Daily Archives: February 22, 2026
Iran: When Ayatollahs Lampoon the Clergy
“Look at our times a handful of imposter clerics Having no notion of reason and science Having no notion of what man is about Desperate like donkeys in search of fodder All they care about is eating and fornicating Have cast aside notions of shame and honor They seek nothing but loot and plunder Alien they are to rules of faith.” Sanai, 11th century Persian poet, from a samizdat distributed in the “holy” city of Qom, the bastion of Iranian clergy, February 20, 2026, the 40th day of the deaths of thousands of protesters across Iran.
Erdogan’s Sunni Noose: Turkey’s Bid to Encircle Israel
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched an ambitious diplomatic offensive aimed at unifying the Sunni world under Ankara’s leadership. The objective is not merely reconciliation with former rivals. It is the construction of a Sunni diplomatic and strategic “wall,” or “noose,” around Israel, replacing the Iranian “Shi’ite crescent” with a new configuration of Sunni power.
