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Karena Avedissian

@karena1.bsky.social
1.2K followers 288 following 160 posts

Eurasian politics and foreign affairs, covering Russia, former Soviet space, Turkey and Syria. I focus on conflicts, political crises & narratives. Senior Analyst RCDS.am. Member @fromtheperiphery.com. Fellow thersa.org. Substack: itskarena.com

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Karena Avedissian @karena1.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I wrote this after reading about the Lebanon-Israel "peace deal" because it reminded me so much of the one between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Around that time, friends in the KRI alerted me to fresh bombing of Kurdish villages by Turkish forces which the Kurdistan Regional Government played down
evnreport.com
A Beach House, a Khachkar, an Orchard
Listen to the AI generated audio article.  Your browser does not support the audio element. More than 25 years ago,
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Karena Avedissian @karena1.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Syria Is Sidelining the Fighters Who Beat ISIS Damascus fought to bring the SDF under its control. But fewer than half the SDF have joined the new Syrian Army — even as foreign jihadists get folded in. thedefensepost.com/2026/08/26/s...
thedefensepost.com
Syria Is Sidelining the Fighters Who Beat ISIS
Syria's new army is sidelining the loyal, US-trained SDF while absorbing foreign jihadists and abusive warlords instead
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Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 22/08/2026
There’s a petition signed by more than one hundred academics (& counting!) in support of Nathan Cofnas—the racist who instigated the pile on that led to J. Arday’s death—because he lost his postdoc. Apparently there’s nothing a white man can do that deserves consequences.
forbetterscience.com
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Karena Avedissian @karena1.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Tom Barrack’s “Kurds have occupied” Turkey, Syria, Iraq rhetoric in that interview from yday straight from Turkish nationalism + Baathist ideology — still reproduced consistently in the region to justify suppression and repression of Kurds & other minoritized people www.instagram.com/reel/DWD7-EJ...
instagram.com
Instagram
Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.
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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.com · 15/03/2026
"AI is not a magical tool built by people in San Francisco making millions of dollars a year and pushing their companies to insane valuations. Artificial intelligence is an extractive technology that relies on the brutal labor of underpaid workers around the world" www.404media.co/ai-is-africa...
404media.co
'AI Is African Intelligence': The Workers Who Train AI Are Fighting Back
Kenyan workers are still the underpaid labor behind AI training, moderation, and sex chatbots. The Data Labelers Association is fighting back.
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Justin Salhani @justinsalhani.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Very dystopian timing. I’ve been working on this since November. Thanks @thedialmag.bsky.social
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Karena Avedissian @karena1.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
I spoke with @essssraaa.bsky.social about Azerbaijan’s expansionist agenda toward Armenia, the growing divide between the Armenian government and people’s lived realities, historical memory, and comparisons to Palestine. It’s one of my favorite episodes. Do give it a listen!
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Leila @leilashami.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Syria: One year on after the fall of Assad On From the Periphery Podcast www.patreon.com/posts/145397...
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Karena Avedissian @karena1.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Here I am with the thoughtful and brilliant @aymanmak.bsky.social and @leilashami.bsky.social talking all things Syria one year after Assad’s fall
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(israa') إسراء (they/them) @essssraaa.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Recently, I spoke to @karena1.bsky.social for @fromtheperiphery.com about Azerbaijani's president's expansionist statements. We explore the stark difference between lived reality and govt stories, historical memory suppression, trauma, & draw parallels to Palestine. www.patreon.com/posts/ilham-...
patreon.com
Ilham Aliyev's Territorial Claims on Armenia | From The Periphery Media Collective
Get more from From The Periphery Media Collective on Patreon
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Called it
“There’s gonna be weird ‘left’ pro-Palestine ppl sharing more Carlson, Fuentes etc”
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Leila @leilashami.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
How do we keep showing up when it feels like nothing is changing and when we're burned out? Together with @aymanmak.bsky.social & @karena1.bsky.social we spoke about Palestine Solidarity Against the Odds on @fromtheperiphery.com www.patreon.com/posts/ftpp-8...
patreon.com
FTPP 8: Palestine Solidarity Against the Odds | From The Periphery Media Collective
Get more from From The Periphery Media Collective on Patreon
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
Random, but I’m still looking for stable employment (research/analysis/writing/teaching) and I’m happy to send along my CV in English/French. Job has to be in the UK, Canada or online.
