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BlogAnatoly Karlin Archive
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Iran
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Iran

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US Reminder It Controls .Com Domains
•�June 23, 2021
•�300 Words •�119 Comments
The US has seized the domain names of Iranian state news agency Press TV. It also seized Al-Masirah, a website owned by the Houthis in Yemen (the people fighting Saudi Arabia), as well as dozens of other websites from countries as disperse as Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Nigeria whose common denominator was that they were owned... Read More
The Assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh
•�December 8, 2020
•�600 Words •�100 Comments
I am not much interested in moralizing over this - there are many other "alternate bloggers" happy to do that anyway (though why be particularly outraged if you view Israel as this great fount of evil anyway? A rhetorical question, I know). At the end of the day, Mossad is quite ruthless in pursuing the... Read More
Should the Third World Lockdown?
•�April 5, 2020
•�600 Words •�42 Comments
For instance, take Sub-Saharan Africa. Median age is ~18 years, and only 3% of the population is above the age of 65 (for Italy, these figures are 45 years and 24%, respectively). Their mortality rates are already very high, so the net impact on their life expectancy will be modest, since age is the single... Read More
Shrine Lickers
•�March 30, 2020
•�100 Words •�25 Comments
The Virgin hazmat suit recluse vs. the Chad public shrine licker: However, the actual Iranian government - literally run by mullahs - was less appreciative of their devotion. The shrine lickers were arrested and are facing sentences of 74 lashes and/or imprisonment. And yes, they also closed down the mosques. Ironically, actual theocracies may have... Read More
So What About Those Iran Protests?...
•�January 17, 2020
•�300 Words •�38 Comments
Some people on here and Twitter were sure they'd succeed. But they seem to have vanished off the radar in the past couple of days. Few news stories, no updates on /r/worldnews. What happened? In reality, as I pointed out, they were almost certain to fail. To get a color revolution going, you need a... Read More
Iran's Missile Attacks May Have Been Mini-Sputnik Moment
•�January 17, 2020
•�1,100 Words •�53 Comments
The data points keep getting better and better. We now know that 10/11 missiles hit (up from the initial estimate of 6/11). The damage they did has also been upgraded, with a Danish soldier speaking of many helicopters destroyed (as opposed to the US claim of one damaged) and 11 US soldiers reported injured. More... Read More
Iranomaidan II
•�January 11, 2020
•�400 Words •�151 Comments
To do a color revolution, you generally need: Significant proportion of the population going out into the streets (not just university students and office plankton). Some degree of elite defection. Trump's bombast regardless - congratulations to him on learning Farsi and becoming an Iran expert in the past 48 hours - I don't see either... Read More
Data Points
•�January 9, 2020
•�700 Words •�71 Comments
The Iran War has been called off for the time being, but the threat of a renewed crisis and future escalation remain. The Iranian missile strikes on two US bases in Iraq provide updated data points on how such a clash will go. 1. The most important adjustment we need to make is that Iranian... Read More
"Nationalists": Don't Invite, Do Invade. Many Such Cases! :(
•�January 9, 2020
•�1,100 Words •�118 Comments
The opinion polls in the US show broad based support for escalation with Iran amongst the Republicans (84%), despite their drift towards "America First". Although some marginal libertarians, paleocons, and Alt Righters (such as Richard Spencer) may have stridently opposed this, all of this is perfectly compatible with mainstream Republican voters, including the nationalist/America First... Read More
Iran Takes II: How the Iran War Will be Fought
•�January 7, 2020
•�1,900 Words •�280 Comments
PS. Events overtook my writing of this blog post. Looking forwards to a resolution of the Stealth Question and the Aircraft Carrier Question. How would an Iran War be fought? I already addressed this question on several occasions, most notably on The Road to World War III (see 2.c. The Persian Gulf), as well as... Read More
Iran Takes I
•�January 7, 2020
•�900 Words •�103 Comments
I am not an Iran expert, and will not pretend that I have magically become one in the past few days. Nor do I see much point in a detailed chronicle of the latest developments and Tweets - for that, there is, say, /r/SyrianCivilWar. Instead, I think it would be more productive to highlight a... Read More
