free bahruz samadov
@molenasreddin.bsky.social
personal account of an intergovernmental quasi-bureaucrat in stockholm. apologies in advance for all posts
my local iraqi produce guy has been rather aggressively upselling me the last few weeks and you know what? he has been right to do so because he does get some really good shit
December 20, 2025 at 8:26 PM
my local iraqi produce guy has been rather aggressively upselling me the last few weeks and you know what? he has been right to do so because he does get some really good shit
sincere apologies for i am about to be excruciatingly pedantic: the gramsci quote is "the crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear". the 'time of monsters' bit is (probably) Zizek's invention
The IMF and the World Bank are quoting Gramsci www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/b...
December 19, 2025 at 12:55 PM
sincere apologies for i am about to be excruciatingly pedantic: the gramsci quote is "the crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear". the 'time of monsters' bit is (probably) Zizek's invention
likely the first of many such decisions. today the government announced Sida's budget will be cut by about 4 billion SEK, or 20% of its budget as 'the money is needed in sweden' (the government announced 30 billion SEK in tax cuts three months ago)
www.dn.se/direkt/2025-...
www.dn.se/direkt/2025-...
December 19, 2025 at 10:54 AM
likely the first of many such decisions. today the government announced Sida's budget will be cut by about 4 billion SEK, or 20% of its budget as 'the money is needed in sweden' (the government announced 30 billion SEK in tax cuts three months ago)
www.dn.se/direkt/2025-...
www.dn.se/direkt/2025-...
It's a win for the good guys at CJEU on the Danish ghetto law but we're not out of the woods yet www.dn.se/varlden/dans...
Danska ”gettolagar” kan vara diskriminerande
Domen om Danmarks ”gettolagar” kan påverka framtiden för utsatta områden och invånare som drabbats av lagstiftningen
www.dn.se
December 19, 2025 at 6:15 AM
It's a win for the good guys at CJEU on the Danish ghetto law but we're not out of the woods yet www.dn.se/varlden/dans...
Reposted by free bahruz samadov
I've told this story before, but a year ago I was at a closed-door meeting with various governments reps at a meaningful level, and when social media regulation came up, one of the non-US government reps basically said: "but we're powerless"
Icymi, because I did: MI6 chief warns that tech giants are closer to running the world than governments.
MI6 chief: Tech giants are closer to running the world than politicians
In first public speech on threats to UK, top spy warns of dangerous power shift amid surge in disinformation
inews.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 1:43 PM
I've told this story before, but a year ago I was at a closed-door meeting with various governments reps at a meaningful level, and when social media regulation came up, one of the non-US government reps basically said: "but we're powerless"
Sweden's international development agency has unilaterally terminated most of its support for Swedwatch, the Nordics' leading business and human rights watchdog organization as its mission is 'no longer relevant to the government's new strategy'
www.mynewsdesk.com/se/swedwatch...
www.mynewsdesk.com/se/swedwatch...
Sida säger upp Swedwatchs kärnstöd i förtid
Sida säger upp Swedwatchs avtal med myndigheten i förtid - organisationen anses inte tillräckligt relevant för regeringens nya strategi om hållbar tillväxt...
www.mynewsdesk.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Sweden's international development agency has unilaterally terminated most of its support for Swedwatch, the Nordics' leading business and human rights watchdog organization as its mission is 'no longer relevant to the government's new strategy'
www.mynewsdesk.com/se/swedwatch...
www.mynewsdesk.com/se/swedwatch...
he will do a what celebration
On a livestream yesterday, Puka both:
- Said that the Refs throw flags that they know are bad to brag to their friends in group chats, and
- Told Adin Ross that he'd do a "covetous jew" celebration on his next TD score
Suspend him tbh
- Said that the Refs throw flags that they know are bad to brag to their friends in group chats, and
- Told Adin Ross that he'd do a "covetous jew" celebration on his next TD score
Suspend him tbh
December 18, 2025 at 12:38 PM
he will do a what celebration
genuinely fascinating interview for a lot of reasons, my fav being how the reporters keep asking him very normal questions about how a republican could win in new york, and every time he changes the subject to xenophobic voter fraud conspiracy theories
Amazing interview with a clownish local billionaire who is one of NYC's biggest conservative political figures, and firmly in the Too Dumb To Have A Conversation With tranche of humanity. nyeditorialboard.substack.com/p/john-catsi...
