Laleh Khalili
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lalehkhalili.bsky.social
Laleh Khalili
@lalehkhalili.bsky.social

Politics, poetry, ports, pottymouth. She/her.

Typos and dropped words in every post, because sharing is caring.

Find me at [email protected]

Laleh Khalili is an Iranian American Professor of Gulf Studies at University of Exeter.

Source: Wikipedia
Political science 58%
Sociology 34%
Pinned
I have organised an amazing roster of *virtual* presentations for the Centre for Gulf Studies at Exeter. Check out these incredible superstars, and register for the events (Tuesdays 17-18.30 London time) here: www.exeter.ac.uk/research/cen...

Statement by the union of Iranian bus-drivers.

www.counterpunch.org/2026/01/12/s...

ANCIENT HISTORY
Diana Di Prima

The women are lying down
in front of the bulldozers
sent to destroy
the last of the olive groves.

REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #90, 1970
At last night’s candlelight vigil for Renee Nicole Good, Bishop Rob Hirschfeld of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire announced he had asked the clergy of the diocese to get their affairs in order and to make sure they have their wills written ...,

Reposted by Juan Cole

Lol Nobel Committee now saying Machado can't barter her Nobel for presidency of Venezuela. As they say play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

www.nobelpeaceprize.org/articles/is-...
Is it possible to revoke a Nobel Peace Prize? - Nobel Peace Prize
It is not possible to revoke a Nobel Peace Prize. Neither Alfred Nobel’s will nor the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation mention any such possibility.
www.nobelpeaceprize.org

Reposted by Nathan P. Kalmoe

Columbia students had dubbed their Western canon course "Plato to NATO." Texas A&M wants to ban Plato too. dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...

Reposted by Laleh Khalili

In a live episode of the 𝘓𝘙𝘉 podcast 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘬at the @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk, Daniel Soar, Patrick Cockburn, @lalehkhalili.bsky.social and @tomstevenson.bsky.social will discuss the long aftermath of 9/11 and the War on Terror.

Tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/aftershock...
Aftershock: Patrick Cockburn, Laleh Khalili & Tom Stevenson
A live episode of the LRB podcast Aftershock with Patrick Cockburn, Laleh Khalili & Tom Stevenson chaired by LRB senior editor Daniel Soar.
www.eventbrite.co.uk

Next Tuesday (13 Jan, 17-18.30 London time) Mona Damulji (UCSB) will present on "The Cultural Infrastructure of Oil in Iran and Iraq" to our virtual seminar series. For details and to register go to:
www.exeter.ac.uk/events/detai...

The remainder of the presentations are scheduled as below.

(if true) this map is a really fascinating distillation of European social history. The most common occupationally related surnames in each country.

One thing that sucks about moving over here is that I haven’t yet blocked all the Zionists.

Reposted by Laleh Khalili

In a live episode of the 𝘓𝘙𝘉 podcast 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘬at the @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk, Daniel Soar, Patrick Cockburn, @lalehkhalili.bsky.social and @tomstevenson.bsky.social will discuss the long aftermath of 9/11 and the War on Terror.

Tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/aftershock...
Aftershock: Patrick Cockburn, Laleh Khalili & Tom Stevenson
A live episode of the LRB podcast Aftershock with Patrick Cockburn, Laleh Khalili & Tom Stevenson chaired by LRB senior editor Daniel Soar.
www.eventbrite.co.uk

Whenever the Europeans/US have gone to war (sometimes wars of extermination) against black/brown people, they've called it “police action”. Since the Hague convention in fact. That is why the Hague banned the use of Dum Dum bullets in wars against the “civilised” but not against Asians and Africans.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Michael Waltz: "There is no war against Venezuela or its people. WE are not occupying a country. This was a law enforcement operation."
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Michael Waltz Statement at U.N. Security Council Meeting on Venezuela
YouTube video by C-SPAN
youtu.be
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Michael Waltz: "There is no war against Venezuela or its people. WE are not occupying a country. This was a law enforcement operation."
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Michael Waltz Statement at U.N. Security Council Meeting on Venezuela
YouTube video by C-SPAN
youtu.be

How you manufacture consent.
BBC journalists have been banned from describing the kidnapped Venezuelan leader as having been kidnapped.

The BBC News Editor has sent this to BBC journalists.
BBC journalists have been banned from describing the kidnapped Venezuelan leader as having been kidnapped.

The BBC News Editor has sent this to BBC journalists.

This is such an incredible piece, with soooo many amazing links and so much info that I didn’t even know (e.g. Pinochet being involved in drug-running!): prospect.org/2025/12/23/n...
The Narco-Terrorist Elite - The American Prospect
Why is Marco Rubio so hell-bent on making Iran-Contra again?
prospect.org

egged on and assisted*

Gaza holds a mirror to the world, as Palestine has always done. When the Europeans fully allowed -egged on!- the US and its shitty little settler colony on the Med to engage in genocide, they basically paved the way to Venezuela and from there to Greenland.

I don't think it had to do with Valdez. I think the reason they switched to charters is because they lost control of oil reserves after nationalisation and their vertical integration unravelled.

Also, 1959 was when tanker sizes really took off, but the largest tankers were built in the 1970s and the biggest one ever (which was scrapped around 15 years ago) has never been surpassed in size. It is called Seawise Giant.

Much more complicated to answer. Number of ships in shipping company/logistics companies changes year to year. And even then, they charter more than they actually own. UNCTAD has very good stats on shipping companies.

The BP images above are from a history of BP shipping published by the Company. The Royal Navy one was some Royal Navy-buff website

But in terms of ship sizes, tankers fast exceeded the size of the largest war ships. Most tankers have at any given time been longer than most warships, including even aircraft carriers.

At no point did BP’s number of ships exceed that of the Royal Navy (especially as BP both owned and chartered ships and the balance shifted towards charters in the 1970s). In 1959/1960 it came close; but even at that point, the Royal Navy had more ships.

😂😂

Size of ships or number of ships in the fleet?

Reposted by Laleh Khalili

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... You have to go 13 mini paras before you get to the name, and even then, it's just "Ahmed". Perhaps if the name was more Anglo-Saxon, the name would be in full and higher up? Lacklustre on your paper's part.
Bystander tackles and wrestles gun from alleged gunman during Bondi beach mass shooting
Video shows the man rushing one of the alleged gunmen who shot dozens of people on Sunday evening in Australia
www.theguardian.com
This is fucking grim. Somebody invented a white guy, an "IT professional" named Edward Crabtree, who stopped the Bondi shooting and spread it all over the internet, which was picked up by AI agents and slop aggregation sites.

The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.