Showing posts with label Asia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asia. Show all posts
Monday, March 10, 2025
Saturday, November 2, 2024
SEA vs Imperious Bully 2024
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21-4-30 Making of an Asian NATO - Caspian > .24-2-5 East Asia, After America || Peter Zeihan > .
24-1-19 Xina-Philippines Tensions - Update > .
24-3-31 Global Arms Exports - Winners, losers, trends in race to rearm - Perun > .
24-1-24 Importance of 155mm shells - WSJ > .
24-3-29 Hyperglobalisation Is Dead - gtbt > .
__
24-1-16 Brief History of SEATO: Every Year - Tigerstar > .
US vs X relations
Sunday, April 28, 2024
ANZUS, CENTO, SEATO
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The treaty was one of the series that the United States formed in the 1949–1955 era as part of its collective response to the threat of communism during the Cold War. New Zealand was suspended from ANZUS in 1986 as it initiated a nuclear-free zone in its territorial waters; in late 2012 New Zealand lifted a ban on visits by United States warships leading to a thawing in tensions. New Zealand maintains a nuclear-free zone as part of its foreign policy and is partially suspended from ANZUS, as the United States maintains an ambiguous policy whether or not the warships carry nuclear weapons and operates numerous nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines; however New Zealand resumed key areas of the ANZUS treaty in 2007.
The Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO), originally known as the Baghdad Pact or the Middle East Treaty Organisation (METO), was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed in 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey and the United Kingdom and dissolved in 1979.
US pressure and promises of military and economic aid were key in the negotiations leading to the agreement, but the United States could not initially participate. John Foster Dulles, who was involved in the negotiations as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, claimed that was due to "the pro-Israel lobby and the difficulty of obtaining Congressional Approval." Others said that the reason was "for purely technical reasons of budgeting procedures."
In 1958, the US joined the military committee of the alliance. It is generally viewed as one of the least successful of the Cold War alliances.
The organisation’s headquarters were in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1955 to 1958 and in Ankara, Turkey, in 1958 to 1979. Cyprus was also an important location for CENTO because of its location in the Middle East and the British Sovereign Base Areas on the island.
US pressure and promises of military and economic aid were key in the negotiations leading to the agreement, but the United States could not initially participate. John Foster Dulles, who was involved in the negotiations as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, claimed that was due to "the pro-Israel lobby and the difficulty of obtaining Congressional Approval." Others said that the reason was "for purely technical reasons of budgeting procedures."
In 1958, the US joined the military committee of the alliance. It is generally viewed as one of the least successful of the Cold War alliances.
The organisation’s headquarters were in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1955 to 1958 and in Ankara, Turkey, in 1958 to 1979. Cyprus was also an important location for CENTO because of its location in the Middle East and the British Sovereign Base Areas on the island.
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954.
Primarily created to block further communist gains in Southeast Asia, SEATO is generally considered a failure because internal conflict and dispute hindered general use of the SEATO military; however, SEATO-funded cultural and educational programs left longstanding effects in Southeast Asia. SEATO was dissolved on 30 June 1977 after many members lost interest and withdrew.
The Present Viability of NATO, SEATO, and CENTO:
Primarily created to block further communist gains in Southeast Asia, SEATO is generally considered a failure because internal conflict and dispute hindered general use of the SEATO military; however, SEATO-funded cultural and educational programs left longstanding effects in Southeast Asia. SEATO was dissolved on 30 June 1977 after many members lost interest and withdrew.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), and the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) were considered necessary in the postwar period to protect member countries from Communist aggression and conspiracy. Subsequent developments have not always reflected the tidiness of inflexible and implacable confrontation, however. Thus, the viability of this postwar structure of alliances is raised ever more insistently. Do NATO, SEATO, and CENTO serve any longer the interests of the West? Or has the time now arrived for their complete reappraisal? The view gains ground in western Europe that there is now considerable diversity in the Communist world, and that a policy of positive coexistence should be pursued in the tackling of common problems with such countries as are ready to do so. In this fluid situation, a policy of movement is desirable, especially in Europe, where economic as well as political initiatives on behalf of a reconstructed NATO can provide pointers for the continued viability of CENTO and SEATO. The pending renegotiation of the NATO Pact can provide such economic initiatives. It can also provide the model of a self-supporting security system under the Soviet-American nuclear balance.
