Podcasts about Ottoman

Guest: Gregory Copley. Discussing Niall Ferguson's comparison of the current geopolitical climate to the imperialism of 1906, Copley argues that while territorial annexation is less common, a new form of technological and economic imperialism has emerged where the U.S. maintains spheres of influence through dominance in global defense sales. Copley notes that while Turkey attempts to reassert Ottoman-style control through "gunpowder diplomacy" despite being bankrupt, and the U.S. acts as a self-proclaimed global guardian, the primary rival, China, is currently failing due to internal collapse rather than expanding like the powers of the early 20th century.1905 TR BROKERS PEACE.

SHOW 1-5-26 THE SHOW BEGINS IN DOUBTS ABOUT VENEZUELA, NIGERIA, SYRIA, RUSSIA, CHINA 1936 KENYA 1. NIGERIA AIRSTRIKE AND THE JIHADIST SHIFT Guest: Edmund Fitton-Brown Edmund Fitton-Brown analyzes a US airstrike against ISIS in Nigeria, discussing the growing jihadist threat in West Africa's "ungoverned spaces." He highlights a strategic shift where African juntas reject Western support for Russian mercenaries, who offer security without governance conditions, inadvertently boosting local support for Al-Qaeda coalitions like JNIM,,. 2. EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN ALLIANCE VS. TURKEY Guest: Edmund Fitton-Brown Fitton-Brown examines the cooperation between Greece, Cyprus, and Israel as a necessary pushback against Turkish President Erdogan's neo-Ottoman expansionism. He argues Erdogan's aggressive rhetoric regarding Jerusalem and maritime claims threatens regional stability, necessitating a unified defense from these democracies to counter Turkish overreach in the Mediterranean,. 3. CHINA'S OIL LOSS IN VENEZUELA Guest: Gordon Chang and Charles Burton The guests discuss how the US removal of Maduro disrupts China's oil supply, leaving Beijing with billions in unpaid debt. They note that Chinese military equipment failed to detect the US operation, embarrassing Beijing. Burton suggests Canada faces a difficult choice between aligning with US hemispheric security or appeasing China,,. 4. 2026: A HOLLOW SUPERPOWER Guest: Gordon Chang and Charles Burton Chang and Burton speculate that the US operation in Venezuela exposes China's inability to protect its allies, making Beijing appear "hollow." Chang argues this weakens China's threat against Taiwan, while Burton suggests that with China's economy failing and its allies collapsing, the regime faces internal instability and a loss of global prestige,. 5. SECTARIAN WARFARE IN SYRIA Guest: Akmed Sharawari Akmed Sharawari reports on escalating violence between Syria's Alawite minority and the central government led by former jihadist Al-Shara. He explains that regime remnants and Russian influence are fueling Alawite defiance, while Druze and Kurdish factions also resist integration, complicating US hopes for a stable, unified post-Assad state,,. 6. WESTERN AIRSTRIKES ON ISIS Guest: Akmed Sharawari Sharawari discusses recent British and French airstrikes against ISIS weapons caches in Syria. He notes that despite opposing the central government, ISIS remains a universal threat. The chaos following the Assad regime's fall has allowed ISIS cells to regroup in urban areas, necessitating Western intervention to destroy their stolen arsenals,. 7. HEZBOLLAH'S LATIN AMERICAN FINANCING Guest: David Daoud David Daoud details Hezbollah's deep entrenchment in Venezuela, used to challenge US hegemony. He explains how the group exploits Latin American networks, illicit trade, and legitimate business fronts within expatriate communities to generate essential funding, compensating for losses in Lebanon and serving Iran's broader strategy in the Western Hemisphere,. 8. LEBANESE ARMY COLLUSION Guest: David Daoud Daoud highlights the compromised nature of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), citing a recent incident where an LAF soldier killed alongside Hezbollah members received a joint funeral. He argues this collusion makes the LAF an untrustworthy partner for Israel, as sectarian loyalties often supersede national duty, leading to dangerous intelligence leaks,. 9. THE FALL OF MADURO Guest: Alejandro Peña Esclusa and Ernesto Araújo Alejandro Peña Esclusa celebrates the swift US capture of Maduro as Venezuela's liberation. He argues Vice President Delcy Rodriguez must now dismantle the "Cartel of the Suns" to avoid Maduro's fate. Ernesto Araújo frames this as a decisive victory for freedom, forcing a choice between democracy and criminal syndicates,,. 10. US DEMANDS: TERRORISTS OUT Guest: Alejandro Peña Esclusa Peña Esclusa supports US demands for Iran, Hezbollah, and the ELN to be expelled from Venezuela, asserting the population shares these desires. He characterizes Maduro as a drug lord and a threat to Western security, criticizing European leftists who condemn the operation for failing to recognize the regime's criminal nature. 11. PANIC AMONG THE LATIN LEFT Guest: Alejandro Peña Esclusa and Ernesto Araújo Ernesto Araújo explains that leftist leaders like Lula and Petro fear the US action against Maduro because their power structures share similar corruption. Peña Esclusa adds that Colombian President Petro is terrified because his campaign was funded by Venezuelan drug money, making him vulnerable to the exposure of these secrets,. 12. THE RIGHTWARD SHIFT IN ELECTIONS Guest: Alejandro Peña Esclusa and Ernesto Araújo Araújo predicts the US action in Venezuela will energize the Latin American right, specifically boosting the Bolsonaro movement in Brazil. Peña Esclusa forecasts electoral defeats for the left in Costa Rica, Peru, and Colombia, arguing the region is turning away from narco-socialism toward US-aligned conservative leadership,. 13. RUSSIA'S MAXIMALIST DEMANDS Guest: John Hardie John Hardie outlines Russia's unyielding demands for peace, including territorial concessions and barring Ukraine from NATO. He notes that while Zelensky is nearing agreement with the West on security guarantees, the gap with Russia remains wide. Hardie urges the Trump administration to increase pressure to force Putin to compromise,. 14. THE IMPOSSIBLE DMZ Guest: John Hardie Hardie discusses the complexities of implementing a demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Ukraine, citing disagreements over sovereignty and administration. Regarding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, he notes Russia is unlikely to return control to Ukraine. He concludes that peace deals requiring Ukraine to cede territory are "poison pills" likely to fail,. 15. HAMAS AND THE IMPOSSIBLE RECONSTRUCTION Guest: Peter Berkowitz Peter Berkowitz argues that Hamas, as a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot, remains committed to Israel's destruction, making peace impossible. He criticizes the "Project Sunrise" reconstruction plan, noting that US-led development is futile without first disarming and deradicalizing Gaza, a task only the IDF can currently achieve given Hamas's refusal to surrender,. 16. IRAN ON THE BRINK Guest: Jonathan Sia Jonathan Sia reports on unprecedented Iranian protests and rumors that Ayatollah Khamenei plans to flee to Moscow. He attributes the regime's panic to the recent fall of allies like Maduro. Sia notes a shift in protester sentiment toward pro-monarchy chants, suggesting a coordinated opposition now exists to replace the theocracy,.

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN ALLIANCE VS. TURKEY Colleague Edmund Fitton-Brown. Fitton-Brownexamines the cooperation between Greece, Cyprus, and Israel as a necessary pushback against Turkish President Erdogan's neo-Ottoman expansionism. He argues Erdogan's aggressive rhetoric regarding Jerusalem and maritime claims threatens regional stability, necessitating a unified defense from these democracies to counter Turkish overreach in the Mediterranean. NUMBER 2

Burcu Karahan on her translation of “One Thousand and One Kisses: The Most Joyous and Flirtatious Stories” (Translation Attached). The book brings together 65 stories blending humour and eroticism, published anonymously in 1923-24. The stories are a fascinating time capsule of a vanished age, but much remains unknown about who was behind them. Please support Turkey Book Talk on Patreon or Substack. Supporters get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, transcripts of every interview, and links to articles related to each episode.

On the Semicivilized: Coloniality, Finance, and Embodied Sovereignty in Cairo (Duke University Press, 2025) by Julia Elyachar is a sweeping analysis of the coloniality that shaped—and blocked—sovereign futures for those dubbed barbarian and semicivilized in the former Ottoman Empire. Drawing on thirty years of ethnographic research in Cairo, family archives from Palestine and Egypt, and research on Ottoman debt and finance to rethink catastrophe and potentiality in Cairo and the world today, Elyachar theorizes a global condition of the “semicivilized” marked by nonsovereign futures, crippling debts, and the constant specter of violence exercised by those who call themselves civilized. Originally used to describe the Ottoman Empire, whose perceived “civilizational differences” rendered it incompatible with a Western-dominated global order, semicivilized came to denote lands where unitary territorial sovereignty was stymied at the end of WWI. Elyachar's theorizing offers a new analytic vocabulary for thinking beyond territoriality, postcolonialism, and the “civilized"/"primitive” divide. Looking at the world from the perspective of the semicivilized, Elyachar argues, allows us to shift attention to embodied infrastructures, collective lives, and practices of moving and acting in common that bypass lingering assumptions of territorialism and unitary sovereign rule.Julia Elyachar is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

On the Semicivilized: Coloniality, Finance, and Embodied Sovereignty in Cairo (Duke University Press, 2025) by Julia Elyachar is a sweeping analysis of the coloniality that shaped—and blocked—sovereign futures for those dubbed barbarian and semicivilized in the former Ottoman Empire. Drawing on thirty years of ethnographic research in Cairo, family archives from Palestine and Egypt, and research on Ottoman debt and finance to rethink catastrophe and potentiality in Cairo and the world today, Elyachar theorizes a global condition of the “semicivilized” marked by nonsovereign futures, crippling debts, and the constant specter of violence exercised by those who call themselves civilized. Originally used to describe the Ottoman Empire, whose perceived “civilizational differences” rendered it incompatible with a Western-dominated global order, semicivilized came to denote lands where unitary territorial sovereignty was stymied at the end of WWI. Elyachar's theorizing offers a new analytic vocabulary for thinking beyond territoriality, postcolonialism, and the “civilized"/"primitive” divide. Looking at the world from the perspective of the semicivilized, Elyachar argues, allows us to shift attention to embodied infrastructures, collective lives, and practices of moving and acting in common that bypass lingering assumptions of territorialism and unitary sovereign rule.Julia Elyachar is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

On the Semicivilized: Coloniality, Finance, and Embodied Sovereignty in Cairo (Duke University Press, 2025) by Julia Elyachar is a sweeping analysis of the coloniality that shaped—and blocked—sovereign futures for those dubbed barbarian and semicivilized in the former Ottoman Empire. Drawing on thirty years of ethnographic research in Cairo, family archives from Palestine and Egypt, and research on Ottoman debt and finance to rethink catastrophe and potentiality in Cairo and the world today, Elyachar theorizes a global condition of the “semicivilized” marked by nonsovereign futures, crippling debts, and the constant specter of violence exercised by those who call themselves civilized. Originally used to describe the Ottoman Empire, whose perceived “civilizational differences” rendered it incompatible with a Western-dominated global order, semicivilized came to denote lands where unitary territorial sovereignty was stymied at the end of WWI. Elyachar's theorizing offers a new analytic vocabulary for thinking beyond territoriality, postcolonialism, and the “civilized"/"primitive” divide. Looking at the world from the perspective of the semicivilized, Elyachar argues, allows us to shift attention to embodied infrastructures, collective lives, and practices of moving and acting in common that bypass lingering assumptions of territorialism and unitary sovereign rule.Julia Elyachar is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

