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Peter Maass

@maassp.bsky.social
1.3K followers 626 following 194 posts

Recovering foreign correspondent slash war reporter. Author of “Love Thy Neighbor” and “Crude World.” Done time at the NYT, WP, Intercept.

PostsRepliesMedia
Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 9h
Today's withdrawal of the last U.S. troops in Iraq, after 23 years of destruction, takes me back to April 9, 2003, when Marines toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. I was there, here's what I wrote after years of reflection and reporting. www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
newyorker.com
The Toppling
How the media inflated a minor moment in a long war.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Will interview the great @janetreitman.bsky.social on Oct. 7 about her new book, "The Inheritance: An American Tragedy in Five Acts," at Lofty Pigeon Books in Brooklyn. Please come, the cost of entry ($0) is out of whack with the value of the evening, I promise! www.eventbrite.com/e/janet-reit...
eventbrite.com
Janet Reitman launches "The Inheritance," with Peter Maass
"It reads like a great novel and lingers in your mind like a ghost map to America’s future.” —Jeff Goodell
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
On the 25th anniversary of "Nickel and Dimed," @alissaquart.bsky.social talks about the great Barbara Ehrenreich's legacy. www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2...
wbur.org
The relevance of 'Nickel and Dimed' 25 years since it came out
For "Nickled and Dimed," author Barbara Ehrenreich
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Working on the first draft of my next book, this hits hard and true.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
New poem by @alissaquart.bsky.social, here's a snippet! I’m trapped in a dream of childhood and violence, as I am trapped in so much beauty. Our sleep’s bogeymen now alive, creeping through newscasts, clumps of disinfo. A father throwing a colander is the president. yalereview.org/article/alis...
yalereview.org
Alissa Quart: “Pearly Everlasting”
A poem by Alissa Quart: “‘Don’t pick the apples’ reads / the sign, tempting like this / island’s algaeic beaches”
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
He got what he deserved, in the place he deserved it. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/w...
nytimes.com
Ratko Mladic, Murderous ‘Butcher of Bosnia,’ Dies at 83
A general during the Balkan wars of the 1990s, he was convicted in the killing of some 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica, Europe’s deadliest massacre since World War II.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
You have lunch with a cousin and mention the book you're working on, and the next thing you know, the papers of your great-great grandfather, Jacob Schiff, are going to be digitized. I'm glad to have played an odd little role in this. huc.edu/news/schiff-...
huc.edu
Schiff Family Foundations Fund Digitization of Jacob Schiff Papers - Hebrew Union College
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
For moral injury readers: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/w...
nytimes.com
Why I Sought Out a Taliban Commander I Had Fought
First as a Marine and then as a journalist, I spent years tied to Afghanistan. I returned one last time to speak to a former enemy in search of answers, and perhaps closure.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Lol I wrote about Judit Polgar for The Washington Post in 1992, when she was a 15-year old chess prodigy! More than three decades ago I noted that "the story of the Polgar family stretches the bounds of reality and even imagination" -- and reader, I was right! www.washingtonpost.com/archive/life...
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Normally you see the Statue of Liberty behind the Brooklyn Bridge. Not this evening on the Q train.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Born and raised in Los Angeles, lived all over the world, moved in 1997 to NYC, hands down the best city anywhere, anytime.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Brooklyn market two hours before Knicks-Spurs game — me and the guy polishing apples.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Lines to get into midtown Manhattan bars to watch the Knicks game. New York locked, loaded for the game tonight.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Midtown Manhattan three hours before tipoff and everyone is wearing Knicks outfits, traffic’s a mess, helicopters overhead and the game is thousands of miles away in San Antonio! #LFGK
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
I submit, as relevant reading material for the thousands of you watching the scaffolding livestream at the Kennedy Center, the story I wrote about the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad in 2003. www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
newyorker.com
The Toppling
How the media inflated a minor moment in a long war.
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Reposted by Peter Maass
🏆KonaBrunson🏆 @konabrunson.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Dear Knicks Fans ALL OVER THE WORLD… why should you enjoy the winning bucket by OG only in English? Anunoby would like you to enjoy it in many languages. 🧡💙
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Why aren't more people talking about "Star City"? Superb mix of "Chernobyl," "Lives of Others," and "Apollo 13."
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
What would the original "60 Minutes" reporters think of Bari Weiss? Morley Safer's daughter has the answer in this resonant piece. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Morley Safer of 60 Minutes was my father. He would be disgusted by what Bari Weiss is doing to CBS Is doing to CBS | Sarah Safer
My father joined the program when I was eight months old and retired 46 years later. He would be encouraging journalists at CBS to speak out
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Leonid Brezhnev would like a word.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Drone deliveries in NYC, the future I don't recall asking for.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Related to the upcoming World Cup in the U.S., what should the world do when the host nation of a major sports event illegally attacks another? In 1980, the U.S. led a boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow over the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Su...
en.wikipedia.org
1980 Summer Olympics boycott - Wikipedia
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
As always, @attackerman.bsky.social is a must read: "This mass murder will not be [Trump's] alone. There is an entire political, security and media apparatus that brought us to this point." www.forever-wars.com/the-many-fat...
forever-wars.com
The Many Fathers of The Murder of Iran
As Trump threatens that "a whole civilization will die tonight," remember that he didn't get here by himself
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
April 7, 2003, I ran across this bridge over the Diyala River in Iraq, past the body of this civilian. Bodies of a lot more civilians were on the other side of the bridge, killed by American fire. It was 23 years ago to the day, will never forget it. Iraq then, Iran now. (Photo by Kuni Takahashi)
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