John Catsimatidis on Donald Trump, Immigration, and New York Republicans
The New York Editorial Board's interview with businessman John Catsimatidis.
nyeditorialboard.substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:10 AM
genuinely fascinating interview for a lot of reasons, my fav being how the reporters keep asking him very normal questions about how a republican could win in new york, and every time he changes the subject to xenophobic voter fraud conspiracy theories
starting around minute two trump starts sounding drunk and a bit confused, and by minute four its no longer clear what this speech is even about www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtEX...
LIVE: Trump addresses the nation (full speech)
YouTube video by Associated Press
www.youtube.com
December 18, 2025 at 8:22 AM
starting around minute two trump starts sounding drunk and a bit confused, and by minute four its no longer clear what this speech is even about www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtEX...
it's wild to think this is all downstream from one day in 2013 when vladimir putin, seemingly on a whim, decided he actually cared very much about a ukraine-eu trade deal and that the best way to stop it would be to throw a public fit about it
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Vladimir Putin predicts European ‘swine’ backing Ukraine will lose power
Russian president vows to liberate ‘historic lands’ in hardline speech, showing no signs of compromise on invasion goals
giftarticle.ft.com
December 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
it's wild to think this is all downstream from one day in 2013 when vladimir putin, seemingly on a whim, decided he actually cared very much about a ukraine-eu trade deal and that the best way to stop it would be to throw a public fit about it
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Reposted by free bahruz samadov
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
December 14, 2023 at 3:46 AM
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
i assume this point has been made elsewhere but its worth repeating: a reliable rule of thumb is that an increase in an occupation's diversity is downstream of precarization and its decline in social status
I’m sorry, this white guy who got a campus visit to Brown and was taken seriously by the committee thinks the only reason he didn’t get the job was because they only cared about race?
I think I can come up with another reason…
I think I can come up with another reason…
![Ethan made it to the final interview round at Brown. After a long back-and-forth with the search committee—a sign, he believes, of internal dissension—he lost out. “They wanted everything through the prism of race,” Ethan recalled. “Unless you place [race] squarely at the center of your research, you’re vulnerable, especially if your identity doesn’t fit the desired profile.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tgw3d4hvw3x5ijrxax7lg26u/bafkreifkhjwks4newrjgctdlmljukbrtlhsqatgdlfhjjhup7ciuqccfjm@jpeg)
December 17, 2025 at 1:19 PM
i assume this point has been made elsewhere but its worth repeating: a reliable rule of thumb is that an increase in an occupation's diversity is downstream of precarization and its decline in social status
var helt opreparerad för vad som skulle följa efter "det jag däremot hade gjort..."
December 17, 2025 at 1:03 PM
var helt opreparerad för vad som skulle följa efter "det jag däremot hade gjort..."
this is a book length essay arguing that charlie brown had hoes
One problem with this take is the number of high profile white millennial men in the media...
www.compactmag.com/article/the-...
www.compactmag.com/article/the-...