Monday, April 22, 2024
Friday, April 12, 2024
QUAD - QSD
AIJU, QSD - The making of an Asian NATO > . Australia, India, Japan, USA
24-4-12 India | [Modious's] Dying Democracy? - Prof J K-L > .
24-1-9 Ċold Ŵar 2: NATO-like alliance vs Xina in the Indo-Pacific? | DW > .
23-10-20 Xina's PLAN Expansion vs USN's Hegemony - gtbt > . skip > .
23-9-14 Hx Japan vs Xina: Why Xina and Japan are headed to war - BuBa > .
23-8-23 China vs Japan: Japan Preparing for War with Xina - BuBa > .
23-7-29 Taiwan: Japanese & US Moves | Update > .
23-7-28 PLAN's Indo-Pacific Bases - Ream, Djibouti, Hambantota, Tonga - Focus > .
23-7-23 South Korean Defence Strategy - Mass, Firepower, Industry - Perun > .
23-7-21 Brain Drain & Capital Issues Plague India's Tech Industry || Peter Zeihan > .
23-6-2 AUKUS: Australia Preparing for War - T&P > .
23-5-1 Australia’s nuclear submarines enough to deter Xina? | ABC > .
23-4-23 Japanese History, Defence Strategy & Rearmament - Perun > .
23-3-13 Yi Fuxian: The Chinese Century Is Already Over - Update > .
23-3-8 US-China: Qin & Conflict Warning - Update > .
23-2-28 Xina & ROC war prep: martial law, nuclear emergency, wartime controls > .
23-2-10 Why Japan's Military is Gladly Readying for War - T&P > .
23-1-13 US & Japan boost cooperation; Marines ready to counter Xina > .
22-12-14 US National Security Strategy in 6 points – Geopolitics c Alex Stubb > .
22-11-11 Fortress Xina - Xi's Plans for World Domination - laowhy86 > .
22-11-17 US-Xina-Taiwan relations (G20 2022) - Update > .
22-11-2 Photos - Xina’s Massive Military Buildup in South China Sea - Unc > .
22-10-15 Japan - national debt, liquidity trap vs artificial inflation - VisEco > .
22-10-11 Condeleeza Rice - Xina and Taiwan - Hoover > .
22-10-1 India Will Not Be The Next Xina - EcEx > .
22-9-24 Xina's and Australia’s power plays in the Pacific - Caspian > .
22-9-21 How China’s Military Drills Could Choke Off Taiwan’s Internet | WSJ > .
22-8-31 Shocking Chinese Mercenary Groups Around the World - T&P > .
22-8-26 How Xina wages an unseen war for strategic influence | FT > .
22-8-21 Japan Is (Again) Becoming a Military Powerhouse - gtbt > .
22-8-4 Situation Zoom: Pelosi Visits Taiwan | Goodfellows - Hoover > .
22-7-31 How PGII & IPEF could checkmate BRI - CaspianReport > .
22-7-21 Xina losing international trust, 10 Pacific nations rebuff joint agreement - CR > .
22-7-21 Why Every NATO Member Joined (Why Others Haven't) - Spaniel > .
22-7-6 IISS Special Lecture: Australia, ASEAN and Southeast Asia > .
22-7-4 QUAD going beyond military exercises — Xina watching > .
22-6-26 US administration's plan to control Asia-Pacific - VisPol > . skip ad > .
22-4-28 Almost 60% of Australians want Australia to be tougher on China > .
22-3-31 Darwin new port - Australian military and industry | ABC > .
22-3-26 China has “Fully Militarized” the South China Sea - Uncensored > .
22-3-25 US & World Should Have A 'Coherent, Bipartisan' Strategy For China - Rudd > .
22-3-1 Tim Harcourt | Russia's Commodity-Heavy Sanctions & Australia - rh > .
22-2-10 Hiding in Plain Sight: China's Military Power, 1995-2020 - CISAC Stanford > .
22-1-31 Will Taiwan Spark a US-China Conflict? - Whatifalthist > .
22-1-12 India's Armed Forces Special Powers Act - extended in Nagaland - Sengupta > .
22-1-6 Australia & Japan sign security cooperation treaty - Focus > .
2021 (Ishigaki Plan) Could Japan save Taiwan from China? - VisPol > .
2021 (Ishigaki Plan) Could Japan save Taiwan from China? - VisPol > .