To the Hague, those who give and follow illegal orders. Can't happen soon enough.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Americans need to read every word written by Spencer Ackerman in this column, and act accordingly.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Got my start as an overseas freelancer for CBS Radio (now gone, thanks Bari Weiss), Washington Post (diminished, due to Jeff Bezos), Baltimore Sun and Boston Globe (no longer have foreign reporters), and International Herald Tribune (poof). There are new digital outlets but it's tough out there.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Hard to believe that 23 years ago - March 19, 2003 - Bush announced the invasion of Iraq. I heard attack helicopters overhead and drove toward the war in darkness. The U.S. has learned nothing, still bombing and killing, hooked on violence. Photos: my SUV on the first and last days of the invasion.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Might be a good time to read a book titled, "Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil," which I've heard a lot about. www.amazon.com/Crude-World-...
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Reposted by Peter Maass
Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
What a flaccid Oscars that was. glad for the winners, but it shouldn’t be foreign and/or documentary filmmakers who speak to this moment. PTA a particular failure. Why make movies that confront what is happening if you can’t speak to it.
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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
When Israel says their violence is done to protect all Jews and make the world safer for us, we can only look at incidents like this and see that is obviously not true. They’re making it more dangerous for us EVERYWHERE.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
A legend of my generation of foreign reporters. I knew John and tangled with him at times, as did most everyone of that era. But as the obit notes, few of his kind have gone before, much of his work was superlative, and his raconteuring was spellbinding. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/w...
nytimes.com
John F. Burns, Prize-winning Foreign Correspondent for The Times, Dies at 81
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Latest from @alissaquart.bsky.social ...https://www.motherjones.com/media/2026/03/academy-awards-oscars-inequality-class-marty-supreme-sinners-battle/
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Reposted by Peter Maass
David Simon @audacityofdespair.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
We are the shithole nation. We are the citizens of a rouge, murderous empire. Our leaders are butchers.
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 11/03/2026
Class struggle, but weird: The surreal politics of this year’s Oscar nominees
motherjones.com
Class struggle, but weird: The surreal politics of this year's Oscar nominees
The Best Picture contenders reflect a mad world—and they're suitably lurid, pulpy, comic, and strange.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
"absolutely fucking hallucinatorily batshit"
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
I saw the same when I visited Pyongyang. Not kidding.
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Reposted by Peter Maass
Matt Duss @mattduss.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
One of the lessons of the Iran war is that it was a huge mistake not to even try to put any of the Iraq war architects in prison. We shouldn’t make it again.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Seen this before -- Serb leaders in Bosnia also blamed their atrocities on the victims. Main difference now is that Trump & Hegseth are unlikely to face the justice that finally got Karadzic and Mladic, now in prison for war crimes.
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Adam Weinstein @adamweinstein.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Just listening to a Pete Hegseth presser and rereading the Wikipedia page for Ratko Mladic
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
U.S.-led bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 went on for 78 days before Milosevic buckled, but not for regime change (for control of Kosovo). Imagine the bombing of Iran, illegal from day one, going that long or longer. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...
nytimes.com
Live Updates: Hegseth Says There Will Be No Letup In U.S. Attacks on Iran
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
The Ahmed Chalabi of Iran, totally great call to platform him.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Our children and probably their children will pay a price for the evil and idiocy of Donald Trump and the GOP.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
I've gotten these scam emails too, lol. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/b...
nytimes.com
Hungry for Affirmation, Vulnerable to Scams: As a Writer, I Know the Feeling
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
A poem that stops you in your tracks, from @joriegraham.bsky.social.
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
That was me in Sarajevo ~35 years ago except the Post didn't have a cretin billionaire owner who laid me off, so I went on to write a book about Bosnia and cover Iraq, Afghanistan etc on the dime of news outlets that now do much less of this work. It's a rug pull of journalists present *and future.*
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
I encountered paramilitary goons who looked and acted just like this in Bosnia, Iraq, and other conflict zones. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
mprnews.org
St. Peter police chief intervenes, prevents federal agents from arresting resident
The police chief of St. Peter intervened to prevent federal agents from taking a local resident who was observing ICE enforcement actions into custody. It is believed to be the first time local police...
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Cannot repeat the Obama-era dodge of saying "we tortured some folks" and not holding accountable the torturers and especially the chain of command. You want to stop state-sanctioned crimes? Trials not words are the only way.
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Reposted by Peter Maass
Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Bovino’s retirement needs to be a cage. His command environment yielded Renee Good’s death, Alex Pretti’s death & Julio Sosa-Celis’ shooting. Failure to prosecute Bovino & everyone else materially responsible for these atrocities will be understood by ICE, CBP, etc as a green light for the next ones
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Peter Maass @maassp.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
"Government agents who wear plate carriers to kidnap day laborers and Uber drivers are not the ones in danger. They are the danger...ICE must be abolished." -- @attackerman.bsky.social www.forever-wars.com/either-ice-i...
forever-wars.com
Either ICE Is Abolished or It Will Kill Many More Renee Goods
Minnesota is just the beginning of ICE's transformation into a right-wing death squad. But it can be the end
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Reposted by Peter Maass
Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
We are far past the stage of permissiveness with white-supremacist violence inside DHS. We are witnessing ICE transition into a death squad. This cannot be reformed. The only question is who will fight to abolish it, and who will accommodate it instead.
forever-wars.com
Either ICE Is Abolished or It Will Kill Many More Renee Goods
Minnesota is just the beginning of ICE's transformation into a right-wing death squad. But it can be the end
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