There has been a fair amount of discussion regarding Muslims/Arabs/pro-Palestinian voters not voting for Biden. First of all, I really hate the idea that only Muslims + Arabs can/do care about Palestinians. It is (a) not true; and (b) a harmful framing for the Palestinian cause. Regardless, the critique of this stance has basically been “Trump would be much worse for Palestinians and US Muslims” so threats to stay home are self-defeating. I think this ignores two things.

A thread on the cipher. The framing (and headline) of the Intercept article is pretty misleading. It makes it seem like the process was: Imran Khan firmly in power, his stance on Ukraine pisses US off, they institute regime change. That’s not really what happened though. The parliamentary no-confidence motion against IK was in the works for a while. It was openly being discussed + strategized over. The only unknown was when it would happen and how many votes PDM would get. But the die was already cast by then. IK was done, just a matter of time.

I have just received the awful, sickening news that Dr. Sean Kay, my mentor and friend from Ohio Wesleyan, has died. I am in tears writing this. Sean was the best professor any student could have hoped for. I am so lucky to have come across him at such an important and impressionable age.