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Derek Sayer

@coastsofbohemia.bsky.social
301 followers 265 following 122 posts

Author and retired academic. British/Canadian. Unapologetically woke. Loves food, drink, music, travel, and our standard poodles Luci and Alice. Free Palestine! I write at substack.com/@dereksayer1

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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
My 10 cents worth on Mark Carney’s “value-based realism” and the Israeli-US war on Iran. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...
canadiandimension.com
Elbows up or hands up?
Canada backed the US-Israeli strike on Iran in the name of “value-based realism.” But as civilian casualties mount and international law is sidelined, the contradiction is stark. Why did Ottawa rush t...
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
znetwork.org/znetarticle/...
znetwork.org
Bringing It All Back Home
Before dawn on January 3, the United States launched a “large-scale strike” against Venezuela during which its President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
znetwork.org/znetarticle/...
znetwork.org
Bringing It All Back Home
Before dawn on January 3, the United States launched a “large-scale strike” against Venezuela during which its President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia
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Canadian Dimension @canadiandimension.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Trump’s “peace plan” for Gaza isn’t peace—it’s an ultimatum. Palestinians are told to disarm, abandon legal claims of genocide, and accept foreign control, while Israel retains the right to “finish the job.” A ceasefire that erases justice is no peace at all, writes @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social.
canadiandimension.com
The rewards of terror
Almost two years after October 7, Gaza lies in ruins. Western governments have condemned the slaughter but continue to shield Israel, while Trump and Netanyahu push a “peace plan” critics see as surre...
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
My latest Substack on Gaza. dereksayer.substack.com/p/the-reward...
dereksayer.substack.com
The rewards of terror
Erasing a genocide with the art of the deal
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
My latest Canadian Dimension piece. Btw why did it take Anita Anand 2 weeks to call Kim Prost (as she has now done)? canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...
canadiandimension.com
Oh Canada, where art thou?
Canada once stood apart by challenging apartheid and asserting an independent foreign policy, even against US pressure. Now, as Washington sanctions Canadian ICC judge Kimberly Prost for pursuing Isra...
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
I have a new piece in Canadian Dimension on the Gaza genocide. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...
canadiandimension.com
A graveyard of liberal illusions
The West may now be finally waking up to the full enormity of the horrors Israel has inflicted in Gaza. It needs also to wake up to the evils it has nurtured not just for the last two years, but for o...
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Canadian Dimension @canadiandimension.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
NEW: What’s happening in Gaza isn’t a tragedy, it’s policy. A deliberate effort to erase a people. And the West, fully aware, keeps supplying the weapons and covering with words. This isn’t just happening on Israel’s watch. It’s happening with our permission, writes @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social.
canadiandimension.com
Endgames in Gaza?
What’s unfolding in Gaza is not just a humanitarian crisis—it’s a deliberate, systematic campaign to destroy a population. Mass killings, starvation, and attacks on aid efforts are part of a broader s...
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
My latest piece on Gaza. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...
canadiandimension.com
Endgames in Gaza?
What’s unfolding in Gaza is not just a humanitarian crisis—it’s a deliberate, systematic campaign to destroy a population. Mass killings, starvation, and attacks on aid efforts are part of a broader s...
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Our magnificent wet sock creature.
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
My latest article on the genocide in Gaza: canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...
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Doug Aoki 青木定夫 @nantanreikan.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Free Palestine.
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
My new piece on the Gaza war and Israel’s attack on Iran. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...
canadiandimension.com
Gaslighting the way to World War III
Are we so morally bankrupt that we will allow Netanyahu’s cynical maneuver, an act of naked aggression in flagrant breach of international law, to divert us from our responsibilities to end Israel’s g...
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
x.com/smohyeddin/s...
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