2021 Remote Islands - Technically Part of Tokyo [Prefecture] - Half > .
(2022 vs 1945) Could the US military invade Japan? Binkov > .
2021 - QUAD vs CCP - Bal Pow >> .
ASEAN, AUKUS, CPTPP, QUAD - Compass Rose >> .
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD, also known as the Quad) is an informal strategic dialogue between the United States, Japan, Australia and India that is maintained by talks between member countries. The dialogue was initiated in 2007 by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, with the support of Vice President Dick Cheney of the US, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India. The dialogue was paralleled by joint military exercises of an unprecedented scale, titled Exercise Malabar. The diplomatic and military arrangement was widely viewed as a response to increased Chinese economic and military power, and the Chinese government responded to the Quadrilateral dialogue by issuing formal diplomatic protests to its members.
The QSD ceased following the withdrawal of Australia during Kevin Rudd’s tenure as prime minister, reflecting ambivalence in Australian policy over the growing tension between the United States and China in the Asia-Pacific. Following Rudd's replacement by Julia Gillard in 2010, enhanced military cooperation between the United States and Australia was resumed, leading to the placement of US Marines near Darwin, Australia, overlooking the Timor Sea and Lombok Strait. India, Japan, and the United States continue to hold joint naval exercises through Malabar.
During the 2017 ASEAN Summits in Manila, all four former members led by Shinzo Abe, Narendra Modi, Malcolm Turnbull, and DJT agreed to revive the quadrilateral alliance in order to counter China militarily and diplomatically in the South China Sea. Tensions between Quad members and China have led to fears of what was dubbed by some commentators as "a new Cold War" in the region.
In a 2021 joint statement, "The Spirit of the Quad," Quad members described "a shared vision for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific," and a "rules-based maritime order in the East and South China Seas," which Quad members state are needed to counter Chinese maritime claims. The Quad pledged to respond to COVID-19, and held a first Quad Plus meeting that included representatives from New Zealand, South Korea and Vietnam to work on its response to it. Widely viewed as intending to curb "China's growing power," the Quad's joint statement drew criticism from China's foreign ministry, which said the Quad "openly incites discord" among regional powers in Asia
Anglosphere - CANZUK ..
The QSD ceased following the withdrawal of Australia during Kevin Rudd’s tenure as prime minister, reflecting ambivalence in Australian policy over the growing tension between the United States and China in the Asia-Pacific. Following Rudd's replacement by Julia Gillard in 2010, enhanced military cooperation between the United States and Australia was resumed, leading to the placement of US Marines near Darwin, Australia, overlooking the Timor Sea and Lombok Strait. India, Japan, and the United States continue to hold joint naval exercises through Malabar.
During the 2017 ASEAN Summits in Manila, all four former members led by Shinzo Abe, Narendra Modi, Malcolm Turnbull, and DJT agreed to revive the quadrilateral alliance in order to counter China militarily and diplomatically in the South China Sea. Tensions between Quad members and China have led to fears of what was dubbed by some commentators as "a new Cold War" in the region.
In a 2021 joint statement, "The Spirit of the Quad," Quad members described "a shared vision for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific," and a "rules-based maritime order in the East and South China Seas," which Quad members state are needed to counter Chinese maritime claims. The Quad pledged to respond to COVID-19, and held a first Quad Plus meeting that included representatives from New Zealand, South Korea and Vietnam to work on its response to it. Widely viewed as intending to curb "China's growing power," the Quad's joint statement drew criticism from China's foreign ministry, which said the Quad "openly incites discord" among regional powers in Asia
Resources
Sunday, January 1, 2023
Elections 2023
23-1-16 Elections to Watch in 2023 - TLDR > .
Political Resignations 2023 ..
Africa
2023 Nigerian general election, 25 FebruaryAsia
2023 elections in India .
2023 Myanmar general election, August
2023 Pakistani general election, October
Europe
2023 Myanmar general election, August
2023 Pakistani general election, October
Europe
Czechia
Estonia
Finland
23-4-3 Finland Sanna Marin defeated by conservatives - tight election - BBC > .Israel
23-7-25 Israel's Protests Restart: Can Netanyahu Survive?- TLDR Global > .Italy
22-12-28 Europe's Far-Right Resurgence in 2022 - TLDR EU > .
