History, Religion, Politics, Culture, and Travels in the Islamic World
An article by me on the impending Hizballah-Israel war will be published at a media site soon. A link will be supplied in a future update. For now, quick notes re Gen. Amir-Ali Hajizadah, head of IRGC Aerospace and his comments on preparedness for the next operation against Israel; and statement by the leader of Ansarallah, Abd al-Malik al-Houthi, on targeting the USS Roosevelt in the Red Sea.
Mary Renault is justly lauded as a groundbreaking LGBT authoress, but this detracts from her brilliance as a historian of ancient Greece and Persia. She methodically weaves history, geography, and Greek literature with fiction to depict the life of Alexander the Great: his childhood, love for Hephaistion, Philip’s court, tempestuous relationship with mum, Olympias, rise to power, and conquest of Asia. Renault’s books, which I started reading as a twelve-year-old, shaped my life, and developed in me, inter alia, a passion for Iran. The essay is part literary criticism, part history, part travelogue. Renault inspired my travels in Iran.
Everyone is an OSINT expert these days. Twitter is swarming with OSINT accounts purporting expertise on Russia-Ukraine War and/or Israel-Palestine conflict. Businesses are seeking applicants with expertise in “OSINT tools, techniques and methodologies” and “HUMINT tradecraft” for sundry “threat intelligence” positions. Most OSINT experts have no intelligence or military background. They often supply propaganda, misinformation, or “confirmation bias” through ignorance, or, to satisfy the demands of their followers and/or paymasters.
A tribute to Ronald Wilson Reagan, who died twenty years ago today, and a requiem for America. Reagan revitalized America after Vietnam. However, Reagan’s America that we loved; the America that we were proud to belong to; the America that we proudly served in uniform; the America that we would have sacrificed our lives for, is dead. Since he left office, America has slid inexorably toward the dustbin of history
I am not a combat helicopter man, being from the “boom, boom, boom, artillery” school; hence my focus on artillery and missile systems. However, I have fallen in love with Russia’s Ka-52 “Alligator.” It is clearly the finest attack helicopter in the business; far superior to the Cobra and Apache attack helicopters that witnessed action in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Zayn al-Din Taybadi (d. 791/1389) is a captivating mystic of Mongol Iran. He was an irascible man, remembered by historians for his rudeness to Tamerlane (Temür; d. 807/1405). He in effect told Tamerlane (as New Yorkers like to say), to “take a long walk on a short pier.” This is the story.
My analysis of Ayatollah Khamenei’s 29 May 2024 letter to US students was just published by PressTV. The essay is, “Ayatollah Khamenei’s letter to US students shaped by insightful reading of history, politics.” I concur with his assessment that “As the page of history is turning, you are standing on the right side of it.” Americans students, especially students at my alma mater, Columbia University, will be squarely on the right side of history, just as they were with the Vietnam War protests in the 1960s and anti-apartheid protests in the 1980s.
On the anniversary of the German surrender at Karlshorst, east Berlin, in the presence of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, a bit of history—and lots of photos and videos, including by me—about the vicinity, which was used for administration of the Soviet Zone (1945–49); and housed the biggest KGB station in the world (1954–1991).
NATO Sec.-Gen. has hissy fit over Russian exhibition of captured NATO, UK, UK, EU Wunderwaffen. Video of the exhibits is in the post.
Christian Bleuer has been maintaining the massive “Afghanistan Analyst Bibliography” since 2004. Bleuer just published the final edition (29 April 2024), accompanied by an essay titled, “The State of Research on Afghanistan: Too many poor quality publications and some real gems.” Links included at post.
Perspectives 
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