My latest article on the genocide in Gaza. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...
canadiandimension.com
One day, everyone will have always been against this
One of the most remarkable—not to say shameful—features of the last 20 months of carnage in Gaza has been the near-unanimity of support for Israel’s assault from Western governments and political part...
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Proud to be one of over 400 Canadian signatories to this open letter to PM Mark Carney and foreign minister Anita Anand on Gaza. Please share. www.alexneve.ca/blog/prime-m...
alexneve.ca
Prime Minister Carney must take decisive action to end genocide in Gaza — Alex Neve: Moving Rights Along
We write because of the catastrophic human rights and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, now into its twentieth month, which is broadly understood by international law experts and leading human rights organ...
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Hello Robin.
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Very sorry to hear this, Sewell. I will never forget how carefully you checked my op-ed for the New York Times a few years back. All best for the future.
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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Ex-Biden State Department official says even the Israeli military expected the US to only let them bomb Gaza for weeks, rather than unconditionally for a year and a half:
The history of America's unwillingness to sacrifice the profits of the U.S. defense industry to the rule of law, combined with the unique privilege enjoyed by the state of Israel, should have meant that U.S. support for Israel in the aftermath of October 7, 2023, was not surprising. Yet even the Israeli military expected the United States to allow them to carry out the indiscriminate bombing campaign only for a matter of weeks before reining in the scale of destruction, as the U.S. had repeatedly done in the past. Instead, the Biden administration violated American laws and bypassed Congress to rush an unprecedented $17.9 billion in weapons and security assistance to Israel, all while lying to the American public about working tirelessly toward a ceasefire.
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
What does it tell you about the contemporary US—its people, its culture, its education system, its self-images—that it has contrived to elect two demented psychopaths in succession to the highest office in the land? It’s terrifying.
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Dollop of 'Ween 🫠 @dollop-of-mayo.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
see this is the problem with liberals it's all about the veneer of respectability with you, not the actual crimes against humanity Biden simply aided Israel in a genocide But Trump wants to build a resort once the rubble has been cleared and the bodies buried? oh, now that's a bridge too far
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
… feeling the joy while the genocide goes on, and on, and on …
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CNN @cnn.com · 08/04/2025
JUST IN: After criticism, the National Park Service has restored an old Underground Railroad webpage that prominently features Harriet Tubman.
cnn.com
After a backlash, National Park Service restores old Underground Railroad webpage that prominently features Harriet Tubman | CNN
The National Park Service seems to have returned an image of and quote from Harriet Tubman to a webpage about the Underground Railroad, following backlash after her presence on the page was dramatical...
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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
I think the Supreme Court got the law badly wrong tonight. But beyond that, it’s just incredibly ominous that Roberts would throw Boasberg under the bus and hand Trump this big win when his administration has conducted this case in EXTREME bad faith from the start. slate.com/news-and-pol...
The majority seems to be affording the president a strong presumption of regulatory-assuming good faith and respect for constitutional boundaries. But everything this administration has done since Jan. 20 rebuts that presumption (a reality that may be dawning on Barrett, but apparently not Roberts or Brett Kavanaugh). As Boasberg has shown, and Sotomayor noted, the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act in secret so it could hustle
migrants overseas before courts could intervene. Why should he now receive this extraordinary, undeserved assistance to continue operating what is so obviously an unlawful program, with a pinky promise that he'll afford due process this time to those ensnared on the thinnest of pretenses? Roberts' decision to bail Trump out is a deeply ominous sign that the chief justice wants to rein in lower courts standing in the way of the MAGA agenda. If he does, it won't just be Venezuelan migrants who pay the price. J
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Dawn Xiana Moon @dawnxianamoon.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
To sum up: An estimated 5 million people protested in 50 states but the stories were deliberately relegated to the back of most major newspapers.
Screenshot: 

