Commentaries

When Trump started his war to build greater Israel last February, many online commenters noticed that Khomeini and Iran’s senior leadership was and is remarkably educated. Iran’s scholarly leadership contrasts sharply with the US administration, which is mostly oligarchs chosen for their family and business connections to Trump. Iran’s general population is similarly well educated, … Read more

I live in Crimea. Every summer Ukraine claims to be about to capture Crimea, and say it with such conviction even pro-Russia westerners start to believe it, so I will share my photos from Russia Day.

From her childhood in Iran to her death this month in Paris, Marjane Satrapi witnessed the early days of the revolution, the war with Iraq, and finally, the country’s ascendance as a world power. Her life’s work to bring about regime change in Iran ended in failure, but is a textbook example of propaganda that should be studied.

Every nafoid should light a candle and say a little prayer every day for Putin’s continuing good health. Or maybe a little dance. Putin’s main political advantage is that he has a lot of street cred for rebuilding the Russian economy almost from scratch. He can get away with so much restraint because, literally, “trust … Read more

Russia keeps their proxy war cards close to the chest so it will probably be a long time before it’s publicly known how much or little they helped Iran in the 2026 War. And that’s not new, just look at Korea. Soviet participation in their defense against the US was not officially admitted until the end of the Cold War, by either side.