship.
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