December 16, 2025 at 2:59 PM
this is a book length essay arguing that charlie brown had hoes
have been getting quite the hands on poli sci education this year by going to swedish political party events. logged in to one major party's 'election campaign and party congress' zoom this week a few minutes late (i have kids) and listened to 20 minutes of dead silence before hanging up again
December 16, 2025 at 9:27 AM
have been getting quite the hands on poli sci education this year by going to swedish political party events. logged in to one major party's 'election campaign and party congress' zoom this week a few minutes late (i have kids) and listened to 20 minutes of dead silence before hanging up again
a bit refreshing that this reads as groyper talk to americans when in most of europe it is longstanding center-right conventional wisdom (much of the center-left as well)
Folks, would you believe me if I told you JD Vance was over there railing against the immigrants as the reason for the antisemitism
December 16, 2025 at 8:18 AM
a bit refreshing that this reads as groyper talk to americans when in most of europe it is longstanding center-right conventional wisdom (much of the center-left as well)
a fun running subplot in my stockholm borough is the incredibly wealthy opponents of a development of 50 planned rental units cannot stick to their 'protect green spaces' script and keep bringing up that they're also 'against desegregation' www.mitti.se/nyheter/namn...
Namnlista mot byggplaner i Storskogen
Protester mot byggplaner i Storskogen i Bromma
www.mitti.se
December 15, 2025 at 9:46 AM
a fun running subplot in my stockholm borough is the incredibly wealthy opponents of a development of 50 planned rental units cannot stick to their 'protect green spaces' script and keep bringing up that they're also 'against desegregation' www.mitti.se/nyheter/namn...
remain bewildered that this discourse continues on an internet where you can rent pretty much any movie ever made for three or four dollars
December 15, 2025 at 8:57 AM
remain bewildered that this discourse continues on an internet where you can rent pretty much any movie ever made for three or four dollars
the left in europe and the us gets a lot of stick for petty factionalism but i firmly believe that no political movement in history has dedicated more of its time to infighting than russian liberals
You'll be shocked to learn that another petty rivalry has struck Russia’s opposition in exile. Garry Kasparov has reportedly accused Vladimir Kara-Murza of using a treason sentence as a "PR stunt." t.me/news_sirena/...
December 12, 2025 at 2:43 PM
the left in europe and the us gets a lot of stick for petty factionalism but i firmly believe that no political movement in history has dedicated more of its time to infighting than russian liberals
january 1st 2026 will mark the thirteenth consecutive year of balaji srinivasan being on this bullshit
Tech Billionaires Are Starting Private Cities to Escape the United States
“In October, former Coinbase chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan shared his vision for the ‘ultimate exit’ by tech industry elites from the ‘failing’ United States.”
futurism.com/future-socie...
“In October, former Coinbase chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan shared his vision for the ‘ultimate exit’ by tech industry elites from the ‘failing’ United States.”
futurism.com/future-socie...
Tech Billionaires Are Starting Private Cities to Escape the United States
As economic discontent grows, tech billionaires are pouring money into some 120 "startup societies" where they can reign supreme.
futurism.com
December 12, 2025 at 9:47 AM
january 1st 2026 will mark the thirteenth consecutive year of balaji srinivasan being on this bullshit
i clicked the link to get the tone and the first page and a half are just epigraphs and footnotes
An academic disliked an Oxford Very Short Introduction (145 pages) in his field so much that he wrote a 200 page book review attacking it. www.pierre-legrand.com/ewExternalFi...
December 12, 2025 at 8:58 AM
i clicked the link to get the tone and the first page and a half are just epigraphs and footnotes
listening to the new chuquimamani-condori mix on nts
www.nts.live/shows/guests...
www.nts.live/shows/guests...
a man in a robe is crying and says `` they can t keep getting away with this '' .
ALT: a man in a robe is crying and says `` they can t keep getting away with this '' .
media.tenor.com
December 11, 2025 at 9:04 AM
listening to the new chuquimamani-condori mix on nts
www.nts.live/shows/guests...
www.nts.live/shows/guests...
(man standing up meme) i think its good that in america we teach journalists how to do math
December 10, 2025 at 11:01 AM
(man standing up meme) i think its good that in america we teach journalists how to do math
nobel day in stockholm has officially begun with our most important tradition: this guy in the big cycling facebook group rides to hötorget just so he can post this dad joke
December 10, 2025 at 10:05 AM
nobel day in stockholm has officially begun with our most important tradition: this guy in the big cycling facebook group rides to hötorget just so he can post this dad joke