US Navy carrier strike group in the Strait of Hormuz at dusk, symbolising the tense US-Iran military standoff of early 2026.

Locked, Loaded, and Stuck: Why the Second Iran Strike Won’t Come Easy

Trump says the United States is “locked and loaded.” Israel has Operation Iron
Strike sitting authorised on a shelf. Yet the second blow on Iran hasn’t
landed — and the reason is written not in diplomatic fine print but in depleted
missile stockpiles and the darkening arithmetic of a CRINK alliance that neither
Washington nor Tel Aviv knows how to break. Vulnerability, not virtue, is
driving the pause.

Shuttered shopfronts in a Middle Eastern bazaar at dusk with scattered leaflets on wet cobblestones and distant fire glow through tear gas haze.

The Arson Investigator: How Western sanctions built Iran’s bonfire; and now, the firebugs demand to lead the rescue

Every empire tells itself its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate. Edward Said wrote that about Iraq. It reads as though written yesterday, about Iran. New two-part series from Urban Wronski examining how Western sanctions engineered Iran’s economic collapse — and why the same powers now present themselves as liberators. Part 1: The Arson Investigator.

Bondi’s Blood, Herzog’s Shield: How Australia’s Grief was Hijacked for Geopolitics

The Bondi massacre exposed more than a failure of gun laws. It revealed a political class willing to fold a community’s grief into a diplomatic script—inviting a leader accused of incitement to genocide to stand as the symbol of Australia’s solidarity. This is the story of how sorrow was weaponised, dissent was crushed, and the rule of law was suspended in the name of comfort.

Boxed in Like Tulloch

We’re into the straight and Australia pounds against the rails, all muscle memory and destiny, everybody’s favourite, yet going nowhere. Boxed in like Tulloch. Truth, Due Diligence and Duty of Care have been scratched on veterinarians’ advice, leaving Spin, Pious Piffle and Plausible Deniability to romp home unchallenged.