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The Sheriff of Kherson
“Russians and Ukrainians are from different planets. They are surprised that streets in our villages are lit, that there are WCs and showers in our houses. They are surprised that we have a decentralized system of governance, that mayors and village heads are elected, not appointed, that there is no top-down hierarchy when everyone follows orders from above.”
Russia Backers Link Buffalo to Ukraine
“What it appears to be is a disingenuous attempt to use the Buffalo shooting to undermine support for arming Ukraine, sending aid to Ukraine and helping them to defend themselves against Russian aggression,” behavioral scientist and disinformation researcher Caroline Orr tells New Lines Magazine.
Amid Grief for Shireen Abu Akleh, a Reckless Religious Argument Surfaces
A few in the Muslim world discovered that Shireen Abu Akleh, who had for decades given a voice to the Palestinian people, was in fact not a Muslim but a Christian. After many called her a martyr and thousands joined prayers outside the hospital she was treated in, there was some awkward backpedaling.
In Praise of Bawdy Words: When Bad Language Makes Good Works
The “Ummiyyat” is not just dirty verse. It gets at the inhumanity of life in a police state: torture, mass surveillance, disinformation. Surour had been spied on by Egyptian colleagues who pretended to be his friends in Moscow. When he accused his second wife of infidelity, he was convinced that she, too, was reporting on him to the mukhabarat.
When the Deep State Is All Too Real
A weekly review of news, essays, podcasts and more from New Lines. The week of May 16 to May 20, 2022.
How Islam Settled Roe v. Wade Centuries Ago
In Islam, abortion is permissible in many cases, like fear of not providing for the child. Sex outside of marriage also falls into this category. One fatwa states that abortion is fine for a single mother, maybe even better if she will face social stigma.
Bedouin Poetry and Culture Through the Ages — with Marcel Kurpershoek
Scholar and translator Marcel Kurpershoek talks to New Lines’ Kevin Blankinship about the Nabati poetry of the Arabian peninsula and its thousand-year history from pre-Islamic oral traditions to the UAE’s smash-hit reality show “Million’s Poet.”