Caroline Liinanki

Journalist writing about Nordic institutional investors and fund selectors. Likes Swedish politics and responsible capitalism.

[Arvin Khoshnood | آروین خوشنود @arvinkhoshnood]

Kritik mot svensk media i samband med kronrpins Reza Pahlavid besök:

"Samtidigt svek stora delar av svensk media sitt uppdrag. I stället för att fokusera på regimens massaker på tusentals iranier den 8–9 januari, eller på kronprinsens konkreta program för en demokratisk övergång, valde man att ställa frågor om hans fars styre för över 50 år sedan. Detta är inte bara irrelevant, det är ohederligt.

Även om man hypotetiskt skulle acceptera all kritik mot shahens tid, är det absurt att hålla sonen ansvarig för detta. Tror svensk media på arvsynd? Kronprins Reza Pahlavi har i över fyra decennier konsekvent förespråkat demokrati, sekularism, mänskliga rättigheter och folkets rätt att själva välja statsskick i en folkomröstning."

https://t.co/DTU7AgfJGa

[S Sebag Montefiore @simonmontefiore]

As 20,000 innocent Iranians are murdered in the streets, Iranians are shocked to see that neither the disgraceful UN Secretary General nor many of the West's famous news organizations nor virtually all the 'humanitarian' NGOs nor the international 'human rights' courts and their lawyers have supported them, exposing much about who controls who in the hierarchy of grievances and the degradation of the entire NGOsphere and the rules-based supranational infrastructure. For 40 years, Iranian dissidents nicknamed the British broadcaster “BBC Ayatollah” and in the last three weeks, the BBC and Sky initially avoided the protests. Ironically the comedian Omid Djalili was providing better coverage than the BBC whose coverage was embarrasing. The UN, long protecting Iran, abetted by its allies Russia and China, ignored it altogether and its secretary-general was revealed as a patspaw for vicious tyrannies.

Only on Thursday did the security council hold a session at which the dissident Masih Alinejad, whom the regime had tried to assassinate, reprimanded António Guterres, the compromised secretary-general: “the Secretary-general has not spoken publicly against the massacre … Secretary-general why are you afraid of the Islamic Republic?”

Iranian protesters chanted 'Neither Gaza nor Lebanon My Life for Iran' and in favour of the Shah and his son. Western activists have resisted backing this new anti-Islamic revolution, long seeing radical Iran as an authentic popular bulwark against US and Israeli power and Western imperialism - a shameful now unveiled view long espoused by many prominent TV anchors, newsrooms as well as the 'humanitarian' and international law NGOsphere and the 'peace' pro-Palestine activists.
Iranians are outraged by his brazen ammoral humbug:
“Where is the left now? Where are the ‘pro-Palestinian’ and ‘anti-war’ activists when the Islamic Republic is killing innocent Iranians?” asks Alinejad. The Iranian Yale lecturer Arash Azizi reflects: “You would have thought leftists would understand the killing of Iranians on the streets fighting against a brutal capitalist regime. But unfortunately they don’t. The western leftist movements hate the West. They hate their own societies.”

Unlike the Islamists, the shah refused to slaughter Iranians, as did Louis XVI, Charles X, Louis Philippe, Napoleon III and Nicholas II who hesitated to unleash violence so as not to taint the succession of their sons. Now almost to the day since his father left Iran 47 years ago, Prince Reza is the leading opposition symbol.

Critics question whether he has real support and we know little of who Iranians would really support after a revolution. But inconvenient and embarrassing as it is to the West's 'anti-imperalists' he obviously has spport as a symbol if not a future king. He will never represent that the 20% of Iranians who support the Islamist dictatorship nor probably the far left but it is now up to Prince Reza to assemble a wider coalition of other parties and attitudes if he really wishes to become a future leader around whom most Iranians can rally. But it is little wonder Iranians see the shah’s reign as golden: their royalism, says the journalist Roohola Ramezani, who escaped Iran days ago, is “not a return to absolute autocracy but a symbolic bulwark against the failure of clerical republicanism … the throne reimagined as a secular shield” and he adds that the funding of faraway Islamist organizations, Hamas and Hezbollah, have outraged Iranians who see billions of their money wasted on murderous paramilitaries. Some have chanted for Israel and waved Israeli flags....

https://t.co/9PYYtHei72

[Aimen Dean @AimenDean]

🧐A Genuine Question to the Opponents of Military Action Against Iran’s Nuclear Program🧐

This is not about regime change. Let’s get that straight from the start.

