Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 1hWhen you have a cold, you should ask your favorite Indian spot to bring you an extra spicy vindaloo. 020
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 23hA 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.comWhy Trump May Want to Avoid Messing With the HouthisThe Houthis say they’re just defending Yemen, but their moves are damaging global commerce. 060
Reposted by Chris OsieckAlexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Perhaps 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 1253
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 04/10/2026This 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. 293
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 04/10/2026The 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 courtNeighbours say crowds drawn to Fabel Friet are clogging the picturesque canal street and attracting litter, gulls and rats 170
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Finished 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. 191
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 02/10/2026When 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. 181
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 01/10/2026An 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. 060
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.comHow 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. 040
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 27/09/2026"Our work is rooted in the dialogue between contemporary architecture and local culture."metropolismag.comHOOBA Design Group Crafts with Materials and LightWindows, openings, tiling, and tectonics are forms of expression for this Tehran-based firm. 030
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 26/09/2026In 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. 161
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 25/09/2026An 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.comIran Transformed | Arang KeshavarzianOn 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 031
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 25/09/2026This 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. 050
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 24/09/2026The olive tree remains rooted in the land, unlike the pine forests planted over it. 030
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.comIranian advisers helped Houthis seize Yemen’s Red Sea coast in less than 48 hours, sources tell APIranian Revolutionary Guard advisers helped seize Yemen's Red Sea coast from pro-government forces. 152
Reposted by Chris OsieckSilvia Lazzaris @silvialazzaris.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Our investigation on the IPCC’s conflict of interest policy is out 083
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.comThe Seven-Day Lightning Offensive That Changed Yemen’s WarHow the Houthis seized the country’s western coastline and reached for Bab al-Mandab 082
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I 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. 171
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.comIn Dubai, Trade Continues on the Front Lines of the Iran WarThe flow of food from the Islamic Republic to the restaurants of the Gulf shows the difficulties involved in severing economic ties 040
Reposted by Chris OsieckFaine Greenwood @faineg.com · 15/09/2026Combatants 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.comThe Laws of War Must Change for the Drone AgeHunting civilians from the sky is growing disturbingly common. 14531214
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Queues 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.comIndonesia's Pertamina pledges fuel supply boost in Makassar city to cut 1-km-long queuesIndonesia'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 ... 041
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.comHow a Journey to Kuwait During the Iran War Revealed a Divided GulfWhen 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 041
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Israel 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.comSyria Rejects Sovereignty Violations, Netanyahu’s Entry into Its TerritorySyria 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 ... 0103
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 12/09/2026A 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.comGardening with the Times: Horticultural Innovation in Nineteenth-Century Tehran - Ajam Media CollectivePersian 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... 083
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Beautiful 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.comSeeds of hope: how a local farming project is offering a lifeline to GazaFamily-run Al-Qarara Seed Bank is helping to counter acute food insecurity after being destroyed in the war 0111
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 11/09/2026This 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.comOpinion | The U.K. is wrong. Israel is the settlements, and the settlements are IsraelThe 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 164
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 11/09/2026When 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.euHow ‘Made in Israel’ is powering European securityThe EU’s sovereignty push is colliding with growing reliance on Israeli defense firms. 241
Reposted by Chris OsieckTimnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 09/09/2026The 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? 481127235
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.comWhy America Can’t Strangle IranThe sources of Tehran’s economic resilience. 061
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Miliband 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. 020
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.comHow ISIS Seduced the Syrian City of ManbijThe rebellion against Assad led to sudden freedom, but also to crime and inequality. The Islamic State took advantage. 092
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 06/09/2026This 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. 0186
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.comThe Iranian Regime’s Dynamics Are Fooling TrumpThe government in Tehran has plenty of debates over tactics, but it’s not fracturing — yet. 030
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 02/09/2026A 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. 0141
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 02/09/2026This "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. 171
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 31/08/2026From diplomacy to deterrence: How war reshaped Iran's nuclear debate.clingendael.orgFrom diplomacy to deterrence: How war reshaped Iran's nuclear debateBy Saeid Jafari, journalist and independent Middle East analyst based in RomeEditor’s introduction 000
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 30/08/2026This 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. 41411
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 30/08/2026An 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.comفقر تعمیراتی؛ زندگی با وسایل خرابکولر 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... 031
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 30/08/2026I 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. 060
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.comDire 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. 031
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 MladićArchitect of Srebrenica genocide is dead but those scarred by his atrocities say his ideology is still shockingly pervasive 0101
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 29/08/2026The 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. 0141
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 29/08/2026When 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. 261
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 29/08/2026There’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... 041
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 27/08/2026The day the trials of Assad, Netanyahu, and Putin happen, will be the day my faith in humanity begins to return. 270
Reposted by Chris OsieckEman El-Sherbiny @emansh.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Hadatha, South Lebanon on August 24 compared to June 25 shows further destruction to the point the town no longer exists Source: Sentinel-2 imagery 11415
Chris Osieck @chrisosieck.bsky.social · 25/08/2026If you’ve never had a sandwich with peanut butter and sambal, you’re missing out. Especially sambal from Indonesia. 2100
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.comIran; the lost art of nuanceHome. 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... 022
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.comBirmingham student 'first of Sudanese heritage' to attend EtonYusuif Ahmed, 16, will study at the famed school from September after securing a scholarship. 071