Of Note: April 26, 2026

Dear Friends,

I missed sending this email out last week because I was busy finishing up my newsletter series called “On The Trail of a Tale,” which traces the path by which a poem by the 13th century Persian poet Saadi became Benjamin Franklin’s Parable Against Persecution. Part 4 of that series will post on May 1. You can read the first three parts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. I think the series is particularly relevant given the US-Israeli war on Iran for two reasons. Most immediately, it serves as a reminder of Iranian culture’s influence on the West, which the demonizing rhetoric about Iran makes it’s easy to lost sight of; and, more broadly, it demonstrates the power of translation, of being open to other cultures as a matter of principle and practice, and of the potential for change that lies inherent in that openness. In that light, it is very telling that only 3% of the books published in the United States are literary translations. Ours is not a culture that is open to others in that way. Now, on to the links:

The Links

• Letter from an American - April 21, 2026: “There is the unmistakable feeling that the wheels are coming off the MAGA bus.” If you don’t know Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter, you should. She manages to pack a whole lot of information into a single missive. Sometimes, like this one, it’s a take on one aspect of current events. (This one is also worth reading in that regard.) Other times, like this one, it’s a take on history that is relevant to the state of the world today.
• Which Iran Is America Dealing With?: Naghmen Sohrabi traces the consistency and continuity in the way pundits in the west have prognosticated about Iran since the 1990s and points out what may not be immediately obvious unless you're paying close attention: “The issue is not, in any shape or form, whether there is disagreement in Iranian decision-making...[T]he Iranian political system [does] not try to hide its political differences [but the pundits insist on talking] about infighting and factionalism amongst Iran’s political elite [with the goal of being able] to assign or predict blame for a possible failure to reach a deal and the restart of the war...[T]his framework allows us to ignore the realpolitik of how this war was started, why this war was started, and the ways in which the nature of this war has limited the possibilities of negotiating a new deal, a deal that the US did away with in 2018, by focusing on a familiar punditry bogeyman: Iranian infighting and factionalism.”
• The Counterterrorism Czar Without a Counterterrorism Plan: “To current and former national security officials, these were omens, signs of the dangers they predicted last year when President Donald Trump began redirecting counterterrorism resources toward his mass deportation campaign.” This piece by ProPublica delves into the fact that Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s counterterrorism adviser, has yet to come up with a national counterterrorism strategy.
• A history of Israel’s invasions of Lebanon: From Middle East Eye, this piece is worth reading for the history you probably, like me, did not know. For example, did you know that Israel has been occupying southern Lebanon on and off since October 1948? I did not. I am sure the question of whether or not Israel’s actions were justified will be deeply contested, so my goal in sharing this is less to take a side—though I think the side I’m on is pretty obvious—than to offer an example of just how much of the history of that region has been elided in what we learn about it here in the States.
• As Iran crisis drags on, fears of global food catastrophe grow, by John Powers: “‘Food prices will definitely rise in the coming months, making it more difficult for many people around the world to afford adequate and healthy diets,’ Matin Qaim, executive director of the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn in Germany, told Al Jazeera. ‘Poor people in Africa and Asia will be hurt the most because they have to spend a high share of their income on food anyway,’ Qaim said.”
• Life Under Israeli Occupation in Syria’s Quneitra, from New Lines: “New Lines visited the southern province to get a sense of life under the Israeli occupation and speak to residents of the area. Many of them live in fear of the unknown, with Israel carrying out raids and arrests at will. Most feel like their soldiers’ presence is an unwelcome imposition that they have no choice but to live with.” I did not know that Israel was also occupying part of Syria.
• Hungary will abide by ICC over Netanyahu, says incoming PM: Hungary’s new prime minister, Peter Magyar, has essentially said that he would have Benjamin Netanyahu arrested so that the International Criminal Court can try him for crimes against humanity.
• These Middle Eastern News Sites Are Actually U.S. Government Propaganda Operations, by Sam Biddle: “Al-Fassel and Pishtaz News are, in fact, part of network of websites and social media accounts purporting to be legitimate Middle Eastern news outlets that are in fact propaganda mills funded by the United States government...” Just something worth knowing.
• Senior UAE scholar says US bases are “a burden and not a strategic asset,” by Bilge Kotan: According to Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a prominent academic with connections to the kingdom’s leadership, “What the UAE needs is to acquire only the best and latest weapons that America has. Therefore, it is time to think about closing the American bases, as they are a burden and not a strategic asset.” It’s a crack in the facade worth paying attention to.
• Remembering Iran’s National Ballet Company, Disbanded in 1979, by Katayoon Halajan: This is an interview with Gita Ostovani, one of the founding members of the dance troupe and a teacher at the National Ballet Conservatory of Iran—because I think it’s important to remember that the Islamic Republic is still the Islamic Republic.
• As barbed wire blocks kids from class, Palestinians stage “Freedom School:” “For more than 40 days during the US-Israeli war on Iran, Palestinian schools were closed in the area. But last week when a ceasefire allowed Palestinian schools in the West Bank to reopen – even if for only three days a week – the children in Umm al-Khair arrived to find the fence blocking the path to their school a kilometre (0.6 miles) away. When the children tried to go around the fence, soldiers launched tear gas and sound grenades at children as young as five years old...Security camera footage recorded by community members showed settlers coming during the night to erect the barbed wire fence. Despite being erected without legal authorisation, soldiers have refused to take down the barrier...”
• The Problem With Hasan Piker’s Einstein Story, by Yair Rosenberg: “[Einstein] was also a deeply reluctant nationalist. Before Israel was founded, Einstein advocated for a shared state for Jews and Arabs, writing in 1946 that ‘what we can and should ask’ is for ‘secured bi-national status in Palestine with free immigration.’ But once Israel was established, Einstein strongly supported its continued existence, while insisting that its ultimate success depended on the pursuit of peace and fair treatment of the land’s Arab inhabitants.” Rosenberg offers a useful correction to the portrait of Einstein as an ardent anti-Zionist that is often deployed by critics of Israel.
• Hopelessness and Love in an Israeli Prison, by Toby Lichtig: This review of Nasser Abu Srour’s prison memoir The Tale of A Wall, which also includes a profile of the author is well worth reading. I am planning to buy the book.