Iranian clerical regime has one less controversy to deal with as Mr. Mashaii resigned from his post of first Vice President. As discussed in my previous post, Mr. Mashaii was President Ahmadinejad’s pick, but he was severely criticized by the clerical regime for stating in 2008 that Iranians are friends with Israelis. The resignation was inevitable given that Ayatollah Khamenei had directly asked for Mr. Mashaii’s removal. Still there was considerable delay between the dismissal and Ayatollah Khamenei’s letter asking for Mr. Mashaii’s dismissal. As reported in this Tehran Times article, members of the Parliament described Ahmadinejad’s delay to dismiss Mr. Mashaii as a “political misbehavior.”
While Ahmadinejad caved into pressure from hard-line clerics and the country’s supreme leader, the reformists are still refusing to give in to the regime. Despite the government’s best effort to put an end to the presidential election dispute, the issue refuses to die down. As reported in this New York Times article, the leaders of Iran’s opposition movement sent an open letter of protest to the country’s highest religious authorities on Saturday. They complained against the state for using “illegal, immoral and irreligious methods” in the crackdown following last month’s disputed presidential election and called for the release of hundreds of people arrested since.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
