Bessma Momani

@bmomani.bsky.social

3.4K followers 1.1K following 450 posts

Professor at the University of Waterloo and Senior Fellow at CIGI, interested in International Affairs and Geopolitics of Technology.

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Political science 34%

Economics 31%

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Bessma Momani @bmomani.bsky.social · 9d

My latest op-ed: The warning signs are before us and we are woefully unprepared for the Hiroshima moment in AI-enabled cyberattacks.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Opinion: AI’s Hiroshima moment may be near

Without government oversight, a catastrophic disruption of internet-connected infrastructure is on the horizon

www.theglobeandmail.com

Reposted by Bessma Momani

Holger Hestermeyer @hhesterm.bsky.social · 6h

When the international financial system is used as a weapon to enable war crimes, it is not in good shape.

Norman @noaasm.bsky.social · 6h

The Trump administration is preparing to impose sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court with the goal of cutting the court off from much global financial system
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Exclusive | Trump Ramps Up Bid to Dismantle International Criminal Court

The U.S. administration is preparing sweeping sanctions that would cut the court off from much of the global financial system.

www.wsj.com

Reposted by Holger Hestermeyer, Bessma Momani

Norman @noaasm.bsky.social · 6h

Exclusive | Trump Ramps Up Bid to Dismantle International Criminal Court

The U.S. administration is preparing sweeping sanctions that would cut the court off from much of the global financial system.

www.wsj.com

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Bessma Momani

Mark Kersten @markkersten.bsky.social · 7h

I’ve been told this too, from UN sources - the US will sanction the #ICC as an institution this week, & that they have considered designating the Court as a terrorist or terrorist supporting body.

All for Netanyahu (and Putin).

States that believe in the rule of law must denounce this lunacy.

Reposted by Smith, Bessma Momani, Anthony Burke

The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 20h

AI is learning to lie — and then gaslight you about it.

Kind of funny when the topic is movies, but a lot less funny when the topic is health, law or public policy.

theconversation.com/you-can-pers...

Reposted by Bessma Momani, Karen L. Cox, Jeannette Sutton

Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 20h

When authoritarian regimes collapse, their leaders experience symbolic deaths, largely through the destruction & removal of monuments that they've built to glorify themselves and affirm their power. Sometimes called "iconoclasm," who gets a statue or monument is always a symbolic struggle for power.

6th July 1945: A bust of Adolf Hitler lies amidst the ruins of the Chancellery, Berlin. Reg Speller/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A picture taken on August 22, 1991 shows a crowd watching the statue of KGB founder Dzerzhinsky being toppled on Lubyanskaya square in Moscow. ANATOLY SAPRONENKOV/AFP/Getty Images

Iraqis, with the help of U.S. troops, topple a monument to Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad in 2003. One journalist described the toppling of Saddam as “the most staged photo opportunity since Iwo Jima.”

Hungarians stand over the toppled statue of Joseph Stalin on Oct. 23, 1956.Credit...Andor D. Heller/Hungarian News Agency

Reposted by Bessma Momani

Dean Obeidallah @deanobeidallah.bsky.social · 21h

New poll: Majority of US Jews say Netanyahu fueling American antisemitism. 56% say Netanyahu’s actions have directly increased antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment. And 52% of American Jews said they supported reducing or ending US military funding to Israel. www.jpost.com/diaspora/ant...

US Jews remain pro-Israel but deeply critical of Benjamin Netanyahu, new poll shows | The Jerusalem Post

Most US Jews remain pro-Israel, but 56% say Netanyahu is fueling antisemitism at home; 60% want him ousted, a new poll finds.

www.jpost.com

Reposted by Bessma Momani

The Intellectualist @theintellectualist.bsky.social · 21h

Umar Kremlev, who helped pay for Trump Jr.’s wedding, is tied to a group accused of abducting Ukrainian children and was honored by Vladimir Putin a month before the wedding.
theintellectualistofficial.substack.com/p/russian-wh...

Russian Who Helped Pay for Trump Jr.’s Wedding Tied to Group Accused of Abducting Ukrainian Children

Umar Kremlev, who helped pay for Trump Jr.’s wedding, is tied to a group accused of abducting Ukrainian children and was honored by Vladimir Putin a month before the wedding.

theintellectualistofficial.substack.com

Reposted by Bessma Momani

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 1d

Iran's most prominent human rights activist says Iranians are suffering seven months into the war and paying the price for the conflict.

Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi tells AP Iranians are paying the price for war

Iran's most prominent human rights activist says Iranians are suffering seven months into the war and paying the price for the conflict.

bit.ly

Reposted by Bessma Momani

Shibley Telhami @stelhami.bsky.social · 1d

Widespread sexual violence in Ukraine war, most cases tied to Russia, says UN report, which documents 1,004 verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence between February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and July 2026.
www.reuters.com/world/widesp...

Widespread sexual violence in Ukraine war, most cases tied to Russia, says UN report

Violations included gang rape, rape, genital mutilation and the use of electric shocks on men's genitals with a Soviet-era field telephone known as a "tapik."

www.reuters.com

Reposted by Bessma Momani

Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 1d

" [W]e have made the human conversation the expensive option and the machine conversation free, and we are surprised at what researchers...then choose.”

But of course, the machine conversation is not free. It comes at the cost of our common life together..."

www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...

Artificial Education | The Harvard Crimson

Machine conversation is not free. It comes at the cost of our common life together as teachers, learners, and researchers, colleagues, mentors, and friends.

www.thecrimson.com

Reposted by Marc Lynch, Bessma Momani

Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 1d

In the last decade, the IDF prosecuted one (1) soldier for unlawfully killing a Palestinian in the occupied territories. Elor Azaria served 9 months in prison.