On the Semicivilized: Coloniality, Finance, and Embodied Sovereignty in Cairo (Duke University Press, 2025) by Julia Elyachar is a sweeping analysis of the coloniality that shaped—and blocked—sovereign futures for those dubbed barbarian and semicivilized in the former Ottoman Empire. Drawing on thirty years of ethnographic research in Cairo, family archives from Palestine and Egypt, and research on Ottoman debt and finance to rethink catastrophe and potentiality in Cairo and the world today, Elyachar theorizes a global condition of the “semicivilized” marked by nonsovereign futures, crippling debts, and the constant specter of violence exercised by those who call themselves civilized. Originally used to describe the Ottoman Empire, whose perceived “civilizational differences” rendered it incompatible with a Western-dominated global order, semicivilized came to denote lands where unitary territorial sovereignty was stymied at the end of WWI. Elyachar's theorizing offers a new analytic vocabulary for thinking beyond territoriality, postcolonialism, and the “civilized"/"primitive” divide. Looking at the world from the perspective of the semicivilized, Elyachar argues, allows us to shift attention to embodied infrastructures, collective lives, and practices of moving and acting in common that bypass lingering assumptions of territorialism and unitary sovereign rule.Julia Elyachar is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Busted Parents: 2 Stories “Do as we say, not as we did.” Based on a post by yellowjacket66. Listen to the Podcast at my First Time. Her Parents Caught Us Naked But Haley and I discovered their shameful secrets. "I'll rip your fucking dick off; and stuff it down your fucking throat, if you knock-up my daughter." It was Mr. Boyd Summers, the father of my girlfriend Haley. He was very angry. Haley and I, both 18, having recently graduated from high school were sitting in her parents' kitchen listening to the diatribe from Haley's father. Haley spoke up, "Daddy, we're not doing anything like that. Please don't say things like that." Mr. Summers continued, he was drunk and pissed-off. He ranted at me, "Don't you tell me you're not fucking my daughter!" But I hadn't told him I wasn't fucking his daughter; his daughter had. She continued to defend herself. "Daddy, please! Josh and I have not been having sex." Mr. Summers said, "Bull; shit! Don't lie to me, little girl." "I'm not lying." She said. Haley was now crying. Mrs. Summers entered the fray, "Boyd, don't speak like that to your daughter." He said, "She's just a slut! Just like you and your sister." Mrs. Summers ignored the words and calmed him down. "Boyd, sit here! Let your daughter explain herself." Oh boy, this would have to be a good explanation. Mr. Summers sneered, "Okay, explain how you and this asshole” Boyd sneered at me; “Came home naked? What were you doing, reading poetry to each other?" He was drunk and angry. I could see his point, though. Haley and I had showed up at the front door to her house, buck naked. It was a Saturday night in late May, and I had picked her up for a date at 6:30. We left, fully clothed, only to return at 1:30AM, without our clothes. Seeing their slender, beautiful daughter, naked with some kid, had to be an incredible shock to her parents. I walked her  from the driveway to her front door. It was locked because we violated curfew. Haley had knocked on the door and we both retreated to hide behind some shrubs. My plan was to get the hell out of there once Haley had contacted her mother and gotten inside the house. Her mom opened the door, to find no one on the porch. The conversation went like this; "Pist, Mom. Can you get me a coat. I'm cold." Her mother said, "Well come inside. Why are you hiding?" Haley said, "I lost my clothes. Someone stole them." "Where's Josh?" "He's out here too." I had asked her to just go inside and not involve me. It would only make things worse if she were naked and with me. "Does he have clothes on?" Haley answered, "No. They stole his clothes too." That's when Haley's dad came outside. "Helen, Wha da fuckis going on?" He asked. We could tell immediately that he'd been drinking. Haley's mom explained; “Boyd, Haley and her boyfriend were saying their clothes had been stolen.” "Whah dah fuck!" He said. Haley said to me, "Josh, Let's just go to your house." I imagine my mom would be more receptive to me bringing home a naked girl. She probably expected shit like that from me. Haley's mom said, "No. Get in here; both of you!"  "I don't want Daddy to see me naked." Haley protested. Boyd said, "Why not. Probably half the city has seen you naked." Anyone on the block could have heard Boyd announce his daughter's nakedness. He was hot, and getting hotter. But he didn't actually want to see his daughter naked, so he turned and went in the house while Mrs. S got a couple of coats from the closet and handed them to us in the bushes. She gave Haley a long coat, but I had just a short coat that really didn't cover my ass and my dick was sticking out. Having a girl's mother see your cock is not going to create a favorable impression. It was enough to get us in the house. Mrs. S got a pair of her husband's work pants for me, and a sweatshirt. Haley went to her room and put on some clothes. We were hoping that would be the end of it, but Mr. S called her down to the kitchen and told me to sit my ass down. That's when he threatened to cut my dick off and shove it down my throat. He was a big, rough guy, and I believed him. Anyway, Haley and I tried to explain what had happened. She told the story, the G-rated version. "Josh and I went to the movies and afterward we were driving around talking." Partially true, we'd gone to the drive-in where we had necked furiously through the entire movie. Neither of us could remember what the flick was about. I was playing with her naked tits the entire time. She continued, "After the movie, we drove around for a bit. We just like to drive around and talk about things." We were looking for a place to park. It was years ago, before cell-phones and the internet. Haley continued, "You remember the old rock quarry out past Hooverville, where we would swim during the summers." Her mom and dad nodded. "I convinced Josh to go swimming. It was such a nice night and I remembered all the good times when you had taken us there when we were kids." She was sucking-up to them, playing the little daughter but not emphasizing that she went swimming while naked with her boyfriend. I spoke up and said, "It was my idea to go swimming. It wasn't, but I was trying to shield Haley's honor. She said, "No, it was my idea. We didn't have swim suits, so I convinced Josh we should skinny-dip. He didn't want to, but finally gave in, because it was very dark and he didn't want me to get hurt and not be able to help. We'd never done anything like that before.”  I hoped they believed it. This part about it being her idea was true. When Haley suggested we both strip and go swimming, it actually didn't take me more than a second to agree. We'd been to the drive-in movie. We'd gone there on dates half-a-dozen times. We'd graduated from just kissing to where I stripped Haley to the waist and spent a couple of hours playing with her fascinating tits. I took my shirt off too. I also had my hands in her pants, playing with her virgin pussy and rubbing her smooth, soft ass. I sucked her tits and put my fingers inside her. She pulled on my cock. She had gotten me off many times. She would use her hands to satisfy me, which avoided my urge to go further. She would come too. Her crotch would get so warm that I couldn't believe it. We steamed up the car windows, which obscured our view of the movie, but we didn't care. We were young and in love. After the movie, we drove around as we said. The quarry she mentioned was a popular 'make-out' spot where teens like us would 'park'. Haley continued telling her folks, "We were swimming, when a couple of guys saw our car and pulled up. Then they saw our clothes on the hood of Josh's car, and took them." It was true. We were swimming in the cool deep water, and when a few guys we knew from school showed up. They knew my car. "Hey Josh. What are you doing?" One of them said. It was a guy named Eddie. He called a few times and I said, "I'm just taking a piss." "Bullshit. Your clothes are on your car. Are you taking a piss or whacking off." "Okay. I'm just swimming. I'll talk to you guys next week." Eddie asked, "Are you alone?" I said I was, but he said, "Well is this your bra and panties on the hood of your car." I begged them to just be on their way, but they were enjoying their mastery of the situation. "Who's with you?" "None of your business. Please just leave us alone." He said, "It must be Haley Summers in there with you. Her ID is in her jeans." His friend john said, "She must be naked. I'd like to see that." I said, "We are wearing swim suits (a lie)." Carl, another of the guys said, "Why don't you two come out and say hello. You must be getting cold in that water." It was true. The water was very cold. My dick had shriveled to the size of a peanut. We both had goosebumps and Haley's nipples were hard, like little pebbles. The banter went back and forth with them wanting us to come out and me trying to get them to go away. Haley asked them to please leave. I offered money, but they weren't interested and I didn't have much anyway. It was a stalemate, but we were in the losing position. We were shivering from the cold water. Finally, they said, "We'll wait over here by our car while you two come out." Haley was very cold and said, "Let them see. I really don't care. We won't see them again since school is over." We had graduated and probably wouldn't cross paths with the three guys very often again, although two of them were juniors and would undoubtedly spread salacious stories around school next year. It pissed-me-off that they would say embarrassing things that might detract from Haley's reputation, but we had no options. So, I went first. Haley hung back in the bushes. They had taken our clothes from the car hood, including my wallet and the car keys. I tried to talk them into returning my stuff, but they wouldn't do it. I was embarrassed, standing there naked. They'd seen me naked after gym class. Haley was the prize. "We want to see Haley naked." Eddie said. John said, "I want to see those titties of hers that she flaunts around school." Haley was a very popular girl. She had a killer body and a nice set of boobs. Many young men drooled over her. She'd only started at our school for her senior year (and was 18), but had attracted many invitations for dates. She went out with a number of guys, but she wouldn't 'put out', so the more lecherous dudes left her alone. I was in American History class next to her, and asked her out in a moment of rare courage. She accepted and we had been 'going steady' for the last four months of the school year. As time went on, we did more and more, but she had limits and I proceeded very cautiously, not wanting to disrespect her; but damn, she made me hot. Haley was a young woman with glands and sexual desires too. We hadn't had sex. She was telling her daddy the truth. We sure were proceeding toward it though. She wanted to wait at least until we had graduated; and I had agreed. Anyway, Haley finally had to walk out naked and the assholes shined a light on her, seeing her pretty naked body. She tried to cover-up, but with limited success. She had one hand covering her pussy, and the other arm over her breasts, but everything else was exposed. I'll bet they all went home and whacked-off, thinking about her. She stood there for a moment then hid behind my car. They wouldn't give us our clothes, but did return my wallet and keys and Haley's ID. Eddie put the items on a rock and then insisted that Haley walk over to get them. She was angry and embarrassed, but gave them their show. They could see her tits when she picked up the items. She dropped my wallet and needed both hands to hold everything, so the jerks had a glimpse of her pussy. They finally drove away with our clothes. I'm sure Haley's panties were their most popular trophy. They were wet with her scent, perfume and the secretions from her pussy during our hours at the drive-in. Haley was upset. She knew an unknown number of boys would be fondling and sniffing her panties. I lamented my inability to recover them somehow. On the other hand, after a few minutes, Haley became highly aroused, over being exposed to other people. She didn't say anything but she was hot when I kissed her. It was our first hint of her exhibitionist tendencies. Those guys had seen her naked, but I was the one taking her home. Haley had told her mom and dad a sanitized version of the events at the quarry; she said; “Somebody stole our clothes but we hadn't seen who it was.” Her dad wasn't satisfied and was skeptical of everything she had told them beyond the fact of Haley and I showing up naked at their door. The tables Turn. He ranted, "Helen, your daughter is going to get knocked-up, then what?" Haley had gotten into a good college and her dad was afraid she would get pregnant and mess up her future. Helen said, "Boyd. She's not going to get pregnant. She'd told you she's not having sex with this boy. Why don't you believe her." He said, "I know what goes on with kids these days." She said, "They're smarter than we were." He grumbled and Helen said, "Here you are yelling at this boy about whether he's doing the same things you did when you were his age. I don't think he's pressing her to have sex like you did with me." Some family secrets were coming out. Haley looked at her mom. Mrs. S said, "Go ahead, Boyd, tell your daughter how you begged me to let you screw me and how you got me pregnant and I had to quit college. Your daughter is smarter than I was." Whoa, too much information, but it explained his suspicions. Haley, angry with her dad, pushed the issue, "Daddy, did you have sex with Momma before you guys were married?" Mr. Summers was being confronted by his daughter, tried to avoid answering, but she was agitated. Helen volunteered, "They called it fucking back then, just like they do how. Tell them Boyd, how you had to marry me; or my daddy would've cut your dick off and shoved it down your throat." Boyd was finally stymied. "We shouldn't be talking about this in front of Haley." Haley said, "Jennie and I used to wonder about how Benjamin was born only five months after you guys got married. You told us he was premature. He sure was." Haley was laughing now. Her mom joined her. “No wonder you assume everybody does it! Truth is, you did it!” It finally broke her daddy's angry mood and he began to laugh. “Go ahead, Helen, let your daughter know everything. Tell your daughter what a slut you were.” Helen laughed too. She walked around the table and stepped behind Boyd, then slid her hands down inside the collar of his tee shirt; and said; "Your daddy couldn't keep it in his pants, once he met me. Damn right I was irresistible, wasn't I Boyd." He just meekly said, "You were, oh boy, you were." Then he reached around and slapped her ass. They realized they were saying too much. Boyd pulled Helen's arm around and gathered her on his lap. The two parents seemed to lose interest in us kids. After a few minutes, Helen said, "We're going to bed. You kids can watch TV downstairs. Just keep quiet. See you tomorrow." I sensed that they had urges to satisfy. I was following Haley to the staircase when Boyd called me to the side and handed me something. It was a three-pack of condoms. He tried once more to put his game face on and said, "My warning stands." They went off. Haley looked up at me from the bottom of the stairs, relieved that it was over, at least for now. Then, we reflected. Her parents had just confirmed they were going to leave us alone in the basement game room, and her dad had given me a 3-pack of rubbers. Haley laughed and asked me to help pull out the hide-a-bed. We found a movie on TV; another movie that we weren't going to watch. I got comfortable and she went back up to the kitchen to make popcorn. I was sitting back on the hide-a-bed with my naked body under the sheet and quilt, thinking I was going to give Haley a delightful surprise. I was just watching the movie when I heard her coming, and looked her way when she reached the bottom of the stairs. She had a bowl of popcorn, but that was all. She was naked. I looked at her firm young breasts; her flat stomach with her sexy navel; the furry dark triangle of hair on her pussy; her toned thighs; her tanned legs; her glimmering long hair; her smile; and her pretty face. I was transfixed by the most wonderful thing I had ever seen. My very own girlfriend, naked and walking toward me. She put down the refreshments and crawled up, straddling my lap and put her breasts in my face. I ran my hands over her back and her tender ass-cheeks. My cock was hard, of course and she soon discovered my complete state of undress. I nuzzled her breasts and licked her nipples. I said, "Are you sure we should be doing this?" She said, "Didn't you just hear them tell us they were going to leave us alone as long as we don't make too much noise?" I wasn't sure they meant it that way, but I nodded. She moved down and pulled on the sheet. My horny young cock popped out. I reached to the lamp table and got a condom. I started to open it. "You don't need that." Haley said. "Why not. I don't want your daddy to cut my dick off and shove it down my throat." She said, "I'm on the pill. Momma took me to the doctor last month. She said she couldn't tell me what to do anymore since I was an adult; and that I should never be dependent on some horny boy having a rubber when he needs it; or pulling out of my pussy before he comes." I was experiencing a lot of new surprises, tonight. I just looked at Haley, speechless. "Momma told me not to tell Daddy. He doesn't know. It would upset him so much. I think he wants me to stay his little girl until I'm past menopause!" Haley leaned in and kissed me passionately. I had one hand on her soft tit, and my other hand on her soft ass. Then she decided to move straight to the feature presentation. She slid her pelvis down onto me, using her hand to guide my straining cock into her smooth, warm vagina.  It was the first time for both of us, and it felt marvelous, like nothing I had ever experienced. My Cock was squeezed in the sleeve of her cunt, and I felt a sensation along the entire length of my dick, massaging and stimulating it. She kissed me and humped her hips, riding my cock. It didn't take me long. My cock had dreamt of being inside a pussy for its entire life, and wouldn't wait any longer. I felt my semen build up and my balls began to contract; then I exploded into Haley's spasming cunt. The release was amazing. We were both panting and sweating from extreme arousal. Unbelievable! We kissed and held each other. I apologized for coming so soon. She told me not to worry, because we were going to do it again. "My daddy gave you three condoms, so he expects you to screw me three times tonight." I was pretty sure that was not his intent, but I said. "Well, I certainly don't want to piss him off, do I?" We made love a second time and then a third. We made good use of the couch in the recreation room while the television played a movie; we had no idea what it was. I relished Haley for the entire night. The second time we did it, she wanted to try 'doggie style' so I had the pleasure of gazing at her soft young ass while my cock sawed in and out of her pussy. The third time was in the 'missionary position' and was tender and slow. It is the most memorable night of my life, the first time I made love to my future wife. I was there all night but left very early in the morning before her parents were up and about. I didn't want to confront her mom and dad after spending the night with their daughter. But I'm sure they heard my car start when I left. Haley couldn't honestly deny that we were having sex any longer. I told my mom that I'd stayed at another friend's house. Haley and I dated through college and were married the year before we graduated. We must've fucked a thousand times over those four years. We are still together. Haley still laughs with her brother and sister about the secrets her mom and dad had revealed that night. One vivid memory I have is after I impregnated Haley for the first time, after we were married, of course. Her mom and dad came to visit and we told them. I shook hands with her dad with one hand on my crotch. He saw and said, "Don't worry. I'm not going to cut your dick off and shove it down your throat. I was just kidding when I said that." He sure fooled me! Based on a post by yellowjacket66, for Literotica.  Santa's Christmas Sausage. Mark saw mommy doing Santa Claus. Based on a post by Bh76. Listen to the Podcast at my First Time. I woke to the sound of scraping, on the roof. At nineteen years old, I knew it was the big tree in the backyard and not Santa Claus. It woke me all the same. I looked at the time and sighed; three o'clock. We had gotten home from my grandmother's a little after one, and I was out like a light. My parents used the time after we got home, to wrap our immediate family's presents. It was an annual tradition. They always opened a bottle of wine, turned on 'A Christmas Story,' and wrapped our presents. It never made sense to me that they did it the night before, but it was what it was. I was thirsty, so I opened my door, and looked to see if they were still up. I didn't want to get yelled at for spying on my presents. Those spankings from my youth, were still fresh on my mind. Hearing nothing, and seeing no lights on, I made my way down a few stairs and sat low. Through the ballusters I could see motion near the sofa. In the glow of the Christmas Tree lights and a burning fireplace, I could clearly see the back of a man, with a red santa hat, incredible white beard, red tanktop, and red pants dropped to his ankles, and the bare legs of a woman.  Santa's coat was draped over the ottoman. I slid on my ass, wearing just my boxers and a tee-shirt. Now 3 steps lower, I could clearly see the backside of done serious doggie fucking! My mom was bent over the couch, getting fucked from behind, by a man in a Santa suit. It was a very authentic-looking suit. And the beard looked incredibly real. I watched in shock as she had her legs spread wide, and leaning down on her hands with her pelvis at rest on the sofa's rounded armrest. her large natural breasts swung with each hard thrust from Santa, who I certainly hoped was my father. Her heavy breathing was loud, and she occasionally looked back over her shoulder, and the man who was reaming out her wet cunt. I assume her eyes were closed in lust, and she at times bit her lips. "Fuck me, Santa. Fuck me harder, Saint Nick." I stayed down and peered through the balusters, to avoid being seen; and watched as Santa continued to plow my modest, old-fashioned mother from behind. I have to admit she looked hot with her sweaty hair matted to her forehead and her plump ass jiggling with each impact. I found myself getting hard at the sight. The slapping sound was loud and sexy. Her moans were soft and frequent. Santa groaned, "Ho, ho, fucking ho, you've been a naughty girl this year; haven't you?" "No, uh; Santa; oh. I've; oh God! Been, a; ah; good, uh, girl." "You've been a slut, haven't you? You've been letting your husband have your ass, haven't you?" Santa said; which made me almost give up my presence up high on my perch. I couldn't believe my mom did anal. Holy shit! "Yes, Santa, oh God! Harder, I'm so close. Jim loves my ass, and I love it too." I couldn't believe my ears. Then my cock got rock hard, imagining my mom, with a cock deep in her ass. "Well, Mary, I just happen to have some lube, right here." What happened next, shattered all of my preconceived notions of what was really happening. Out of nowhere, a bottle appeared in his hand ,bathed in a shower of golden sparkles. It couldn't really be Santa Claus, banging my mom in our living room, could it? I watched Santa take off his gloves and squirt the liquid onto her crack. He fingered her backdoor and she squealed in delight at the double penetration. "So good, Santa. So fucking good." I gasped when he pulled out of her pussy and flopped his fat sausage, lying flat on her ass crack. I couldn't take my eyes off of his long fat cock as he lubed it up. I couldn't believe she was going to try to take it. I looked down at my boxers and realized I was nearly as long, now poking way out of my fly; but I was nowhere near the girth of that salami roll. I feared for her getting injured. He said, "Are you ready, Slutty Mary?" "Yes, Santa. Give it to me." He pressed the tip in, and I watched her turn her head back, she was terrified as she looked at his face; her eyes bulged in shock as he wedged his shaft deep in. "Holy hell," she shrieked. Santa flashed an evil grin and pushed forward. "Oh, damn," he groaned. "You're the tightest ass I'll have, all this night." I saw anger flash in my mother's eyes, but it was only for a moment. She got lost in the sensation from the intruder in her ass. "Yes, Santa. Nice and slow. Just like that." He threw his head back; then started to piston back and forth. The sight was incredible! I wished I had a camera. I was going to have jerk-off fodder for a long time, with just the memory. "Oh yeah, Mary. That's what you like, isn't it, Santa's slut. You're my slut right?" "Yes, Santa. I'm your slut. Oh, fuck that's good." He continued his steady pace as he stretched her hole. I could only imagine what it looked like up close. What I was seeing was better than any porn I'd ever seen. "You love it don't you. You love my big cock in your ass." "Yes, Santa. Oh, fuck! Yes." He picked up his pace and started to slam into her. I could hear the slapping again and it was so sexy. I loved that sound. Then I watched her face and tits fall to the cushion and she brought her fingers to her pussy. Added to the slapping sound was the sloshing sound of her wet pussy being frigged to orgasm. I noticed a round black object on the Ottoman, that I hadn't seen before. Lean my face up to the slot between two balusters of the staircase railing. It had been obscured by mom's head; until she laid her face onto the sofa cushion. A square lighted shape was next to it. Mom had a camcorder, filming her sex video with Santa? "Cum for me, Mary. Cum hard." "Fuck, fuck, yes!" she shrieked loudly. They didn't break stride, oblivious to how loud they were. I couldn't believe they didn't wake my sister. "I'm close, Mary. I want to cum on your tits." He pulled out and she rolled around onto her knees. He only stroked a few times, before rope after rope blasted onto her neck and tits. He groaned in pleasure before he flicked the last drops of cum at her open mouth. It was so dirty, so unlike my mother on any other day of the year. Well, I assumed that. I'd never watched her get fucked before. A red towel appeared, and he wiped off his glistening cock, still slick with lube, then my mom's spread ass. He tossed it into the burning fireplace and pulled up his pants. I watched my naked mom sit on the rug and sip some wine as she watched his semi-flaccid cock get tucked into his red pants. Then he fastened his belt. He smiled at her as he put on his coat and straightened his hat. "You're the best fuck ever, Mary. I still can't believe you took me anally." "I trained for it, Santa. I used dildos and butt plugs, all day, to get used to the size." "Such a good girl, Mary. You've definitely earned this one." He moved his hands like a magician and a present appeared in his hand. It looked like a necklace box. "Oh, Santa. You're too good to me." She stood naked, her tits swinging, and kissed him in what looked like serious tongue-wrestling. I took that opportunity to return to my bedroom. I never got my drink. Morning Light. "Rise and shine, everybody," my mom shouted from the kitchen. When we were kids, she was the one who got woken up by us. Funny how times change. I walked into the hall and saw my sister emerge from her room. Her hair looked every bit like a rat's nest as she scratched her butt and elbowed me out of her way. I shook my head and took delight in the smell of cinnamon rolls and sausage, wafting through the house. Dad was pouring a cup of coffee as mom flipped the sausage. "Jenny and Mark, do you want to put the icing on the rolls?" We'd been doing that since we were old enough to hold the spatula. "Of course, daddy," Jenny said brightly. She was eighteen, but delighted in Christmas as if she were still five. I sat down and watched dad as he slapped mom on her ass. She winced and gave him a yelp. He smirked knowingly, as he sat with his coffee. I still didn't know what the hell happened the previous night. Was it really Santa Clause? Or was it my dad? I watched mom closely that morning. I'd never before noticed how sexy she was. I always knew she was pretty but seeing her, taking a large fat cock in her ass; gave me something entirely different to think about. We finished icing the rolls and Jenny excused herself to go to the bathroom. Mom sat down and took dad's hand. She looked at me with a smirk and said, "So Mark, I hope you got enough sleep, last night. But did you enjoy the show?" Busted! "Um..." I stuttered. "It's okay," dad said. He waved his hands and a napkin appeared in his hand. "Just don't do it again, okay? You're old enough to know a healthy marriage when you see it; but unless you're invited to watch, just go about your own business. Got it?" I nodded and bit into my roll.  I couldn't believe; I forgot. Dad used to do magic for us, when we were little kids. And  I couldn't believe that's all they said about their sex fantasy videos. Years later, when I caught them screwing in my garage, I realized they were becoming full-blown exhibitionists. Unreal. Not long after that; Jenny told me she came across a folder of sex videos, hidden deep in a portable hard drive. She thought Dad had a secret porn stash, that mom ought to know about. I told her; “Mom knows. Trust me. The videos are probably home movies they made; and then watch together as a turn-on.” “What?” she said. “Mom and dad do that stuff?” “Yeah! I said. “I stumbled upon the two of them really late one night, in the living room. The next morning mom and dad asked if I enjoyed it. I was speechless. They just told me to give them space, and quit watching.” “Damn!” Jenny said. “Never would have thought our prim and proper mother would be this kinky?” Hey!” I added. “At least they have a great sex life. How many of our friends even have both parents still together?” “As long as we don't have to explain to our friends about our parents posting it on Pornhub, I'll be just fine with it.” Jenny concluded. Based on a post by Bh76, for Literotica.