23-11-28 Dutch election: Geert Wilders win - fears of far-right shift in Europe > .Netherlands
23-12-4 Dutch Politics: Geert Wilder's [Eventual] New Coalition || Peter Zeihan > .23-6-11 Dutch Government Collapses: What Happens Next? - TLDR EU > .
23-9-6 India's opposition unites to take on PM Modi | DW > .
2023 Dutch provincial elections, 15 March
23-3-18 Farmers Won the Netherlands’ Local Elections - TLDR EU > .2023 Dutch Senate election, 30 May
Poland
2023 Polish parliamentary election, November
"Right" Shift
Spain
23-7-24 Spain at risk of political gridlock after elections > .23-7-25 Spain’s Election Explained: Why the Right Failed - TLDR EU > .
Turkey
2023 Turkish presidential election, 18 June
23-5-18 Greece and Turkey: very different elections - Papaconstantinou - STG > .2023 Turkish presidential election, 18 June
23-5-14 Elections in Turkey | Odds of Erdoğan Losing (subs) - Katz > .
23-5-11 Turkey Votes. Erdoğan’s Last Dance? - gtbt > . skip > .
Oceania23-1-19 Jacinda Ardern resigns as New Zealand prime minister - BBC > .
2023 New Zealand general election .
2023 New Zealand general election .
UK
4 May: 2023 England local elections w
Finland- 2024 Finnish presidential election, 28 January
Russia- 2024 Russian presidential election, 17 March
23-9-6 India's opposition unites to take on PM Modi | DW > .
- 2024 United States elections 5 November
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Sunday, December 26, 2021
Monday, December 20, 2021
Iran
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Iran: History, Geography, Economy & Culture - Geodiode > .25-1-8 How Hezbollah Took Over Lebanon | Explained > .
24-9-4 Iran and Israel's Long and Complicated History | Quillette > .
24-6-21 [Aghanistan Conflicts: Tribalism, Water Conflict, Georivalry] - Real > .
24-6-12 [Raisi, water, Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ruscia, Turkey] | gtbt > .
24-5-25 Motive Behind Irans Failed April 14th Aerial Assault on Israel | TBN > .
24-3-5 Alliance Between Venezuela and Iran - IDF > .
24-2-10 Borders: Some Countries Are Nearly Impossible to Escape - Map > .
24-2-8 Israel: High-Tech Military; Intelligence Failure - Caspian > .
24-2-4 Iran would lose a war with the United States | Michael Clarke - Times > .
24-1-26 Saudi Arabia's Catastrophic "Iran" Problem - Hindsight > .
23-11-5 [XIR] Corrupt, Sanctioned Iran's Military, Proxies, Power Projection - Perun > .
23-10-17 [BRI Scam; Xina Using H-I War; MENA Policy] | Update > .
23-10-14 [Nefarious Hybrid XIR "want to destroy America" Plot] - Versed > .
23-10-12 Killing Civilians: The New Normal | Wonder Land: WSJ > .
23-10-12 [Israel: Xina's self-serving platitudes; blame-US XiPaganda] - Update > .
23-10-5 Iran's Alarming Water Crisis - Asianometry > .
23-9-14 Iran and Afghanistan headed to war over water? - Caspian > .
23-9-5 Israel's Everlasting [Internal & External] War - gtbt > .
23-7-25 Why US Troops Fought Wagner Mercenaries in Syria - T&P > .
23-7-22 Saudi Arabia’s Catastrophic “Everything” Problem - Real > .
23-7-15 Why Pakistan's on the Brink of Collapse - T&P > .
23-6-3 Iraq, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah - Invasion +20 Years - gtbt > .
23-5-2 Why Iran is Helping Ruscia’s Invasion of Ukraine - Real > .
23-3-13 Iran, Xina, Saudi Arabia - Influence Wangling - Update > .
23-2-9 Russia, Iran, India Want Persian Corridor 2.0 - gtbt > . skip scam > .
22-12-30 [Kurds] Why Turkey is Preparing to Invade Syria (Again) - Real > .
22-12-15 Mahsa Amini protests - Islamic Republic of Iran Fights to Live On - gtbt > .
22-12-14 Xi’s Saudi trip & Sino-Arab relations; X-¥ oil vs petrodollar - Lei > .
22-8-22 Does Afghanistan have a future? - Caspian Report > .
22-6-22 Oman (ME's Switzerland) - Guarding Gulf, Strait of Hormuz - Explore > .
22-3-17 Why The Middle East Won't Survive Without Oil - OBF > .
