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Peter Bach

@lyst.bsky.social
127 followers 185 following 193 posts

Kingdom: Animalia Order: Primates Tribe: Hominini

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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/29/t...
counterpunch.org
The Discipline of Not Killing
Imagine the house. A man has entered it by force and occupied several rooms. Boots. Mud. Broken glass. A smell of stale cigarettes. The owner has fought
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/23/t...
counterpunch.org
The Saudi Doubt
It would be wrong to say that Saudi Arabia is turning against the United States. The relationship matters too much for that. In some respects, it may even
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Geopolitics as couples therapy. www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/20/t...
counterpunch.org
The Politics of Getting Around Things
Friendships in and around politics are probably far more interesting when the personal trust within them opens up what bureaucracies, parties, even
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/18/w...
counterpunch.org
What the Heart Already Knows
I was thinking about how, amid all our serious reading and warnings today of imperilled futures—from the renewed prospect of nuclear war to the
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
globalreporters.com/experts-warn...
globalreporters.com
Experts Warn Sudan Chemical Weapons Claims Cannot Go Uninvestigated
The Sudanese Armed Forces are facing serious allegations over the possible use of chemical weapons in Sudan’s war, as former senior OPCW officials warn that
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/16/t...
counterpunch.org
The Burnham Window Monologue
It was one of those hot and sticky British summers that might have been penned by a Liverpudlian Tennessee Williams. Or by Lancashire-born dramatist Jim
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/11/m...
counterpunch.org
Mounting Evidence of Chemical Weapons in Sudan Demands International Action
Mounting evidence that chemical weapons may have been used in Sudan is raising an increasingly urgent question: not simply what happened, but whether the
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/10/p...
counterpunch.org
Peter Thiel Gets Lost in the British Museum
Last month, the British Museum gave shiny-faced tech billionaire Peter Thiel a private viewing of the Bayeux Tapestry. This was before the exhibition had
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Reposted by Peter Bach
c.c. o'hanlon @ccohanlon.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"Economic decline. Betrayal by governing elites. Resentment of Ukraine. Distrust of established media... "An influence operation does not need to persuade a German voter that Moscow is right if it can persuade the same voter that Berlin is lying." – Peter Bach (@lyst.bsky.social)
counterpunch.org
The AfD’s Friends Abroad
The AfD no longer looks like a protest party rattling the presently spiky gates of German politics. In Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday it won a gothic 43.8 per cent of the vote, more than twice its share five...
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/08/t...
counterpunch.org
The AfD’s Friends Abroad
The AfD no longer looks like a protest party rattling the presently spiky gates of German politics. In Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday it won a gothic 43.8 per cent of the vote, more than twice its share five...
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Reposted by Peter Bach
News Hub - A Home for Better News @thenewshub.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/03/w...
counterpunch.org
When the World Stops Dreaming in American
I was in a low-key New York bar on Seventh Avenue in the mid-80s when I became aware of the steely eyes of American playwright and actor Sam Shepard—who
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
26/09/03/when-the-world-stops-dreaming-in-american/
counterpunch.org
When the World Stops Dreaming in American
I was in a low-key New York bar on Seventh Avenue in the mid-80s when I became aware of the steely eyes of American playwright and actor Sam Shepard—who
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/01/w...
counterpunch.org
Who is the Enemy Now?
There is a very real and increasingly noisy meeting point between parts of the American MAGA right, several European far-right parties, and positions which, whatever their motivation, increasingly fav...
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Reposted by Peter Bach
liznangel3.bsky.social @liznangel3.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
At times on the world carousel, #Trump appears afflicted by a kind of brittle willingness to break every status quo within reach.Quite something, when generations of American Foreign Service officers have been educated & trained to believe that South Korea stands on the so-called side of the angels.
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/26/t...
counterpunch.org
The Curveball President
Last week, in a fit of blue-suit pique, Donald Trump threw a curveball, reversing his take on ideologically indoctrinated North Korea and flicking signals
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The Baltic is a confined sea. Its exit is narrow. Denmark sits across it. Sweden controls the opposite side of much of the approach. Germany sits at its southwestern end. Finland and Estonia overlook the Gulf of Finland. And all five are now NATO members. www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/23/w...
counterpunch.org
Warships, Watchers and the Riddle of the Sands
It is the latest chapter in a long-running battle with NATO, now including undisguised threats by Moscow to retaliate against British and EU ships
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Reposted by Peter Bach
liznangel3.bsky.social @liznangel3.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
💙 And the mountains, indifferent yet consoling, will hold their own retreat just as they have always done.💙
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/20/t...
counterpunch.org
The Retreat Goes On
Away from the heat, there must be some winds that wish to cool the earth. Some that carry the scent of wet stone and violet. Some that reach the Welsh
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Reposted by Peter Bach
liznangel3.bsky.social @liznangel3.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Without the military, financial and political back-up from abroad, #Sudan’s war would likely not have taken the course it has, and might not even have been sustainable. Wartime alliances matter and #Iran’s renewed presence is likely to stay an important one.
