My Sunday essay on Iran: "The paradox of the Islamic Republic is that it tends only to compromise under severe pressure, yet that same external pressure and isolation help keep it alive. It is a game Mr. Khamenei has been perfecting for decades."
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Karim Sadjadpour
@ksadjadpour
Senior Fellow ; Currently writing a book for ; Adjunct professor ; Advisor ; Former YGL ; 
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., please see the below message that Siamak has personally asked me to share in response. We are grateful for your words, but they must be backed by action. #FreeTheNamazis
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Today marks Siamak Namazi's 2,500th day wrongfully detained in Iranian prison – an unimaginable period of suffering. I echo his brother Babak's calls on to act with the utmost urgency to bring Siamak, his father, & the other American hostages in #Iran home. #FreeTheNamazis
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Some folks prefer to imagine that whenever the IRGC does something bad outside of Iran, it must be the result of a rogue operative. Let me disabuse everyone of that right now.
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This, by is a quite brilliant treatment of the duality facing those that seek to engage the revolutionary regime in Iran.
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This anecdote on Fidel Castro was also at Hitch’s home: “Fidel likes to joke that if America were to ever remove the embargo, he'd do something provocative the next day to get it reinstated. He understands his power is best preserved in a bubble"
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No one defended Salman Rushdie—and more importantly the principle of free expression—more bravely than Christopher Hitchens.
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#Iran's Fars News Agency, run by IRGC, has published an interview with Ayatollah Hossein Radai, a professor of theology at Tehran's Shahed University, who clarifies that killing Rushdie is not terrorism but 'legal execution' since he was an apostate and apostates must be killed
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“The goal of Mr. Khamenei and his revolutionary cohorts,” writes , “is to avoid a normal Iran, and normalization with the United States.”
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Iran’s Kayhan newspaper, whose editor is handpicked by : “A thousand bravos…to the brave and dutiful person who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie in New York…The hand of the man who tore the neck of God's enemy must be kissed.”
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Wylie says Salman Rushdie is on a ventilator and cannot speak. “The news is not good," he said. "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged."
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nytimes.com/2022/08/12/bus
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Grease came out during the height of the Iranian revolution and was a much-needed and enduring source of joy to so many adolescent Iranians fleeing their homeland. The boys loved Olivia Newton-John and the girls wanted to be her. A wonderful legacy. RIP
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1- This is myself, my partner, & the man that saved our lives after the #BeirutBlast He drove us to Roum & Geitouwi Hospital before finally we managed to enter Hotel Dieu. My partner was fading fast from that wound on his chest; it was touch and go.
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White House statement says spoke to & her husband following the arrest of an “armed individual” outside their NY home; he pledged the USG will “disrupt & deter threats from Iran, including those which target U.S. citizens & dissidents” in US
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Shocked to learn that an assassin with a loaded AK47 came my home in Brooklyn. Last year, the Islamic Republic, tried to kidnap me, now they want to kill me. I’m grateful to federal agents but the Administration must do more to protect US citizens.
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Remember this little boy found wandering alone after #HighlandPark parade? We’ve just found out why… both his parents were killed💔
A fundraiser has been started for Irina and Kevin McCarthy’s 2-yo son Aiden as he grows up without them
Link: gofundme.com/f/irina-and-ke
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Nicolas Toledo, 76, didn’t want to attend the Highland Park July 4th parade, but his disabilities required him to be around someone full-time.
He was in his wheelchair when the rooftop gunman started firing. He suffered three gunshot wounds, killing him.
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Our national epidemic of mass shootings--which to the untrained ear sound indistinguishable from fireworks--call to mind this poem from Palestinian-American poet Naomi Shihab Nye
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Siamak Namazi, a US citizen held hostage in Iran for nearly 7 years, writes a from inside Evin prison: "I have suffered quietly as nearly 2,500 of what should have been the best and most productive days of my life were lost behind these bars."
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5. To be sure, the malaise of the modern Middle East has many fathers, and democracy in Iran will not come easily, peacefully, or soon-But it is the single most important key to transforming the region.
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4. There are no silver bullets that will swiftly change the nature of the US-Iran relationship or the Iranian regime. The US must deal with Iran like any adversary: communicate to avoid conflict, cooperate when possible, confront when necessary, and contain with partners
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3. Iran presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the US. A strategy that focuses only on the nuclear and regional ambitions of Iran's regime while overlooking the democratic aspirations of Iran’s people ignores the lessons of how the Cold War ended
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2. Since 1979 Iran has sought to expel the US from the Middle East, replace Israel with Palestine, and remake the region in its image. Whether or not the nuclear deal is revived, Iran's aspirations to help topple the US-led world order will continue.
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1. Last week I testified before the on the need for a US strategy toward Iran that has three broad objectives: 1) Contain Iran’s nuclear program 2) Counter Iran’s regional influence and 3) Champion Iranian democratic ambitions. foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/
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In a significant development, Arab tribes have joined the protests in #Iran’s #Abadan city on Sunday. #IranProtests2022
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"Joe Garcia, the husband of Irma Garcia, one of two teachers shot and killed in Uvalde, TX on Tuesday, has reportedly suffered a fatal heart attack. Joe and Irma were high school sweethearts and married 24 years. They leave behind four children,” reports .
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Amerie Jo Garza's father, a med aide, says he found out she was one of the victims when he arrived on the scene and was helping another little girl covered in blood. She told him her best friend had been shot. When he asked her name, she said his daughter's. There aren't words.
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President Zelensky: “This is not a war of two armies. This is a war of two worldviews.”
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THREAD: I’ve arrived in Dnipro to begin covering the battle for eastern #Ukraine. Dima has been fighting since early March.
“It’s like WWII but with modern technology. 2014 was a playground compared to this.”
* I have permission to tweet his photo & all comments.
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In an interview, talks about Iran's grand strategy in the Middle East and toward the United States. Plenty of essential insights here, derived in part from his recent article, at Diwan: carnegie-mec.org/diwan/86927 #IranTalks #Iran
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Horrific cases of sexual violence by Russian troops in Bucha and other places: a group of women and girls were imprisoned in a basement of a house for 25 days.
Nine of them are now pregnant, Ukraine’s ombudswoman for human rights said.
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‘Mom, thank you for the best 9 years of my life! Huge thank you for my childhood! I will never forget you! I promise to be good so we can meet in heaven’- the son was stuck in the car next to the body of his mother after russian artillery shot their car
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Decisive, discreet and experienced, the 66-year-old former career diplomat—often described as the most accomplished envoy of his generation—combines expertise with influence
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“The Biden administration plans to reject an Iranian demand that the United States lift its designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization as a condition for renewing the 2015 nuclear agreement.” By
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Soon after this was published it was announced that the 🇷🇺 regime has now closed down . It was the last independent think tank in 🇷🇺 and has in spite of restrictions been doing excellent work over the years.
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"The nation follows Putin like the blind leading the blind. When a nation becomes blind, deaf, and dumb, Mariupol and Bucha become possible," writes @AndrKolesnikov in his latest for @CarnegieEndow.
carnegieendowment.org/2022/04/06/how
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“Passive conformity is no less terrible than active and aggressive conformity…It’s collective voluntary blindness. The nation follows Putin like the blind leading the blind. When a nation becomes blind, deaf, and dumb, Mariupol and Bucha become possible.”
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