22-1-20 Can Biden Renegotiate the Nuclear Agreement with Iran? - VisPol > .
Caucasus ..
22-12-8 Xina seeking Saudi ties - Update > .
22-11-25 Why Saudi Arabia is Gladly Helping Russia - T&P > .Egypt-UAE
24-4-12 Egypt is selling city site to UAE for $35 billion - Caspian > .Iranian Military
24-9-30 Iranian Military: Israel Shouldn’t Underestimate It - Warographics > .China-Iran Deal - Geopolitics of Indebtedness ..
Iran (geography, politics, history) ..
Israel vs Nuclear Iran ..Power of Geography ..
US vs Iran-Backed Militias ..
Iran (also called Persia, and officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered to the northwest by Armenia and Azerbaijan, to the north by the Caspian Sea, to the northeast by Turkmenistan, to the east by Afghanistan, to the southeast by Pakistan, to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and to the west by Turkey and Iraq. Iran covers an area of 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), with a population of 83 million. It is the second-largest country in the Middle East, and its capital and largest city is Tehran.
The 1979 Revolution, later known as the Islamic Revolution, began in January 1978 with the first major demonstrations against the Shah. After a year of strikes and demonstrations paralyzing the country and its economy, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled to the United States, and Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile to Tehran in February 1979, forming a new government. After holding a referendum, Iran officially became an Islamic republic in April 1979. A second referendum in December 1979 approved a theocratic constitution.
The immediate nationwide uprisings against the new government began with the 1979 Kurdish rebellion and the Khuzestan uprisings, along with the uprisings in Sistan and Baluchestan and other areas. Over the next several years, these uprisings were subdued in a violent manner by the new Islamic government. The new government began purging itself of the non-Islamist political opposition, as well as of those Islamists who were not considered radical enough. Although both nationalists and Marxists had initially joined with Islamists to overthrow the Shah, tens of thousands were executed by the new regime afterwards.[163] Many former ministers and officials in the Shah's government, including former prime minister Amir-Abbas Hoveyda, were executed following Khomeini's order to purge the new government of any remaining officials still loyal to the exiled Shah.
On 4 November 1979, a group of Muslim students seized the United States Embassy and took the embassy with 52 personnel and citizens hostage, after the United States refused to extradite Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to Iran, where his execution was all but assured. Attempts by the Jimmy Carter administration to negotiate for the release of the hostages, and a failed rescue attempt, helped force Carter out of office and brought Ronald Reagan to power. On Jimmy Carter's final day in office, the last hostages were finally set free as a result of the Algiers Accords. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi left the United States for Egypt, where he died of complications from cancer only months later, on 27 July 1980.
The Cultural Revolution began in 1980, with an initial closure of universities for three years, in order to perform an inspection and clean up in the cultural policy of the education and training system.
On 22 September 1980, the Iraqi army invaded the western Iranian province of Khuzestan, launching the Iran–Iraq War. Although the forces of Saddam Hussein made several early advances, by mid 1982, the Iranian forces successfully managed to drive the Iraqi army back into Iraq. In July 1982, with Iraq thrown on the defensive, the regime of Iran took the decision to invade Iraq and conducted countless offensives in a bid to conquer Iraqi territory and capture cities, such as Basra. The war continued until 1988 when the Iraqi army defeated the Iranian forces inside Iraq and pushed the remaining Iranian troops back across the border. Subsequently, Khomeini accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations. The total Iranian casualties in the war were estimated to be 123,220–160,000 KIA, 60,711 MIA, and 11,000–16,000 civilians killed.
Following the Iran–Iraq War, in 1989, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his administration concentrated on a pragmatic pro-business policy of rebuilding and strengthening the economy without making any dramatic break with the ideology of the revolution. In 1997, Rafsanjani was succeeded by moderate reformist Mohammad Khatami, whose government attempted, unsuccessfully, to make the country more free and democratic.
The 2005 presidential election brought conservative populist candidate, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to power. By the time of the 2009 Iranian presidential election, the Interior Ministry announced incumbent President Ahmadinejad had won 62.63% of the vote, while Mir-Hossein Mousavi had come in second place with 33.75%. The election results were widely disputed, and resulted in widespread protests, both within Iran and in major cities outside the country, and the creation of the Iranian Green Movement.
