Lecturer in Politics, IR, Peace & Conflict Studies | Focus on Politics, Religion, Violence in MENA & South Asia | Substack (The Old Quarter): https://bit.ly/46kjJ5Xhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3m466sgfd6c22“The mission-driven mentality fragments the destruction of a people and place into thousands of isolated acts, each justified on its own terms, none acknowledged as part of a larger campaign of genocide… https://www.972mag.com/israelis-logic-gaza-genocide/?utm_source=972+Magazine+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9c6a66e633-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_10_24_04_43&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-9c6a66e633-32088419827 Oct 2025 10:16 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3m466sgfd6c22https://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3m2y4ibcdck2jThe international community needs to ensure that “transitional” governance arrangements in Gaza are just that, transitional. The last time transitional measures were put in place (Oslo), they became permanent due to Israel’s deliberate obstruction of any pathway towards Palestinian statehood.12 Oct 2025 06:53 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2y4ibcdck2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3m2tybueiik25“[T]he Biden administration failed to impose serious costs on the Israeli government for allowing & even encouraging a widening campaign of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. In this vacuum, Israel appropriated more West Bank land in 2024 than in the previous 20 years combined.” https://reader.foreignaffairs.com/2025/10/09/the-gaza-deal-is-not-too-big-to-fail/content.html10 Oct 2025 15:27 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2tybueiik25https://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3m2rjwy5nhs2f“The story of poverty reversal in Bangladesh is a complex one, but it has one simple moral. Growth that leaves people behind is fundamentally fragile; stability that breeds injustice is ultimately wobbly, and data that does not reflect reality is ultimately unsustainable.” https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/views/news/the-harsh-truth-behind-bangladeshs-poverty-reversal-400407609 Oct 2025 16:05 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2rjwy5nhs2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3m2ok3qvipc2z“[T]he U.S.-Israeli plan excludes [the PLO] from any governance role in Gaza until it has implemented certain ill-defined reforms [including] ones referenced in Trump’s 2020 peace plan, which requires the PA to terminate pursuit of legal accountability against Israelis for war crimes.” https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/10/us-israel-gaza-peace-plan-deal-distraction?lang=en08 Oct 2025 11:30 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2ok3qvipc2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3m2e4gteels2lFrom Assad to today’s transitional government — how have Syria’s religious minorities interacted with the state? Read more here: 🔗: https://theoldquarter.substack.com/p/syrias-fragile-mosaic-religious-minorities04 Oct 2025 07:59 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2e4gteels2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3m2e4gteels2lFrom Assad to today’s transitional government — how have Syria’s religious minorities interacted with the state? Read more here: 🔗: https://theoldquarter.substack.com/p/syrias-fragile-mosaic-religious-minorities04 Oct 2025 07:59 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2e4gteels2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3m2c4c24rcc25“Diplomatically, recognition inscribes the Palestinian narrative onto the international political map and restores the principle that Israeli occupation is not a permanent destiny and that the Palestinian people hold an inalienable right to self-determination.” https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/09/palestine-statehood-recognition-what-it-means?lang=en&utm_source=carnegieemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=autoemail&mkt_tok=ODEzLVhZVS00MjIAAAGdJrg1Dqe0lYsBBD1-4xZSHyqrlMukalShiTDQYt6DSY1NYSjNRMztI-H4qvIfaKx9FNI2LZ4qKmQD42Fq_-Ahmo99xXjIei_rc9h4CnvUqdTf03 Oct 2025 12:51 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2c4c24rcc25https://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lzygk4ncgk27New Substack post on The Old Quarter. In this piece, I examine the relationships between Syria’s religious minority communities and the state, during both the Assad era and under the transitional government. https://open.substack.com/pub/theoldquarter/p/syrias-fragile-mosaic-religious-minorities29 Sep 2025 16:28 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lzygk4ncgk27https://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lzygk4ncgk27New Substack post on The Old Quarter. In this piece, I examine the relationships between Syria’s religious minority communities and the state, during both the Assad era and under the transitional government. https://open.substack.com/pub/theoldquarter/p/syrias-fragile-mosaic-religious-minorities29 Sep 2025 16:28 