iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Every single time I become insanely homesick, something like this happens to remind me that we must let go of the meaning of “home”, whatever that is, and all the feelings that come along! #FreeThemAll www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

theguardian.com

Egyptian journalist faces terrorism charges after entire newsroom detained

Calls for release of six Matsadaash staff after one is charged, while whereabouts of other five remain unknown

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Lizzie Dearden @lizziedearden.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

12 people have been arrested as part of an investigation into a suspected extreme right-wing terror plot against an Islamic gathering in Suffolk The UK Ijtima, which hosted 15,000 Muslims for a programme of talks and discussions, was closed and evacuated by police on Sunday

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Mark Berlin @markberlin2.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Why do armed groups use extreme forms of violence? Excited to share this new open access article! Analyzing beheading attacks conducted by jihadist groups, we examine the impact of leadership succession, targeting, and tenure on organizational tactics academic.oup.com/jogss/articl...

academic.oup.com

Leadership succession and jihadist beheadings

Abstract. Why do armed groups use extreme forms of violence? Existing research argues that ideological beliefs, organizational alliances, and efforts to ge

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Brian J. Phillips @brianjphillips.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

New article! "When Do Sanctions On Terrorist Groups Work?" with Hyeran Jo and Joshua Alley. A few key points: -Sanctions like the FTO list do not seem to reduce the violence of most FTOs -We look at group "financial adaptability." Only low- or medium-adaptability groups seem affected by sanctions

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Mel Andrews @bayesianboy.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

When utilized in literature review, LLMs consistently 1. fail to mention female authors in female-led literatures, 2. insist that men are more influential or more heavily cited when this is contradicted by objective citation counts, and 3. attribute women’s work to hallucinated male scholars.

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Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

For the last 69 years, Israel has held the West Bank and Gaza under military occupation, where local Palestinian residents have no civic rights. A very long time. -more than a third of the world's nation states are younger than 69. -East Germany or Apartheid South Africa survived less than 50 years

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

#EndTheStigma first and accept that mental illness is real. Make mental health care accessible and affordable first, before you lay on it the mentally ill to have compassion for themselves.

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

To families, friends, communities, workplaces and governments. Not accepting is actually closely linked to mental illness itself. To say the least, it is a shared responsibility but if everyone else could be making you feel less worthy, how would you accept yourself?

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

It is #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth. Lately I have been seeing trends for self acceptance as essential part of mental health recovery. And it is important but don’t make it the full responsibility of the less fortunate and more vulnerable to accept and embrace themselves before others learn how to!

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Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

The Handbook on Authoritarianism in the Arab World will be out this July Endorsement below by @argohdes.bsky.social

At a moment when the majority of people across the globe are living in nondemocratic systems, this book asks an urgent question: what can the Arab world teach us about authoritarianism? Spanning the many faces of authoritarianism, it offers an impressive collection of rigorous comparative analyses by a truly diverse set of contributors, many with lived experience in the region. Essential reading for anyone trying to understand not just the Arab world, but why authoritarianism keeps winning, and what it takes to resist it."
Anita r gohdes professor hertie school germany

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Amy Diehl, Ph.D. @amydiehl.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Reviewers in two groups were given identical resumes for Emily Clarke and James Clarke and told they had used AI. Emily's was 2x as likely to raise doubts about competence. "She can't even write a CV herself." But James "just needed a bit of help." fortune.com/2026/05/10/i...

fortune.com

AI generated identical resumes for a man and a woman: Hers was more likely to be labeled 'weak,' while his got a 97% approval rating | Fortune

“If people believe they will be judged more harshly for using AI, they are less likely to adopt it—regardless of their capability."

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

In addition, I thank Laura Saavedra-Lux, @blairwelsh.bsky.social , and @fareedakhalifa.com. Finally, I thank the editors @journalofgss.bsky.social and two anonymous reviewers for their extremely helpful comments.

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

I thank @brianjphillips.bsky.social for the invaluable feedback over the numerous drafts of this paper. I thank Kristian S. Gleditsch and Sara Polo for their continuous guidance. I also thank Prabin Khadka and @triciabacon.bsky.social for their thorough engagement with the project.

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

The journey was long! I don't have much to say except that Islamist militancy dramatically changed the course of events during and after the Arab Spring. This article is my small and indirect attempt to make sense of and reconcile with some of what happened to us and how we ended up where we did.

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

I test the argument using original data on affiliation along with proxies for high and low legitimacy. Social services provision for high legitimacy, kidnapping and young age for low legitimacy. Results are supportive of the argument. Check out the full paper!

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

I argue that when local groups face a domestic legitimacy deficit, they would try to substitute for it at the transnational level. Affiliation with al-Qaeda or the Islamic State could help solving for internal shortages and projects religious recognition and status onto the local groups.

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

This paper investigates why some Islamist militant groups affiliate with and pledge allegiance to global jihadist networks, al-Qaeda or the Islamic State, while others do not.