Hassan Rouhani was elected as the president on 15 June 2013, defeating Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and four other candidates. The electoral victory of Rouhani relatively improved the relations of Iran with other countries.
The 2017–18 Iranian protests swept across the country against the government and its longtime Supreme Leader in response to the economic and political situation. The scale of protests throughout the country and the number of people participating were significant, and it was formally confirmed that thousands of protesters were arrested. The 2019–20 Iranian protests started on 15 November in Ahvaz, spreading across the country within hours, after the government announced increases in the fuel price of up to 300%. A week-long total Internet shutdown throughout the country marked one of the most severe Internet blackouts in any country, and in the bloodiest governmental crackdown of the protestors in the history of Islamic Republic, tens of thousands were arrested and hundreds were killed within a few days according to multiple international observers, including Amnesty International.
On 3 January 2020, the revolutionary guard's general, Qasem Soleimani, was assassinated by the United States in Iraq, which considerably heightened the existing tensions between the two countries. Three days after, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a retaliatory attack on US forces in Iraq and by accident shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing 176 civilians and leading to nation-wide protests. An international investigation led to the government admitting to the shootdown of the plane by a surface-to-air missile after three days of denial, calling it a "human error".
Presidential elections were held in Iran on 18 June 2021, the thirteenth since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Ebrahim Raisi, the then Chief Justice of Iran, was declared the winner in a highly controversial election. The election began with the mass disqualification of popular candidates by the Guardian Council, and broke records of the lowest turnout in Iranian electoral history (around 49%), as well as had the highest share of protest blank, invalid and lost votes (around 13%) despite a declaration by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, considering protest voting religiously forbidden (haraam) as it would "weaken the regime." Reporters Without Borders reported 42 cases of journalists being summoned or threatened for writing about candidates, and the chief of the police threatened people who discouraged others to vote.
The Guardian Council announced the approval of seven candidates after the wide disqualification of prominent candidates, including Ali Larijani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the former president of Iran), and Eshaq Jahangiri (the Incumbent first Vice President), among others, which provoked many activists and candidates to call for boycotting the election, including Ahmadinejad, who said that he would neither participate nor recognize the election. Hassan Rouhani, the incumbent Iranian president, could not run for re-election under the constitution of Iran as he had already served his maximum two consecutive terms.
Considered a "show election" to elect the handpicked candidate of the Iranian Supreme Leader, the elections were the first in Iranian history in which the invalid ballots (around 3.8 million) outnumbered every non-winning candidate and far outnumbered the votes received by second-placed Mohsen Rezaee. The elections were widely described as "neither free nor fair," a "sham," and a "selection" by different international human rights organizations, such as the Human Rights Watch and the Center for Human Rights in Iran, and others called for an investigation into an election which saw a person accused of crimes against humanity (referring to the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, of which Raisi was a supervisor) becoming the winner.
The Government of Iran is an Islamic theocracy which includes elements of a presidential democracy, with the ultimate authority vested in an autocratic "Supreme Leader", a position held by Ali Khamenei since Khomeini's death in 1989. The Iranian government is widely considered to be authoritarian, and has attracted widespread criticism for its significant constraints and abuses against human rights and civil liberties, including several violent suppressions of mass protests, unfair elections, and limited rights for women and children.
Iran is a regional and middle power, with a geopolitically strategic location in the Asian continent. It is a founding member of the United Nations, the ECO, the OIC, and the OPEC. It has large reserves of fossil fuels—including the world's second-largest natural gas supply and the fourth-largest proven oil reserves. The country's rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 22 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Historically a multinational state, Iran remains a pluralistic society comprising numerous ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups, the largest being Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Mazandaranis and Lurs.
Iran is a regional and middle power, with a geopolitically strategic location in the Asian continent. It is a founding member of the United Nations, the ECO, the OIC, and the OPEC. It has large reserves of fossil fuels—including the world's second-largest natural gas supply and the fourth-largest proven oil reserves. The country's rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 22 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Historically a multinational state, Iran remains a pluralistic society comprising numerous ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups, the largest being Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Mazandaranis and Lurs.
The early 20th century saw the Persian Constitutional Revolution. Efforts to nationalize its fossil fuel supply from Western companies led to an Anglo-American coup in 1953, which resulted in greater autocratic rule under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and growing Western political influence. He went on to launch a far-reaching series of reforms in 1963. After the Iranian Revolution, the current Islamic Republic was established in 1979 by Ruhollah Khomeini, who became the country's first Supreme Leader.
