king ahab (13. 232)

Though not without precedent to justify an unlawful war of choice with devout overtones, scores of troops have filed complaints under freedom of and freedom from religion advocacy group, claiming that without clear objectives coming from the administration for the purpose and goals of going to war with Israel against Iran, commanders have said that this adventure, possibly from the top down as the secretary of war, tatted out with what is self-described as the armour of a modern-day Crusader, is biblically sanctioned. The theocracy of fundamentalists and Christian nationalists, exchanging the rhetoric of one demagogue for another, profess to believe that Trump was anointed by God to gather the armies of the Earth for the battle of Armageddon as foretold in Book of Revelations (the Apocalypse of John, though none of this exactly canonical), ushering in judgment on the enemies of the righteous and the return of Jesus.

mission creep (13. 231)

McSweeney’s contributor Carlos Greaves presents a handy checklist, decision-tree answering the question does your country need a regime change with a list of binary quizzes, such as: 

Is your country a notoriously bad actor in the Middle East?
Has your leader deployed the country’s military domestically against civilians protesting peacefully?
Is your nation’s frail, kleptocractic economy being propped up, thanks in part to being a major oil exporter?
Do your leader’s supporters claim that he was ordained by God to rule? 

It reads sort of like a Jeff Foxworthy routine—you might be living under a totalitarian regime, and whilst the redneck punchline was kind of unfunny itself to begin with except as a snowclone, it’s now turned tragic and all enveloping. More at the link above.

day five (13. 230)

Though there are disputed claims about the breadth of the US-Israeli dominance of the region with Iran stating it retains control of the Strait of Hormuz and Trump saying there are no enemy vessels in the waters, their naval power obliterated and offering US carriers as escorts for tankers, the belligerent spectacle seems beyond reproach with double the shock-and-awe campaign of the opening volleys of the 2003 Iraq war, hitting some two-thousand targets in Iran with over fifty thousand troops deployed and two hundred aerial assets launched from two carrier groups. Bombing continues in Beirut as Iranian missiles hit the Qatari Al Udeid base, the largest American presence in the Middle East. France is also sending its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier from the Baltics to the Mediterranean to safeguard its interests. Meanwhile the casus belli is still unclear with regime change being walked back and Trump expressing a desire to install some one from the current government into a leadership role—as with Venezuela—though admitting that they have killed most of the line of succession and there’s less emphasis for popular revolution and the narrative shifting from preemptive attacks under pressure by Israel to defensive countermeasures that Iran was going to fire the first shot, the inimical fog of war recently cited in attacks on trawlers in the Caribbean. Though most of Iran’s missiles and drones have been intercepted, Kiev offering to send its effective anti-drone nets to the region, markets and economies are yet in turmoil with no end in sight.  Airstrikes continue on Tehran as preparations are made for the late Ayatollah’s funeral and the expert assembly readies to appoint his son, Mojtaba Khameni, as the new Supreme Leader—Israeli avowing to assassinate whomever is put into the role.

synchronoptica

one year ago: US vice president Rufus DeVane King (with synchronopticæ) plus more on the Triadic Ballet

twelve years ago: world time zones diverging from true solar time 

thirteen years ago: over-apostrophisation 

7x7 (13. 229)

all modern digital infrastructure: a XKCD panel made interactive 

hell harp: Oxford scholars recreate the musical instruments from the Garden of Earthly Delights and play them—see previously 

≲5×10³: Iranian academics propose that technologically advanced civilisations wipe themselves out and have a constrained lifespan on Earth and throughout the Cosmos—see also here, here and here  

set theory: literary news in Venn diagrams  

tragic mansions: the sadly overlooked life and career of Mrs Philip Lydig  

orrery: a mechanical clock to tell the time in our solar system  

habe mortem præ oculis: perhaps the worst pun ever usage clause: AI can rewrite, refactor COBOL language applications, reportedly reducing the risk of moving away from legacy systems—see also, see previously

day four (13. 228)

Following attacks on the British sovereign airbases on Cyprus for their tacit cooperation with US aggressors, the government of Spain denies American forces the use of their jointly operated bases in Rota and Morón in pursuing its attack on Iran, strongly condemning US-Israeli strikes. Explosions were observed in Riyadh as well as a fire at the local US embassy, with more air raids at Dhekelia, UAE, Erbil and Bahrain. Non-essential personnel are being evacuated after the strikes in the Saudi capital and the hotel quartering US troops in Iraq, with Trump vowing retaliation over the drone attack on the consulate. Airspace and trade routes continue to be closed. Israel continues the bombing campaign in Beirut against Hezbollah operations.