And Rupert Murdoch’s media properties? The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal made no mention whatsoever of the protests on either their April 6 or April 7 front pages. Surprise, surprise.

This isn’t just bad journalism. It’s a deliberate editorial choice that speaks volumes about how establishment media downplays collective action challenging power.

When hundreds of thousands of people coordinate across an entire nation to protest governmental policies, that’s not a page 18 story. That’s not a “see more in section B” situation. That’s front-page news. Period.
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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
A reminder that if the government can send migrants to a prison camp without any due process, it can send U.S. citizens there, too. I know because this happened to me and my family in 1942.
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Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 08/04/2025
Go back in time and tell yourself that one day the fucking MTA will do more to stand up to authoritarianism than Congress, the Supreme Court, and Columbia University *combined*
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Randi Mayem Singer @rmayemsinger.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Can we stop calling these atrocities "deportations." These people sold to El Salvadorian prisons were not deported. Deportation is a process that did not take place. They were rounded up and removed with no process. They were kidnapped, not deported.
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Learning from Canada and the US, then.
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Spookably UnAwake @lamentablyawake.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
Liberals: "You just have to unquestioningly vote for the Democrats for decades, especially when their policies hurt you, and eventually they'll listen to you. You: "Muslim Americans voted Democrat for decades and were told to kick rocks when they opposed genocide." Liberals: "Enjoy the camps!"
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Ann Aguirre @annaguirre.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
I don't want my fridge to have a camera or Wi-Fi. I don't want my dishwasher to be smart. I don't want my washing machine to text me. In fact, I kinda miss knobs and dials and knowing big appliances would last 20 years and could still be repaired.
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
If anyone is interested, here are links to all my writings Gaza genocide over the last year. open.substack.com/pub/dereksay...
open.substack.com
list of my articles on the Gaza genocide, 2024
final texts as published in Canadian Dimension and Britské listy
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
“Even Richard Nixon has got soul” (Neil Young, c. 1971).
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
As a winner of the American Historical Association’s 2014 George L. Mosse Prize, I am delighted by today’s vote in favor of the AHA condemning Israel’s scholasticide in Gaza and American complicity therein.
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
The doctrine of discovery strikes again. Today’s NYT has long article “Israel loosened its rules to bomb Hamas fighters, killing many more civilians” which is presented as a NYT scoop. The facts were reported in Israel in April and publicized by me among others: canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...
canadiandimension.com
All the perfumes of Arabia
The great science fiction fear has always been of AI escaping human control and the machines taking over, as in The Matrix films. The story of Lavender suggests, on the contrary, that the real danger...
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Excellent news! www.westernstandard.news/news/watch-p...
westernstandard.news
WATCH: Peterson officially moves to US
Canadian Psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson has announced he has officially moved to the United States, citing a list of reasons.
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
For University of Alberta friends and alumni. Our alma mater’s sideline in apartheid and genocide. www.justpeaceadvocates.ca/uofalberta-i...
justpeaceadvocates.ca
The University of Alberta invests in human rights violations in Palestine: it’s time for accountability - Just Peace Advocates
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, is conducting an investigation into the involvement of non-state actors in the commission of crimes ...
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
My latest article on Gaza. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...
canadiandimension.com
One law for the West and another for the rest?
For over a year now, the West has been tearing up the legal and institutional fabric on which the post-war international order and its increasingly threadbare claims to moral authority rest—in much th...
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
New article on Gaza. open.substack.com/pub/dereksay...
open.substack.com
One law for the West and another for the rest?
A presidential pardon and the killing fields of Gaza
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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Lee Jae-myung, Leader of South Korea's Democratic Party, live-streamed himself scaling the walls of the National Assembly to bypass military barricades so that he could vote to overturn the President's martial law.
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Good!
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
“if just 116,000 voters across [MI, WI and PA] … had switched from Trump to Harris, it is the vice-president who would have won the electoral college …” How many of those votes did she lose because of her refusal to break with Biden over support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza?
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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
"Repeat after me: there was no 'landslide'. There was no 'blowout'. There was no 'sweeping' mandate given to Trump by the electorate. The numbers don’t lie." My new Guardian op-ed on the new GOP election lie - and why it's important to rebut it! I brought (lots of) receipts:
theguardian.com
Donald Trump didn’t win by a historic landslide. It’s time to nip that lie in the bud | Mehdi Hasan
In 2024, we have a new post-election lie – Trump didn’t just win, Republicans say, but he won big. He won a landslide. That’s false
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Dr. Katja Thieme (she/they) @katjathieme.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
There are a few different rankings online, some more flimsy than others. But pizza is in the top five of most of them.
The website compiled the ranking based on 395,205 reviews from users on its site, and even pored through the results to vet out any "bot, nationalist, or local patriotic ratings," the New York Post reports. The roundup was created as a "final, global conclusion" to "promote excellent local foods" and "instill pride in traditional dishes," according to the site.
Of the 10,927 cataloged dishes, participants named dishes from Brazil, Malaysia, and Thailand in the top 3 best foods. Picanha, Roti canai, and Phat kaphrao topped the list with pizza Napoletana from Italy, Guotie from China, and Khao soi from Thalland trailing shortly behind.
Here are the 15 best foods across the globe:
1. Picanha (Brazil)
2. Roti canai (Malaysia)
3. Phat kaphrao (Thailand)
4. pizza Napoletana (Italy)
5. Guotie (China)
6. Khao soi (Thailand)
7. Butter Garlic Naan (India)
8. Tanbao (China)
9. Shashlik (Russia)
10. Phanaeng Curry (Thailand)
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The London Economic @thelondoneconomic.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
This is huge. The EFJ represents over 295,000 journalists in 44 countries 👇 www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/media/e...
thelondoneconomic.com
European Federation of Journalists to stop posting content on X
The EFJ represents over 295,000 journalists in 44 countries.
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YSW @nasilemak.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
We know we don’t like Twitter/x but Bluesky is not there yet. Here is Susan Abulhawa’s magnificent debate speech at Oxford Union x.com/susanabulhaw...
x.com
x.com
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Eli Valley @elivalley.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
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Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Hoar frost with poodle
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