Today Israel's president, Yitzhak Herzog, pardoned him and expunged his criminal record.

A clear message of 100% impunity.

Reposted by Bessma Momani

Republicans Against Trumpism @rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: In a major escalation in the war in the Middle East, Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen struck Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, targeting fuel storage facilities at the airport with missiles and drones.

Reposted by Bessma Momani

Josie Glausiusz @josiegz.bsky.social · 1d

At one point in the film, as an interviewee explained the rules of engagement, Abraham said, “But if you can kill 20 people per junior member, and there are tens of thousands of members …” To which the man responded, “You end up with all of Gaza, yes.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/o...

Opinion | Why Israel Fears This Searing New Documentary (Gift Article)

It’s hard to tell whether Israelis are enraged by “NAZA” because they think it’s full of lies, or because they know or fear it’s true.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by McKenzie Wark, Bessma Momani, Sarah Roberts

carmenlynn.bsky.social @carmenlynn.bsky.social · 1d

“As revealed in recently unsealed court documents, top Microsoft figures, including CEO Satya Nadella, admitted that their AI models are basically stealing content from media companies while providing virtually nothing in return, creating a “doom loop” that will swallow the web.”

Microsoft Director Admitted in Internal Document That AI Is Creating a "Doom Loop" That Destroys the News Media by Stealing Its Content Without Providing Anything in Return, in Turn Making the AI Usel...

A Microsoft executive admitted that AI companies like itself were plundering websites without giving them in return.

futurism.com

Reposted by Daniel W. Drezner, Bessma Momani

Faytuks Network @faytuksnetwork.bsky.social · 1d

A French military source told Le Monde that France is already carrying out undisclosed conventional military responses to Russian hybrid attacks. Asked whether Paris could retaliate militarily without making it public, the source replied: “That is already happening.”

Reposted by Caroline Krafft, Valerie Mueller, Bessma Momani

NBER @nber.org · 1d

A field experiment with 10,000 professionals shows that female students get more information on work/life balance than male students when asking the same questions about careers, from Yana Gallen and Melanie Wasserman www.nber.org/papers/w35750

Reposted by Bessma Momani

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 1d

A new lawsuit claims that Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI and Google illegally agreed to slow their AI development.

Lawsuit says Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI and Google made illegal agreement on AI slowdown

A new lawsuit claims that Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI and Google illegally agreed to slow their AI development. Filed Friday in the U.S.

bit.ly

Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Bessma Momani, Ann Bartow

MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 1d

🚨 Obama rejects the argument that the market and lawsuits alone can keep AI companies in check: “That’s not how we treat airlines, or drug companies, or food companies.”

He says there’s “no replacement” for effective government regulation.

Reposted by Bessma Momani, William Myers

#StupidSuez @diplomatofnight.com · 1d

“The Lebanese Armed Forces is well-armed but not well-equipped. Because who are they going to fight? We’re gonna arm them so they can fight Israel? I don’t think so. You’re arming them so they can fight their own people.”
— Tom Barrack, US Ambassador to Türkiye, Envoy for Syria / Iraq / Lebanon.

Reposted by Cas Mudde, Bessma Momani, Eric Storm , and 1 more Cas Mudde, Bessma Momani, Eric Storm, Tom Louwerse

Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 1d

Election in occupied areas by Russia - voting under military supervision.

Reposted by Bessma Momani

Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 1d

Germany is preparing hospitals for a possible Russian escalation with NATO, Bloomberg reports.

Berlin estimates up to 1,000 casualties a day could require medical care.

Reposted by Bessma Momani

Amarnath Amarasingam @amaramarasingam.bsky.social · 2d

"Pentagon investigators have discovered that flawed intelligence, outdated imagery and an overreliance on AI contributed to a missile strike that killed 123 children in Minab." www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Inside the US ‘Kill Chain’ That Destroyed an Iranian School

Pentagon investigators have discovered that flawed intelligence, outdated imagery and an overreliance on AI contributed to a missile strike that killed 123 children in Minab.

www.bloomberg.com

Reposted by David H. Kaye, Bessma Momani, Ryan Goodman

Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 2d

Trump doesn't even bother to come up with a pretext. He doesn't like their coverage, so he's banning them, that's it. But note his enthusiasm at the end for "the free press." Maybe he means the Free Press.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Q: You posted that you intend to ban CNN, Politico, and MS Now from the White House. Every president takes an oath to uphold the Constitution, which includes the First Amendment. How do you justify this?

TRUMP: Because they're fake news. There may be others to join them.

Reposted by Bessma Momani

Toronto Star @thestar.com · 2d

Theo Moudakis on Trump’s perceived exclusion from the European Union

Reposted by Bessma Momani

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 2d

"For years, the prevailing narrative has been that privacy is dead and pervasive surveillance is just the cost of admission for existing in the digital age. The Flock backlash shows that people aren’t apathetic about their privacy."

Opinion | How Flock Cameras Became the Enemy (Gift Article)

The campaign against Flock shows that fighting to protect personal privacy isn’t a lost cause.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Bessma Momani

NPR @npr.org · 2d

An informal network of dialogues at think tanks and universities is bringing together experts from the U.S. and China to talk about the shared perils of AI — and possible paths forward. n.pr/4yQlMKB

When Trump and Xi meet they will discuss AI. 'Track Two' talks are already buzzing

An informal network of dialogues at think tanks and universities is bringing together experts from the U.S. and China to talk about the shared perils of AI — and possible paths forward.

n.pr

Reposted by Bessma Momani

Alexander Lanoszka @lanoszka.bsky.social · 2d

"Sensitive F-35 fighter jet technology was unexpectedly diverted to Hong Kong this summer, sparking an inquiry on Capitol Hill and raising the possibility that China could have access to key components of the highly classified weapon system." www.politico.com/news/2026/09...