synchronoptica

one year ago: ideas lying around (with synchronopticæ) plus gnawing wood

twelve years ago: protection and pretence 

thirteen years ago: drone warfare plus ultra-processed foods

fifteen years ago: Volkswagen Bullis plus a wine sampler

day three (13. 225)

Israeli defence forces opened a new front in the nascent war with airstrikes on Lebanon in order to incapacitate missiles launched by Hezbollah. Gulf states, hosting US bases, have issued condemnation for Iran’s indiscriminate attacks not only on US assets but petroleum infrastructure, major refineries and ports shut down after drone strikes. The Cypriot base, RAF Akrotiri, is being evacuated after threats it has become a legitimate target after agreeing to allow refuelling of US jets on the UK outpost. Thousands of flights in and out of the Middle East have been cancelled in the biggest disruption to travel since the COVID pandemic—with airlines afraid of the economic impact and market turmoil. Later in the morning, Iran stated that its Natanz reactor site has been bombed, sparking fears radiological contamination.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the musical stylings of Wintergarten (with synchronopticæ) plus Firefly Aerospace

twelve years ago: Norway’s sovereign petroleum fund, Tom Swift, Russia annexes the Crimean peninsula plus meteorological spring

thirteen years ago: a brain-to-brain interface, major construction projects in Berlin plus US budgetary sequestration

fifteen years ago: consumer rights 

sixteen years ago: limits on data retention 

that often happens in war (13. 224)

Hours after the assassination was proclaimed both by Trump and Netanyahu after destroying the Tehran compound of Khamenei, officials and domestic news sources denying the claim saying he was elsewhere or outside of the country, Iranian state news announced that the Supreme Leader had in fact been killed along with four members of his family and several other key leaders, including former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others in the Ayatollah’s line of succession, a handpicked group in case of his death, and decreed forty days of mourning via a VHF radio broadcast as most of the country has had no internet connectivity since the height of the protests and in conjunction with crippling cyberattacks to aimed at digital infrastructure and handicapping Iran’s own skilled hackers. Assaults by belligerents on both sides have continued unabated with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian surrogate groups like the Houthis hindering Red Sea shipments and Kurdish separatists attempting to storm the US Iraqi Green Zone. Despite having to deflect a barrage of missiles for hosting US bases, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar stand to gain by ridding the region of an antagonist, an prospect too fraught and potentially costly to undertake themselves, but having found a far cheaper alternative with bribing Trump and his family, the used luxury jetliner and two-billion dollar consulting to fee to son-in-law Jared Kushner, this discount regime change undertaken by America and Israel is likely to result in disaster and certainly not lead to democratic reforms, perhaps reinstating the Shah and an royal autocracy that the other Gulf states find social acceptable for not calling out their hypocrisy and corruption with hyper-clericalism. The death toll continues to rise, with the bombing of a girls’ school in Minab adjacent to a barracks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and three US service members were killed in the line of duty. As Joe Biden once said if Israel didn’t exist then the US “would have to invent one.”

operation epstein fury (13.221)

The UN calling for an emergency meeting of the security council over the joint Israeli-US strikes on Iran, prompting retaliatory attacks on US military bases in the Persian Gulf theatre, leaders worldwide calling for deescalation that may push the region the region into a humanitarian, economic and even a radiological crisis, and Trump, having grown bored with talks despite the advice of top brass, urged the people of Iran, in a pre-recorded message, to shelter in place until the government of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is decapitated and then rise up and take over the government—as their only chance in generations—and for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard to surrender or face certain death, instigated violent regime change along with his cohort on the Board of Peace. The timing of the strikes, amidst ongoing negotiations, though taking place on the sabbath, could be significant for the Netanyahu government, as just head of the holiday of Purim, commemorating the intervention of Queen Ester (see previously) who foiled the plans of the royal vizier to assassinate the Persian king (having been picked out of a lineup of the fairest in the land, without knowing her heritage, the king—possibly the historical Artaxerxes—having demoted the previous queen, Vashti, for her refusal to “display her beauty” to court during a drunken feast and embarrassing him) and his plans to put to death the entire minority populace within the empire. Interceding and protecting her king on behalf of her people, Esther could not nullify the previous decree as it was already issued but is allowed by the king to put out new orders, commanding that they might preemptively kill those aligned the scheming vizier, eliminating some seventy-five thousand potential attackers. The US special military operation is called Epic Fury with the Israeli side named Roaring Lion.