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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.com · 09/09/2025
It is quite a feat to be able to write a long article on the lack of popularity of political leaders and avoid talking about actual politics Little context, nothing about power or ideology Democracy is just management and it's worked so well so far... www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
How Keir Starmer’s polling became one of the worst in the west – in charts
The UK prime minister’s drop in approval is among the lowest on record – both at home and abroad
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
I cannot help but think of the Armenian genocide where repeated forced displacements were a core part of destroying an entire people
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Israel is bombing Gaza City as Netanyahu orders Palestinians to "leave now" www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblo...
aljazeera.com
Israel pounds Gaza City as Netanyahu orders residents to ‘leave now’
Israeli forces bomb more high-rise buildings in Gaza City as Netanyahu warns residents to flee.
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María Ramírez @mariaramirez.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
The horror journalist Mariam Dagga photographed in the last months of her life. The last one is from the hospital where she was killed today. Curated by @apnews.com editors apnews.com/photo-galler...
apnews.com
Photos by journalist Mariam Dagga
Mariam Dagga, a visual freelance journalist for The Associated Press, chronicled the stream of wounded and dead that every day flowed into southern Gaza’s main hospital, where she was often based.
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Kate Ross @kateross.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
Democrats writing letters
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Karena Avedissian @karena1.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
A week after Azerbaijan’s 2023 attack on Artsakh, Israel’s assault on Gaza began. As Gaza’s suffering exposed the limits of human rights and international law, a friend, whose family is from Artsakh, said: “It’s when I realized how f*cked we are.” My piece on the need for solidarity in these times
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Justin Salhani @justinsalhani.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Good piece from @natachadanon.bsky.social on what people in Sweida say the central government must do to regain their trust. The government is hemorrhaging faith, particularly from minority groups, and seems unwilling or unable to confront the more extreme factions syriadirect.org/is-there-a-r...
syriadirect.org
Is there a road forward for Suwayda’s Druze and Damascus? - Syria Direct
Activists in Suwayda who were once open to the Damascus government weigh in on how their views have changed following a wave of sectarian violence—and whether any path forward remains.
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Karena Avedissian @karena1.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
Hear me talk with @leilashami.bsky.social about my time in NE Syria, also known as Rojava, speaking with Islamized Armenians, descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide who were forcibly ‘assimilated’ during and after 1915. And listen to the other episodes of her podcast!
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areola 51 (mirtazapine nougat) @areola51.northsky.social · 30/07/2025
this podcast and this episode in particular really help me putting at least the tip of the toe to a blade of grass. i am not claiming i am touching it, but it helps imagining a world where steady ground could be imagined
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Leila @leilashami.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
In the latest episode of @syriapodcast.bsky.social I'm joined by @karena1.bsky.social to talk about the experiences of Islamized Armenians in Northeast Syria. Available on all podcast apps or here: fromtheperiphery.com/2025/07/30/s...
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amila @amilanuh.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
I needed to hear this episode today ❤️ if anything just to know what I'm feeling is felt by others
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The Fire These Times @thefirethesetimes.com · 30/07/2025
The Gaza famine and genocide cannot become the new normal. The latest episode of The Fire These Times is now available everywhere. With @ayoub.bsky.social @leilashami.bsky.social @danielvoskoboynik.bsky.social @essssraaa.bsky.social & @karena1.bsky.social www.patreon.com/posts/135258...
This cannot be the new normal
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
i find myself regularly reminding people that not one single German was severely punished for simply refusing to contribute to the Holocaust
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Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · 15/07/2025
Bye forever, WeTransfer.
WeTransfer TOS says they can use all your uploaded content for genAI
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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
the stories that come out of the ICE camps are going to look like the stories that come out of every camp system; rampant corruption, epidemic disease, physical and sexual abuse on a vast scale, a death rate far higher than normal, and medical abuses.
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
So the head of the BBC is implying that British Jews are somehow connected to a chant about the Israeli army? Does the BBC apologise to British Muslims when armies of self-described Muslim states are criticised? How are we still at this level of the discourse? www.theguardian.com/media/2025/j...
theguardian.com
BBC boss offers to meet Jewish staff over Bob Vylan performance
Tim Davie tells staff that comments during Glastonbury show streamed live by BBC were ‘deeply offensive and totally unacceptable’
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
loved this conversation and so appreciate the space for independent thought @thefirethesetimes.com has created
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Karena Avedissian @karena1.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
My @civilnet.bsky.social interview on my trip to Northeast Syria (AANES), where I met with Islamized Armenians reclaiming their identity
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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Zohran Mamdani hasn’t said anything negative about Jewish people or cheered on their suffering. Yet these 4 demand he “distance himself” from such rhetoric. They, however, have *all* expressed support for a government that’s committing a genocide & killed Americans. Will they “distance” themselves?