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/13/s...
counterpunch.org
Sudan Defies Simple Explanations
I remember sitting through one discussion in Nairobi where there was broad agreement as to why Sudan had collapsed. By the end, however, there was no consensus on what, if anything, could be done to s...
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/07/b...
counterpunch.org
Beyond the Wretched Algorithm: Seeing Ukraine First-Hand
Few episodes better illustrate the strange politics of today’s Ukraine debate than Laura Loomer’s journey from one of the loudest voices of the
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Reposted by Peter Bach
CounterPunch @counterpunchmedia.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The political reaction to the Ceuta migration crisis showed just how quickly border events become vehicles for much broader themes.
counterpunch.org
The Ceuta Crisis
The geography of the crisis seemed widely misunderstood. Ceuta has remained under Portuguese and subsequently Spanish sovereignty since 1415, remaining with Spain after Portugal regained independence ...
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/06/t...
counterpunch.org
The Ceuta Crisis
The geography of the crisis seemed widely misunderstood. Ceuta has remained under Portuguese and subsequently Spanish sovereignty since 1415, remaining with Spain after Portugal regained independence ...
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/29/w...
counterpunch.org
When Gloucestershire Appeared on Iran’s Map
There was something oddly disorientating about hearing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps mention RAF Fairford last week. Fairford is hardly a place
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
How much risk should the UK accept? How quickly should it move? And who should decide? www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/26/t...
counterpunch.org
The UK’s AI Crossroads
Every generation thinks it’s living through the biggest technological revolution in history. Sometimes it’s wrong. But sometimes it’s absolutely right.
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/22/t...
counterpunch.org
Turn and Face the Change
As Keir Starmer left British politics, with the last of the summer light catching his spectacles, I found myself wondering what comes next. Perhaps a pint
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/17/w...
counterpunch.org
Waiting for the Lead Pipe
"I’m not absolutely certain of my facts, but I rather fancy it’s Shakespeare—or, if not, it’s some equally brainy lad—who says that it’s always just when
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Perhaps the most honest answer is that many Iranians hold several truths at once. The burden is not choosing between them. It is carrying them all. www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/16/s...
counterpunch.org
Several Truths at Once
Ask what ordinary Iranians think about the recent escalation and you’ll find little reliable information. Even a young Iranian in London may lower their
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Wonderwall has taken on a life of its own, becoming a defining post-match ritual as fans, with a hint of mischief, defy the tedious anti-English monoculturalism peddled by Vance and Musk. www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/10/w...
counterpunch.org
World Cup Wonderwall
I am going to have to eat some of my words about the World Cup for this one. Today is gonna be the day that they’re gonna throw it back to you By now, you
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Catastrophes rarely begin with madness alone. They begin when nobody in the room is ready to tell the most powerful person they are wrong. www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/08/t...
counterpunch.org
The Dictator's Dilemma
As I travelled on the London Tube to meet CounterPunch writer and esteemed art historian Stephen Eisenham, I read journalist Owen Matthews suggesting Putin “lives in a parallel reality, a sealed bubbl...
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
When Britain finally recognised American independence in 1783, many of the Native nations that had fought alongside Britain found themselves abandoned to an expanding United States. www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/03/t...
counterpunch.org
The Forgotten Brits Who Lived Among the Cherokee
It took a single sentence in Ken Burns’ documentary series The American Revolution to change the way I thought about the American Revolution. It was a
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Reposted by Peter Bach
c.c. o'hanlon @ccohanlon.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
"Some of humanity’s largest emergencies unfold in relative obscurity. History is full of such examples. Entire populations suffer while the rest of us scroll past." Bring Me Your Neglected Crises by Peter Bach (@lyst.bsky.social) www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/25/b...
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
We assume that what matters will naturally dominate headlines, social media feeds, and public debate, forgetting that algorithms—not public judgment—now determine much of what we see. www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/25/b...
counterpunch.org
Bring Me Your Neglected Crises
A family arrives at a camp in Sudan carrying everything they still owned. A few cooking pots. Some blankets. Perhaps a plastic bag of clothes. They expect to stay a few weeks before returning home. In...
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/21/t... Behind a paywall I’m afraid.
counterpunch.org
The War in the Feed
One recent early evening, airstrikes hit southern Lebanon. In the hours that followed, videos purportedly showing this circulated on TikTok, Telegram and
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Reposted by Peter Bach
CounterPunch @counterpunchmedia.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
You know something is amiss when a World Cup referee is denied entry to the United States while Canada and Mexico appear to present no such obstacles.
counterpunch.org
The Beautiful Game Meets the Border Guard
You know something is amiss when a World Cup referee is denied entry to the United States while Canada and Mexico appear to present no such obstacles. That is what happened when Somali match official ...