preventative strikes (13. 219)

Amid ongoing talks, in which Trump expressed his displeasure with the situation, arguing that Tehran was not “negotiating in good faith” and a massive build up of US naval and air assets in the region, Israeli defence forces have launched attacks, targeting several ministries in the capital and in multiple cities. Provoked, we are sure how this will play out—with retaliation on Tel Aviv, giving the Americans the excuse to intervene militarily, an option that the administration refused to rule out. Thirty-three minutes later, Trump announces “major combat operations” in Iran, accusing them of trying to restart its nuclear programme.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a wall of sound audio sampler (with synchronopticæ) plus a diplomatic melt-down in the Oval Office

twelve years ago: Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet 

thirteen years ago: fractured futures plus the Day of Unplugging

fifteen years ago: the grammar of emoticons plus the economic states of Iceland and Ireland

9x9 (13. 089)

crisis actors: Trump supports protests of any authoritarian regime except his own 

wikipedia@25: the Free Encyclopaedia project was started on this day in 2001—see previously, see more  

demumu: popular Chinese app, “Are You Dead?” is a safety tool aimed for a growing demographic of one-person households  

fafo: thousands of World Cup fans are cancelling their tickets, prompting an emergency meeting of the football association  

the revolution won’t be televised: acute disappointment from “liberated” Venezuela—plus Trump was gifted the Nobel peace prize  

limited deployment: contingents of soldiers from European allies arrive in Nuuk to demonstrate NATO resolve  

legacy media: looming challenges for journalism outlets and studios  

mouseover title: xkcd (previously) on sailing rigs 

heimat: US Department of Homeland Security adopts another Nazi slogan

⚐ (12. 589)

Reminiscent of the flag of South Vietnam, carrying nuanced meanings for the diaspora outside the communist nation and sadly coopted with little context by some pro-Trump elements, we learn via Web Curios that there’s a comparable battle over the flag of Iran. While the official tricolour adopted after the Iranian revolution of 1979 bearing the emblem in the centre with the name of God stylised as both a sword and a tulip, symbolising bravery and martyrdom. Other groups outside of Iran prefer the older banner of the deposed Shah, the personal flag of the Pahlavi dynasty with the ancient symbols of the Sun and Lion that goes back to Byzantine times, both in the pro-monarchy movement and those protesting the current regime as authoritarian as more inclusive. The older flag’s association with conservative monarchists movements and regime change moreover apparently informed Israel’s decision to name its war the with country Rising Lion. Yet other groups are partial to the three coloured bands with no shield as a way to acknowledge diversity of political allegiances and was historically championed by pro-constitutional, democratic counter-revolutionaries before outside intervention. The pictured further alternative is charged with the slogan Woman Life Freedom that emerged out of the 2022 protests that arose after Kurdish Mahsa Zhina Amini died in the custody of the Guidance Patrol, the religious morality police for not conforming to government standards of modesty in dress, with the message rendered in the same early Persian script, Kufic—cuneiform adapted to Arabic letters, that embroiders the official flag’s fimbriation as the takbīr (تَكْبِير ).

one does not simply walk into fordow (12. 544)

Whilst Israel and Iran exchange increasingly deadly missile strikes as the conflict enters its fifth day—with markedly no respite for the killing of Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid—The US is continuing to coyly vacillate between distancing its involvement and taking credit for an unconditional endorsement once seeing that the offensive by the IDF was garnering good ratings and reception with select audiences. Reasonably unconvinced that the limited supply of thirteen tonne bombs (see previously) could successfully take out Iran‘s chief uranium enrichment facility, buried under a mountain, Trump seems to be demurring for a deal before committing to the quagmire of another forever war after being lured into it.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ), the Kyffhäuserdenkmal (1896) plus a long-running webcollage

eleven years ago: frog forecasters 

twelve years ago: Nature’s virtuosity of the avian kind, more on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership plus Ankara’s Standing Man

thirteen years ago: antique cookbooks plus the EU votes for austerity 

fourteen years ago: a new Art Deco addition plus vacation planning

true promise iii (12. 542)

