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The IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp) is the most important part of the military. It’s supposed to guard the revolution: put down any internal revolts or coups. But it’s also the primary arm involved in places like Syria and Lebanon.

Among the information coming out after the fall of Assad one of the most interesting bits was on internal tensions inside the IRGC. It seems that the younger members are far more radical than the older guys currently in charge of the Republic. Khameini changed recruiting to invite only and upped indoctrination to 50% of training time, and, well, it worked. The younger members are true believers. They wanted to go into Syria and save it. They want more military action against Israel and find the missile strikes inadequate and pathetic.

What were you expecting asks Bisan Owda of the situation in Syria, where Israel has now launched air raids overnight. Jonathon Cooke calls out the BBC on their selective reporting while Prof, Seyed Marandi tells George Galloway it is clear who is behind these groups. Craig Murray reports that it’s not a revolution in Syria, Continue reading »

We know that happened on January 6th. We saw it with our own eyes, heard the testimony of his own staff and read the reports. The facts cannot be disputed. Trump lied about the election of 2020, called people to Washington, incited an insurrection in which they stormed the Capitol and hunted for the Vice President chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” And we know that Trump took no action and let it unfold until late in the day he finally told the rioters that he loved them and asked them to go home. According to the once and future president, Donald Trump, none of that is what happened: None of this is the story Trump tells. Instead, he inverts both the culpability and the morality: The rioters are victims, and those seeking justice are guilty of injustices. It’s deeply and transparently self-serving. It’s also the position of the incoming president of the United States, someone empowered to enforce his vision of justice on the rest of the country. Trump sat down for a lengthy interview with NBC News’s Kristen Welker last week during which he outlined his upside-down view of the events of Jan. 6.

Connection is primal.

The post The Kinship Issue appeared first on Nautilus.

Living with a Papua New Guinea tribe in the ’80s presented this anthropologist with a question for today.

The post How Big Is Your Family? appeared first on Nautilus.

Stellar bodies from other galaxies are all around us.

The post Star Siblings Tell Tales of Galactic Chaos appeared first on Nautilus.

Taking responsibility for another’s young reveals the deep evolutionary roots of care.

The post Why Do Animals Adopt? appeared first on Nautilus.

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The reports through Western presses read rather familiarly. Joyful residents taking selfies on abandoned, sullen tanks. Armed men ebullient and shooting into the sky with adventurist stupidity. The removal of statues and vulgar reminders of a regime. Prisoners freed; torture prisons emptied. The tyrant, deposed. This is the scene in Syria, a war with more…

The post Chilling Warnings for Syria: When Foreign Interventions Go Bad appeared first on The AIM Network.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

I think everyone knows that the HBO masterpiece “Succession” was based upon the Murdoch family. Well, it turns out that the family has actually based some of its actions on “Succession.” The NY Times (link below) reports that a court in Nevada has ruled today that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch can’t change the irrevocable trust to block the rest of the kids from having any influence on Fox News. He came down hard on them apparently but this isn’t the end of the story. I guess there are appeals and also some end runs to get the job done. But this is just fascinating: The legal maneuvering came to a head during several days of sealed, in-person testimony in Reno in September by Mr. Murdoch, Lachlan, James, Elisabeth, Prudence and a number of their representatives on the trust. The proceedings revealed that Mr. Murdoch’s children had started secretly discussing the public-relations strategy for their father’s death in April 2023.

With Bashar al-Assad deposed and Abu Mohammad Al-Julani assuming power, Syria’s future balances on a knife’s edge, marked by imperialism, internal collapse, and the reshaping of the Resistance.

The post Assad’s Government Collapses, What’s next for Syria? With Afeef Nessouli appeared first on MintPress News.

An account linked to Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, left a trail of book reviews online.

The post The Reading List of Luigi Mangione, Suspect in Brian Thompson’s Killing appeared first on The Intercept.

This is one of the craziest things I’ve heard him say: What is he talking about? He must have been drunk when he said that. It’s been the right that’s pushed the flag and a pledge for the last 60 years! “These colors don’t run!”, “Love it or leave it!” After 9/11 anyone who wasn’t worshiping the stars and stripes was at risk if they didn’t keep their mouths shut. As for the pledge: Francis Bellamy was a minister who was thrown out of his Baptist post because of sermons describing Jesus as a socialist. He and novelist cousin Edward Bellamy both saw a future for the United States as a country in which the government controlled virtually every aspect of a person’s life. Francis Bellamy (who also wrote for a magazine underwritten by flag sales and therefore stood to gain by having schools require a flag salute each day) and his friends got President Benjamin Harrison to incorporate Bellamy’s pledge into the 400th anniversary celebration of Columbus’ arrival in the New World. It has been recited in public schools ever since… [T]he pledge has remained a recurring political hot button.

On August 16, 1971, White House Counsel John Dean circulated a confidential memo to Nixon...

Niche news channel, Sky News Australia, has popped the champagne corks to celebrate their record breaking year, with news dropping that over 50 people had tuned in to watch the station. ”What a year it has been for Sky News,... Read More ›

I guess I’m feeling cynical about just about everything right now, so perhaps my point of view isn’t realistic.

Immigrant rights organizers and activists have a playbook from the last Trump presidency, but worry of less funding and more fatigue.

The post “Who’s Willing to Get Arrested?” Immigrant Activists Ready for Trump Deportation Plans appeared first on The Intercept.

In our new paper “Morbid Symptoms: A Feminist Dialectics of Global Patriarchy in Crisis,” published in the European Journal of International Relations, we introduce feminist dialectics as a theory and a method for studying patriarchy as a key ordering principle.

The post First as Tragedy, then as Farce: The Dialectics of Global Patriarchy appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).