Iran is deep in Muharram mourning rituals ahead of Ashura tomorrow. This year's ceremonies have been shaped by the aftermath of the war, giving the themes of sacrifice, loss, resistance, martyrdom a renewed resonance.
Scenes from Tehran, Karaj, Yazd, Zanjan in recent days 👇
South Korean highest paid Maths tutor earns more than their country’s biggest sport export, Son.
This is how to engineer a society to become productive and prosperous.
We are told that security in the Middle East requires defeating Iran, security in East Asia requires defeating China, and security in Europe requires defeating Russia. We never discuss security in terms of how to learn to live together by harmonising interests and managing competition. This is by design. This is hegemonic peace, in which security depends on defeating rivals rather than managing a balance of power.
Subsequently, security relies solely on deterrence rather than reassurance; diplomacy is dismissed as appeasement; peace agreements are temporary and deceptive; and war is peace. Our rivals do not have legitimate security concerns, as their policies are allegedly always motivated by aggressive, irrational, or expansionist behaviour.
We have convinced ourselves that our liberal hegemony is a force for good, and that our opponents oppose our dominance because they reject our benign values of freedom. Discussing the security concerns of adversaries is believed to “legitimise” their policies, which is treasonous. The world is divided into good guys (liberal democracies) and bad guys (autocracies). We should not ask how defeating Russia, as the world's largest nuclear power, is a rational security strategy, or why our governments refuse to even speak with Moscow to discuss the European security architecture and end the war. Our governments have relabelled nuclear deterrence as nuclear blackmail to signal that there can be no more constraints.
All empires can become irrational during decline. Leaders take greater risks to avoid decline, legitimacy crises at home must be distracted with enemies abroad, outdated strategies from a bygone era of strength are still embraced, and there is a tendency to double down on narratives of being indispensable, representing universal values, and dismissing all opposition as illegitimate and dangerous. Are we the fanatics?
I’ll leave this here as a reminder to Wun Dum Fuc that no matter how far back you attempt to bomb Iran to, history tells us they will still survive.
I suggest they are muttering under their breath, ‘Take your insignificant 250 year history and shove it up your ass where it belongs’.
🎥 TikTok - https://t.co/WCb4kYPWto
🚨 BREAKING:
The International Court of Justice has declared the State of Israel an illegal state and ordered it to withdraw from the Palestinian territories.
https://t.co/4eJEznAc2W
Here’s what Americans don’t understand:
The Iranian people AREN’T Arabs, they’re PERSIANS.
Arabs are Semitic people, Persians are ARYANS.
Iranians speak Farsi, an Indo-European language, NOT Arabic.
These aren’t the “low-IQ sand-people” Americans were taught to hate.
Massive news: amid a historic oil shock, Iran is allowing PH ships safe passage. Why it matters:
• Keeps PH oil flowing as we import 98%
• Signals PH as non-hostile
• Balances US alliance + neutrality
• Protects Filipino seafarers
A rare lifeline in a global crisis 🇮🇷🇵🇭
I am so proud of this man the Foreign Minister of The Islamic Republic Iran @araghchi you can see how moved he is by all the sacrifices our country has endured and will continue to do so.
🇺🇸 Trump — We are fighting to protect the Iranian women
🇪🇸 Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez — “If you really care about Iranian women, STOP BOMBING THEM” 🔥
This man has become a HERO for billions. What a man, what a country 🫡