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Brian J. Phillips @brianjphillips.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

The men who killed three people at the San Diego mosque, terrorizing communities, apparently had neo-Nazi views. Part of a trend. But the US counterterrorism strategy released recently doesn’t even mention that kind of threat. Instead it focuses on drug cartels, Islamists, and leftists/anarchists.

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Brian J. Phillips @brianjphillips.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Essex local election results. Wivenhoe (University of Essex) is a small yellow (Lib Dems) part in the sea of teal (Nigel Farage’s Reform).

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

ايه يا بلاد يا غريبة… عدوة ولا حبيبة

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Fared Al Mahlool | فريد المحلول @faredalmahlool.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Apocalyptic aerial footage from east Gaza City.

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

ghorbat I assume is close to the Arabic ghorba or غربة.. I sometimes think it could reflect a feeling close to “estrangement”… but not sure..

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Mohamed A. El-Erian @elerianm.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Economic tipping points are notoriously hard to forecast, but the next one is likely approaching. For several Asian economies in the near term, and for Europe down the road, if the Middle East War remains unresolved, the shock is moving quickly toward physical energy scarcity. This... 1 of 2

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The Economist @economist.com · 17/04/2026

A new study reveals that the natural selection of valuable genetic variants has played a much more influential role in human evolution than was previously thought

econ.st

How natural selection really shaped humanity

Adaptation in response to evolutionary pressure is surprisingly common

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Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

"Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!" This is a departure from the one-sided cease fire negotiated by the Biden administration, when Israel bombed (generously-defined) "threats" as it pleased and Hezbollah held back.

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Brian J. Phillips @brianjphillips.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

“Civilians feared killed after reports of Nigerian air strike on Nigerian market” Ah air strikes, solving everything Civilians feared killed after reports of air strike on Nigerian market www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Nigeria: Civilians feared dead after air strike at Borno market

The Nigerian Air Force has not addressed reports it struck a village market while targeting militants.

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Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 09/04/2026

I've completely lost track of what I'm supposed to be distracted from.

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Swapna Krishna @swapnakrishna.com · 07/04/2026

Earthset from Artemis II. I am overcome.

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

A reminder that no matter where we are, how far away we can get, we ll always be bound by our lived experiences www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Cw...

youtube.com

Crew of Artemis II share an emotional moment after naming new crater after a lost loved one

YouTube video by CTV News

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Mai El-Sadany @maitelsadany.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Alarming news from Egypt where activist and poet Ahmed Douma has been ordered into detention for four days in Case No. 2449 of 2026 before the Supreme State Security Prosecution. He's being accused of spreading false news in relation to an article he published with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed last month.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Oh hey there, void, how's the screaming

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Brian J. Phillips @brianjphillips.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Thinking about Iran, and some people bragging about the metric of the number of targets hit or bombs dropped. Random reminder: the U.S. dropped more bombs on North Vietnam than all the bombs dropped by all sides in World War II. Didn't work out in the end.

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

An Egyptian poet once wrote something, the translation of which could be: “What is my art good for? Asked a clown.. And three buckets of powder to color me.. And the drums and flutes and all the shouting.. If my customer's madness exceeds my own?!”

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

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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Mark Berlin @markberlin2.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Excited to share “Commanders of the Mujahideen: Introducing the Jihadist Leaders Dataset” at JPR! Analyzing Arabic, French, German, Turkish, and Urdu sources, we gathered information on the backgrounds and experiences of 237 leaders across multiple regions academic.oup.com/jpr/advance-...

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Congratulations Mark and everyone. This is really cool 🎊

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

It was the last realisation of the defeat, injustice, trauma and absurdity! Yes the current regime is not handling anything related to the MB in a just way! That is a given. But they were also in power at a very critical time and they did not play by any democratic rule! So please… please!

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Police forces were standing observing without interfering! It was a shit show! Also please do not take this out of context as there is nothing to justify how MB supporters were massacred in Rabaa in August 2013, which was basically the end of any dream of a revolution to everyone involved!

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

And every time, they used the same violent tactics of Mubarak. November 2012 was a horrible month where we spent more time in morgues and burials than anything else! In December 2012, MB supporters and revolutionaries clashed in a long violent confrontation, where MB supporters had access to weapons

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

They we simply not! Granted as revolutionaries in Egypt, we have all made mistakes, but the Muslim Brotherhood were elected into power and they were responsible of moving us forward and not regressing. We protested against Mohamed Morsi only 100 days after he became president..

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Nihad Aboud نهاد عبود @nihadaboud.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Ranting 🧵 Every time I read a Western analysis on jihadist groups, or IS or AQ that suggests that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt were accepting democracy and pluralism, and we should have seized the chance, and how this could have saved us from potential jihadist threats, I want to cry and scream.

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

The humanities cannot simultaneously be useless and moribund and also so dangerous that they are worth legally restricting.

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