Departing from the G7 summit being held in Alberta at midnight after posing for the family photo of leaders, all urging deescalation—though short of calling for an immediate ceasefire—of the Iran-Israel War that had broken out the days leading up to the meeting, Trump’s press secretary said that the American president had urgent business in the Middle East to attend to, Macron reinforcing his leave of absence saying that Trump sought a stop to the fighting. The speculation seemed to irritate Trump, however, who exclaimed later that they didn’t known his business and was in no mood to talk with Tehran any longer, no longer pursuing negotiations and the nuclear deal but a permanent solution to keep the country from enriching uranium. Counter to the narrative of Washington and Israel, intelligence sources confirm that Iran (their codename for the operation above) is not actively seeking to build an atomic bomb, and meanwhile missiles have been volleyed back and forth—with an established nuclear power, causing mutual destruction but severely crippling Iran’s civilian infrastructure in a fashion that the country may not be able to recover him. Trump went on, suggesting that American direct involvement may be imminent, calling for the evacuation of the capital and hinting that they could kill Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, knowing exactly where he is hiding, but will refrain from doing so for now, pending Iran’s unconditional surrender. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

synchronoptica

one year ago: a synthesiser performance piece (with synchronopticæ), OJ Simpson flees police (1994) plus tragic children’s names

eleven years ago: memory storage and retrieval plus the history of garden gnomes

fourteen years ago: between Bonn and Berlin 

sixteen years ago: returning from our Roman holiday 

si vis pacem para pactum (12. 536)

As if Trump’s low turn-out, low-energy birthday parade was not already overshadowed by the poor juxtaposition of the crack down on protests in Los Angeles and the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, with no boots on the ground though America can hardly claim it’s not deeply entrenched, the politically motivated assassination of a Minnesota state legislator by a crazed MAGA evangelist still at large and with a kill-list of other politicians, the surprise from Israel on Iran gave some in the administration a chance to try to have it both ways. Like the false claims last month of brokering a cease fire between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, despite vehement disavowal of having anything to do with the strikes on Iranian cities and infrastructure, Trump is insisting that peace is contingent upon Iran settling the nuclear deal—talks scheduled to continue in Oman next week—as if Israeli incursions were leverage in the negotiations, if anything possibly a provocation to draw the US into the situation. The last time Washington DC hosted a military parade of comparable scale was in 1991 as a premature victory celebration for the hundred-day Persian Gulf War, what became a multipart quagmire squandering many lives and much treasure, the US resuming its push to remove Saddam Hussein after premised on the untrue narratives of Baghdad involvement with the 9/11 terror attacks and Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction. America should have lost global trust and confidence back then. Now, with Iran having been only five years away from producing a ballistic nuclear missile for the past thirty years (and surely have been capable of making an arsenal but chose not to despite decades of conflicts with neighbours including Iraq and Israel), the Trump administration and his negotiators are using the WMD playbook once again and this time, the world is far more skeptical of their motives to stoke forever wars.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Dutch roll (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: more links to enjoy, Trump’s migrant detention centres, fear of palindromes plus Stephen Hawking interred with honours

eight years ago: Ford’s soybean car plus the feast of Corpus Christi

nine years ago: the UK’s proposed withdrawal from the EU, even more links, machine dreams plus the long-s

ten years ago: a visit to Gemünden am Main, the internet of trolls plus a church that resembles the courthouse from Back to the Future

operation rising lion (12. 530)

Amid stalled negotiations between the US and Iran aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear ambitions (attempting to work out a previous deal that lifted sanctions in exchange for regular inspections reached under the Obama administration), Israeli defence forces launched a predawn aerial attack on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz and military infrastructure, the extent of the damage unclear but killing in the process several leading scientists and senior officials, including the commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s missile programme Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Despite not wanting an atomic capable Iran, America initially distanced itself from Israel’s strike—explicitly saying there was no US involvement and warned not to retaliate—Trump since weighed in, warning of more brutal punishment if they fail to concede to US terms. Meanwhile Tehran and Hezbollah are threatening retribution against Israel and its backers and air traffic in the region has been suspended and petrol prices has seen a significant jump with expectations of escalation.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus more on proxy addresses for the unhoused

seven years ago: internet tendency, a beatnik monk, monumental baobabs, legal aid for lemonade stands plus a theatrical trailer for the Trump-Kim summit

eight years ago: more links to enjoy, words as web colours plus troll cakes

nine years ago: machine-generated grimoires 

ten years ago: even more links to enjoy plus a visit to Lohr am Main

i believe it’s god’s job to sit in judgment—my job is to defend america (12. 466)

