Luke Baker
@BakerLuke
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Int'l affairs, EU, Middle East. Head of media @portlandcomms . Ex @Reuters in Jerusalem, Paris, Brussels, Jo'burg, Rome, Baghdad. Tar Heel. Views my own.
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Joined January 2012
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Hamas using civilians as 'human shields'. It happens. I've witnessed it. But the main point here is this: media organisations should look at themselves in the mirror and ask "how do I know what I know?" And if the answer is "because a Hamas-run health ministry official told me"
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These numbers are vast AND almost entirely uncheckable. The only source news organisations have for them is Hamas. Most news outlets are now citing "the Hamas-run health ministry" as the source, but not all.
@Reuters
still refers to "Palestinian officials", which is misleading
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And were professional about it. But Hamas has now been in charge in Gaza for 16 years. It has squeezed the life out of honesty and probity. Any health official stepping out of line and not giving the death tolls that Hamas wants reported to journalists risks serious consequences
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At all, including many children. That's verifiable. What is not verifiable are the numbers that emerge throughout the day from Gaza of new death tolls -- 700 killed in the last 24 hours, 500 killed in the Ahli hospital car park blast, 5,000 killed since Oct. 8th, etc., etc.
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So at least a modicum of scepticism is needed with respect to the rapidly updated, and frequently round figure, death tolls. Journalists and UN officials know this, but still they repeat the numbers pushed out by Hamas, or by officials with Hamas breathing down their necks
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In the extreme. I oversaw Reuters' coverage of the Palestinian Territories in 2006 and again as Jerusalem bureau chief from 2014-17. There was a time when the figures from the ministry could be relied upon. The doctors and administrators knew what they were doing
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Again, painfully, there is no question that high numbers of civilians are being killed as Israel carries out air strikes on Hamas targets through Gaza. There are multiple reasons for that, including heavy handed tactics and weaponry, well-hidden targets, mistakes and, yes,
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I don't know what happened in Gaza. But no one should seriously be relying on Hamas to give them an accurate version of events. No one should be using Hamas as a source and describing them as "Palestinian officials" -- proper Palestinian officials should be insulted
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A sharp column, and perhaps one that could only be written by someone ending their assignment 😉. A cracking job well done
@duncanrobinson
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Fascinating insight from a British doctor who has worked at al-Shifa in Gaza, talking about the warnings to stay away from a certain area of the hospital run by Hamas or risk being shot
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At its best,
@Twitter
was about being able to be on top of breaking news, comment, debates, etc. Now this ‘For You’ nonsense gives me tweets from four hours ago and no sense of a timeline. It’s utterly dreadful
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@FT
has been leaving others in the dust on Russia-Ukraine, particularly when it comes to what China may be up to. A peace plan may only be in the early stages and could fall apart but the FT is on it
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Great listening to
@GerardAraud
and
@campbellclaret
debate the geopolitical issues buffeting Europe and the wider world in Paris last night, and exciting to welcome Gérard as a senior advisor
@PortlandComms
, bringing unparalleled knowledge, experience and good humour. Bienvenue!
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@DavidHenigUK
Hard to have any sympathy for Emma’s position. If it’s a serious problem, sell the flat, ideally to those renting it
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Fascinating. Macron on Boris Johnson (allegedly): "Boris speaks to me. He's full speed ahead. Everything's good, we have a grown up discussion. And then he sticks one on us in a completely inelegant way. It's a circus... He's a clown."
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Good 🧵 on Russia’s influence in Africa
Russia's influence in Africa has withstood its botched invasion of Ukraine
Will food insecurity, war crimes allegations and secondary sanctions derail Russia's ambitions in Africa? Based on my forthcoming book on Russia in Africa, I share some thoughts /1
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A lot of people outside
#Israel
are perhaps unaware that the political/social/economic crisis the government itself has caused because of its overreaching judicial reforms are the result (to a significant degree) of pressure from a think-tank -- the Kohelet Policy Forum
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Shocking statistic in today’s
@thetimes
on the paucity of black professors in UK universities
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NYTimes and others cited "Palestinian officials" (Hamas-run Gaza health ministry) saying 500 dead. Some said 800 dead. The numbers always looked dodgy. Then everyone settled on 471, again citing "Palestinian officials". Now it looks like it could be between 10 and 50
#GazaHospital
. Alors que le
#Hamas
a évoqué la mort de 471 personnes dans une frappe sur un hôpital, une source européenne évoque « entre 10 et 50 » morts.