Busted Parents: 2 Stories “Do as we say, not as we did.” Based on a post by yellowjacket66. Listen to the Podcast at my First Time. Her Parents Caught Us Naked But Haley and I discovered their shameful secrets. "I'll rip your fucking dick off; and stuff it down your fucking throat, if you knock-up my daughter." It was Mr. Boyd Summers, the father of my girlfriend Haley. He was very angry. Haley and I, both 18, having recently graduated from high school were sitting in her parents' kitchen listening to the diatribe from Haley's father. Haley spoke up, "Daddy, we're not doing anything like that. Please don't say things like that." Mr. Summers continued, he was drunk and pissed-off. He ranted at me, "Don't you tell me you're not fucking my daughter!" But I hadn't told him I wasn't fucking his daughter; his daughter had. She continued to defend herself. "Daddy, please! Josh and I have not been having sex." Mr. Summers said, "Bull; shit! Don't lie to me, little girl." "I'm not lying." She said. Haley was now crying. Mrs. Summers entered the fray, "Boyd, don't speak like that to your daughter." He said, "She's just a slut! Just like you and your sister." Mrs. Summers ignored the words and calmed him down. "Boyd, sit here! Let your daughter explain herself." Oh boy, this would have to be a good explanation. Mr. Summers sneered, "Okay, explain how you and this asshole” Boyd sneered at me; “Came home naked? What were you doing, reading poetry to each other?" He was drunk and angry. I could see his point, though. Haley and I had showed up at the front door to her house, buck naked. It was a Saturday night in late May, and I had picked her up for a date at 6:30. We left, fully clothed, only to return at 1:30AM, without our clothes. Seeing their slender, beautiful daughter, naked with some kid, had to be an incredible shock to her parents. I walked her  from the driveway to her front door. It was locked because we violated curfew. Haley had knocked on the door and we both retreated to hide behind some shrubs. My plan was to get the hell out of there once Haley had contacted her mother and gotten inside the house. Her mom opened the door, to find no one on the porch. The conversation went like this; "Pist, Mom. Can you get me a coat. I'm cold." Her mother said, "Well come inside. Why are you hiding?" Haley said, "I lost my clothes. Someone stole them." "Where's Josh?" "He's out here too." I had asked her to just go inside and not involve me. It would only make things worse if she were naked and with me. "Does he have clothes on?" Haley answered, "No. They stole his clothes too." That's when Haley's dad came outside. "Helen, Wha da fuckis going on?" He asked. We could tell immediately that he'd been drinking. Haley's mom explained; “Boyd, Haley and her boyfriend were saying their clothes had been stolen.” "Whah dah fuck!" He said. Haley said to me, "Josh, Let's just go to your house." I imagine my mom would be more receptive to me bringing home a naked girl. She probably expected shit like that from me. Haley's mom said, "No. Get in here; both of you!"  "I don't want Daddy to see me naked." Haley protested. Boyd said, "Why not. Probably half the city has seen you naked." Anyone on the block could have heard Boyd announce his daughter's nakedness. He was hot, and getting hotter. But he didn't actually want to see his daughter naked, so he turned and went in the house while Mrs. S got a couple of coats from the closet and handed them to us in the bushes. She gave Haley a long coat, but I had just a short coat that really didn't cover my ass and my dick was sticking out. Having a girl's mother see your cock is not going to create a favorable impression. It was enough to get us in the house. Mrs. S got a pair of her husband's work pants for me, and a sweatshirt. Haley went to her room and put on some clothes. We were hoping that would be the end of it, but Mr. S called her down to the kitchen and told me to sit my ass down. That's when he threatened to cut my dick off and shove it down my throat. He was a big, rough guy, and I believed him. Anyway, Haley and I tried to explain what had happened. She told the story, the G-rated version. "Josh and I went to the movies and afterward we were driving around talking." Partially true, we'd gone to the drive-in where we had necked furiously through the entire movie. Neither of us could remember what the flick was about. I was playing with her naked tits the entire time. She continued, "After the movie, we drove around for a bit. We just like to drive around and talk about things." We were looking for a place to park. It was years ago, before cell-phones and the internet. Haley continued, "You remember the old rock quarry out past Hooverville, where we would swim during the summers." Her mom and dad nodded. "I convinced Josh to go swimming. It was such a nice night and I remembered all the good times when you had taken us there when we were kids." She was sucking-up to them, playing the little daughter but not emphasizing that she went swimming while naked with her boyfriend. I spoke up and said, "It was my idea to go swimming. It wasn't, but I was trying to shield Haley's honor. She said, "No, it was my idea. We didn't have swim suits, so I convinced Josh we should skinny-dip. He didn't want to, but finally gave in, because it was very dark and he didn't want me to get hurt and not be able to help. We'd never done anything like that before.”  I hoped they believed it. This part about it being her idea was true. When Haley suggested we both strip and go swimming, it actually didn't take me more than a second to agree. We'd been to the drive-in movie. We'd gone there on dates half-a-dozen times. We'd graduated from just kissing to where I stripped Haley to the waist and spent a couple of hours playing with her fascinating tits. I took my shirt off too. I also had my hands in her pants, playing with her virgin pussy and rubbing her smooth, soft ass. I sucked her tits and put my fingers inside her. She pulled on my cock. She had gotten me off many times. She would use her hands to satisfy me, which avoided my urge to go further. She would come too. Her crotch would get so warm that I couldn't believe it. We steamed up the car windows, which obscured our view of the movie, but we didn't care. We were young and in love. After the movie, we drove around as we said. The quarry she mentioned was a popular 'make-out' spot where teens like us would 'park'. Haley continued telling her folks, "We were swimming, when a couple of guys saw our car and pulled up. Then they saw our clothes on the hood of Josh's car, and took them." It was true. We were swimming in the cool deep water, and when a few guys we knew from school showed up. They knew my car. "Hey Josh. What are you doing?" One of them said. It was a guy named Eddie. He called a few times and I said, "I'm just taking a piss." "Bullshit. Your clothes are on your car. Are you taking a piss or whacking off." "Okay. I'm just swimming. I'll talk to you guys next week." Eddie asked, "Are you alone?" I said I was, but he said, "Well is this your bra and panties on the hood of your car." I begged them to just be on their way, but they were enjoying their mastery of the situation. "Who's with you?" "None of your business. Please just leave us alone." He said, "It must be Haley Summers in there with you. Her ID is in her jeans." His friend john said, "She must be naked. I'd like to see that." I said, "We are wearing swim suits (a lie)." Carl, another of the guys said, "Why don't you two come out and say hello. You must be getting cold in that water." It was true. The water was very cold. My dick had shriveled to the size of a peanut. We both had goosebumps and Haley's nipples were hard, like little pebbles. The banter went back and forth with them wanting us to come out and me trying to get them to go away. Haley asked them to please leave. I offered money, but they weren't interested and I didn't have much anyway. It was a stalemate, but we were in the losing position. We were shivering from the cold water. Finally, they said, "We'll wait over here by our car while you two come out." Haley was very cold and said, "Let them see. I really don't care. We won't see them again since school is over." We had graduated and probably wouldn't cross paths with the three guys very often again, although two of them were juniors and would undoubtedly spread salacious stories around school next year. It pissed-me-off that they would say embarrassing things that might detract from Haley's reputation, but we had no options. So, I went first. Haley hung back in the bushes. They had taken our clothes from the car hood, including my wallet and the car keys. I tried to talk them into returning my stuff, but they wouldn't do it. I was embarrassed, standing there naked. They'd seen me naked after gym class. Haley was the prize. "We want to see Haley naked." Eddie said. John said, "I want to see those titties of hers that she flaunts around school." Haley was a very popular girl. She had a killer body and a nice set of boobs. Many young men drooled over her. She'd only started at our school for her senior year (and was 18), but had attracted many invitations for dates. She went out with a number of guys, but she wouldn't 'put out', so the more lecherous dudes left her alone. I was in American History class next to her, and asked her out in a moment of rare courage. She accepted and we had been 'going steady' for the last four months of the school year. As time went on, we did more and more, but she had limits and I proceeded very cautiously, not wanting to disrespect her; but damn, she made me hot. Haley was a young woman with glands and sexual desires too. We hadn't had sex. She was telling her daddy the truth. We sure were proceeding toward it though. She wanted to wait at least until we had graduated; and I had agreed. Anyway, Haley finally had to walk out naked and the assholes shined a light on her, seeing her pretty naked body. She tried to cover-up, but with limited success. She had one hand covering her pussy, and the other arm over her breasts, but everything else was exposed. I'll bet they all went home and whacked-off, thinking about her. She stood there for a moment then hid behind my car. They wouldn't give us our clothes, but did return my wallet and keys and Haley's ID. Eddie put the items on a rock and then insisted that Haley walk over to get them. She was angry and embarrassed, but gave them their show. They could see her tits when she picked up the items. She dropped my wallet and needed both hands to hold everything, so the jerks had a glimpse of her pussy. They finally drove away with our clothes. I'm sure Haley's panties were their most popular trophy. They were wet with her scent, perfume and the secretions from her pussy during our hours at the drive-in. Haley was upset. She knew an unknown number of boys would be fondling and sniffing her panties. I lamented my inability to recover them somehow. On the other hand, after a few minutes, Haley became highly aroused, over being exposed to other people. She didn't say anything but she was hot when I kissed her. It was our first hint of her exhibitionist tendencies. Those guys had seen her naked, but I was the one taking her home. Haley had told her mom and dad a sanitized version of the events at the quarry; she said; “Somebody stole our clothes but we hadn't seen who it was.” Her dad wasn't satisfied and was skeptical of everything she had told them beyond the fact of Haley and I showing up naked at their door. The tables Turn. He ranted, "Helen, your daughter is going to get knocked-up, then what?" Haley had gotten into a good college and her dad was afraid she would get pregnant and mess up her future. Helen said, "Boyd. She's not going to get pregnant. She'd told you she's not having sex with this boy. Why don't you believe her." He said, "I know what goes on with kids these days." She said, "They're smarter than we were." He grumbled and Helen said, "Here you are yelling at this boy about whether he's doing the same things you did when you were his age. I don't think he's pressing her to have sex like you did with me." Some family secrets were coming out. Haley looked at her mom. Mrs. S said, "Go ahead, Boyd, tell your daughter how you begged me to let you screw me and how you got me pregnant and I had to quit college. Your daughter is smarter than I was." Whoa, too much information, but it explained his suspicions. Haley, angry with her dad, pushed the issue, "Daddy, did you have sex with Momma before you guys were married?" Mr. Summers was being confronted by his daughter, tried to avoid answering, but she was agitated. Helen volunteered, "They called it fucking back then, just like they do how. Tell them Boyd, how you had to marry me; or my daddy would've cut your dick off and shoved it down your throat." Boyd was finally stymied. "We shouldn't be talking about this in front of Haley." Haley said, "Jennie and I used to wonder about how Benjamin was born only five months after you guys got married. You told us he was premature. He sure was." Haley was laughing now. Her mom joined her. “No wonder you assume everybody does it! Truth is, you did it!” It finally broke her daddy's angry mood and he began to laugh. “Go ahead, Helen, let your daughter know everything. Tell your daughter what a slut you were.” Helen laughed too. She walked around the table and stepped behind Boyd, then slid her hands down inside the collar of his tee shirt; and said; "Your daddy couldn't keep it in his pants, once he met me. Damn right I was irresistible, wasn't I Boyd." He just meekly said, "You were, oh boy, you were." Then he reached around and slapped her ass. They realized they were saying too much. Boyd pulled Helen's arm around and gathered her on his lap. The two parents seemed to lose interest in us kids. After a few minutes, Helen said, "We're going to bed. You kids can watch TV downstairs. Just keep quiet. See you tomorrow." I sensed that they had urges to satisfy. I was following Haley to the staircase when Boyd called me to the side and handed me something. It was a three-pack of condoms. He tried once more to put his game face on and said, "My warning stands." They went off. Haley looked up at me from the bottom of the stairs, relieved that it was over, at least for now. Then, we reflected. Her parents had just confirmed they were going to leave us alone in the basement game room, and her dad had given me a 3-pack of rubbers. Haley laughed and asked me to help pull out the hide-a-bed. We found a movie on TV; another movie that we weren't going to watch. I got comfortable and she went back up to the kitchen to make popcorn. I was sitting back on the hide-a-bed with my naked body under the sheet and quilt, thinking I was going to give Haley a delightful surprise. I was just watching the movie when I heard her coming, and looked her way when she reached the bottom of the stairs. She had a bowl of popcorn, but that was all. She was naked. I looked at her firm young breasts; her flat stomach with her sexy navel; the furry dark triangle of hair on her pussy; her toned thighs; her tanned legs; her glimmering long hair; her smile; and her pretty face. I was transfixed by the most wonderful thing I had ever seen. My very own girlfriend, naked and walking toward me. She put down the refreshments and crawled up, straddling my lap and put her breasts in my face. I ran my hands over her back and her tender ass-cheeks. My cock was hard, of course and she soon discovered my complete state of undress. I nuzzled her breasts and licked her nipples. I said, "Are you sure we should be doing this?" She said, "Didn't you just hear them tell us they were going to leave us alone as long as we don't make too much noise?" I wasn't sure they meant it that way, but I nodded. She moved down and pulled on the sheet. My horny young cock popped out. I reached to the lamp table and got a condom. I started to open it. "You don't need that." Haley said. "Why not. I don't want your daddy to cut my dick off and shove it down my throat." She said, "I'm on the pill. Momma took me to the doctor last month. She said she couldn't tell me what to do anymore since I was an adult; and that I should never be dependent on some horny boy having a rubber when he needs it; or pulling out of my pussy before he comes." I was experiencing a lot of new surprises, tonight. I just looked at Haley, speechless. "Momma told me not to tell Daddy. He doesn't know. It would upset him so much. I think he wants me to stay his little girl until I'm past menopause!" Haley leaned in and kissed me passionately. I had one hand on her soft tit, and my other hand on her soft ass. Then she decided to move straight to the feature presentation. She slid her pelvis down onto me, using her hand to guide my straining cock into her smooth, warm vagina.  It was the first time for both of us, and it felt marvelous, like nothing I had ever experienced. My Cock was squeezed in the sleeve of her cunt, and I felt a sensation along the entire length of my dick, massaging and stimulating it. She kissed me and humped her hips, riding my cock. It didn't take me long. My cock had dreamt of being inside a pussy for its entire life, and wouldn't wait any longer. I felt my semen build up and my balls began to contract; then I exploded into Haley's spasming cunt. The release was amazing. We were both panting and sweating from extreme arousal. Unbelievable! We kissed and held each other. I apologized for coming so soon. She told me not to worry, because we were going to do it again. "My daddy gave you three condoms, so he expects you to screw me three times tonight." I was pretty sure that was not his intent, but I said. "Well, I certainly don't want to piss him off, do I?" We made love a second time and then a third. We made good use of the couch in the recreation room while the television played a movie; we had no idea what it was. I relished Haley for the entire night. The second time we did it, she wanted to try 'doggie style' so I had the pleasure of gazing at her soft young ass while my cock sawed in and out of her pussy. The third time was in the 'missionary position' and was tender and slow. It is the most memorable night of my life, the first time I made love to my future wife. I was there all night but left very early in the morning before her parents were up and about. I didn't want to confront her mom and dad after spending the night with their daughter. But I'm sure they heard my car start when I left. Haley couldn't honestly deny that we were having sex any longer. I told my mom that I'd stayed at another friend's house. Haley and I dated through college and were married the year before we graduated. We must've fucked a thousand times over those four years. We are still together. Haley still laughs with her brother and sister about the secrets her mom and dad had revealed that night. One vivid memory I have is after I impregnated Haley for the first time, after we were married, of course. Her mom and dad came to visit and we told them. I shook hands with her dad with one hand on my crotch. He saw and said, "Don't worry. I'm not going to cut your dick off and shove it down your throat. I was just kidding when I said that." He sure fooled me! Based on a post by yellowjacket66, for Literotica.  Santa's Christmas Sausage. Mark saw mommy doing Santa Claus. Based on a post by Bh76. Listen to the Podcast at my First Time. I woke to the sound of scraping, on the roof. At nineteen years old, I knew it was the big tree in the backyard and not Santa Claus. It woke me all the same. I looked at the time and sighed; three o'clock. We had gotten home from my grandmother's a little after one, and I was out like a light. My parents used the time after we got home, to wrap our immediate family's presents. It was an annual tradition. They always opened a bottle of wine, turned on 'A Christmas Story,' and wrapped our presents. It never made sense to me that they did it the night before, but it was what it was. I was thirsty, so I opened my door, and looked to see if they were still up. I didn't want to get yelled at for spying on my presents. Those spankings from my youth, were still fresh on my mind. Hearing nothing, and seeing no lights on, I made my way down a few stairs and sat low. Through the ballusters I could see motion near the sofa. In the glow of the Christmas Tree lights and a burning fireplace, I could clearly see the back of a man, with a red santa hat, incredible white beard, red tanktop, and red pants dropped to his ankles, and the bare legs of a woman.  Santa's coat was draped over the ottoman. I slid on my ass, wearing just my boxers and a tee-shirt. Now 3 steps lower, I could clearly see the backside of done serious doggie fucking! My mom was bent over the couch, getting fucked from behind, by a man in a Santa suit. It was a very authentic-looking suit. And the beard looked incredibly real. I watched in shock as she had her legs spread wide, and leaning down on her hands with her pelvis at rest on the sofa's rounded armrest. her large natural breasts swung with each hard thrust from Santa, who I certainly hoped was my father. Her heavy breathing was loud, and she occasionally looked back over her shoulder, and the man who was reaming out her wet cunt. I assume her eyes were closed in lust, and she at times bit her lips. "Fuck me, Santa. Fuck me harder, Saint Nick." I stayed down and peered through the balusters, to avoid being seen; and watched as Santa continued to plow my modest, old-fashioned mother from behind. I have to admit she looked hot with her sweaty hair matted to her forehead and her plump ass jiggling with each impact. I found myself getting hard at the sight. The slapping sound was loud and sexy. Her moans were soft and frequent. Santa groaned, "Ho, ho, fucking ho, you've been a naughty girl this year; haven't you?" "No, uh; Santa; oh. I've; oh God! Been, a; ah; good, uh, girl." "You've been a slut, haven't you? You've been letting your husband have your ass, haven't you?" Santa said; which made me almost give up my presence up high on my perch. I couldn't believe my mom did anal. Holy shit! "Yes, Santa, oh God! Harder, I'm so close. Jim loves my ass, and I love it too." I couldn't believe my ears. Then my cock got rock hard, imagining my mom, with a cock deep in her ass. "Well, Mary, I just happen to have some lube, right here." What happened next, shattered all of my preconceived notions of what was really happening. Out of nowhere, a bottle appeared in his hand ,bathed in a shower of golden sparkles. It couldn't really be Santa Claus, banging my mom in our living room, could it? I watched Santa take off his gloves and squirt the liquid onto her crack. He fingered her backdoor and she squealed in delight at the double penetration. "So good, Santa. So fucking good." I gasped when he pulled out of her pussy and flopped his fat sausage, lying flat on her ass crack. I couldn't take my eyes off of his long fat cock as he lubed it up. I couldn't believe she was going to try to take it. I looked down at my boxers and realized I was nearly as long, now poking way out of my fly; but I was nowhere near the girth of that salami roll. I feared for her getting injured. He said, "Are you ready, Slutty Mary?" "Yes, Santa. Give it to me." He pressed the tip in, and I watched her turn her head back, she was terrified as she looked at his face; her eyes bulged in shock as he wedged his shaft deep in. "Holy hell," she shrieked. Santa flashed an evil grin and pushed forward. "Oh, damn," he groaned. "You're the tightest ass I'll have, all this night." I saw anger flash in my mother's eyes, but it was only for a moment. She got lost in the sensation from the intruder in her ass. "Yes, Santa. Nice and slow. Just like that." He threw his head back; then started to piston back and forth. The sight was incredible! I wished I had a camera. I was going to have jerk-off fodder for a long time, with just the memory. "Oh yeah, Mary. That's what you like, isn't it, Santa's slut. You're my slut right?" "Yes, Santa. I'm your slut. Oh, fuck that's good." He continued his steady pace as he stretched her hole. I could only imagine what it looked like up close. What I was seeing was better than any porn I'd ever seen. "You love it don't you. You love my big cock in your ass." "Yes, Santa. Oh, fuck! Yes." He picked up his pace and started to slam into her. I could hear the slapping again and it was so sexy. I loved that sound. Then I watched her face and tits fall to the cushion and she brought her fingers to her pussy. Added to the slapping sound was the sloshing sound of her wet pussy being frigged to orgasm. I noticed a round black object on the Ottoman, that I hadn't seen before. Lean my face up to the slot between two balusters of the staircase railing. It had been obscured by mom's head; until she laid her face onto the sofa cushion. A square lighted shape was next to it. Mom had a camcorder, filming her sex video with Santa? "Cum for me, Mary. Cum hard." "Fuck, fuck, yes!" she shrieked loudly. They didn't break stride, oblivious to how loud they were. I couldn't believe they didn't wake my sister. "I'm close, Mary. I want to cum on your tits." He pulled out and she rolled around onto her knees. He only stroked a few times, before rope after rope blasted onto her neck and tits. He groaned in pleasure before he flicked the last drops of cum at her open mouth. It was so dirty, so unlike my mother on any other day of the year. Well, I assumed that. I'd never watched her get fucked before. A red towel appeared, and he wiped off his glistening cock, still slick with lube, then my mom's spread ass. He tossed it into the burning fireplace and pulled up his pants. I watched my naked mom sit on the rug and sip some wine as she watched his semi-flaccid cock get tucked into his red pants. Then he fastened his belt. He smiled at her as he put on his coat and straightened his hat. "You're the best fuck ever, Mary. I still can't believe you took me anally." "I trained for it, Santa. I used dildos and butt plugs, all day, to get used to the size." "Such a good girl, Mary. You've definitely earned this one." He moved his hands like a magician and a present appeared in his hand. It looked like a necklace box. "Oh, Santa. You're too good to me." She stood naked, her tits swinging, and kissed him in what looked like serious tongue-wrestling. I took that opportunity to return to my bedroom. I never got my drink. Morning Light. "Rise and shine, everybody," my mom shouted from the kitchen. When we were kids, she was the one who got woken up by us. Funny how times change. I walked into the hall and saw my sister emerge from her room. Her hair looked every bit like a rat's nest as she scratched her butt and elbowed me out of her way. I shook my head and took delight in the smell of cinnamon rolls and sausage, wafting through the house. Dad was pouring a cup of coffee as mom flipped the sausage. "Jenny and Mark, do you want to put the icing on the rolls?" We'd been doing that since we were old enough to hold the spatula. "Of course, daddy," Jenny said brightly. She was eighteen, but delighted in Christmas as if she were still five. I sat down and watched dad as he slapped mom on her ass. She winced and gave him a yelp. He smirked knowingly, as he sat with his coffee. I still didn't know what the hell happened the previous night. Was it really Santa Clause? Or was it my dad? I watched mom closely that morning. I'd never before noticed how sexy she was. I always knew she was pretty but seeing her, taking a large fat cock in her ass; gave me something entirely different to think about. We finished icing the rolls and Jenny excused herself to go to the bathroom. Mom sat down and took dad's hand. She looked at me with a smirk and said, "So Mark, I hope you got enough sleep, last night. But did you enjoy the show?" Busted! "Um..." I stuttered. "It's okay," dad said. He waved his hands and a napkin appeared in his hand. "Just don't do it again, okay? You're old enough to know a healthy marriage when you see it; but unless you're invited to watch, just go about your own business. Got it?" I nodded and bit into my roll.  I couldn't believe; I forgot. Dad used to do magic for us, when we were little kids. And  I couldn't believe that's all they said about their sex fantasy videos. Years later, when I caught them screwing in my garage, I realized they were becoming full-blown exhibitionists. Unreal. Not long after that; Jenny told me she came across a folder of sex videos, hidden deep in a portable hard drive. She thought Dad had a secret porn stash, that mom ought to know about. I told her; “Mom knows. Trust me. The videos are probably home movies they made; and then watch together as a turn-on.” “What?” she said. “Mom and dad do that stuff?” “Yeah! I said. “I stumbled upon the two of them really late one night, in the living room. The next morning mom and dad asked if I enjoyed it. I was speechless. They just told me to give them space, and quit watching.” “Damn!” Jenny said. “Never would have thought our prim and proper mother would be this kinky?” Hey!” I added. “At least they have a great sex life. How many of our friends even have both parents still together?” “As long as we don't have to explain to our friends about our parents posting it on Pornhub, I'll be just fine with it.” Jenny concluded. Based on a post by Bh76, for Literotica.

