Tag: history

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

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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.

The US’s Multi‑Front War: A House of Cards

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President Trump’s “Caracas raid,” enabled by the mysterious “Discombobulator,” epitomized a “Butch Cassidy” approach to international relations: a quick smash-and-grab to seize vital resources. Yet, as the rusty reality of Venezuela’s dilapidated oil infrastructure and a $200 billion repair bill quickly proved, the high-tech crowbar of the Discombobulator couldn’t fix what decades of neglect and sanctions had broken. Now, as a similar high-stakes gambit unfolds in the Persian Gulf against Iran, leaders like Brazil’s Lula caution against the “terrorism on an industrial scale” that comes with mistaking a tactical victory for a sustainable policy.

AUKUS Caucus

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Australia has built a $368 billion cargo cult and called it strategy. The AUKUS Caucus offers money, bases and sovereignty in exchange for submarines that do not exist, built by shipyards that cannot deliver, on timelines that belong to fantasy. The only thing arriving on schedule is the bill.

Editorial cartoon of Sussan Ley conducting beside a collapsing grand piano labelled “Coalition.” Sheet music titled “Murdoch Media” flies into the air and morphs into social media icons including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, symbolising the decline of the old media orchestra.

Whither the Coalition?

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Once “the natural party of government, the Liberal–National Coalition has become a federation of feuding tribes. Factional decay, Murdoch’s fading megaphone and an attention economy allergic to policy have left it stranded between yesterday’s media and tomorrow’s electorate.

Alt text: *Cartoon illustration showing Donald Trump sitting at a desk using a laptop with the WordPress logo, while outside a drone launches a missile at a small Venezuelan fishing boat flying the national flag. The boat explodes amid smoke and flames on rough seas, symbolizing Trump’s aggressive foreign actions. The style is bold, satirical, and editorial.*

Trump’s Dirty War at Sea and Australia’s Silent Complicity

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When Donald Trump’s America goes fishing, it doesn’t bring a net — it brings a drone. His latest outburst over “illegal Venezuelan boats” turns the Caribbean into a stage set for bluster and bombast. A small fleet of working men in open skiffs become props in a tragicomic rerun of empire, complete with digital spin and patriotic sound effects. Another performance of power — and another warning of what happens when showmanship replaces statecraft.