Iran
-
The Veil We Will Not Wear
A Bahá’í response to the ‘saffron and crescent’ post, arguing that the Bahá’í position is a distinct civilisational stance that begins with Táhirih unveiling at Badasht in 1848, and that…
-
Open Thread: Pakistan’s Demons are The Daughters of God
Open thread opening on Pakistan’s diplomatic gains after Sindoor, including its role in a US-Iran memo, and on whether its real problem lies in its television dramas. It quotes commenter…
-
You cannot be a leftist if you support fundamentally illiberal positions
The author argues that one cannot be a leftist while supporting dictatorships or unequal citizenship rights, naming military rule in Myanmar and Pakistan, Iran’s clerical state, and restrictions on women…
-
Pakistani Centrists, Not Muslim Extremists
X.T.M sets a moderation standard: Pakistani commenters on the site are centrists, not extremists, and illiberal arguments stay up so long as they stop short of incitement. A Pakistani commenter…
-
Parsi Nanis Are Gujarati
X.T.M reads genetic studies of the Parsis, with Iranian paternal lines and roughly half South Asian maternal lines, to argue that Parsi Gujarati comes from founding Gujarati mothers. A Facebook…
-
The Iran That 1979 Erased: What If Khomeini Had Lost?
X.T.M runs a thought experiment on Iran had the 1979 revolution failed. Citing Central Bank of Iran figures on growth before and after, the post argues a constitutional transition could…
-
The Chess Masters Who Weren’t
X.T.M argues that the leaders cast as grand strategists, from Trump and Modi to Netanyahu, Milei and Orbán, are losing pieces. Op Sindoor, Hormuz, Lebanon and Hungary all cut against…
-
The Ukrainian Interlude is over
X.T.M argues that the real 2026 story is Pakistan’s move from written-off state to mediator in the Iran crisis, alongside Iran’s survival and a faltering global far right. The post…
-
Brown Pandas: Rising Toward a Saffron Crescent.
X.T.M argues that India-Pakistan hostility, like that between Iran and Israel, has been generative but miscalibrated, and that Pakistan’s elite chose to dominate a poor country. The post doubts the…
-
A Minute of Silence for the Schoolgirls of Minab | Chehelom, 9 April 2026
X.T.M asks readers worldwide to observe a minute of silence at 10:45am Tehran time on 9 April, the Chehelom of 165 people, mostly schoolgirls, killed in the 28 February bombing…