In this episode of Amateur Traveler, host Chris Christensen talks with AJ Ajay, a Libyan-born travel professional and founder of Intu Libya, about traveling to one of North Africa's least-visited and most misunderstood destinations: Libya. From spectacular Roman ruins to Saharan oases, ancient Amazigh towns, and the vibrant streets of Tripoli, AJ explains why Libya rewards travelers who are curious, respectful, and willing to look beyond headlines. This week's show is supported by the new Smart Travel Podcast. Travel smarter — and spend less — with help from NerdWallet. Check out Smart Travel ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here. Why Visit Libya? Libya offers a rare sense of discovery. With tourism largely undeveloped since the mid-20th century, many of its historic sites feel untouched. AJ describes Libya as a country where Roman, Greek, Phoenician, Ottoman, Italian, and Islamic histories overlap, often in the same physical space. Add to that Mediterranean coastline, vast Saharan landscapes, and deep-rooted traditions of hospitality, and Libya becomes a destination for travelers seeking something truly different. Safety, Visas, and Practicalities Chris and AJ address the elephant in the room: safety and travel advisories. AJ explains how Libya currently operates with an electronic visa system that requires a local sponsor and organized itinerary. Tourism is tightly coordinated with authorities, and travel routes are planned in advance. While some regions remain off-limits, AJ emphasizes that millions of Libyans live their daily lives safely and that guided travel within approved areas is the key to visiting responsibly. ... https://amateurtraveler.com/travel-to-libya/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Washington is stepping up diplomatic efforts to address Israeli objections to a possible Turkish role in an International Stabilisation Force in Gaza, a move that could affect plans to disarm Hamas and advance US President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan. Trump is due to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 29 December in Florida. The meeting is the latest attempt to revive the Gaza plan, which aims to move from a ceasefire towards the creation of a new governing arrangement in Gaza, the deployment of an international force and the disarmament of Hamas. On Friday, Turkish and Egyptian officials met their US counterparts in Miami. With a ceasefire in place in Gaza, Washington is pushing the next phase of its plan, which would include Turkish troops in an International Stabilisation Force. From Washington's perspective, Turkey's involvement is considered essential to the plan, said Asli Aydintasbas of the Brookings Institution. Turkey and Iran unite against Israel as regional power dynamics shift Israeli objections Hamas disarmament depends on the creation of a new Palestinian governing entity and the presence of international peacekeepers, with Turkey acting as a guarantor, Aydintasbas said. “Without Turkey in this process, decommissioning Hamas weapons would not occur. That is implicit in the agreement.” Turkey's close ties with Hamas are well known, with senior Hamas figures reportedly hosted in Turkey. While Turkey's Western allies label Hamas a terrorist group, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said its members are liberation fighters. Trump has publicly thanked Ankara for using its influence to encourage Hamas to accept the peace plan. Israel opposes any Turkish military presence in Gaza, fearing Turkey would support Hamas rather than disarm it. Israel is also concerned about cyber attacks attributed to Hamas operating from Turkish territory and doubts Turkey would act in Israel's interests, said Gallia Lindenstrauss, a Turkey analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. “There's a risk of an accident between Israeli and Turkish forces, given the already high tensions and suspicions. It's hard to see a positive outcome,” she said. Israel has struggled to persuade Trump to back its position. “The US has its own priorities, and is receptive to Ankara due to strong Trump-Erdogan relations,” Lindenstrauss added. Turkey ready to help rebuild Gaza, but tensions with Israel could be a barrier Turkey's position Erdogan, who has cultivated close ties with Trump, has said Turkey is ready to send soldiers to Gaza. Reports have claimed Turkey has a brigade on standby for deployment. Turkey's relationship with Hamas is a “double-edged sword”, said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, head of the German Marshall Fund office in Ankara. From Israel's point of view, Turkey is too close to Hamas, but “if you want to contribute to disarming them, dialogue is needed”. Any Gaza mission would be risky, but the Turkish army has decades of experience, Unluhisarcikli said. “It has a proven track record in terms of post-conflict stabilisation from the Balkans to Afghanistan. They have proven they can operate in such environments.” Despite strained diplomatic ties, the Turkish and Israeli militaries still maintain open communication. The two countries operate a hotline to avoid clashes between their air forces over Syria, demonstrating continued military coordination despite political tensions. Turkey warns Kurdish-led fighters in Syria to join new regime or face attack Regional doubts Egypt and Saudi Arabia distrust Turkey's ties with Hamas and question its intentions in Gaza, Unluhisarcikli said, with concerns that echo memories of Ottoman-era rule. On Monday, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack met Netanyahu in an effort to ease Israeli concerns. However, prospects for a breakthrough are likely to depend on this month's meeting between Netanyahu and Trump. Incentives may be offered to encourage Israel to accept Turkey's role, but the issue is unlikely to be resolved that way, said Asli Aydintasbas of the Brookings Institution. “Because this is such a fundamental and existential issue for Israel, I don't think incentives will work,” she said. “As to whether or not Trump would go so far as to withhold military or financial aid, it would be very unlikely. Rather, it may just let this situation sort of fester. I don't think the Americans have a clear plan to push forward if the answer from Netanyahu is to say no.”