Powerful Start to 2020s
•�January 2, 2020
•�452 Comments
Open Thread 89
•�September 15, 2019
•�800 Words •�837 Comments
OK'ing the Russian Occupation Government from the 52nd floor of Federation Tower. *** More notable posts since the last Open Thread in case you missed any of them. Book Review: Arthur K. Kroeber - China's Economy Navalny's "Smart Vote" Won the Moscow Opposition Just 3 Seats (Out of 45) *** A Second Interstellar Object Has... Read More
HAPPENING: Iran Responds to British Piracy
•�July 19, 2019
•�100 Words •�99 Comments
There are reports just coming in that Iran has seized 1 2 3 (?!) British-linked oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. This is in response to analogous British piracy off Gibraltar a few weeks ago. Anyhow I suppose we will soon see how special the "special relationship" between the US and the UK really is.... Read More
USG Unleashes Gamer Genocide on Iran
•�June 23, 2019
•�500 Words •�179 Comments
So apparently the US decided to step up its sanctions on the evil mullahs and gas killing animal Assad by banning the popular multiplayer video game League of Legends in those countries. Anyhow, apart from illustrating the schizophrenia of the USG - do they expect gamers to rise up against those regimes and do what... Read More
Iran Crisis Thread
•�June 20, 2019
•�300 Words •�122 Comments
Discuss the recent Iranian attack (or "attack") on the oil tankers, and the recent Iranian shootdown of the $200 million American drone (allegedly over international airspace - Iran denies it) here. *** I have discussed the consequences of a major US - Iran war in previous posts. I don't have much more to add at... Read More
Iran Escalation
•�June 14, 2019
•�300 Words •�298 Comments
As I have blogged before (see "2.c. The Persian Gulf" in this article), Iran's best chance to substantially shut down the Strait of Hormuz is to lay mines, then target US minesweeping vessels. They are far less well defended than its capital ships, and more fragile than the double-hulled, compartmentalized behemoths that constitute modern oil... Read More
World Tension Meter Is Inching Up
•�June 13, 2019
•�200 Words •�102 Comments
First, you have the obvious false flag in the Gulf of Oman, which Pompeo is already blaming on Iran. Even though one of the tankers in question was Japanese, with whose PM the Iranians were meeting on that very day. Plus there is the fact that the Japanese ship - which was coming from Saudi... Read More
Open Thread 42
•�May 24, 2018
•�2,300 Words •�273 Comments
Moscow 2018. Can't believe it has been almost a month since the last Open Thread. Quick updates: Was in the UK for a couple of weeks (as you presumably gathered). Apart from the march in London, I also took the opportunity to tick off Canterbury and the Tank Museum in Bovington. Unfortunately, I was not... Read More
Pompeo Demands Iran Capitulation
•�May 21, 2018
•�100 Words •�157 Comments
Either Iran fulfills the following, or it gets the "strongest sanctions in history": Since this is two more demands than the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia in 1914, and they are in principle unfulfillable anyway, why not go the full hog and make some further additions: Convert to Evangelical Christianity Host a gay pride parade in... Read More
The Mullahs' Mnogokhodovka
•�January 2, 2018
•�600 Words •�76 Comments
Commenter German_reader summarizes an anonymous Iranian journalist about the protests there. Hilarious if true. And it just might be: Comment from an Iranian on Patrick Lang's blog: Evidently, the protests were initiated by political enemies of Rouhani in Mashhad. That city is referred to in Iran as a "hizbollahi city" - "Party of God City".... Read More
Iranomaidan
•�December 31, 2017
•�800 Words •�300 Comments
Epistemic status: Low. I don't know Farsi. I don't particularly follow Iran. That said, I am hardly alone in this. Bryan MacDonald: "Even I’m kinda astonished by how many American “Russian experts” have suddenly become “Iran experts” in the past 48 hours. молодцы товарищи!! #ачтивмеасурес" 1. Widely divergent reports about how many people are protesting.... Read More
No, Iran Isn't "Worse" Than the Saudis
•�January 9, 2016
•�600 Words •�26 Comments
This is an argument that is doing the rounds on the Internet after Iran's condemnation of the Saudi execution of 47 people (including at least 4 "politicals") to mark the New Year and the ensuing breakdown in Iranian-Saudi diplomatic ties. After all, they say, Iran executes a lot more people than the Saudis. � One... Read More
What Happens If the US/Israel Attack Iran?