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lzygk4ncgk27https://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lzsx46hrrc2l“It is reasonable and just to reject any “security consensus” in any country that rests on apartheid and leads to genocide. Indeed, by deferring to Israel’s bipartisan commitment to crushing Palestinian rights, Western states have helped create the crisis we face today.” https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/25/palestine-trump-hamas-terrorism-unga-netanyahu/27 Sep 2025 12:08 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lzsx46hrrc2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lznurkbhws2b“[I]n Bangladesh, despite the uprising led by students, Gen Z is often portrayed as leaning towards the far right..this image is misleading. A dysfunctional political culture and limited civic education pushed many young people towards reactionary views.” https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/views/news/bangladesh-must-uphold-its-secular-heritage-399441125 Sep 2025 11:43 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lznurkbhws2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lx2txu5mvs2uWhat next for Iran-aligned armed groups in the Middle East? My Substack article: https://theoldquarter.substack.com/p/the-axis-of-resistance-at-a-crossroads23 Aug 2025 11:18 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lx2txu5mvs2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lz6n7cgduk2x“Israel’s Gaza disengagement was never about pursuing a two-state solution..It was an exercise in conflict management that sought to indefinitely freeze the conflict & torpedo pressure to negotiate with the Palestinians.The disengagement’s flaw wasn’t that it failed, but that it was too successful.” https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/12/gaza-netanyahu-israel-hamas-terrorism-withdrawal-anniversary/19 Sep 2025 10:18 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lz6n7cgduk2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lyprfpusvk26“Doha hosted Hamas at [the US’] urging, funded it with Israeli facilitation & mediated talks with everyone’s approval. For Qatar, these moves were meant to amount to an implicit security guarantee. Cultivating the US & hosting its biggest base in the [region] was supposed to deliver an explicit one” https://www.ft.com/content/d5a71ea4-04c0-4075-861e-825c320796a313 Sep 2025 12:23 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyprfpusvk26https://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lyksrfkdk226“We will likely see more investment in air defence, a greater push for a GCC security umbrella, and a diversification of strategic partnerships beyond the United States.” - Dr Andreas Krieg, King’s College London https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/how-will-qatar-gulf-respond-israeli-strike-doha11 Sep 2025 13:04 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyksrfkdk226https://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lyidllhqr227Short photo essay on #Petra, #Jordan. This is part of the newly-launched Passages series on The Old Quarter, on Substack here👇 https://theoldquarter.substack.com/p/petra-the-ancient-rose-red-city10 Sep 2025 13:27 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyidllhqr227https://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lxys4bkpb22g“One of the UAE’s key demands when negotiating the Abraham Accords was that…Netanyahu rescind his threat to annex the West Bank. Israeli officials have revived the threat…in response to several European countries’ recent pledges to recognise Palestine.” Will the UAE withdraw from the Accords then? https://www.ft.com/content/915595af-5564-4a45-ae69-9be265d0403504 Sep 2025 09:05 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxys4bkpb22ghttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lx2txu5mvs2uWhat next for Iran-aligned armed groups in the Middle East? My Substack article: https://theoldquarter.substack.com/p/the-axis-of-resistance-at-a-crossroads23 Aug 2025 11:18 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lx2txu5mvs2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lx2tsju26s2uUN’s emergency relief co-ordinator, Tom Fletcher: “[F]ood stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel. It is a famine within a few hundred metres of food, in a fertile land…It is a famine openly promoted by some Israeli leaders as a weapon of war.” https://www.ft.com/content/90aaed53-027b-4eed-be93-89632f0d2ea523 Aug 2025 11:15 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lx2tsju26s2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/richardjwallace.bsky.social/post/3lwjcfpxb5c2cThe Israeli public opinion poll data in this Foreign Affairs article is truly horrifying. “[T]he fact is that when it comes to Israeli intransigence regarding Palestinians, [Netanyahu] alone is not the problem. The problem is Israeli society, politics, & culture as it has evolved over decades.” https://reader.foreignaffairs.com/2025/08/13/israels-emerging-occupation-consensus/content.html16 Aug 2025 11:48 +0000at://did:plc:tmrdi7ng7dtwzoi2ubzstd6n/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwjcfpxb5c2c