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I myself said that until February 28. For the first time here, though, I’ve felt like it’s somewhat… ensouled. A sense of community & rooting for each other that I never felt in Dubai before. Maybe we’re trauma bonding. Or maybe places & people get ensouled through pain.

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Fuel prices are about to go vertical. The cost of transporting yourself, your food & anything else you buy, is about to spike worldwide. There’s a near-50% chance US gas prices rise to $5 USD by the end of the month. Yet Trump won in 2024 largely bc he promised lower inflation.

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Taking Gulf states hostage as whipping boys in a war of attrition is a stupid strategy for Iran. The aggressors (🇺🇸🇮🇱) have proven they do not prioritise Gulf interests or security. And they will spin Iran’s efforts to take the global economy hostage as escalatory imperatives.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

The USA’s actions tonight in Iran just put the whole Arab Gulf at greater risk. Instead of targeting IRGC military installations and leaders, 🇺🇸 destroyed energy infrastructure & a water desalination plant. The total opposite of winning friends & influencing people.

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4 deaths in the UAE now. Many more injuries. Nearly every victim is from the Middle East, South Asia or Africa. Yet media coverage—esp British coverage—of Dubai continues to focus on “influencers” & wealthy Westerners, reproducing the very racism & classism it claims to oppose.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Regime change is clearly our aspiration, though not one we’re necessarily likely to execute. Trump hopes this ⬇️ paves the path for regime opponents to take back Iran. Instead, he may be creating conditions for civil war, fragmentation or a less capable version of this regime. 1/8 🧵

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Many speculated that last night’s limited flights into & from the UAE on Emirates & Etihad were reckless. These airlines are best in class & obsessed w/ safety, so my hunch is no. But the real story needs to be told. Could Iran have made a limited agreement not to target commercial aircraft?

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“This is an illegal 🇺🇸 & 🇮🇱 war,” Kuwaiti scholar Bader Al-Saif said on Al Jazeera just now. “The Iranians are following a scorched earth strategy trying to bring everyone down w/ them. But this is not our war.” Iran’s bombing of Gulf states, he stressed, is “illegal on all counts” 1/2

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GCC states have been demonstrating the patience of Job to Iran these past 4 days. In an illegal 🇺🇸🇮🇱 war they all opposed, these Muslim-majority countries—not Israel—have become Iran’s chief victims during Ramadan no less. The GCC is bulking up defense but exercising restraint.

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Trump just finished a press conference in the White House. Here is a 6 tweet 🧵 of my notes on the key takeaways. Trump took full ownership of the Iran war, claiming that he made Israel attack Iran first when Iran failed to attack Israel, amongst other wild moments. ⬇️

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Trump live right now in the White House press conference: “If anything I might have forced Israel’s hand [to make it attack Iran first].” Yes, Israel’s right aggressively lobbied the US for years to attack Iran. But the Trump admin bought into this idea & Trump just took full ownership of it.

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The Trump admin gave Elon the reins last year. He gutted State, shut the US Institute for Peace & defunded our foreign policy ecosystem. Last night, DC told roughly as many Americans living in the MidEast as living in Vermont to “depart now.” But it’s giving no help to evacuate.

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Launch a war that jeopardises the safety of over half a million Americans from Jerusalem to Dubai? ✅ Send a histrionic alert after the fact telling them all to “DEPART NOW?” ✅ Pause to ensure that we have the capacity to evacuate our own citizens? ❌❌❌ Clown show.

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I just spoke with the BBC this morning about what it feels like in the UAE. I hope listeners ditch calloused, cartoonish views of Dubai. People from all over the world, inc war zones, live here. And all students affected by this war need to be learning—not recoiling from bombs ❤️‍🩹

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Are we supposed to hop on the next flying carpet out? Airports are closed. Why is Egypt on this list? Wouldn’t it be easier to stop this war than evacuate half a million Americans from a region practically as large as Australia?

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We had a quieter afternoon & evening than usual in most of the UAE. But Abu Dhabi just heard a loud attack. It’s nearly 3am and my students are safe & sound but shaken. My students—all students, in all countries affected by this war—should be learning, not trembling from bombs.

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Ominous. Also why is Egypt here? It’s not in the Iran-Israel crossfire. This announcement means that the US State Department is ordering hundreds of thousands of US citizens in the Middle East (over 200,000 in Israel alone) to “depart now” on virtually nonexistent commercial transit.

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Glonzo the Bureaucrat 🇬🇱 🌹 @snarkranger.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

This indicates more comforting intel than I’d have imagined. Didn’t expect any commercial flights for at least a week given that DXB airport was hit just yesterday. Remember that this is hurting Dubai’s economy much worse than Abu Dhabi’s, since Dubai relies on non-hydrocarbons.

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Reposted by Monica Marks

Each one of those three missiles costs 33% more than the annual budget of the national park where I work.

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The size of the selfie line at one of Dubai’s main tourist sites—the wings statue in front of Burj Khalifa—is the same I’ve always seen it on weekday afternoons. Heard what sounded like fighter jets in the morning, but skies are quiet now & people even pushing strollers outside.

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Iran has not targeted Turkey so far, though its position on this war is exactly the same as that of Arab Gulf states. 🇹🇷 hosts US military bases but opposes & is neutral in this war. The fact that Turkey is in NATO helps explain this. Curious if folks see other factors at play.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Woke up to sound of missile interceptions in the sky for the second day in a row here in the UAE. Last night I told Sky News that watching Dubai attacked feels even more surreal than if it were Miami in some ways, since quotidian dangers like petty theft & harassment are so much rarer. Wild times.

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Here’s a core GCC defense problem: efficacy in intercepting Iran does not = sustainability. The UAE is intercepting 92%. Very impressive. But for every $1 Iran spent on drones, UAE spends $20–28 shooting them down. And Shahed drones are also faster to make than PAC3-MSEs needed to intercept them.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Oman & Qatar are the GCC states most amenable to Iran. So by 1) striking civilian infrastructure across the Gulf & 2) attacking Oman today, Iran was being reckless. Instead of picking off one GCC state, like UAE, to bully Iran has foolishly revitalised GCC unity w/ its desperate attacks.

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Spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom away from windows after a missile alert sounded earlier this hour in Dubai. Wild feeling to have for the first time. But for many worldwide, such alerts are a constant occurrence. Or, even worse, not publicly available before the bombs fall.

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Ominous but accurate. Braced for a long night in the UAE, hoping that most missiles continue getting intercepted. The people most at risk are workers who are supporting family back in places like Nepal, Pakistan & the Philippines. They cannot simply shelter in place.

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Huge news if true, via @timesofisrael.com It would also be kind of unbelievable given how much advanced notice they had to hide in secure locations. This was the exact opposite of a surprise attack.

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Never thought I’d take pictures of explosions from my window in Dubai, but I just did seconds ago.

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I can’t emphasise leading w/ empathy for civilians *everywhere* on a day like today enough. The first casualty here in the UAE, where I live, is an Asian civilian at a residential building. Many Ukrainians, Palestinians, Iraqis, Syrians, Sudanese & other war-traumatised people live here. 1/2

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On X, the UAE’s Ministry of Defense has confirmed the death of an Asian national here hit by debris at a residential building that was apparently hit by Iran. The UAE condemns this attack “in the strongest terms, emphasizing the UAE's categorical rejection of targeting civilian infrastructure.”

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Qatar & Bahrain’s airspace has been closed. Here in the UAE, there are reports of explosions heard in Abu Dhabi & airspace is now closed. Many people who live in these countries fled wars in Iraq, Palestine & beyond. News like this is traumatic for them. Keep them & all civilians in your thoughts.

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