A prolific poet, Jami, is the embodiment of the photo-Ottoman Bengal-to-Balkans cosmopolitan Sufi intellectual. Jami was born in 1414 near the border of modern day Iran and Afghanistan during the tail end of the era of the shadow Abbasid caliphs before the Ottoman claim to the Caliphate. He worked for the local Timurid court. And at the end of his life, Islamic rule ended in the Iberian peninsula and a sea voyager called Columbus set out to find a better route to India. He appears to come from a scholarly Sunni family and had a specific interest in the teachings of Ibn Arabi. What more do we know about his life? His works are many and some appear influenced by Nizami whom we covered in episode 62. Tell us about them. What translations and secondary resources would you recommend on Jami? And finally let's end with a sample and translation.    Further reading Jami by Hamid Algar The Persian Mystics: Jami by F. Hadland Davis  Yusuf and Zulaikha: A Poem by Jami by Ralph T.H. Griffith   Ali Hammoud: https://alihammoud7.substack.com/    We are sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Listeners get a 15% discount on all purchases. Visit IHRC bookshop at shop.ihrc.org and use discount code AHP15 at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Contact IHRC bookshop for details. 

Before Anne Bonny. Before Grace O'Malley. There was Sayyida al-Hurra — the Pirate Queen of the Mediterranean. In this episode of For the Love of History, we uncover the extraordinary true story of Sayyida al-Hurra, a Muslim woman who rose to power in the late 1400s and became one of the most feared pirates in history. Born in Granada during the violence of the Reconquista, Sayyida was forced to flee Spain as Catholic rulers Ferdinand and Isabella expelled, enslaved, and murdered thousands of Muslims. That injustice would shape her destiny. After becoming governor of Tetouan (Tétouan), Morocco, Sayyida didn't just rule — she fought back. Partnering with the legendary Ottoman pirate Hayreddin Barbarossa (Redbeard), she launched relentless naval attacks against Spanish and Portuguese ships, dominating the Mediterranean and earning her title as the unrivaled pirate queen. Her piracy wasn't just about wealth; it was about defense, revenge, and protecting displaced Muslim communities. This episode explores: The Reconquista and the forced expulsion of Muslims from Spain How Sayyida al-Hurra became a female political leader and naval commander Her alliance with Barbarossa, one of history's most famous pirates Pirate warfare, ransom, and Mediterranean power politics How piracy rebuilt Tetouan into a thriving city Why European powers feared her — and her people adored her Her unprecedented marriage to the Sultan of Morocco on her own terms Sayyida al-Hurra's legacy lives on in the walls of Tetouan, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in the history of women who refused to be erased. If you love pirate history, women in power, Islamic history, and stories of resistance against empire, this episode is for you. Grab your sword, your most dramatic blouse, and let's set sail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a conversation between Dr. Hussein and GVSU Professor Eric Covey, facilitated by Frankel Center's Interim Director for 2025-26, Deborah Dash Moore. Their discussion will be followed by a dessert reception. Drawing from his upcoming book, Hebrew Orientalism: Jewish Engagement with Arabo-Islamic Culture in Late Ottoman and British Palestine, Dr. Hussein will explore how Jewish writers in late Ottoman and British Mandate Palestine utilized Arabo-Islamic culture. In the decades before the establishment of a Jewish state in 1948, native and immigrant Jews in Palestine mediated between Jewish and Arab cultures while navigating their evolving identities as settler colonists. Hebrew Orientalism challenges the conventional view that Hebrew thinkers were dismissive of Arabo-Islamic culture, revealing how they both adopted and adapted elements of it that enhanced their aims. Theme music "Nigal."

The discussion delves into the complex historical eras of Iraq, challenging binary understandings of its past and present. A professor at Haverford College and author of "Political Undesirables: Citizen Denaturalization and Reclamation in Iraq and Return to Ruin: Iraqi Narratives of Exile and Nostalgia", Zainab Saleh discusses how the Iraq she grew up in—during the Ba'ath Party reign and under Saddam Hussein—was a time of fear and repression, despite the earlier period of high hopes and political aspirations in the 1940s and 1950s. She explores the concept of nostalgia for the Saddam era, which exists even among those who suffered under the regime, because of the basic services that were provided. The conversation offers a nuanced timeline of modern Iraqi history, from World War I's role in creating Middle Eastern nation-states through the Ottoman and British rules, the monarchy, and the Ba'ath Party. A key focus is placed on the 1990s as a major turning point, with the 1991 bombardment and subsequent sanctions leading to the rapid deterioration of infrastructure, increased social problems like begging and corruption, and environmental collapse. We consider the argument that the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, and the US invasion should be viewed as one long, continuous war. Saleh critiques the simplistic narrative that Americans brought to Iraq after 2003, arguing that it institutionalized a sectarian political system. She emphasizes that the American discourse—classifying Sunnis as loyalists and Shia or Kurds as oppressed—ignored the reality of mixed communities and complex political loyalties. Saleh explores the historical use of denaturalization in Iraq, a topic central to her latest book. She details how the British and subsequent Iraqi regimes used the pretext of "political undesirables" to strip citizens of their rights, citing examples such as Iraqi Jews in the 1950s and Iraqis of Iranian origin in the 1980s. 0:00 Introduction 1:50 When Did The Iraq You Grew Up In Start?2:54 The High Hopes of the 1940s and 1950s3:33 Nostalgia, Time, and Loss7:09 The Broad Phases of Iraqi History9:33 Cultural Renaissance Under the Monarchy10:00 Vibrant Leftist Politics in the Monarchy Era11:39 Nostalgia for the Monarchy13:00 The Largest Effect on Daily Life: 1991 Bombardment and Sanctions16:29 Connecting the Wars: One Long War17:59 The Lead-up to Saddam's Invasion of Kuwait19:33 The Vision of the Neoconservatives20:40 Misunderstandings about US Imperialism22:11 The Myth of Iraqi Sectarianism23:24 The Institutionalization of a Sectarian System25:27 The Role of the Iraqi Opposition Abroad28:29 Phases of Post-2003 Iraq29:12 The Civil War and Proxy War (2006-2008)30:20 Displacement and the Reorganization of Iraqi Society30:52 Social Mobilization: 2011 and the Tishreen Uprising (2019)31:24 The Catastrophe of ISIS34:29 The Problem with Nostalgic Photos40:14 When One Dictator Becomes a Source of Nostalgia41:16 The Book: Political Undesirables and Denaturalization41:59 The Deportation of Iraqis of Iranian Origin (1980)44:48 Denaturalization as a Systemic Pattern48:19 Issuing Passports After World War I51:00 The Expulsion of Iraqi Jews (1950)51:25 Iraqi Jews as an Integral Part of Society52:44 The Ancient History of Babylonian Jews55:20 The Basis for Expulsion58:19 Recommended Readings on Iraqi History Zainab Saleh is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Haverford College and the author of books "Return to Ruin: Iraqi Narratives of Exile and Nostalgia" (2020) and "Political Undesirables: Citizenship, Denaturalization, and Reclamation in Iraq" (2025).Connect with Zainab Saleh

