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Ruth Michaelson

@ruthmichaelson.com

7.9K followers 919 following 600 posts

Observer Middle East correspondent based in Turkey. Bylines @theobserveruk.bsky.social & seen in @theguardian.com, sometimes others. ruth.michaelson@observer.co.uk ruth.michaelson@guardian.co.uk ruth@ruthmichaelson.com www.ruthmichaelson.com

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Ruth Michaelson @ruthmichaelson.com · 25/04/2026

Today in the latest edition of: Donald Trump does not understand how diplomacy works- and refuses to learn.

“I’ve told my people a little while ago, they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘Nope, you’re not making an 18-hour flight to go there. We have all the cards,’” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “They can call us anytime they want, but you’re not going to be making any more 18-hour flights to sit around talking about nothing.”

Steve Witkoff, the special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, had been scheduled to travel to Pakistan on Saturday, along with top aides to Vice President JD Vance. Officials in Pakistan have been mediating between the United States and Iran to try to end more than a month of war in the Middle East.

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Ruth Michaelson @ruthmichaelson.com · 27/09/2024

Alaa's family held a press conference yesterday in London with former detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffee, to discuss how the new British government is failing to live up to their promises on hostage diplomacy and Alaa's case while in opposition. This includes a promise in the Labour manifesto.

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Ruth Michaelson @ruthmichaelson.com · 11/11/2023

Hello hello- here is Catigula for tax.

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Ruth Michaelson @ruthmichaelson.com · 21/08/2023

Darth, this is Catigula Ayatollah Clawmeini. Here is he pretending to die if his snacks aren't filled to the brim. He loves the drama.

A very fluffy cat laying on the floor pretending his death is imminent, when in reality his life is perfect.

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Ruth Michaelson @ruthmichaelson.com · 17/08/2023

A picture of my cat, Catigula, inside a paper bag.

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Ruth Michaelson @ruthmichaelson.com · 03/08/2023

So I get a lot of nonsense borderline spam emails (plus some recent entertaining ones from a guy claiming to be the messiah) but this was too ludicrous not to share. Why frame it as whether LinkedIn is "the new Tinder," when this is clearly just about harassment of cis-women in online space?

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Ruth Michaelson @ruthmichaelson.com · 27/07/2023

Back in Hatay almost six months after twin deadly earthquakes in February, followed by another quake, weeks later. Here is one of the sites where the authorities chose to dump piles of rubble so big they look like hills from afar: It used to be a wetland, a spot known for birds and butterflies.

Pictured: A man walks next to a towering pile of rubble.

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Ruth Michaelson @ruthmichaelson.com · 16/06/2023

Depressing example of bad rightwing coverage of climate change: A non-scientist bemoaning a straw man argument about people correctly connecting the recent Canadian forest to climate change. They can present this as about semantics as much as they want, will not change the reality.

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Ruth Michaelson @ruthmichaelson.com · 14/06/2023

Solidarity with BBC colleagues in Cairo who are on a one-day strike today, demanding pay in line with inflation. They're paid in EGP rather than foreign currency, which as they rightly point out here is discriminatory- their foreign colleagues are paid in FX. Fair pay is part of press freedom too.

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Ruth Michaelson @ruthmichaelson.com · 13/06/2023

Hello from Catigula. He loves a bag.

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