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/17/t...
counterpunch.org
The Country That Chose to Be Smaller
Over the breadth of the ocean and all the way from a noisier Murica, politics in Cuppaland once ran on instantly recognisable machinery. You could hear
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/12/t...
counterpunch.org
The Beautiful Game Meets the Border Guard
You know something is amiss when a World Cup referee is denied entry to the United States while Canada and Mexico appear to present no such obstacles. That is what happened when Somali match official ...
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
From above, the scene looks like spontaneous public anger. On the ground, it proves rather more organised than that. www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/11/u...
counterpunch.org
Under the Flight Paths
I lie in bed listening to the birds in the trees. Living with a true artist means no art on the bedroom walls, only in the studio. In the background is
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/05/o...
counterpunch.org
On Seeing Will Self Again
I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed hearing Will Self until he reappeared. While I was sorry to learn he had been unwell, I found myself unexpectedly
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/02/t...
counterpunch.org
The Invention of Cultural Intelligence
Many years ago, Eamonn Gearon returned from an epic camel journey across North Africa. He nearly died along the way, surviving in isolation until finally
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Reposted by Peter Bach
c.c. o'hanlon @ccohanlon.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
"...outbreaks like this expose something fundamental about how interconnected human beings really are. A virus emerging in a remote forest region can eventually become a regional or global concern." – Peter Bach (@lyst.bsky.social)
counterpunch.org
Watching Ebola Return
Where outbreaks become truly dangerous is when healthcare systems start failing. If hospitals lack protective equipment, testing is delayed, contact tracing breaks down, or people avoid treatment cent...
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/05/19/w...
counterpunch.org
Watching Ebola Return
Where outbreaks become truly dangerous is when healthcare systems start failing. If hospitals lack protective equipment, testing is delayed, contact tracing breaks down, or people avoid treatment cent...
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/05/15/a...
counterpunch.org
As Though It Mattered: Hollywood, AI and the End of Original Ideas
The film operated according to a different logic altogether. Not frivolous, exactly, but curiously unanchored. It was as though the relationship between idea and origin had loosened somehow. Ideas did...
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
World Cup, Victory Day, unions, Rosalía not Emin, Franco-British maritime security missions, Camavinga and Mbappé. www.counterpunch.org/2026/05/12/o...
counterpunch.org
Only Four Weeks to Go
Diego Maradona took the ball near halfway, skipped past five England players, rounded the goalkeeper, and calmly scored what is still regarded as the
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Reposted by Peter Bach
Andrew Campbell @andrew-campbell.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
#andrewcampbell #britishartist #art #subvert #meta #agitate #algorithms #provoke #X #attack #openai #resist #io #disrupt #instagram #artforsocialmedia #facebook #dissent #tiktok #painting #maquette #notai #oiloncanvas #visualbites #netscape #prototype #study #contemporaryartist #wwwandrewcampbellcom
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Reposted by Peter Bach
c.c. o'hanlon @ccohanlon.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
"This one glacier presently loses several metres of thickness each year. "This is measured. Cross-checked. Published. The numbers grow with a clarity that resists metaphor. "And still, people come. They lay out their blankets. "Not in denial of the data, but in its presence." – Peter Bach
counterpunch.org
Picnic on a Receding Glacier
Instrument records and long-term observations show that Alpine glaciers have been retreating and thinning significantly since the end of the Little Ice
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
By late morning, the light will be hard and precise. The surface—what remains of it—will not be the smooth, mythic white that people expect, but a kind of broken grey: meltwater channels, soot, wind-scored ridges. www.counterpunch.org/2026/05/08/p...
counterpunch.org
Picnic on a Receding Glacier
Instrument records and long-term observations show that Alpine glaciers have been retreating and thinning significantly since the end of the Little Ice
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/22/a...
counterpunch.org
A Single Field of Grief: American and Iranian Anti-War Voices
I have sought out the following to show that peace can be mutual across warring sides. The key is not to drift into maudlinness or sentimentality. Across
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Add to playlist: the sweaty, unvarnished electropop of Punchbag and the week’s best new tracks
The sibling duo’s follow-up EP spikes their off-kilter pop with new darkness, adding atmospheric balladry to their glorious racket
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Peter Bach @lyst.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
“You should write about Viktor Orbán,” a close English friend told me before heading back to the Himalayas. www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/17/t...
counterpunch.org
Twilight of the Strongmen
Orbán is not yesterday’s story so much as a figure already ripe for perspective. A proper valediction might do more than mark the end of one career. It could help frame the twilight of a political gen...
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