We are not discussing boots on the ground, occupation, or exporting democracy at gunpoint. What we are talking about is a series of targeted, surgical aerial strikes with one clear objective: to permanently cripple Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, or at the very least, to delay it significantly. And to keep striking until the message is understood.

Now, here’s my genuine question to those who oppose even this limited form of military intervention:

What exactly would you do instead?

I’m not being rhetorical. I’m not asking sarcastically. I’m sincerely asking: if not this, then what?

Do you believe in more negotiations? More photo ops at five-star hotels in Vienna or Geneva, sipping espresso and congratulating ourselves on “progress” while Iran spins centrifuges in undisclosed facilities? Do you propose trust-building exercises with a regime that has made deception an art form, one that even the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly caught hiding undeclared nuclear sites?

Let me remind you: in August 2015, while in Dubai, I gave an interview to NPR Radio in the US. In that interview, I said - word for word - that Obama’s nuclear deal was not a solution but a delay tactic. I said it kicks the can down the road, and that by 2025, Iran would have the capability, the expertise, and the enriched uranium to produce a nuclear weapon.

That statement, once met with skepticism, now reads like prophecy.

And this is exactly why President Trump tore up the deal. It was full of sunset clauses, timed reliefs and phased-out restrictions that gave Iran a clear runway to nuclear capability under the guise of compliance. All they had to do was wait and cheat creatively around the edges, which they did. Again and again.

Today, we know Iran has stockpiled 410 kilograms of highly enriched uranium—material that has absolutely no civilian use. None. Zero. This isn’t for hospitals or energy plants. This is weapons-grade. This is warhead material.

So, again I ask: what would you do?

Would you simply shrug and say, “Let them join the club”? Do you truly believe that a regime that has armed terrorist groups with thousands of ballistic and cruise missiles and long-range drones, used against Saudi oil infrastructure, Israeli towns, and potentially European interests, will somehow develop nuclear weapons but never use them or share them?

Are you willing to bet global security on the IRGC’s restraint?

Can you honestly say that a regime that plotted the assassination of a former U.S. president on American soil, harbors senior Al-Qaeda figures, and has exported chaos through 80+ proxy militias with over 700,000 fighters across the region, will suddenly become a responsible nuclear steward?

Would you trust this Iran, the same one that turned Beirut into a smuggling hub, Baghdad into a militia playground, and Yemen into a missile launching pad, with the bomb?

And if your answer is yes, if your belief is that Iran, unlike every precedent and warning sign, will somehow defy its entire history and ideology, then my humble suggestion is this:

Seek help. Seek help for what can only be described as severe cognitive impairment.

Because the stakes are too high for wishful thinking. There are no do-overs once a tactical nuke ends up in the wrong terror hands.

So, again, I pose the question:

If not military action, then what?

And if your only answer is “trust and verify,” while the centrifuges spin and uranium piles up, then it’s not Iran that’s the real danger.

It’s our refusal to accept reality.

[Vladimir Kara-Murza @vkaramurza]

“Nemtsov” is a portrait. It is not about death. It is about the life of a man who could have been president of Russia.

Link to the English-subtitled film:
https://t.co/v8ACVT4RZl

[Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib @afalkhatib]

The humiliating failure & decline of "pro-Palestine" activism: For over a year, I warned time and again about the dangers of the neo “pro-Palestine” movement, which, in the aftermath of October 7, has devolved in alarmingly extreme and detrimental ways. I was hounded even by friends and allies, who kept asking why I “felt it was my job to demonize the pro-Palestine movement.” It was shocking how so many journalists, activists, academics, advocates, and observers didn’t see the obvious, the five-alarm fire that was threatening the very future of Palestinian advocacy in the diaspora. The rot and decay within this so-called movement was unlike anything I had ever seen before – and I used to be involved in it ten years ago.

After 10/7, the “movement” refused to acknowledge the criminality of hostage-taking & killing innocent Israeli civilians, condemn Hamas’s actions including against Gazans, call for the terror group to step down, or engage in pragmatic activism and targeted demands for specific outcomes that actually help Palestinians. Now, the “activists” are tone-deaf to the disaster that Gazans face after Hamas’s shameful and embarrassing display of barbarism with the Bibas & Lifshitz bodies’ return fiasco, doubling and tripling down on their fascism, evil rhetoric, lack of basic intelligence, and demonstratively ineffective speech and language that further demonize Palestinians.