•�February 26, 2013
•�500 Words •�6 Comments
It might happen this June or later, reports RT citing Israeli media. Obama and Netanyahu are at least discussing the prospect. In previous years I was sure that it would happen eventually, probably before year end 2012. That is because that was the most convenient window between the fielding of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (early... Read More
So Apparently Germany Is A Christian Theocracy
•�September 28, 2012
•�400 Words •�3 Comments
At least if you take Michael Bohm's arguments in his latest Moscow Times missive on how Russia Is Turning Into Iran to its logical conclusion. Look, I'm not a fan of blasphemy laws. The First Amendment is a wonderful thing and something that makes the US truly great... even exceptional, to an extent. Although it... Read More
Karlin Freedom Index 2012
•�January 24, 2012
•�1,000 Words •�26 Comments
This is the Karlin Freedom Index for 2012, a political classification system I formulated more than a year ago in response to systemic bias on the part of traditional "freedom indices" such as Freedom House and The Economist Democracy Index (hint: they give massive bonus points for neoliberalism and pro-Western foreign policy orientations). The explanation:... Read More
New Year Special: 2012 Predictions
•�January 3, 2012
•�4,000 Words •�215 Comments
It's been a great year! To recap, in rough chronological order, 2011 saw: The most popular post (with 562 comments and counting; granted, most of them consisting of Indians and Pakistanis flaming each other); Visualizing the Kremlin Clans (joint project with Kevin Rothrock of A Good Treaty); my National Comparisons between life in Russia, Britain,... Read More
Decade Forecast, Part 1 - the Downsizing of Pax Americana
•�May 14, 2011
•�3,400 Words •�14 Comments
This is the first post in a series of three, in which I will analyze the major trends that will define the next ten years and their likely impacts on global regions. To put these forecasts into context, I must first describe the narrative through which I view the history of the post-WW2 era (the... Read More
Orientalism Overload
•�December 6, 2010
•�1,100 Words •�8 Comments
This might well be my favorite cable so far - perhaps even better than the Caucasus wedding - courtesy of US ambassador to Iran Bruce Laingen in August 1979. Now maybe US diplomats are culturally West-centric and insular today, but they've got nothing on their predecessors. "Perhaps the single dominant aspect of the Persian psyche... Read More
Russia Arming the Rest, and US Views On This
•�December 5, 2010
•�3,200 Words •�18 Comments
Another Wikileaks cable - a secret one, not merely confidential - from our Caucasus ethnologist and bestest bud at the State Department, William Burns. Dated October 2007, it describes America's perception of Russia's global arms trade and emphasizes its concerns that many of its partners are "rogue" or "anti-American" states like Syria, Iran and Venezuela.... Read More
New York Times Manipulation of the (Alleged) North Korean Missile Sales to Iran Cable
•�December 3, 2010
•�11,500 Words •�5 Comments
It's sad, but not unexpected, to see the usual motley of neocons, freepers and general creeps crawling about the interwebs, baying for Assange's blood and calling for him to be disappeared into the Nacht und Nebel. But it is absolutely tragic that, misled by the MSM and dulled by their own cynicism, so many people... Read More
My Interview on Middle East Geopolitics, Afghanistan and Iran & the Bomb with Marat Kunaev
•�August 22, 2010
•�1,700 Words •�38 Comments
I was recently interviewed on Middle East geopolitics and the Iran Question by Marat Kunaev, a blogger and translator at InoForum. I would like to thank him for the opportunity to express my views on the topic and providing a possible gateway into the geopolitical commentary on Runet. I'm reprinting the interview from here, with... Read More
The US Strategic Dilemma and Persian Deadlock
•�October 4, 2009
•�5,300 Words •�9 Comments
This is the second article of a three-part series about the Iranian Question - that is, the question of how the world is going to deal with the Islamic regime's pursuit of a nuclear bomb, which is likely to be one of the defining processes of global geopolitics in the next five years. The first... Read More
Shifting Winds: the End of Pax Americana
•�September 19, 2009
•�4,900 Words •�18 Comments
Every once in a while, there occurs a major shift in the international arena. The First World War and its consequences were the seminal change of the last century, collapsing ancient empires and ushering in a new era of ethno-nationalist clashes, political radicalism and emerging powers challenging the established order of Versailles, forces that were... Read More
The Approach of the New Persian Empire
•�June 18, 2009
•�2,800 Words •�9 Comments
With the recent election of the controversial (to put it mildly) Ahmadinejad to the Iranian Presidency, it is time to look at what this portends for the future of Iran and the Middle East region in general. The first question we need to ask is whether Ahmadinejad's victory was free and fair. Stratfor believes it... Read More
Russia's Soft WMD
•�September 27, 2008
•�1,300 Words •�4 Comments
Watching the US presidential candidate debate this Friday has only further confirmed my belief an American would have to be either a moron or a traitor to vote for him. What he would do as President: 1) Stay on in Iraq And leave Russia (and every other competitor) a free hand. Even the success of... Read More
"Iran" Items Across Entire Archive
Anatoly Karlin
About Anatoly Karlin

I am a blogger, thinker, and businessman in the SF Bay Area. I’m originally from Russia, spent many years in Britain, and studied at U.C. Berkeley.

One of my tenets is that ideologies tend to suck. As such, I hesitate about attaching labels to myself. That said, if it’s really necessary, I suppose “liberal-conservative neoreactionary” would be close enough.

Though I consider myself part of the Orthodox Church, my philosophy and spiritual views are more influenced by digital physics, Gnosticism, and Russian cosmism than anything specifically Judeo-Christian.