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
“In Pasadena last week, a man stepped out of his unmarked vehicle at an intersection, unholstered his pistol and aimed it at a group of pedestrians before returning to his car… That incident left the police chief of Pasadena resigned to figure out whether it was a crime or part of a federal raid.”
latimes.com
'Who are these people?' Masked immigration agents challenge local police, sow fear in L.A.
Local police have little or no insight into where the federal enforcement actions are taking place. In some cases, local cops have been mistaken for federal agents, eroding years of work to have immig...
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CIVILNET @civilnet.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Dr. Karena Avedissian, political scientist and researcher, shares insights from her recent visit to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, also known as Rojava. @karena1.bsky.social
youtu.be
Islamized Armenians in Syria: A Hidden Diaspora Reemerges
YouTube video by CIVILNET
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Make it a mainstream Dem platform to abolish ICE
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Ayman Makarem @aymanmak.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
You remember how last week we are all saying we should stay vigilant for a 'false-flag' attack by the U.S to justify an attack on Iran. They didn't need it. They just did it. I think that really signals where we are in terms of the self-righteousness of imperialist forces.
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Karena Avedissian @karena1.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Ppl already spinning this as an act of support for the Iranian people. I’m sorry but solidarity doesn’t come from above with bombs. 4 female political prisoners inside, one of them w/ death sentence, just condemned Israel’s aggression. That’s moral clarity - not whatever this violence is
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
There is already a nuclear-armed country in the Middle East that does not allow international inspectors despite having nukes for decades - and it’s not Iran. Israel is also one of a handful of countries to have never signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
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Max Berger @maxberger.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
It’s completely insane that US troops are illegally deployed to suppress domestic opposition and it’s not uniformly condemned by the press and political elite.
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Chad Loder @chadloder.dev · 12/06/2025
LAPD appears to have kettled protesters around 7:45pm to prevent them from leaving, waited for the 8pm curfew to kick in and then mass-arrested them for curfew violations.
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Chad Loder @chadloder.dev · 12/06/2025
When Los Angeles actually *was* burning down six months ago, these people didn't give a damn about us. Now they're spreading fake AI videos showing LA burning
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Everyone I knew who covered disinformation got laid off, their bosses got bullied into firing them, or they changed their beats from actual Nazi harassment campaigns. It cannot be stressed the damage the paid-for Substack “free speech” guys did in the service of fascism and against real free speech.
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
It is as stupid as you think it is. There is no long-term plan. It is actually that stupid. It’s simply that it’s also very dangerous. The system we live in rewards people like these idiots and perhaps that’s a sign that it’s not a good system.
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Karena Avedissian @karena1.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
With lots of attention (rightfully) on Israel’s attacks on Syria, let’s not forget that Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) factions continue to occupy swathes of territory as well as detain, mistreat, and extort civilians in northern Syria. A new HRW report details ongoing abuses here:
hrw.org
Syria: Türkiye-backed Armed Groups Detain, Extort Civilians
Syrian National Army (SNA) factions that fought the Assad government with backing from Türkiye continue to detain, mistreat, and extort civilians in northern Syria, Human Rights Watch said today.
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Labour’s love of Big Tech is as dangerous as its embrace of Enoch Powell-style discourse on foreigners. www.ft.com/content/438f...
ft.com
UK minister asks Big Tech to help create ‘prison outside prison’ for criminals
Shabana Mahmood calls on tech groups to develop AI surveillance of offenders in the community
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Karena Avedissian @karena1.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
A sobering - but must read piece - on what lies ahead for humanity with the rise of AGI
intelligence-curse.ai
The Intelligence Curse
This series examines the incoming crisis of human irrelevance and provides a map towards a future where people remain the masters of their destiny.
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Elmira Bayrasli @elmirab.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
It can happen here. From my student who went from Smolny in Russia to Columbia. She was able to nurture her brilliance. I think about all the other students trapped in not just authoritarian but hostile and dangerous regimes who will never reach their potential. www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
theatlantic.com
Autocracy Crushed My Alma Mater. Then I Got to Columbia.
Smolny College is a warning.
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
The IbrahimforGaza's kitchen was targeted by Israel. Four of their volunteers were killed in northern Gaza and they also had to suspend feeding people in Nuseirat as their volunteers were injured there too. I can personally vouch for the group www.instagram.com/reel/DJOYp44...
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