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The biggest obstacle to a united EU stance against Russia over Ukraine may well be France and Germany
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From the point of view of democratic legitimacy and accountability, we should all be more aware and wary of these thinly-veiled pressure groups, that aren't acting as independent think-tanks at all. They are special interest policy pressure groups with narrow, selfish agendas
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The Wimbledon queue accidentally channelling a U.S. conspiracy theory
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@TomMcTague
@GerardAraud
@EmmanuelMacron
That’s unfair. Europe/the EU is at the heart of this stand-off, geographically and in terms of events. The EU Association Agreement with Ukraine has spurred Putin’s actions since 2012. Macron is engaged, both as French president and as the holder of EU Council presidency
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A few quick memories of covering Berlusconi 20-odd years ago. He once appeared on a nightly discussion programme. He asked the host to smell his cologne. “What do you think that is?” Berlusconi asked. The host shrugged and Berlusconi replied: “That’s the smell of sanctity”
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@TomMcTague
@GerardAraud
@EmmanuelMacron
But it’s not just that. To presume that Biden is the only person who can engage or negotiate is shortsighted. US interests are not always European interests. In NATO the US is a critical decider, sure. But that shouldn’t prevent engagement by Macron, or Johnson for that matter
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🧵 Interesting listening to UK debate on the rocket strike at the Gaza hospital last night. The fact is, nearly all international media took it as read, quoting Palestinian officials, which is Hamas in Gaza, that Israel was responsible. All headlines sourced it that way
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This is gobsmacking. The Erez crossing is more than a kilometre of security fences, concrete enclosures, electronic gates, cameras, machine gun posts. Where were the Israeli forces ? Even if the cameras were disabled, it’s an astonishing collapse in security by Israel
Hamás publica las imágenes de cómo se apoderó del cruce israelí de Erez con la Franja de Gaza. Casi irreal
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Missed this piece when it came out. Looks like
@TheEconomist
won
@secondmentions
hands down
the glutamate-rich goo
umami-rich condiment
the black elixir
the tar-like substance
the sticky industrial by-product
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Six years ago today. Still one of the favourite photos I’ve taken.
#Easter
was early that year. He was using his Google maps to find his way to the Via
#Dolorosa
in the Old City of
#Jerusalem
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Silvio Berlusconi has died aged 86. For all his self-obsession, political shenanigans and blingy grubbiness, few had such an impact on modern Italy in the past 40 years. From overhauling TV to football ownership, media influence in politics, redefining shamelessness even
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CNN needs a new intern with better Middle East geography 😂😂
אף פעם לא הייתי משהו בגיאוגרפיה אבל משהו פה מריח לי לא נכון
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The reason why it should matter more widely is that this trend (of think-tanks getting a tight grip on policy-making and having a profound impact without being democratically accountable) is happening ever more in developed democracies, but especially now in the UK
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Nicked from a pub in London in October, my old iPhone spent a night in Essex, went to Cockermouth for a few days, took a flight to Dubai and is now hanging out in China, where goodness knows who "owns" it
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Sir Tony Brenton, former British ambassador to Moscow, sounding very critical of the West in its dealings with Putin and delivering arguments to suggest Russia’s security concerns haven’t been addressed — speaking on
@SkyNews
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In the UK, 55 Tufton Street has become shorthand for a number of think tanks, many of them right-leaning, euro-sceptic or climate-questioning, that are having a big impact on tax issues, green policy, voter ID issues, etc. They were influential in Liz Truss's economic car-crash
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Unfortunately I have been in a place where several hundred people were killed at once (in Karbala, Iraq, 2004, suicide attack on Arbaiin), and you know it. Almost nothing in the pictures from the al-Ahli hospital car park blast indicated "hundreds dead"
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What a fabulous, evocative essay. It won’t make much sense to anyone under 30, but still worth reading. Another age, another time. And let’s not get on to having to endear yourself to hotel operators as a journalist, or early, huge satphones
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@TomMcTague
@GerardAraud
@EmmanuelMacron
And on issues like Iraq and the US drive to go to war in 2003, history has shown the French to have been wise (despite US slurs of ‘cheese-eating surrender monkeys’). The US has flip-flopped on international affairs repeatedly since Obama/Syria, so why presume now that Biden…
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The
#WFH
garden shed, one year old today. What a stroke of luck it was getting this installed
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God the UK's weather can be depressing. 10am on the last day of 2023 and it looks like the Apocalypse has arrived...