I said that student activism was worthless and futile, calls for supporting the “resistance” amounted to endorsing terrorism, real antisemitism was actually growing out of control, and the interests of Palestinians were being harmed. I pleaded with the so-called “allies” of Palestine to correct the horrendous digressions of their partners but was regularly told, “Oh, we can’t tell Palestinians how to resist.” There was plenty of space for authentic pro-Palestine activism, but that required a focus on a radically different outcome that doesn’t entail Hamas, sloganeering, hatred, ignorance, stupidity, or letting ill-informed young people destroy an entire movement. Accepting Israel’s right to safety, embracing the concept of two nations, rejecting violence, and calling for Palestinian rights, while displaying a capacity for empathy, accountability, and agency would have won over vital new partners for peace and justice, especially in Israel.

Rashid Khalidi, Rashida Tlaib, CAIR, Mehdi Hasan, Marc Lamont Hill, and a whole host of intellectuals and journalists sat back and let the movement be taken over by fascists, imbeciles, far-left and far-right personalities, Islamists, and a cocktail of losers who have no business speaking about Palestine, especially the Intifadists and Hamasniks – and don’t you dare tell me these groups are just the minority in the Western diaspora-based movement, for they are an absolutely massive element of what remains of the “pro-Palestine movement.”

Well, congratulations, for Palestine is in ruins, Gaza’s destroyed, none of you have said a word about Hamas, and this movement will forever be looked at as the pinnacle of embarrassment, failure, and wasted opportunities – all while the people of Gaza suffer horrendously, especially for what’s coming next.

And for the record, and to be crystal clear, I want nothing more than to see a rejuvenated, successful, effective, prosperous pro-Palestine movement that can actually do something and leverage Western privilege to be a helping hand for the Palestinian people in the land. But for now, it’s time to get back to the drawing board and start from scratch.

[ALASTAIR CAMPBELL @campbellclaret]

And this is why we were in Syria. Long interview with fighter turned President Ahmed al-Sharaa. We discuss on @RestIsPolitics tomorrow and the full interview out on LEADING Monday. Fascinating on so many levels

[Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib @afalkhatib]

Imagine thinking this evil is courageous "resistance"; imagine parading a young woman in front of a hostile crowd & thinking this is "victory." It's shameful, embarrassing & unacceptable that Hamas & PIJ engage in savagery, which is accepted by the Red Cross, NGOs & "activists."

[Ivana Stradner @ivanastradner]

Great news from Serbia. Huge anti government protests in Serbia. The number of people on the streets of Belgrade is like during the 90’s against Milosevic.

It will take some time but this is the beginning of the end for Vucic’s authoritarian regime.

https://t.co/PJZgPx1Hno

[Catherine Belton @CatherineBelton]

"President-elect Trump’s political comeback has created an opening for Russia to shatter Western unity on Ukraine and redraw the global power map, according to several influential members of the Russian elite." @FrancescaEbel & me https://t.co/1lf8tgBiRd

[Sir William Browder KCMG @Billbrowder]

BREAKING: Vladimir Kara-Murza has been released from Russian prison.

Today marks the end of a 843 day nightmare for Russian-British citizen and Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza, his family and close friends.

Vladimir publicly protested Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine and Putin’s repressive dictatorship. For that he was arrested, given the longest sentence of any political prisoner of 25 years, and subjected to torture, denial of medical care, solitary confinement and other inhumane conditions to try to break his health and his spirit. 

Throughout this entire ordeal Vladimir has held his head high, his spirits strong and has never wavered in his conviction that Russia could be a free country. 

Vladimir’s fight has set an extraordinary example for millions of Russians who wish for the Putin regime to fall and for a peaceful and democratic regime in their country. 

Hundreds of important people participated in the efforts to free Vladimir. I would particularly like to thank Ambassador Roger Carstens, Lord David Cameron, Melanie Joly, Annalena Baerbock, Gabrielius Landsbergis, Margus Tsahkna, Radosław Sikorski, Jan Lipavský, Espen Barth Eide and many others who all played an integral role in this momentous day. 

The Putin regime tried to murder Vladimir Kara-Murza twice with poison in 2015 and in 2017. He suffered greatly during the last two years. All of his friends pray for his recovery from this horrific experience. 

