Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Tanya Goudsouzian
“What person or what organizations are ready to govern the day after, and is there a viable roadmap for what comes next? The answer, according to leading Iran scholars and analysts, is bleak. ‘Absolutely no one,’ says Hamid Dabashi, professor of Iranian Studies at Columbia University. ‘The monarchists and the Mojahedin are positively despised by the overwhelming majority of the Iranian population with no grassroots support,’ he adds. ‘Despite a significant opposition to the ruling regime, it is still widely and passionately popular among many others.’ The vacuum left by the regime’s collapse would not be filled by democratic forces, but likely by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the military organization dedicated to regime control and survival, or violent power struggles. And yet, external promoters of regime change — from exiled elites to Western think tanks — continue to push a fantasy of democratization-by-collapse.” (06/26/25)
“President Trump and other White House officials are suggesting that questioning the decision and efficacy of bombing Iran shows a lack of patriotism and disparages American troops. These claims harken back to the Iraq War when supporters of the policy insisted that critics or skeptics were simply anti-American or didn’t support the troops. … As a strategy to rebuff challenges to its claims of ‘mission accomplished,’ the Trump administration is sprinkling in suggestions that those who don’t trust the administration’s judgment are un-American or are somehow insulting the pilots who ran the mission themselves. But this isn’t new.” (06/26/25)
“Mexico’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the attorney general’s office to release a public version of its investigation file into the 2014 disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College, one of the country’s worst human rights atrocities. The case has been marred by missteps and interference, with Mexico’s former top prosecutor arrested in 2022 in relation to the case. The court ruling, prompted by a request from a private citizen, requires the file to be made available on the prosecutor’s website with confidential data redacted. For more than a decade, the government has promised action in finding those responsible, with investigations publishing varying accounts of what happened to the students from the southern state of Guerrero.” (06/26/25)
“Politicians and bureaucrats love to grab other people’s property, under cover of ‘the public interest.’ But their ‘public interest’ is nothing more than a thin disguise for helping some individuals (often contributors to politicians’ campaigns) at the expense of others.” (06/26/25)
“Shell has not bid for BP and is not actively considering such a move, it said in a categorical denial on Thursday, adding it was bound by UK rules which mean such a statement bans it from bidding for BP for the next six months. The Wall Street Journal cited sources on Wednesday saying that Shell was in talks to acquire BP, in response to which Shell said no talks were taking place. Shell’s CEO Wael Sawan has repeatedly said buying back Shell shares was a better use of money when asked about a potential bid for BP.” (06/26/25)
“Paul Rosenberg (Freeman’s Perspective) comes on the show to discuss Bitcoin/cryptos, privacy, economy/dollar, Palantir and data collection/surveillance, etc.” (06/25/25)
“‘If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be.’ Thomas Jefferson nailed it. And here’s the deal – mass, widespread ignorance about our Constitution is no accident. It’s by design. Why? Because educated people are harder to dominate and control. They ask inconvenient questions. They know the difference between a servant and a master. And when government violates the rules given to it? An educated and free people slap it right back to where it belongs. Fast. Let’s examine five constitutional truths that government-run schools almost never teach – because if they did, we wouldn’t be living under the largest government in history.” (06/25/25)
