Must read (& I rarely say that): Kourosh writes of covering a war in his country. Two things stuck with me: how to convince people to consider not just the price of gas but the human cost; courage to tell truths in a time of deceit. Well you are brave & an exceptional journalist

There is something particularly obscene about a world in which destruction is celebrated as military success, while exposing suffering demands an explanation, and the pretence of impartiality requires treating aggressor and victim as equally responsible. A devastating and beautifully written account of the anguish so many of us Iranians have felt, watching the destruction of our country celebrated as an achievement, while its human cost is treated as an inconvenient truth.

“… the many incidents of civilian casualties and psychological toll on Iranian citizens to the environmental degradation caused by U.S.-Israeli bombing and extensive damage to houses of worship of minorities—thrust me into self-doubt… was it outlandish to cover the human cost?”

From my new personal essay for @hiddencitiesmag on covering the war in Iran amid a global moral decline: "While everyone was so laser-focused on the price of gas and the Strait of Hormuz, was it outlandish to cover the human cost of this 'Epic Fury'?" hidden-cities.com/p/the-angu…

“Reporting on the war against my country of origin from my adopted country was, to put it mildly, surreal, if not draining.” @KZiabari on covering Iran from America and the burden "of processing how my native country was being destroyed." hidden-cities.com/p/the-angu…

“I felt the anguish not as an Iranian, but as a journalist who would be reporting on any other conflict by highlighting its human toll, not its ‘tactically impressive’ results.” @KZiabari in @hiddencitiesmag on covering the Iran war from America: hidden-cities.com/p/the-angu…

For @hiddencitiesmag edited by @FreddyDeknatel, I wrote about the draining experience of covering the war on Iran, my observations of a corporate media scene infatuated by the spectacle of conquest and mighty bombs, and the reverie of journalistic objectivity

“Israel waged a war of annihilation, a war in which we effectively laid Gaza to waste,” @sfardm writes. “And the criminal, unforgivable project of destroying Gaza was an all-Israeli project.” hidden-cities.com/p/what-wil…

"I have seen how easily whole communities are reduced to headlines, how faiths are flattened into caricature, how violence becomes explanatory shorthand. None of this survives sustained attention." @YahiaLababidi in @hiddencitiesmag hidden-cities.com/p/even-in-…

"Most people would not speak as they do if their lives had widened just enough to complicate what they take for granted, if familiarity had been allowed to interrogate fear." An excerpt from @YahiaLababidi's new book out now in @hiddencitiesmag, a meditation on ordinary decency.

With American troops gone, the security rationale that has long defined U.S. ties with Iraqi Kurdistan has expired, @Firmeskrahim argues. “The question is whether the relationship can survive without the military logic that created it.” hidden-cities.com/p/the-us-h…

The U.S. military’s withdrawal “changes sovereignty in Iraq from a long-standing political claim into a practical test,” @Firmeskrahim writes in @hiddencitiesmag “What remains are the preexisting security and political issues that have long divided Iraq.” @ConversationUS

The U.S. military’s withdrawal “changes sovereignty in Iraq from a long-standing political claim into a practical test,” @Firmeskrahim writes. “What remains are the preexisting security and political issues that have long divided Iraq.” @ConversationUS hidden-cities.com/p/the-us-h…

"Think of your own neighborhood: your children’s school, the health clinic, the shopping center, the playground, the park, the office buildings, the residential blocks. Now imagine everything, absolutely everything, is gone." @sfardm on Israel's "war of annihilation" in Gaza:

"The criminal, unforgivable project of destroying Gaza was an all-Israeli project," @sfardm writes in @hiddencitiesmag. "It could not have taken place without the cooperation of every sector of Jewish Israeli society, whether through action or silence." hidden-cities.com/p/what-wil…

“The war in Gaza is the tragic culmination of all the processes Israeli society has undergone since its birth.” @sfardm traces the origins of Israel's “war of annihilation in Gaza” — adapted from his new book Occupation From Within by @degruyter_brill hidden-cities.com/p/what-wil…