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It's a well-financed think-tank with a specific agenda. It is organised and disciplined in its approach. It's actually remarkable the impact it has managed to have in a relatively short space of time -- it was only founded a decade ago and is reshaping Israel in its vision
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EXPLAINER: What is Gaza's Ministry of Health and how does it calculate the war's death toll? (from
@AP
)
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Fair to say that former
@reuters
chiefs are not at all happy about Thomson Reuters signing the company up to the UK’s Armed Forces covenant. A breach of principles.
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@glcarlstrom
"The easiest industry to spin up would simply be tourism — Gaza has a lot of nice beaches, plenty of historical sites, etc. In the future it would be a destination for investment from Turkey and possibly the Gulf states and Europe" 😂
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I’m going to post a 🧵 of pictures from the invasion of
#Iraq
20 years ago. I was embedded with US troops for the invasion, so naturally these photos are from the US perspective. But I hope they give a sense of the absurdity of what went down, in various ways
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Listening to Paul Simon’s Graceland and re-remembering what an incredible album it is. Hasn’t lost its edge since I first heard at 14
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There have been several touching moments in the Franco-German relationship over the years, but this is one of the most natural expressions of deep respect and affection
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Fabulous story
Tube on strike, I dawdled to Paddington on Friday. Passing the old wrought iron sign for Pizza Express, I was reminded of an event 30+ years ago, when I got caught up in a drama that resulted in a divorce, two marriages and many changed lives.
It began with a heart attack 🧵
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A reflective essay that says a lot — The Russia we have lost - UnHerd
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Lovely, eloquent postcard both from and to Odesa
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Ahh, rediscovered the first royalty cheque from sales of my novel (Dateline Baghdad, available in all online bookstores…)
Moral of this story — don’t write a novel expecting to make any money 🤣
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Besides anything else, who on earth changes money at an airport?
I just paid £219 to buy 200 euros at the airport. Sterling is trading 1.14 euro to a pound. Wtaf? Why is EVERYTHING in this country such a rip off?
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When I was Reuters bureau chief in Jerusalem from 2014-17, the Kohelet Forum regularly sought meetings and tried to shape my thinking/understanding on numerous fronts, from justifying occupation to the need for far-reaching judicial reform
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I tweeted the other day about
@wizzair
dumping a plane-load of passengers at Doncaster-Sheffield airport when we were supposed to fly from Tel Aviv to Gatwick. I had to take a £480, 4-hour taxi home to London. Now Wizzair is refusing to reimburse the taxi ride! Unreal
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The Hound of the Baskervilles on a foggy morning walk (he’s super friendly really)
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This is a very strange move for a supposedly independent, global news organisation.
@reuters
employs hundreds of non-U.K. journalists around the world and expects them to stand apart from the armed forces in their countries.
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This is pretty darned impressive. European commissioner for the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, answers journalists' questions in Dutch, English, German, Italian and French without flinching
@TimmermansEU
via
@EC_AVService
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Interesting how much TikTok is shaping sentiment among young people
The TikTok War: Why High School & College Kids Are Getting The Wrong Information about Hamas & Israel
I spent the weekend trying to reverse engineer the TikTok algorithm, as I am convinced this is the reason we're losing the information war with high school & college students.
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4 hours and 42 minutes of play and Carlos Alcaraz won one more point than Novak Djokovic in his incredible five-set victory in the Wimbledon final. 167 points to 166
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The 4-year-old has discovered that Alexa knows the song “Who let the dogs out?”