We should look forward to the day when Russia is a democratic country, and then Vladimir would be one of the remarkable and noble people leading it. 

We should also not forget hundreds of other political prisoners who continue to rot in Putin’s jails and urge for their imminent release. 

Finally, we should also remember Alexei Navalny who made the ultimate sacrifice of being murdered by Putin for calling for a free and democratic Russia.

[Sir William Browder KCMG @Billbrowder]

David Lammy, save my friend’s life from Putin. The Labour government must do all in its power to ensure the release of British national Vladimir Kara-Murza from the Kremlin’s prisons https://t.co/Vff8orFtDr

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

We are Qatar, we are the best,
We want Sharia to rule over the West,
We help the migrants cross the fence,
We fund the mosques that incite the masses,"

sings Qatarsis, in a parody Qatari submission to the Eurovision Song Contest.

[John Simpson @JohnSimpsonNews]

We mustn’t forget the other leading Russian dissident, Vladimir Kara-Murza, sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment last year. He’s a dual Russian/British citizen, a journalist who opposed the Ukraine War and criticised Putin. He could have stayed in London but returned to Russia.

[Prof Janina Ramirez @DrJaninaRamirez]

This is so insane. And so so true.

[Israel ישראל @Israel]

This is your daily reminder that there are still 239 men, women, children and babies being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas.

They were kidnapped from their homes in Southern Israel during the #Oct7Massacre.

Please share this and help us bring them home to their families.

#BringThemHome

[Michal/Michele -מיכל✡️ 🟦 @MichalSabra]

Every single word. 🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱

[Andrii Plakhotniuk @a_plakhotniuk]

Jag beklagar djupt Nobelstiftelsens beslut från igår att bjuda in Rysslands och Vitrysslands ambassadörer till den kommande Nobelprisutdelningen den 10 december 2023.

Jag har flera frågor till den ansedda Nobelstiftelsen – vad har förändrats sedan förra året, när er organisation tog en klar ståndpunkt för fred och humanism? Har Ryssland upphört med sina massiva missilattacker mot de fredliga ukrainska städerna? Har deras trupper dragits tillbaka från alla tillfälligt ockuperade ukrainska territorier? Har alla kidnappade ukrainska barn, civil gisslan och krigsfångar återlämnats till Ukraina? Har Ryssland gottgjort för alla sina skador eller lämnat över sina krigsförbrytare för prövning i internationell domstol? Svaret är uppenbart 'nej.'

Idag är det första dagen på höstterminen. Enligt Ukrainas utbildnings- och vetenskapsministerium har sedan den 24 februari 2022, 3750 utbildningsanläggningar skadats av ryska missiler och bomber, varav 361 anläggningar har förstörts helt. Det är den verklighet alla ukrainska barn möter när de återvänder till skolan idag.

All dialog med Ryssland baserad på rationella argument och uppmaningar att respektera våra gemensamma mänskliga värderingar visar sig om och om igen vara meningslös.

Beslutet av Nobelstiftelsen kommer sannolikt att tolkas av Ryssland som en underförstådd acceptans av deras brutala handlingar. Den enda vägen att få Ryssland att avsluta sitt aggressiva krig mot Ukraina ligger i den demokratiska världens orubbliga solidaritet, starka kollektiva enighet och beslutsamma respons – bland annat genom ett gemensamt ökat stöd till Ukraina inom försvar, finanser och humanitära områden. Ett fortsatt arbete för att intensifiera de diplomatiska ansträngningarna, utöka sanktioner och fördjupa Kremls internationella isolering är nödvändigt.

Jag uppmanar Nobelstiftelsen att ompröva detta beslut.

#NobelReconsider
#StandWithUkraine

[Oleksiy Goncharenko @GoncharenkoUa]

Right now I'm in an Orthodox Cathedral that was destroyed by Russian missiles today in Odesa!

Odesa needs protection! We need more air defense right now!

[Denis Kazakiewicz @Den_2042]

Senator McCain knew back in 2015 what Putin was intended to do in Ukraine but nobody listened to him.
https://t.co/crr4H5ryGB

[Sir William Browder KCMG @Billbrowder]

Congratulations to Vladimir Kara-Murza for receiving the Freedom House Award for his bravery in challenging Putin’s murderous war in Ukraine. Although he’s sitting behind bars, he’s a truly free man for expressing his beliefs at whatever the cost.