Newspaper Reader on the Coup That Failed ?
Jan 17, 2026
Horror in Iran
Editor: Never fear that The Economist under Beddoes has even surpassed that team of War Mongers Adrian Wooldridge and John Micklethwait of ‘The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America’ of May 31, 2005 that metaticised into:
At least 37m people made refugees by US ‘war on terror’
At least 37 million people have been displaced by the US “war on terror”, a new study has concluded. The details are contained in a damning report even as western nations continue to grapple with the influx of refugees from war-torn countries.
Creating Refugees: Displacement Caused by the United States’ Post-9/11 Wars was produced by Brown University’s Costs of War Project. It points out that the number of refugees “exceeds those displaced by every war since 1900, except World War Two.”
Highlighting the devastating impact of the now two-decade long “war on terror” the study concluded that 37 million refugees is a “very conservative estimate” and that the real figure could be as high as 59 million.
While the report accounts for the number of people, mostly civilians, displaced from countries targeted by the US in its “war on terror”, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and the Philippines, Middle East countries make up the highest number of refugees. With 9.2 million displaced in Iraq, the 2003 US invasion of the Arab state is seen as the main catalyst for the refugee crises.
“Since the George W. Bush administration launched a ‘global war on terror’ following Al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the US military has waged war continuously for almost two decades,” said the report. It added that US forces have fought in as many as 24 countries in that time.
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Editor : Beddoes cadre of would be ‘Democrats’ within Iran :
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At less risk, America could help end the communications blackout imposed by the regime, by smuggling Starlink kits into Iran. One sign this matters is that security forces are hunting for those already in the country. The White House is also giving tacit support to an exiled opposition figure, Reza Pahlavi, the former crown prince, who fled from Iran when the shah was toppled in 1979. From a safe distance in Maryland he, too, has been urging protesters to rise up to bring democracy. In the absence of organised opposition inside Iran, perhaps the country could restore some form of monarchy, (see our interview with Mr Pahlavi).
However, just to run through the options shows how hard it will be for American action to succeed. If Mr Trump orders strikes, Iran is armed with a formidable battery of short- and long-range missiles that could hit back across the Middle East, leading to an unpredictable escalation—which is why countries there are warning against an American attack. A decapitation from the air would require exquisite intelligence against an adversary who is forewarned. Even with the ayatollah gone, a Caracas-style deal with the Revolutionary Guards is unlikely to create lasting stability, because grieving Iranians will yearn for vengeance against generals with so much fresh blood on their hands.
The new way of the world
The stakes are extraordinarily high. With Mr Trump in office, old certainties in geopolitics are melting away. His concern will never be to respect international law, nor to foster a club of liberal democracies. But, even as Iran is abandoned by its allies, China and Russia, he is readier than any recent American president to bring about big changes if he believes they will enhance America’s influence and his own prestige. Each intervention is a test of what sort of world that will create.
Once every popular uprising seemed to herald the birth of a new democracy. Alas, after the failures of the Arab spring, it is no longer easy to imagine that Iran’s path could be so simple. The hope nonetheless is that, in time, the collapse of the regime will favour Iran’s courageous people, who have proved once again that they are their country’s greatest blessing.
Editor : The final paragraphs of this essay wallow in a wan pastich of Anglicanism, for want of a better descriptor!
Newspaper Reader.
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