🤯
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Incredible — hold back the tears
Last night, the girl who sang from “Frozen” at a bomb shelter in Kyiv sang the Ukrainian national anthem at a charity concert in Poland
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@liamstack
@NYTBlake
@blakehounshell
What terribly sad, devastating news. Blake was such a steady voice and fine observer, a dry wit and wise head. It’s really a shock
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These notes from Nov 17, 2003, are fascinating. It was a briefing by Dan Senor, spokes for the Coalition Provisional Authority, and Brig-Gen Mark Kimmitt. They were talking about hunt for Saddam Hussein and Izzat Al-Douri, his chemical weapons guy. Some choice quotes
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leading to a sharp sell-off in the shekel, concerns among investors, threats from big business (particularly in the tech sector) to relocate, and murmurings from ratings agencies. Messing around with the independence of the Supreme Court is a dangerous game and has consequences
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@M_PaulMcNamara
More than anything else, PPE sets you up to sound confident, knowledgeable and authoritative on conference calls, a ticket to success these days, whether you actually know what you're talking about or not
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It’s hard to work out what Putin’s longer term objective is. In the short term he may well be able to seize control in Ukraine, depose Zelensky and impose his own puppet ruler. But what does he do then? Does he plan to leave Russian troops in Ukraine — a vast country — for years?
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@Reuters
Here’s reporting on an attack by US on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad on April 8, 2003, which killed my
@Reuters
colleague Taras Protsyuk and severely wounded
@samianakhoul
. I had no idea they had been hit. US army denied responsibility, then tried to cover up, before admitting
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On this day in 1066, Harold was crowned king of England, before being killed shortly after by William the Conqueror. 957 years on, Harold and William are at it again
#harry
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Thoroughly enjoyed
#DontLookUp
, just an excellent skewering of the absurdist post-modern world we are living in, where reality hardly matters and narrative presentation is all. In politics, media, science and tech, the joke is on the earnest or insufficiently cynical
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This time 10 years ago, I was in Copenhagen for the start of Denmark's 6-month
#EU
presidency. A great trip on many levels, memorable also because
@SpiegelPeter
and
@BrunoBrussels
convinced me to join
@Twitter
. A decade on, I'm flagging but still tweeting
@PrebenEUspox
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🤯 there's a script here. It's as disturbing as it is fascinating. And when they talk about propaganda... it's sort of Wag the Dog
Over the past 24 hours, thousands of TikToks (at least) have been posted where people share how they just read Bin Laden’s infamous "Letter to America," in which he explained why he attacked the United States.
The TikToks are from people of all ages, races, ethnicities, and
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Love it when
@amazon
recommends that I read my own book.
But seriously, it IS a great read, and you can pick it up here 😉
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It may be Bercow, but boy
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Things you find clearing out the folks’ garage — a jigsaw puzzle from the Cunard White Star Line, when the Queen Mary was its flag ship, probably late 1930s or 1940s
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Love it that in Tel Aviv there are water fountains for dogs, too. And the excess water from the human fountains goes into the dog bowl as well.
@porttlv
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The wheels have been coming off the Franco-German relationship for a while (with damaging consequences for the EU). The multiple strands of the breakdown brought together well here. And look out for warmer Franco-British ties under Sunak
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Family Christmas quiz….
Question: Launched in 2017, what is the name of Rihanna’s makeup line?
Flummoxed father, aged 80: What is Rihanna, a disease?
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This is quite a scoop — and
@JakeWSimons
has form after breaking details on the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh by Israel using a remote controlled weapon well ahead of NYT and others
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Fascinating read — pro-Putin stooges working in Germany to convince Germans to back Russia and turn against Ukraine. It’s being allowed to happen, and is it working?
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Israel's counter claims. And that has persisted throughout the day even as evidence has mounted that maybe Israel wasn't to blame and it really way a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket. The scepticism is fine, but it should have been applied to Hamas as well as Israel and if wasn't
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So it wasn’t a high window in Minsk that got him in the end….
Wagner boss Prigozhin killed in plane crash in Russia
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Media coverage of Gaza hospital blast shows concerning double standard in Israel Hamas war - a Reuters case study
on
@LinkedIn
@TinaBellon
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Not a fan of Wordle-sharing generally, but this is an annoying way to start the day 229 5/6*
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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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