Just returned from his first major foreign trip of his second term, treated with with imperial pomp and lavishing in the Regional Car Dealership Rococo lifestyle and gold-plate decor that he so admires, Trump’s agenda of deal-making—though overshadowed by a luxury jet offered by Qatar to replace Air Force One—was revealing about his priorities and “none of our business approach” to foreign policy. In parallel to multi-million dollar contracts favourable to American business interests secured without any of the bothersome talks of human rights issues, democracy, transparency, press freedoms or regional diplomacy—no mention of the suppression of dissent, sportswashing, the war in Gaza or even recent past postures to his hosts on supporting terrorist groups, Trump’s team of negotiators have been fronting at least the appearance of frenetic negotiations that included a ceasefire with the Houthis, lifting sanctions on Syria and renegotiating a nuclear deal with Iran, although the Persian Gulf will henceforth be known as the Arabian Gulf.  This collusion of contrasting, contradictory events, capitalism to paper over conflicts, may be coincidental and incidental to the administration’s penchant for flooding the zone but is very telling of what Trump wants and how he might be played.

28. mordad coup d’état (11. 780)

Instigated by American and British petroleum interests in the region, the Iranian army overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh on this day in 1953 in favour of bolstering the monarchical rule of Shah Mohammad Rez Pahlavi, refusing to cooperate with the administration once an audit was requested of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company to make sure the UK corporation was adhering to the terms of it stewardship. Following threats to nationalise the producer’s assets, perceived increasing Communist influence and a worldwide embargo against Persian, Churchill and Eisenhower conspired to rid themselves of this uncooperative element. Under military leadership, the Shah was able to consolidate power and reign for the next twenty-six years, aligned with Western interests, until deposed during the 1979 Revolution (see previously here and here). In August 2013, the US government formally acknowledged the CIA’s role in regime change.

11x11 (11. 625)

indemnity clause: a look at the exactingly detailed Sanborn maps created for US insurance firms in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries 

unseen persia: thousands of historic photographs of Iran during the Qajar dynasty leaked on-line from the archive of the Golestan Palace  

sweet thing: Chaka Khan’s debut Tiny Desk performance  

bahía de cochinos: Russian warships on drill visit Cuba  

doubly-disambiguated bishop non-capture statemale: a vlogger tries to categorise the rarest chess moves  

transponder: wood proves surprisingly durable material in space as agencies plan to launch experimental satellites, like ships on the high seas—via the Linkfest  

1337: a pretty exhaustive list of English words that can be spelled on a calculator turned upside down  

hollywood canteen: a fond farewell to Janis Page, recently departed at 101  

the brannock device: a better shoe-sizer based on the barley corn  

gallus gallus domesticus: photographer recreates exacting portraits of Edo-era Ito Jakuchu’s studies of chickens—via Nag on the Lake  

geochron: the incredible restoration of 1960s analog, electromechanical world clock and map

il capo in pidei col suo bastone (10. 235)

Our thanks to TYWKIWDBI for directing our attention to this Farsi language version of Bella Ciao (see previously), the protest folk song that has become an anthem of freedom and resistance internationally, created to protest the oppressive, theocratic dictatorship of Iran as part of the Mahsa Amini rallies against the regime. The opening lyric—The dust of this wheat/is in the street—is in reference to the custom of growing sprouts of grain in the two week run up to the New Year (Nowruz, نوروز) that falls on the Spring Equinox and symbolically casting them away to toss out old habits. O mamma mia o che tormento. Much more at the links above.

cyrus charter

Though in possession of the British Museum, the ancient clay cylinder bearing the declaration of king Cyrus the Great, outlining his genealogy and conquest of Babylonia as favourite of the god Marduk and documentation of the end of exile of the Jewish people and allowing them to resettle within the empire was loaned to Tehran on this day in 1971 for a period of sixteen days for the gala celebration of the two-thousand-five-hundredth anniversary of the founding of Persia—see previously, beginning mid-month ten days later. The artefact recovered in 1829 (in Mesopotamia, in modern day Iraq) is considered by many historians as the pioneering attempt to administer and multicultural state with universal human rights and was made the official symbol of Iran in absentia.