The Cop and the Anthem

<A Story by William Sidney Porter, or O'Henry> 

For Iran, another US–Israeli attack would be an 'existential war'

January27, 2026
Seyed Hossein Mousavian

Tehran will respond in a way that eliminates any incentive for restraint, unleashing a conflict that would be impossible to control

Only Expanding the General Strike Can Stop ICE's Reign of Terror

January 24, 2026

Iran’s Protests are not just about Economics, they’re about an Ideological Crisis

January 25, 2026
Mahsa Ghaffari
(The Conversation) – Iran’s latest wave of unrest is often explained in familiar terms: economic collapse, sanctions, inflation, or sudden political anger. But this framing misses what is actually unfolding.

The Middle East is at a tipping point as the U.S. fuels crisis across the region

January 24, 2026
Mitchell Plitnick

Long-standing crises in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, Iraq, and Iran are deepening as the U.S. imprint on the Middle East shows no signs of weakening.

US, China once had rare-earth aces in the hole but the US folded

January23, 2026
Ravi Kant

Now China has a kill switch for US defense and high-tech industry, and that explains Trump’s lust for Greenland and Canada

Iran: The Eurasian Lock

January 22, 2026
Abbas al-Zein

Iran’s geography has turned it into a strategic hinge – one that anchors Russia’s southern depth and gives China an escape from US maritime containment.

Pictures leaked of people killed in Iran’s violent crackdown

January 21, 2026
Bryony Gooch
The faces of hundreds of people killed during Iran’s violent crackdown on protests have been revealed in leaked photographs, the BBC reports.

Mujo in Iran

January 21, 2026
Biljana Vankovska
Anyone from the former Yugoslavia will immediately understand the title. Mujo is a legendary (though fictional) Bosnian character, the protagonist (together with his inseparable friend Haso) of countless jokes that generations of Yugoslavs grew up with. Wars took many lives, erased towns, and destroyed futures, yet Mujo survived even the darkest days of the Bosnian conflict. One particular joke has stayed with me for more than three decades, because it captures, better than most analyses, the arrogance of superficial Western “expertise.”

انقلاب در ایران

 آیا ایران به یک انقلاب احتیاج دارد، و یا رژیم حاکم بر ایران می‌بایست کم‌کم رنگ ایرانی‌ بخود بگیرد و در جامعه تحلیل شود؟ این پرسشی است که بارها توسط سررشته‌داران و اندیشمندان در این رشته تجزیه و تحلیل شده است. مبارزه با چنین رژیمی‌ بسیار دشوار است. چرا که این رژیم ددمنشی است که انقلاب را دزدید، سپس هر کسی‌ را که در ایران به طریقی به رژیم سابق وابسته بود با بیرحمی کشت، و چنانچه دستش به آنها در خارج از ایران می‌رسید، بر سر آنها جایزه گذاشت و آنان را نیز ترور کرد. سپس هر جنبشی را که بوی مخالفت از آن بر می‌آمد در گلو خفه کرد.ا

Drone attack in Russia, hybrid war in Iran, presidential kidnapping in Venezuela, and the grand strategy of the United States

January 20, 2026
Mauricio Metri

They are all directly or indirectly linked to the new Grand Strategy, whose main challenge is China.

Trump: It’s Time to Look for New Leadership in Iran

January 18, 2026
Kyle Anzalone

After backing away from bombing Iran last week, Trump threatened regime change in Tehran

Googoosh, the ‘Voice of Iran,’ has gone quiet – and that’s her point

January 15, 2026
Richard Nedjat-Haiem

Before Beyoncé, before Cher, before Madonna, there was Googoosh.

Reading Tehran’s Message: Protest, Power, and the Limits of US Coercion

January 18, 2026

Iran’s Supreme Leader accused the US of orchestrating unrest as protests continue, while analysts say Washington’s direct involvement marks a dangerous shift in pressure on Tehran.

Iran has defeated the US – Khamenei

January 18, 2026

Washington must be held accountable for instigating unrest in the country, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader has said

Israel Fears It Can’t Defend Against Iran

January 17, 2026
Joe Lauria

Benjamin Netanyahu called Donald Trump to urge him to hold off on bombing Iran because, reports say, Israel feels vulnerable to Iran’s counterattack, writes Joe Lauria.

Iran: Growing Evidence of Countrywide Massacres

January 17, 2026

Iran’s Khamenei says US, Israel links behind ‘thousands killed’ in protests

January 17, 2026

The country’s supreme leader says foreign-backed protests ‘caused massive damage and killed several thousands’.

Iran’s latest internet blackout extends to phones and Starlink

January16, 2026
The Iranian regime’s internet shutdown, initiated on Jan. 8, 2026, has severely diminished the flow of information out of the country. Without internet access, little news about the national protests that flared between Dec. 30, 2025, and Jan. 13, 2026, and the regime’s violent crackdown has reached the world. Many digital rights and internet monitoring groups have assessed the current shutdown to be the most sophisticated and most severe in Iran’s history.
We are a social scientist and two computer scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Internet Intelligence Lab who study internet connectivity.

Iran’s Protesters Are Caught Between State Repression and Foreign Intervention

January 15, 2026
Alex Shams

Both Trump and the Iranian government are treating Iranian protesters as political pawns.