Jawhar Aftabachi was enslaved as a child by the Ottomans in the Black Sea region in the early sixteenth century. He was then sold to the Ottoman admiral Selman Reis, who took him with his fleet to Egypt and Yemen during his wars with the Portuguese; carried, after the admiral's death, by the admiral's nephew Mustafa Bayram to Gujarat on the western coast of India; and finally, when the Mughal army invaded Gujarat in 1534, taken into imperial service along with thousands of Eurasian and Abyssinian slaves. Here he rose to the position of water-carrier for the Mughal Emperor Humayun and chronicled this experience in a remarkable , Persian text called Tazkirah-i Vaqi`at or “memoir of events”. In Slavery in the Early Mughal World: The Life and Thoughts of Jawhar Aftabachi (1520s–1580s) (Oxford UP, 2025), Ali Anooshahr uses Jawhar's life and memoirs as a unique window into slavery, selfhood, and the rise of the early modern Indian Ocean world. Bringing a micro-historical study to a "subaltern Mughal author" offers the opportunity to reassess the history of slavery in South Asia from an original perspective and to reframe the connected history of the early modern world. Jawhar's life shows in vivid detail the eruption of the Mediterranean and Black Sea cultural regions into the Indian Ocean world, shedding light onto the collapse of older bonds of interdependency in the face of impersonal structures of new centralized states, and bearing witness to the process of individualization of people which was experienced not as a triumphalist "rise of the self" but as alienation. Ali Anooshahr is a historian of Mughal India as well as the "Persianate World" during the early modern era. He received his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998, and his M.A. (2002) and Ph.D. (2005) from UCLA. He is a Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. His books include The Ghazi Sultans and the Frontiers of Islam: A Comparative Study of the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods (Routledge, 2009), Turkestan and the Rise of Eurasian Empires: A Study of Politics and Invented Traditions (Oxford, 2018), and (edited with Ebba Koch) The Mughal Empire from Jahangir to Shah Jahan: Art, Architecture, Politics, Law and Literature (The Marg Foundation, March 2019). His research has been supported by fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Hellman Foundations, among others. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Jawhar Aftabachi was enslaved as a child by the Ottomans in the Black Sea region in the early sixteenth century. He was then sold to the Ottoman admiral Selman Reis, who took him with his fleet to Egypt and Yemen during his wars with the Portuguese; carried, after the admiral's death, by the admiral's nephew Mustafa Bayram to Gujarat on the western coast of India; and finally, when the Mughal army invaded Gujarat in 1534, taken into imperial service along with thousands of Eurasian and Abyssinian slaves. Here he rose to the position of water-carrier for the Mughal Emperor Humayun and chronicled this experience in a remarkable , Persian text called Tazkirah-i Vaqi`at or “memoir of events”. In Slavery in the Early Mughal World: The Life and Thoughts of Jawhar Aftabachi (1520s–1580s) (Oxford UP, 2025), Ali Anooshahr uses Jawhar's life and memoirs as a unique window into slavery, selfhood, and the rise of the early modern Indian Ocean world. Bringing a micro-historical study to a "subaltern Mughal author" offers the opportunity to reassess the history of slavery in South Asia from an original perspective and to reframe the connected history of the early modern world. Jawhar's life shows in vivid detail the eruption of the Mediterranean and Black Sea cultural regions into the Indian Ocean world, shedding light onto the collapse of older bonds of interdependency in the face of impersonal structures of new centralized states, and bearing witness to the process of individualization of people which was experienced not as a triumphalist "rise of the self" but as alienation. Ali Anooshahr is a historian of Mughal India as well as the "Persianate World" during the early modern era. He received his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998, and his M.A. (2002) and Ph.D. (2005) from UCLA. He is a Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. His books include The Ghazi Sultans and the Frontiers of Islam: A Comparative Study of the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods (Routledge, 2009), Turkestan and the Rise of Eurasian Empires: A Study of Politics and Invented Traditions (Oxford, 2018), and (edited with Ebba Koch) The Mughal Empire from Jahangir to Shah Jahan: Art, Architecture, Politics, Law and Literature (The Marg Foundation, March 2019). His research has been supported by fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Hellman Foundations, among others. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Jawhar Aftabachi was enslaved as a child by the Ottomans in the Black Sea region in the early sixteenth century. He was then sold to the Ottoman admiral Selman Reis, who took him with his fleet to Egypt and Yemen during his wars with the Portuguese; carried, after the admiral's death, by the admiral's nephew Mustafa Bayram to Gujarat on the western coast of India; and finally, when the Mughal army invaded Gujarat in 1534, taken into imperial service along with thousands of Eurasian and Abyssinian slaves. Here he rose to the position of water-carrier for the Mughal Emperor Humayun and chronicled this experience in a remarkable , Persian text called Tazkirah-i Vaqi`at or “memoir of events”. In Slavery in the Early Mughal World: The Life and Thoughts of Jawhar Aftabachi (1520s–1580s) (Oxford UP, 2025), Ali Anooshahr uses Jawhar's life and memoirs as a unique window into slavery, selfhood, and the rise of the early modern Indian Ocean world. Bringing a micro-historical study to a "subaltern Mughal author" offers the opportunity to reassess the history of slavery in South Asia from an original perspective and to reframe the connected history of the early modern world. Jawhar's life shows in vivid detail the eruption of the Mediterranean and Black Sea cultural regions into the Indian Ocean world, shedding light onto the collapse of older bonds of interdependency in the face of impersonal structures of new centralized states, and bearing witness to the process of individualization of people which was experienced not as a triumphalist "rise of the self" but as alienation. Ali Anooshahr is a historian of Mughal India as well as the "Persianate World" during the early modern era. He received his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998, and his M.A. (2002) and Ph.D. (2005) from UCLA. He is a Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. His books include The Ghazi Sultans and the Frontiers of Islam: A Comparative Study of the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods (Routledge, 2009), Turkestan and the Rise of Eurasian Empires: A Study of Politics and Invented Traditions (Oxford, 2018), and (edited with Ebba Koch) The Mughal Empire from Jahangir to Shah Jahan: Art, Architecture, Politics, Law and Literature (The Marg Foundation, March 2019). His research has been supported by fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Hellman Foundations, among others. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

Jawhar Aftabachi was enslaved as a child by the Ottomans in the Black Sea region in the early sixteenth century. He was then sold to the Ottoman admiral Selman Reis, who took him with his fleet to Egypt and Yemen during his wars with the Portuguese; carried, after the admiral's death, by the admiral's nephew Mustafa Bayram to Gujarat on the western coast of India; and finally, when the Mughal army invaded Gujarat in 1534, taken into imperial service along with thousands of Eurasian and Abyssinian slaves. Here he rose to the position of water-carrier for the Mughal Emperor Humayun and chronicled this experience in a remarkable , Persian text called Tazkirah-i Vaqi`at or “memoir of events”. In Slavery in the Early Mughal World: The Life and Thoughts of Jawhar Aftabachi (1520s–1580s) (Oxford UP, 2025), Ali Anooshahr uses Jawhar's life and memoirs as a unique window into slavery, selfhood, and the rise of the early modern Indian Ocean world. Bringing a micro-historical study to a "subaltern Mughal author" offers the opportunity to reassess the history of slavery in South Asia from an original perspective and to reframe the connected history of the early modern world. Jawhar's life shows in vivid detail the eruption of the Mediterranean and Black Sea cultural regions into the Indian Ocean world, shedding light onto the collapse of older bonds of interdependency in the face of impersonal structures of new centralized states, and bearing witness to the process of individualization of people which was experienced not as a triumphalist "rise of the self" but as alienation. Ali Anooshahr is a historian of Mughal India as well as the "Persianate World" during the early modern era. He received his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998, and his M.A. (2002) and Ph.D. (2005) from UCLA. He is a Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. His books include The Ghazi Sultans and the Frontiers of Islam: A Comparative Study of the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods (Routledge, 2009), Turkestan and the Rise of Eurasian Empires: A Study of Politics and Invented Traditions (Oxford, 2018), and (edited with Ebba Koch) The Mughal Empire from Jahangir to Shah Jahan: Art, Architecture, Politics, Law and Literature (The Marg Foundation, March 2019). His research has been supported by fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Hellman Foundations, among others. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-studies

Jawhar Aftabachi was enslaved as a child by the Ottomans in the Black Sea region in the early sixteenth century. He was then sold to the Ottoman admiral Selman Reis, who took him with his fleet to Egypt and Yemen during his wars with the Portuguese; carried, after the admiral's death, by the admiral's nephew Mustafa Bayram to Gujarat on the western coast of India; and finally, when the Mughal army invaded Gujarat in 1534, taken into imperial service along with thousands of Eurasian and Abyssinian slaves. Here he rose to the position of water-carrier for the Mughal Emperor Humayun and chronicled this experience in a remarkable , Persian text called Tazkirah-i Vaqi`at or “memoir of events”. In Slavery in the Early Mughal World: The Life and Thoughts of Jawhar Aftabachi (1520s–1580s) (Oxford UP, 2025), Ali Anooshahr uses Jawhar's life and memoirs as a unique window into slavery, selfhood, and the rise of the early modern Indian Ocean world. Bringing a micro-historical study to a "subaltern Mughal author" offers the opportunity to reassess the history of slavery in South Asia from an original perspective and to reframe the connected history of the early modern world. Jawhar's life shows in vivid detail the eruption of the Mediterranean and Black Sea cultural regions into the Indian Ocean world, shedding light onto the collapse of older bonds of interdependency in the face of impersonal structures of new centralized states, and bearing witness to the process of individualization of people which was experienced not as a triumphalist "rise of the self" but as alienation. Ali Anooshahr is a historian of Mughal India as well as the "Persianate World" during the early modern era. He received his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998, and his M.A. (2002) and Ph.D. (2005) from UCLA. He is a Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. His books include The Ghazi Sultans and the Frontiers of Islam: A Comparative Study of the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods (Routledge, 2009), Turkestan and the Rise of Eurasian Empires: A Study of Politics and Invented Traditions (Oxford, 2018), and (edited with Ebba Koch) The Mughal Empire from Jahangir to Shah Jahan: Art, Architecture, Politics, Law and Literature (The Marg Foundation, March 2019). His research has been supported by fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Hellman Foundations, among others. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Jawhar Aftabachi was enslaved as a child by the Ottomans in the Black Sea region in the early sixteenth century. He was then sold to the Ottoman admiral Selman Reis, who took him with his fleet to Egypt and Yemen during his wars with the Portuguese; carried, after the admiral's death, by the admiral's nephew Mustafa Bayram to Gujarat on the western coast of India; and finally, when the Mughal army invaded Gujarat in 1534, taken into imperial service along with thousands of Eurasian and Abyssinian slaves. Here he rose to the position of water-carrier for the Mughal Emperor Humayun and chronicled this experience in a remarkable , Persian text called Tazkirah-i Vaqi`at or “memoir of events”. In Slavery in the Early Mughal World: The Life and Thoughts of Jawhar Aftabachi (1520s–1580s) (Oxford UP, 2025), Ali Anooshahr uses Jawhar's life and memoirs as a unique window into slavery, selfhood, and the rise of the early modern Indian Ocean world. Bringing a micro-historical study to a "subaltern Mughal author" offers the opportunity to reassess the history of slavery in South Asia from an original perspective and to reframe the connected history of the early modern world. Jawhar's life shows in vivid detail the eruption of the Mediterranean and Black Sea cultural regions into the Indian Ocean world, shedding light onto the collapse of older bonds of interdependency in the face of impersonal structures of new centralized states, and bearing witness to the process of individualization of people which was experienced not as a triumphalist "rise of the self" but as alienation. Ali Anooshahr is a historian of Mughal India as well as the "Persianate World" during the early modern era. He received his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998, and his M.A. (2002) and Ph.D. (2005) from UCLA. He is a Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. His books include The Ghazi Sultans and the Frontiers of Islam: A Comparative Study of the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods (Routledge, 2009), Turkestan and the Rise of Eurasian Empires: A Study of Politics and Invented Traditions (Oxford, 2018), and (edited with Ebba Koch) The Mughal Empire from Jahangir to Shah Jahan: Art, Architecture, Politics, Law and Literature (The Marg Foundation, March 2019). His research has been supported by fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Hellman Foundations, among others. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the turn of the twentieth century, the city of Edirne was a bustling center linking Istanbul to Ottoman Europe. It was also the capital of Edirne Province—among the most religiously diverse regions of the Ottoman Empire. But by 1923, the city had become a Turkish border town, and the province had lost much of its non-Muslim population. In The Jews of Edirne: The End of Ottoman Europe and the Arrival of Borders (Stanford UP, 2025), Jacob Daniels explores how one of the world's largest Sephardi communities dealt with the encroachment of modern borders. Using Ladino, French, English, and Turkish sources, Daniels offers a new take on the ways in which ethno-religious minorities experienced the transition "from empire to nation-state." Rather than tracing a linear path, Edirne Jews zigzagged between the Ottoman Empire and three nation-states—without moving a mile. And by maintaining interstate Sephardi networks, they resisted pressure to treat the shifting border as a limit to their zone of belonging. Ultimately, proximity to the border would undo Edirne's Jewish community, but the way this ending came about—local Jews were rarely killed or deported—challenges common assumptions about state borders and Jewish history. By studying Jewish encounters with the nation-state alongside the emergence of modern borders, Daniels sheds light on both phenomena. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

At the turn of the twentieth century, the city of Edirne was a bustling center linking Istanbul to Ottoman Europe. It was also the capital of Edirne Province—among the most religiously diverse regions of the Ottoman Empire. But by 1923, the city had become a Turkish border town, and the province had lost much of its non-Muslim population. In The Jews of Edirne: The End of Ottoman Europe and the Arrival of Borders (Stanford UP, 2025), Jacob Daniels explores how one of the world's largest Sephardi communities dealt with the encroachment of modern borders. Using Ladino, French, English, and Turkish sources, Daniels offers a new take on the ways in which ethno-religious minorities experienced the transition "from empire to nation-state." Rather than tracing a linear path, Edirne Jews zigzagged between the Ottoman Empire and three nation-states—without moving a mile. And by maintaining interstate Sephardi networks, they resisted pressure to treat the shifting border as a limit to their zone of belonging. Ultimately, proximity to the border would undo Edirne's Jewish community, but the way this ending came about—local Jews were rarely killed or deported—challenges common assumptions about state borders and Jewish history. By studying Jewish encounters with the nation-state alongside the emergence of modern borders, Daniels sheds light on both phenomena. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

At the turn of the twentieth century, the city of Edirne was a bustling center linking Istanbul to Ottoman Europe. It was also the capital of Edirne Province—among the most religiously diverse regions of the Ottoman Empire. But by 1923, the city had become a Turkish border town, and the province had lost much of its non-Muslim population. In The Jews of Edirne: The End of Ottoman Europe and the Arrival of Borders (Stanford UP, 2025), Jacob Daniels explores how one of the world's largest Sephardi communities dealt with the encroachment of modern borders. Using Ladino, French, English, and Turkish sources, Daniels offers a new take on the ways in which ethno-religious minorities experienced the transition "from empire to nation-state." Rather than tracing a linear path, Edirne Jews zigzagged between the Ottoman Empire and three nation-states—without moving a mile. And by maintaining interstate Sephardi networks, they resisted pressure to treat the shifting border as a limit to their zone of belonging. Ultimately, proximity to the border would undo Edirne's Jewish community, but the way this ending came about—local Jews were rarely killed or deported—challenges common assumptions about state borders and Jewish history. By studying Jewish encounters with the nation-state alongside the emergence of modern borders, Daniels sheds light on both phenomena. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies

Enjoy this episode? Please share it with at least ONE friend who you think needs to hear it!Sabbatean-Frankist historian Leo Zagami joins Faust Checho to expose the Frankist elite, Zionism's hidden history, and the Jeffrey Epstein network in episode 227 of Far Out with Faust.Leo Zagami is a historian of Sabbatean and Frankist movements whose research traces how 17th-century messianic sects evolved into influential esoteric and political networks. His work uncovers how the teachings of Sabbatai Zevi, the Dönmeh, Jacob Frank, and Lurianic Kabbalah shaped European aristocracies, early Zionist strategy, and the covert alliances behind modern geopolitical power. Through decades of archival work, Leo has become a leading voice documenting how these ideological currents survive inside elite structures today.In this conversation, Faust and Leo unravel the hidden lineage behind Epstein's rise — from the Mega Group and Les Wexner to the intelligence relationships that shielded his operation for decades. They break down how Sabbatean and Frankist ideology diverged from Judaism, how these sects embedded themselves in Ottoman and European politics, and how their influence resurfaced in early Zionist negotiations and 20th-century geopolitical maneuvering. Leo explains the Haavara transfer agreement, the role of the Asiatic Brethren, the philosophical roots found in the Zohar and Lurianic Kabbalah, and how these threads connect to today's push toward technocracy and consolidated global power.In this episode:

