Hello, and happy Friday! It has recently come to my attention that a not-insignificant number of people have confused me for being British. Although this certainly isn’t the first time this has happened, I nonetheless feel compelled to set the record straight: I am as American as hummus (which, according to at least one U.S. lawmaker, is as native as Wonder Bread. Who knew!)
For the Brits reading this, it is of course an honor (erm, honour?) to be mistaken for one of you. If you’d like to put in a good word for me at the Home Office if and when I ever apply for citizenship, please do get in touch.
In podcast news: I joined my first Bunker panel of 2022 to discuss Boris Johnson’s #PartyGate, the Winter Olympics in Beijing, and the weirdness of British MPs. You can join the conversation on all good podcasting apps (find yours here).
What I’ve written
Doing the bare minimum to stand up for human rights isn’t an Olympic sport. But if it were, one thing is certain: When it comes to the plight of the Uyghurs, majority-Muslim countries wouldn’t even make the podium.
To mark the beginning of the Winter Games, which kick off today in Beijing, I wrote about the Muslim world’s Olympic snub of the Uyghurs and the political and economic motivations behind it:
The return of the Olympics to China, which is counting on these Games to bolster its global image and validate its authoritarian system, accentuates the silence of governments in the Muslim world. Although these countries are certainly not the only ones that have excused or even abetted China’s human-rights abuses, they have essentially given the Muslim world’s tacit blessing for China to continue its mass atrocities. Keep reading here
What I’ve read
This haunting essay on America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan (The Atlantic)
For such a city to fall would mean the end of the only life Afghans like Parsa had ever known. The rest of the country might now belong to the Taliban—perhaps it always had—but not Kabul. This Afghan illusion, widespread until the very end, was nourished by American illusions—by our refusal to face that we had neither the will nor the ability to create something durable in Afghanistan, that one day we would abandon them.
This fascinating profile of Mansour Abbas, the Arab-Israeli powerbroker in the Knesset (The New Yorker)
Throughout the past year, Abbas had demonstrated his skill at navigating life in the belly of the whale. Still, he told me, “there are moments when you ask yourself, What’s the limit of my ability to withstand this? You find yourself alone.” He might be a cynical operative in a broken system. He might represent the battered aspirations of a sidelined minority. For now, though, he finds himself positioned to deliver something extraordinary to the Arab citizens of Israel: a corrective, in the form of improved living conditions, to years of governmental neglect. “All I’m saying is that I’m a citizen and I want to make use of my rights,” he told me. “I ignore ceilings and walls and attempts at exclusion. I gallop forward, until someone stops me.”
This lovely reflection on the meaning of “inshallah” (The New York Times)
Using inshallah to preface your hopes and dreams may be imbued with the prospect of hope, but that doesn’t mean you get what you want. A true understanding of inshallah requires what Islam calls tawakkaul, or “trust in God” — the idea that you submit to God’s will, whatever that may be.
What I’m thinking about
Are the Olympics still fit for purpose? Methinks not.
Until next time,
Yasmeen
P.S. A huge thanks goes to Stephen Soward for spotting the broken link in our last correspondence. You can find the correct one here.