Aaron Y. Zelin
@azelin.bsky.social
9.9K followers 730 following 1.2K posts
Senior Fellow @ Washington Institute for Near East Policy | Visiting Research Scholar in Dept of Politics @ Brandeis | Founder of Jihadology | Author of “The Age of Political Jihadism: A Study of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” jihadology.net jihadologyplus.com
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Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
threatologist.com
The FSB claims that it has detained 280 people on terrorism-related charges in the North Caucasus since the start of the year.

It also claims that it has prevented 33 crimes, of which 27 were terrorist attacks.

The problem? These figures bear little relation to developments in the region.
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
jmberger.com
To be fair, they're probably also lying about the one
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
Remember when Stephen Miller claimed the Chicago apartment raid was on a building “filled with Tren de Aragua terrorists”?

Well, DHS has now dropped the number of alleged TdA members arrested in the building from 2 to 1.
Just one "verified" Tren de Aragua member and one U.S. citizen with an active warrant were among the 37, DHS said, without saying how it had verified that gang affiliation. Others taken that day, the agency said, were "illegal aliens."
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
jmberger.com
Call me crazy, but I feel like Bezos torching the paper's credibility deserves more than a passing mention here
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
ajaltamimi.bsky.social
A blast from the past: an interview I recently did w/Jamal Maarouf,who led Western-backed Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF) that fought ISIS & was destroyed by Jabhat al-Nusra by end of 2014. Discussed SRF's history & how he views Syria under al-Sharaa www.aymennaltamimi.com/p/the-syrian...
The Syrian Revolutionaries Front: Interview with Jamal Maarouf
Back in early 2014 when war broke out between the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and the other Syrian insurgent groups, the Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF) rose to media prominence at the...
www.aymennaltamimi.com
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
jmberger.com
It's always "outside agitators," a classic delegitimizing attitude toward protestors by the local authorities
audrelawdamercy.bsky.social
the claim that protestors are "creating chaos at the expense of" Broadview residents who "lack the protestors’ privilege" to go back to their neighborhoods is v sus

on what basis are you assuming that protestors are ~outside agitators~ and not residents mad about what's going on in their community?
djbyrnes1.bsky.social
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson's full statement, in which she says she will sign an EO permitting protest "only at the safety zone located at the ICE facility on Beach Street," is up on the village's website.

"There are too many protesters abusing their right to protest," Thompson says.
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
jmberger.com
The ineligible in-group is the key to understanding a lot of what's happening in this country and the world right now.
joelhs.bsky.social
The US Jewish right is a 30% minority of the community that tries to draw boundaries that exclude most American Jews, so as to portray themselves as the majority. They’d rather rule over a smaller community than work for influence in a larger one.
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
jmberger.com
We aren't quite there yet, but Zuck has said it's his goal: People surrounded by "communities" of chatbots that replace humans as participants in the social construction of reality, which will lead us nowhere good.

*Parasocial construction of reality*

You heard it here first (I think).
No results for "Parasocial construction of reality" on DuckDuckGo No results for "Parasocial construction of reality" on Google
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
adamserwer.bsky.social
When you’re that rich no one ever tells you to shut the fuck up so you think everything you have to say is interesting
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
bencasselman.bsky.social
Unemployment is surging for Black workers — and federal government layoffs will only make it worse. Important story from @lydiadepillis.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/b... #EconSky
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
akmckeever.bsky.social
Was traveling so the issue's a couple days late but in this week's newsletter I take a fairly in depth look at the October 6/7 clashes around Aleppo city's al-Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood between pro-government forces and the Asayish

akmckeever.substack.com/p/this-week-...
This Week in Northern Syria [38.2025]
October 1 - 7: Clashes in around al-Sheikh Maqsoud, 'Abdi in Damascus, People's Assembly 'elections', and more...
akmckeever.substack.com
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
jmberger.com
jfc
atrupar.com
Bondi: "We've been living through a horrific cycle of political violence in this country ... night after night antifa wrecks havoc on the streets of our cities. In Minnesota, a gunman murdered a state lawmaker and her husband."
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
biblioracle.bsky.social
I strongly urge everyone to not just read this warning from @marcwatkins.bsky.social, but heed it, and be vocal and forceful pushing back against using AI to grade student writing. This must be anathema if we're going to have a world where learning means something. substack.com/inbox/post/1...
The Dangers of using AI to Grade
Nobody Learns, Nobody Gains
substack.com
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
jmberger.com
I think we found his handler
atrupar.com
Melania Trump: "President Putin and I have had an open channel of communication."
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
jmberger.com
Also, it's very exclusive in-group signalling. They're not speaking to the non-MAGA audience at all, because in their minds those people don't matter any more.
donmoyn.bsky.social
The fact that they are still doing the "Soros-paid protestors" bit is just an incredible testimony to the durability of certain tropes to negate the popular will, regardless of the lack of evidence.
atrupar.com
Sen. Roger Marshall: "October 18 is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professional protesters. The agitators show up. We'll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it."
azelin.bsky.social
Pretty much their whole deal. Not good enough for anything so instead create their own crappy version instead.
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
erikskare.no
Congratulations to Dr. Skretting for successfully defending his PhD thesis “The Origins of Sahelian Jihadism” at the University of Oslo! 🥳
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
amaramarasingam.bsky.social
😂

"So she walked off the job, pretending she was being silenced. Then she used that notoriety to found the Free Press, which became a success because it’s been backed by the dollars of a billionaire class that is still livid that five years ago, for three months, America said 'Black lives matter'."
lyz.bsky.social
I wrote about the Elizabeth Holmes of the media lyz.substack.com/p/let-the-al...
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
bencasselman.bsky.social
UPDATE: The September CPI report will be released Oct. 24. BLS says the data is needed to calculate the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits.
"No other releases will be rescheduled or produced until the resumption of regular government services."
www.bls.gov/bls/092025-c...
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
bencasselman.bsky.social
SCOOP: The Bureau of Labor Statistics is preparing to release the September C.P.I. report despite the shutdown. (Exact date still unclear -- almost certainly not the original Oct. 15 date.) #EconSky #NumbersDay
Reposted by Aaron Y. Zelin
mattsteinglass.bsky.social
The entirely consistent position of TPUSA et al is that censorship by government or platforms, and doxxing, cancellation and harassment, are bad when wielded against them and their allies, and good when wielded against their enemies.