For the final episode in our mini series on the rich maritime history of Malta Dr Sam Willis and Daisy Turnbull find themselves out in a boat in Valletta's grand harbour, and this time we're being treated to a culinary extravaganza: a meal that would have been eaten by Maltese corsairs. The Matese corsairs were a major ingredient in Maltese maritime history and cultural identity, embodying the island's strategic role at the crossroads of the Mediterranean. Operating from Malta under the Knights of St. John, Maltese corsairs defended Christian shipping, disrupted Ottoman and North African naval power, and contributed to the island's economy through privateering. Their exploits shaped Malta's seafaring identity, blending military duty with maritime entrepreneurship, and left a lasting legacy in the island's naval traditions and coastal fortifications. In this episode we experience a unique slant on this tale and are treated to a feast laid on by Taste History, a venture operated by Heritage Malta which offers food from the age of the enlightenment. Taste History offers culinary experiences that bring historical food and menus back to life using archival documents (recipe books, kitchen inventories, butcher bills) plus archaeological discoveries to inspire and inform their dishes, all made from seasonal ingredients and prepared by professional chefs dedicated to the art and science of recreating historical meals. The meal is complete with a variety of wines whose existence is proven in historical documents. Sam and Daisy discuss the history of corsairs and the food they would have eaten with Liam Gauci from Heritage Malta. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2009, the body of a former president of the Republic of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, was stolen from his grave. The Time of the Cannibals reconsiders this history and the public discourse on it to reconsider how we think about conspiracy theory, and specifically, what it means to understand conspiracy theories “in context.” The months after Papadopoulos's body was stolen saw intense public speculation in Cyprus, including widespread expressions of sacrilege, along with many false accusations against Cypriots and foreigners positioned as his political antagonists. Davis delves into the public discourse on conspiracy theory in Cyprus that flourished in the aftermath, tracing theories about the grave robbery to theories about the division of Cyprus some thirty-five years earlier, and both to longer histories of imperial and colonial violence. Along the way, Davis explores cross-contextual connections among Cyprus and other locales, in the form of conspiracy theories as well as political theologies regarding the dead bodies of political leaders. Through critical close readings of academic and journalistic approaches to conspiracy theory, Davis shows that conspiracy theory as an analytic object fails to sustain comparative analysis, and defies any general theory of conspiracy theory. What these approaches accomplish instead, she argues, is the perpetuation of ethnocentrism in the guise of contextualization. The Time of the Cannibals: On Conspiracy Theory and Context (Fordham UP, 2024) asks what better kind of contextualization this and any “case” call for, and proposes the concept of conspiracy attunement: a means of grasping the dialogic contexts in which conspiracy theories work recursively as matters of political and cultural significance in the long durée. Elizabeth Anne Davis is Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University. Her research and writing, grounded in the European horizons and the Ottoman history of the Greek-speaking world, focus on the intersections of psyche, body, history, and power. She is also the author of Bad Souls: Madness and Responsibility in Modern Greece (2012, Duke Press) and Artifactual: Forensic and Documentary Knowing (2023, Duke Press). Yadong Li is a socio-cultural anthropologist-in-training. He is registered as a PhD student at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of economic anthropology, development studies, hope studies, and ecological anthropology. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In 2009, the body of a former president of the Republic of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, was stolen from his grave. The Time of the Cannibals reconsiders this history and the public discourse on it to reconsider how we think about conspiracy theory, and specifically, what it means to understand conspiracy theories “in context.” The months after Papadopoulos's body was stolen saw intense public speculation in Cyprus, including widespread expressions of sacrilege, along with many false accusations against Cypriots and foreigners positioned as his political antagonists. Davis delves into the public discourse on conspiracy theory in Cyprus that flourished in the aftermath, tracing theories about the grave robbery to theories about the division of Cyprus some thirty-five years earlier, and both to longer histories of imperial and colonial violence. Along the way, Davis explores cross-contextual connections among Cyprus and other locales, in the form of conspiracy theories as well as political theologies regarding the dead bodies of political leaders. Through critical close readings of academic and journalistic approaches to conspiracy theory, Davis shows that conspiracy theory as an analytic object fails to sustain comparative analysis, and defies any general theory of conspiracy theory. What these approaches accomplish instead, she argues, is the perpetuation of ethnocentrism in the guise of contextualization. The Time of the Cannibals: On Conspiracy Theory and Context (Fordham UP, 2024) asks what better kind of contextualization this and any “case” call for, and proposes the concept of conspiracy attunement: a means of grasping the dialogic contexts in which conspiracy theories work recursively as matters of political and cultural significance in the long durée. Elizabeth Anne Davis is Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University. Her research and writing, grounded in the European horizons and the Ottoman history of the Greek-speaking world, focus on the intersections of psyche, body, history, and power. She is also the author of Bad Souls: Madness and Responsibility in Modern Greece (2012, Duke Press) and Artifactual: Forensic and Documentary Knowing (2023, Duke Press). Yadong Li is a socio-cultural anthropologist-in-training. He is registered as a PhD student at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of economic anthropology, development studies, hope studies, and ecological anthropology. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

In 2009, the body of a former president of the Republic of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, was stolen from his grave. The Time of the Cannibals reconsiders this history and the public discourse on it to reconsider how we think about conspiracy theory, and specifically, what it means to understand conspiracy theories “in context.” The months after Papadopoulos's body was stolen saw intense public speculation in Cyprus, including widespread expressions of sacrilege, along with many false accusations against Cypriots and foreigners positioned as his political antagonists. Davis delves into the public discourse on conspiracy theory in Cyprus that flourished in the aftermath, tracing theories about the grave robbery to theories about the division of Cyprus some thirty-five years earlier, and both to longer histories of imperial and colonial violence. Along the way, Davis explores cross-contextual connections among Cyprus and other locales, in the form of conspiracy theories as well as political theologies regarding the dead bodies of political leaders. Through critical close readings of academic and journalistic approaches to conspiracy theory, Davis shows that conspiracy theory as an analytic object fails to sustain comparative analysis, and defies any general theory of conspiracy theory. What these approaches accomplish instead, she argues, is the perpetuation of ethnocentrism in the guise of contextualization. The Time of the Cannibals: On Conspiracy Theory and Context (Fordham UP, 2024) asks what better kind of contextualization this and any “case” call for, and proposes the concept of conspiracy attunement: a means of grasping the dialogic contexts in which conspiracy theories work recursively as matters of political and cultural significance in the long durée. Elizabeth Anne Davis is Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University. Her research and writing, grounded in the European horizons and the Ottoman history of the Greek-speaking world, focus on the intersections of psyche, body, history, and power. She is also the author of Bad Souls: Madness and Responsibility in Modern Greece (2012, Duke Press) and Artifactual: Forensic and Documentary Knowing (2023, Duke Press). Yadong Li is a socio-cultural anthropologist-in-training. He is registered as a PhD student at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of economic anthropology, development studies, hope studies, and ecological anthropology. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

USE CODE DEC25 FOR 50% OFF ALL PATREON SUBSCRIPTIONS UNTIL THE END OF DECEMBER https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys In the early days of English ambassadorships to the Ottoman Empire, an increasingly petty collection of grievances among European envoys and Ottoman dignitaries set the conditions for a single errant snowball to incite an anti-English riot. Witness the story of the snowball that got a bunch of English guys' beaten with oblong objects. Research: Dr Joel Butler Reources: Public Records Office, The National Archives, Kew, London: SP 97/3; SP 97/4. ‘Bu bir nefret cinayetidir: Gazeteci Nuh Köklü, 'kartopu oynarken' öldürüldü.' Radikal (2 February 2015). ‘Gazeteci Nuh Köklü kar topu oynarken öldürüldü', BBC News Türkçe (18 February 2015). ‘Journalist Nuh Köklü murdered for playing snowball', Agos (18 February 2015). ‘Life in prison for man who stabbed Turkish journalist over snowball fight', Hürriyet Daily News (5 June 2015). Atran, S. ‘The Devoted Actor: Unconditional Commitment and Intractable Conflict across Cultures', Current Anthropology, 57/S13 (2016), S192-S203. Brotton, J. The Sultan and the Queen: The Untold Story of Elizabeth and Islam (New York, 2017) Brown, H.F. Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 9, 1592-1603 (London, 1897). Burian, O. The Report of Lello, Third English Ambassador to the Sublime Porte / Babıâli Nezdinde Üçüncü İngiliz Elçisi Lello'nun Muhtırası (Ankara, 1952). Butler, J.D. ‘Between Company and State: Anglo-Ottoman Diplomacy and Ottoman Political Culture, 1565-1607', unpubd. DPhil thesis, University of Oxford (2022). _________. ‘Lello, Henry', The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2023). Coulter, L.J.F. ‘The involvement of the English crown and its embassy in Constantinople with pretenders to the throne of the principality of Moldavia between the years 1583 and 1620, with particular reference to the pretender Stefan Bogdan between 1590 and 1612', unpubd. PhD thesis, University of London (1993). Foster, W. (ed.) The Travels of John Sanderson in the Levant (1584-1602) (London, 1931). Horniker, A.L. ‘Anglo-French Rivalry in the Levant from 1583 to 1612', The Journal of Modern History, 18/4 (1946), 289-305. Hutnyk, J. ‘Nuh Köklü. Statement from Yeldeğirmeni Dayanışması' (20 February 2015) at: https://hutnyk.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/nuh-koklu-statement-from-yeldegirmeni-dayanismasi/ (accessed 8 March 2025). Kowalczyk, T.D. ‘Edward Barton and Anglo-Ottoman Relations, 1588-98', unpubd. PhD thesis, University of Sussex (2020). MacLean, G. ‘Courting the Porte: Early Anglo-Ottoman Diplomacy', University of Bucharest Review, 10/2 (2008), 80-88. MacLean, G. & Matar, N. Britain & the Islamic World, 1558-1713 (Oxford, 2011). Newson, M. ‘Football, fan violence, and identity fusion', International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 54/4 (2019), 431-444. Newson, M., Buhrmester, M. & Whitehouse, H. ‘United in defeat: shared suffering and group bonding among football fans', Managing Sport and Leisure, 28/2 (2023), 164-181. Purchas, S. Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes, viii (Glasgow, 1905). Sheikh, H., Gómez, Á. & Altran, S. ‘Empirical Evidence for the Devoted Actor Model', Current Anthropology, 57/S13 (2016), S204-S209. Unknown Artist. (c1604). The Somerset House Conference, 1604 (oil on canvas). London: National Portrait Gallery.

President Trump gave Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, A.K.A. MbS, a royal welcome to Washington. But beyond the flashy diplomacy, quite a lot of business was transacted. Host Cliff May is joined by Edmund Fitton-Brown to discuss the visit, the future of U.S.–Saudi relations, the threat from Tehran and the Houthis, Turkey's neo-Ottoman ambitions, and how a changing kingdom is changing the Middle East.

President Trump gave Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, A.K.A. MbS, a royal welcome to Washington. But beyond the flashy diplomacy, quite a lot of business was transacted. Host Cliff May is joined by Edmund Fitton-Brown to discuss the visit, the future of U.S.–Saudi relations, the threat from Tehran and the Houthis, Turkey's neo-Ottoman ambitions, and how a changing kingdom is changing the Middle East.

Who were the Donme Crypto Ottoman Jews? Who Was Kamal Ataturk? Who were the Young Turks? What happened when the young turks took over the ottoman empire? What happened to Muslims in eastern Europe, like Bosnia? Why is Turkey the country it is today and have the poltics and ideologies it has today? Nationalism is on the rise today, but history shows us the dangers of divisive ideologies. Join us as we travel back 100 years to the era of the Last Great Sultan, Abdul Hamid II, and explore the story of the end of the Ottoman Empire, the most tolerant empire of its time.Our guest, Alen Bašić, journalist and aspiring historian, explains how spies, secret societies, and secular revolutionaries manipulated populations, turning neighbors against each other and leading to some of the greatest tragedies of the last century for the Muslim world and The Ottoman Empire. Let's be the generation that reignites the multicultural ethos native to Islam. W*Support Us On Patreon @* ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/theansaripodcast#ottomanempire #history #islamichistory #podcast #historypodcast *Pomoroi:* https://pomoroi.com/ansariMention the podcast for a FREE Consultation*Provision Capital:* https://www.provisioncapital.com*Habbah:* https://www.habbah.io*Humaniti:* https://donor.muslimi.com/page/Humaniti-emergency-Ansari00:00 Who were the Donme Crypto Jews?06:49 The Young Turks and the Donme10:35 The Young Turks Vs. Sultan Abdul Hamid II18:13 The Impact of The Young Turks20:43 Who was Mustafa Kamal?25:12 Is Erdogan a Reviver of Islam?37:08 What happened to Muslims After the Ottoman Empire?49:55 The Forgotten Bosnian Horrors52:27 Gen Z Muslims are better than their Grandparents?01:00:30 How Balkan Muslims Protected Jews01:09:36 Modern Balkan Muslims*Listen on All Audio Platforms:* https://tr.ee/JeX-ILYSyj*Follow The Ansari Podcast**Instagram:* https://instagram.com/ansaripodcast*TikTok:* https://tiktok.com/@theansaripodcast*Twitter/X:* https://twitter.com/ansaripodcast

SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Towards the end of the Crimean War the Russians invade the Ottoman Empire, coming up against the Fortress City of Kars. Command of the Ottoman forces fall to an old drunk, British man who may or may not be the bastard child of Prince Edward, all of the Turkish officers under him are actually Hungarian, and one American catholic. Sources: Winifred Baumgart. The Crimean War: 1853-1856 Raugh Harold. The Victorians at War: 1815-1914 Humphrey Sandwith. The Siege of Kars 1856 William Edward David Allen, Paul Muratoff. Caucasian Battlefields: The History of the Wars of the Turco-Caucasian Border 1828-1921

The Muslim Brotherhood and Its Global Network. Cliff May discusses the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), the progenitor of Hamas, founded in 1928 after the Ottoman Caliphate's abolition. The MB's goal is to establish a new Islamic empire. Qatar is highly supportive, hosting Hamas leaders, while the UAE and Saudi Arabia have banned the MB. Turkish President Erdoğan is considered MB-adjacent and sympathetic, supporting Hamas and potentially viewing himself as a future Caliph, despite Turkey being a NATO member. 1882 CAIRO

Episode: 3339 Cradling the Body: The Eames Lounge Chair, Leg Splint, and Good Design.  The Eames Lounge Chair and Leg Splint

How long can an emperor not be an emperor. The official record stands at 25 years, that is how long Friedrich III had stayed out of the core areas of the Holy Roman Empire. That meant 25 ears of Imperial Diets without the presence of an Emperor, 25 years of stasis on the challenges of the time, the reform of the empire and the defense against the Ottoman expansion. But sometime in the late 1460s the apathic emperor Friedrich III, dubbed the Imperial Arch Sleepy head awakes and does what he had never done before, something. And that something turned into a lot of things, some related toimperial reform, but the most significant something for European history was a marriage, well, an engagement for now, followed by a flight down the river Mosel away from the intended father of the bride. Yes, it is that famous marriage, just not in the way you may have thought it happened. The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comIf you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans PodcastFacebook: @HOTGPod Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcastBluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.socialInstagram: history_of_the_germansTwitter: @germanshistoryTo make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season. So far I have:The OttoniansSalian Emperors and Investiture ControversyFredrick Barbarossa and Early HohenstaufenFrederick II Stupor MundiSaxony and Eastward ExpansionThe Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356The Reformation before the...

