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Helena Cobban Profile picture
@helenacobban
Jun 24 • 5 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
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This intriguing notice from CGTN: Image
I'd like to note that since early March I've been (a) noting the essential (thought quiet) role #China has been playing behind the scenes, to buttress Pakistan's diplomacy to end the US-Iran conflict , and also >helenacobban.substack.com/p/war-on-iran-…
(b) calling for establishing GCC-Iran security coordination by creating a "Zone of Peace" in the Gulf (Mar 11): . >helenacobban.substack.com/p/the-iran-war…
I'm psyched that steps toward this now *seem* to be happening. Another indicator could be this op-ed today by Turki al-Faisal: >aawsat.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D…
Of course, the US and Israel will try to use any lever they can to abort this project. But GCC rulers increasingly understand that the endless state of war that Israeli leaders have been pushing for is directly inimical to their interests..

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More from @helenacobban

Helena Cobban Profile picture
Mar 3
In 1507 CE, Hormuz (Ormuz) was the site of a series of atrocities by Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque that birthed 500 years of "Western" colonial control of the whole world. The moral arc of history is long, but... Image
Few people in the US today understand the seminal role Portugal (with its fearsome naval cannons & good navigators) played in inaugurating the era of Western control of the world. I wrote about this here: medium.com/project-500-ye…Image
That essay also underlined the deeply Islamophobic motivations of the transoceanic imperial projects undertaken by (a handful of) Far-West-European states from the get-go in the 15th century. >
Read 5 tweets
Helena Cobban Profile picture
Oct 12, 2025
As someone who 25 years ago authored a book about the #NobelPeacePrize, let me weigh in? upress.virginia.edu/title/2807/
Note: I did write that book a long time ago and my views have certainly evolved since then! However, in writing it, I did quite a bit of background into the origins & history of the prize... Image
I wrote that book, my fifth sole-authored work, as a "work for hire" for the University Press of Virginia, which owned the transcripts of the 1998 conference featuring 8 "inspirational" Nobel Peace Laureates on which the book was based (though I did a lot of framing & interpretation of their words.) >
Read 11 tweets
Helena Cobban Profile picture
Jun 23, 2025
On Saturday morning, I posted an essay on Globalities on Israel's fully US-backed & US-supported #AttackOnIran. 7 or 8 hours later, the US military jumped fully into the attack. This is a quick 🧵 to update what I wrote. globalities.org/2025/06/netany…
On Sat. morning, Trumpworld was still saying he "might" take up to 2 weeks to decide whether to directly attack Iran. Iran's FM Aragchi had met with EU-3 counterparts in Geneva on Friday. But almost certainly by Sat. morning, Trump had already signed off on the attack on Fordo etc that happened around 6:30 pm US-Eastern, on. Sat. >
Today at ~ 1pm US-Eastern the Iranians hit back, sending missiles against the big US base at Al-Udeid in Qatar, which had been almost completely cleared of people, planes beforehand. Meantime no clear evidence at all has been produced about any degree of damage having been caused by the US attack at Fordo. It may take a long time to see any such evidence. The damage there might be slight, medium, or massive. What there is some evidence of is >
Read 17 tweets
Helena Cobban Profile picture
Apr 16, 2025
I've been planning to write a thought piece about the decline of the US & of the "West" more broadly. In my latest newsletter for @justworlded I noted that this decline currently feels like the second phase of how Hemingway's protagonist Mike described how he went bankrupt: “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”mailchi.mp/justworldeduca…. Anyway, here's a thread: >Image
> So I went back & revisited some of the notable work from earlier this century on the theme of American decline. I was looking for dispatches from the "gradual" phase of the decline. I couldn't find Wallerstein's iconic 2003 book "The Decline of American Power" but did find the NLR piece that summarized it. >Image
> What I noted from this (not representative) sample of the genre was that Todd & Wallerstein, writing in 2002-03, didn't even have China's rise on their radar. Mahbubani, whom I judge a lot smarter & better informed than either of those two trans-Atlantic social scientists, (1) was writing this book a lot later and (2) based it on his decades of rich, hands-on experience in Singaporean diplomacy. >
Read 12 tweets
Helena Cobban Profile picture
Oct 17, 2024
I’m old enough to remember the Israelis’ killing spree of 2003-04 when they murdered Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdel-Aziz Rantisi, Ismail Abushanab & numerous other top leaders of #Hamas… & they imagined they had thereby “solved” the problem of Palestinian resistance to their brutal colonial rule…
But the movement has always laid stress on lifting up & preparing successor generations. Read our book, people! @orbooks @ramikhouri @MouinRabbani Image
Also: Next week Tues and Thurs I'm giving two talks about our book 'Understanding Hamas & Why That Matters'. Tues 4 pm ET it's a hybrid event at Georgetown U. Register here: > bit.ly/UH-at-GUImage
Read 5 tweets
Helena Cobban Profile picture
Jul 7, 2024
On the 9-month mark since Oct 7, @haaretzcom has a report on the IDF’s apparently broad use of the #Hannibal directive that day: (short 🧵)haaretz.com/israel-news/20…
It’s important to understand the #Hannibal , which many Israeli spox & apologists have tried to claim is “no longer in operation.” From Haaretz’s reporting, it clearly is > Image
The fact that they used the #Hannibal means that many of those killed & wounded in Israel that day, & much of the destruction, was committed by the IDF itself, not by the militants from Gaza > Image
Read 5 tweets

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