By Rabbi Josh WanderThere is a painful and uncomfortable reality that we rarely speak about publicly:Nearly one million Israelis have left Eretz Yisrael to live in the Diaspora.Not because of pogroms.Not because of famine.Not because they were expelled.They chose to leave.They walked away from the one thing that generations before us would have given their lives for: the privilege of living in the Land of Israel.And this can only happen in a vacuum — a vacuum of education, a vacuum of emunah, and a vacuum of understanding the true value of Eretz Yisrael. When someone does not know what something is worth, it becomes very easy to trade away.Creatures of Comfort, Prisoners of ExileMany of these Israelis are “successful” abroad. They live in modern suburbs, earn comfortable salaries, eat in kosher restaurants, and send their children to schools with Hebrew signs on the walls.Some are even “religious.”But spiritually, they have moved from Geula (redemption) to Galut (exile).From light to darkness.From open skies to a tunnel.Choosing exile over Israel is like voluntarily crawling into the spiritual equivalent of a Hamas tunnel — darkness, disorientation, disconnection.It is a self-imposed spiritual prison.They convince themselves that their “spirituality is more uplifting” in New York, Miami, or Los Angeles.What a perversion.How twisted our values have become that we equate kosher supermarkets, valet parking, and kiddush clubs with spirituality.Do We Know Better Than Hashem?Let's ask the only question that matters:If Avraham Avinu and Sara Imeinu were told by Hashem to leave Charan and move to Canaan, would they respond:“Actually, Hashem, our ruchniyut is better here. The housing market is cheaper and the shuls are more comfortable”?Absurd.Yet today, many Jews speak this way.Not explicitly — but this is the core of their argument:“I know Hashem said Eretz Yisrael is our home,but I know better what's best for me and my family.”Chutzpah.Ignorance.Hashem gave us 613 mitzvot. Nearly one-third can only be performed in the Land. How can a thinking, believing Jew read the Torah and still say:“It's better for my neshamah to stay in exile.”The Intellectual Justifications and the Halachic AcrobaticsOf course, excuses always need footnotes.So we hear:* “The Satmar Shitta says the Three Oaths forbid returning before Moshiach.”* “Rav Moshe Feinstein wrote that aliyah isn't obligatory today.”* “Tosafot says due to danger one may stay in exile.”All true — in context.Yet deeply misunderstood and conveniently misused.Even Satmar Chassidim weep over Eretz Yisrael.Even Rav Moshe Feinstein praised the holiness of the Land.None of them said:“Exile is a spiritually superior environment. Stay there for comfort.”For thousands of years, our rabbis begged, prayed, and sacrificed to reach this Land. They endured malaria-infested swamps, starvation, and Ottoman decrees.Not for comfort.For covenant.They understood what we have forgotten:Comfort is not the goal of Judaism. Destiny is.The Real Price: Their ChildrenLet us speak plainly.For the “religious diaspora Jew,” the loss is spiritual blindness.But for the vast majority who leave?It is nothing less than a demographic suicide mission.In Israel:* Intermarriage rate: ~4%In the United States:* Intermarriage rate: 70–90%That means that in America, one generation later,your grandchildren may not be Jewish.Nobody “plans” for assimilation, yet it swallows entire family trees.Leaving Eretz Yisrael puts your children into the currents of history — currents that have erased millions of Jews before them.No Israeli parent moving abroad ever says:“I'm choosing to end my family's Jewish story.”But statistically, that is exactly what they are doing.Kosher-Style Judaism Is Not JudaismThose who leave often say:“We will stay religious abroad. Judaism is not tied to geography.”False.Judaism is born in a place.Rooted in a place.Fulfilled in a place.Eretz Yisrael is not a backdrop.It is a commandment.לא בשמיים היא — It is not in the heavens.It's right here. In the Torah. In every parsha.From Lech Lecha to Ki Tavo.You don't need a PhD to understand the Torah's geography.Only a willingness to listen.The Darkness of Egypt — ReplayedThe Midrash teaches that 80% of Jews never left Egypt.They chose to stay — and they died during the plague of darkness.They disappeared from Jewish destiny.Today, the parallel is clear.We are living in spiritual darkness.Exile is the darkness.Israel is the light.Every Jew today is being asked:Will you join the redemption — or remain behind?Conclusion: The Door Is Still OpenThe tragedy of the yordim is not only that they leave.It's that they don't know what they're leaving.The greatest generation in Jewish history — ours — is living with the opportunity that our ancestors would have given their lives to taste for one hour.The door to redemption is open.The gates of Eretz Yisrael are open.The only question is:Will we walk through them?Or will we choose to remain in the darkness of a self-imposed exile? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit geulamovement.substack.com/subscribe

Lea Ypi's new book about her Greek-Albanian grandmother is a philosophical meditation on dignity, a history of Ottoman collapse and Balkan nationalism, and a warning about our own indignant age of manufactured identities and resurgent tribalism.Back in January 2022, Lea Ypi came on the show to discuss Free, her brilliant account of growing up in communist Albania. Now Ypi, who teaches political philosophy at LSE, is back with her follow-up, Indignity, an equally compelling biography of Leman Ypi, her maternal grandmother. “A Life Reimagined” is its subtitle, but it's not just her grandmother whose life Ypi is reimagining. The book is a retelling of the modern stories of Greece, Turkey and Albania as well as a sly backwards glance on the court politics of the late Ottomans. Indignity is a Balkan story, in the grand tradition of Rebecca West. And like West, Ypi shows us that Balkan history is never quite dead - instead, it's prophecy for our own age of resurgent nationalism and manufactured identities. Things don't die in South Eastern Europe, Ypi suggests, they just fester, creating more and more indignity. No wonder the Dracula myth is a Balkan creation. 1. Dignity is what we chase, indignity is what we photograph. Bob Dylan wrote that “dignity never been photographed,” and Ypi iterates an entire philosophical framework around this insight. A 1941 photo of her glamorous grandmother in the Italian Alps sparked the book—but also online accusations that she was a spy. For Ypi, following Kant, dignity is an immaterial ideal we pursue; indignity is the empirical reality we live in. The book oscillates between the two, asking: how do we think about the dignity of the dead when all we have left are degraded facts and hostile interpretations?2. Salonique the Magnificent died in 1912—and took cosmopolitan possibility with it. Leman Ypi was born in 1917 in Salonica, an Ottoman melting pot that was, for a time, considered a potential homeland for European Jews. When it became Greek in 1912, the Hellenization project began dismantling centuries of multicultural coexistence. By the time the Ottoman Empire collapsed after WWI, rising nationalism had replaced cosmopolitan possibility. Leman, an “Albanian” who'd never been to Albania, was told her identity must align with the new nation-state project. The book is a lament for this lost time—not a lost place, but a lost way of being.3. Nationalism is a zero-sum game for dignity. In the world of nation-states that emerged from Ottoman collapse, individual dignity became inseparable from collective identity. To be Albanian meant dignity only as part of the Albanian nation-state project. This homogenizing, exclusionary logic forced people into boxes they'd never inhabited before. Ypi shows how this nationalist manipulation of dignity—promising it while destroying it—ran from the 1920s through fascism and communism. And it's back now, in our age of deportations, border walls, and politicians demanding: “What are you? Where do you really belong?”4. The stoic suicide versus the Kantian fighter—two philosophies of dignity. Leman's aunt Selma, forced into marriage with a German businessman, killed herself on her wedding day—the ultimate stoic assertion of control. “If you see a room full of smoke, do you wait for help or just leave?” Throughout her life, especially during her husband's 15-year imprisonment under Albanian communism, Leman wrestled with this question. Her answer was Kantian: suicide is a betrayal of our moral responsibilities to others. Dignity means staying and fighting, even when the struggle seems futile. But Ypi doesn't romanticize this—Leman's principled decisions often brought tragic consequences.5. Identity is always more complicated than politics pretends. Writing the book forced Ypi to confront how constructed and contingent identity really is. Her “Albanian” grandmother was born in Greece, had never been to Albania, grew up in an Ottoman cosmopolitan elite, and only became Albanian through the accidents of collapsing empires and rising nationalisms. This complexity matters now, Ypi argues, when contemporary politics—from migration to deportation to calls for deglobalization—depends on simplistic, homogeneous notions of identity and belonging. The archive lies; borders shift; people contain multitudes. Any politics built on forcing people to “belong in one place and nowhere else” is both a scam and historically illiterate.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

In Resurrecting the Past: France's Forgotten Heritage Mandate (Cornell UP, 2025), Dr. Sarah Griswold shows how the Levant became a crucial front in a post-1918 fight over the French past—a contingent and contradictory but always hard-charging struggle over a forgotten "heritage mandate." Many scholars, clergy, pundits, politicians, and investors perceived the moment Allied forces entered Jerusalem in December 1917 to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand French influence, evoking the vision of a new colony in the territory: a French Levant. But what transpired for the French state in the Levant after World War I, and why does that ill-conceived venture still matter today? Resurrecting the Past investigates how heritage politics led to a new form of empire—a French mandate for Syria and Lebanon—and with it a tide of regional and international critique. Against such opposition, the heritage mandate leaned heavily on spectacle and science, generating a sprawling set of sites and objects—Ottoman mansions, crusader castles, Umayyad mosques, Roman arches, buried synagogues, and Sumerian ziggurats. As Dr. Griswold traces how French heritage efforts cycled through multiple ideal pasts in the Levant from 1918 to 1946, she reveals how each one, though grounded in realities, also complicated those constructs and the work of French heritage-makers. Resurrecting the Past offers a parable of how efforts in heritage politics aimed to construct a union of ideologies and objects deemed the best past for France's uncertain future but struggled as much as they succeeded. Eventually those same heritage politics ironically helped officials justify the end of the "French Levant." This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The October 7th attacks of Hamas on Israel were an unprecedented, surprise incursion by land, sea, and air that stunned the world and prompted Israel to declare war. The attacks, which included massacres in Israeli communities and a music festival, resulted in the deaths of over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and the capture of some 251 hostages. This deadly terrorist attack was years in the making, but the underlying conflict goes back much further. It starts with the 1948 formation of Israel and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the wars that began there, an event known to Palestinians as the Nakba (Arabic for "catastrophe"). But the roots of the conflict extend even further—to Ottoman-era conflict between Jewish and Arab residents, the Bar Kokhba revolts in the 2nd century AD, and battles between ancient Israel and its enemies, tracing back all the way to the Iron Age wars between Israelites and the Philistines. The October 7 attack is seen by some as an echo of the cyclical theme of persecution and existential threat against the Jewish people chronicled in the Old Testament, recalling narratives like the Exodus and attacks on ancient Israel. The modern conflict specifically originates in the same coastal region once controlled by the Philistines—an ancient people who lived on the southern coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until their demise in the 7th century BC. Furthermore, the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135 AD) was the third and final major Jewish-Roman war, resulting in a devastating defeat for the Jewish population of Judea and leading to the Roman renaming of the province to Syria Palaestina. Today’s guest is Dinesh D'Souza, the director and executive producer of The Dragon's Prophecy. His documentary utilizes archaeological discoveries, suggesting a historical parallel and continuation of conflict. This shows how current global instability and the conflict over Israel are part of a larger story concerning the destiny of nations. We also look at the intersection of religion, history, and current events to see how the last 3,000 years explain what’s happening today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the 19th of May, 1919, an Ottoman general stepped ashore at the Black Sea port city of Samsun. This marked the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence, and ultimately the end of the Ottoman Empire. The man's name was Mustafa Kemal, the soldier, statesman and reformer who would create the Republic of Turkey out of the rubble, and become its first president.Dan is joined by Marc David Baer, Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He talks us through the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of the man who became known as Atatürk.Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.We'd love to hear your feedback - you can take part in our podcast survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on.You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the Early Modern period the boundaries between Christian and Islamic civilisations were far more porous than we imagine: Isaac Newton's library included Arabic biographies of the Prophet Muhammad; the Tudors dressed in Ottoman fashion; and Europe's scientific revolution and cultural identity were deeply entwined with Islamic thought.Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Elizabeth Drayson who reveals a Europe built on eight centuries of Islamic achievements.MORE:Islam and the ElizabethansElizabeth I & the Sultan of MoroccoPresented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcastSign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PREVIEW HEADLINE: Turkey's Erdogan : A Sponsor of Regional Turmoil GUEST NAME: Gregory Copley 50-WORD SUMMARY: Gregory Copley discusses President Erdogan's attendance at ceasefire deal signing, noting he is a primary sponsor of regional turmoil and a "neo-Ottomanist" seeking Ottoman revival. Erdogan, who reportedly demanded Netanyahu not appear, is determined to continue conflict so Israel cannot claim victory. The US is providing Turkey F-35s/F-16s, possibly encouraging Turkish expansionism against Greece and Cyprus.

RANKOPAN6.mp3 - The Great Divergence, Coal Location, and Global Climate Shocks Peter Frankopan | The Earth Transformed: An Untold History The Great Divergence seeks to explain how Europe accelerated scientifically and technologically after 1500 to dominate global empires. A key factor was location: England benefited from coal fields situated close to London and easily transportable by sea, unlike China's distant resources. Climate shocks created opportunities for European powers. Severe famines and droughts in India (such as the 1770s Bengal famine that killed 30 million) shattered the Mughal state's ability to collect revenue, facilitating British control. Additionally, the 1783 Laki volcanic eruption caused a climate shock affecting Egypt's Nile, diverting Ottoman focus southward and enabling Catherine the Great to annex Crimea.

Jonathan Schanzer analyzes the US-backed Gaza peace plan, which demands the release of all hostages and Hamas's surrender, meeting Benjamin Netanyahu's primary war aims. Despite pushback from the Israeli far-right, the momentum has shifted, putting the onus on Hamas. Schanzer notes that Iran's regional influence is waning, while Turkey's neo-Ottoman aspirations are resurging. He also confirms the significant damage inflicted upon Hezbollah's arsenal and leadership. 1933

Jonathan Schanzer analyzes the US-backed Gaza peace plan, which demands the release of all hostages and Hamas's surrender, meeting Benjamin Netanyahu's primary war aims. Despite pushback from the Israeli far-right, the momentum has shifted, putting the onus on Hamas. Schanzer notes that Iran's regional influence is waning, while Turkey's neo-Ottoman aspirations are resurging. He also confirms the significant damage inflicted upon Hezbollah's arsenal and leadership. 1915 GERMANY OVER GAZA

PREVIEW FOR TONIGHT: Jonathan Schanzer OF FDD identifies two powers affecting the end of the Gaza war: wounded Iran, whose Shiite crescent stretching toward Israel is fading, and ambitious Ankara, displaying successful neo-Ottoman aspirations. Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, commanding a large military, has vowed to raise a pan-Islamic army against Israel. Amidst international pressure and UN actions, Israel remains the main, unwavering regional power. 1914 PALESTINE