The immediate nationwide uprisings against the new government began with the 1979 Kurdish rebellion and the Khuzestan uprisings, along with the uprisings in Sistan and Baluchestan and other areas. Over the next several years, these uprisings were subdued in a violent manner by the new Islamic government. The new government began purging itself of the non-Islamist political opposition, as well as of those Islamists who were not considered radical enough. Although both nationalists and Marxists had initially joined with Islamists to overthrow the Shah, tens of thousands were executed by the new regime afterwards.[163] Many former ministers and officials in the Shah's government, including former prime minister Amir-Abbas Hoveyda, were executed following Khomeini's order to purge the new government of any remaining officials still loyal to the exiled Shah.
On 4 November 1979, a group of Muslim students seized the United States Embassy and took the embassy with 52 personnel and citizens hostage, after the United States refused to extradite Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to Iran, where his execution was all but assured. Attempts by the Jimmy Carter administration to negotiate for the release of the hostages, and a failed rescue attempt, helped force Carter out of office and brought Ronald Reagan to power. On Jimmy Carter's final day in office, the last hostages were finally set free as a result of the Algiers Accords. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi left the United States for Egypt, where he died of complications from cancer only months later, on 27 July 1980.
The Cultural Revolution began in 1980, with an initial closure of universities for three years, in order to perform an inspection and clean up in the cultural policy of the education and training system.
On 22 September 1980, the Iraqi army invaded the western Iranian province of Khuzestan, launching the Iran–Iraq War. Although the forces of Saddam Hussein made several early advances, by mid 1982, the Iranian forces successfully managed to drive the Iraqi army back into Iraq. In July 1982, with Iraq thrown on the defensive, the regime of Iran took the decision to invade Iraq and conducted countless offensives in a bid to conquer Iraqi territory and capture cities, such as Basra. The war continued until 1988 when the Iraqi army defeated the Iranian forces inside Iraq and pushed the remaining Iranian troops back across the border. Subsequently, Khomeini accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations. The total Iranian casualties in the war were estimated to be 123,220–160,000 KIA, 60,711 MIA, and 11,000–16,000 civilians killed.
Following the Iran–Iraq War, in 1989, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his administration concentrated on a pragmatic pro-business policy of rebuilding and strengthening the economy without making any dramatic break with the ideology of the revolution. In 1997, Rafsanjani was succeeded by moderate reformist Mohammad Khatami, whose government attempted, unsuccessfully, to make the country more free and democratic.
The 2005 presidential election brought conservative populist candidate, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to power. By the time of the 2009 Iranian presidential election, the Interior Ministry announced incumbent President Ahmadinejad had won 62.63% of the vote, while Mir-Hossein Mousavi had come in second place with 33.75%. The election results were widely disputed, and resulted in widespread protests, both within Iran and in major cities outside the country, and the creation of the Iranian Green Movement.
Hassan Rouhani was elected as the president on 15 June 2013, defeating Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and four other candidates. The electoral victory of Rouhani relatively improved the relations of Iran with other countries.
The 2017–18 Iranian protests swept across the country against the government and its longtime Supreme Leader in response to the economic and political situation. The scale of protests throughout the country and the number of people participating were significant, and it was formally confirmed that thousands of protesters were arrested. The 2019–20 Iranian protests started on 15 November in Ahvaz, spreading across the country within hours, after the government announced increases in the fuel price of up to 300%. A week-long total Internet shutdown throughout the country marked one of the most severe Internet blackouts in any country, and in the bloodiest governmental crackdown of the protestors in the history of Islamic Republic, tens of thousands were arrested and hundreds were killed within a few days according to multiple international observers, including Amnesty International.
On 3 January 2020, the revolutionary guard's general, Qasem Soleimani, was assassinated by the United States in Iraq, which considerably heightened the existing tensions between the two countries. Three days after, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a retaliatory attack on US forces in Iraq and by accident shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing 176 civilians and leading to nation-wide protests. An international investigation led to the government admitting to the shootdown of the plane by a surface-to-air missile after three days of denial, calling it a "human error".
The Guardian Council announced the approval of seven candidates after the wide disqualification of prominent candidates, including Ali Larijani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the former president of Iran), and Eshaq Jahangiri (the Incumbent first Vice President), among others, which provoked many activists and candidates to call for boycotting the election, including Ahmadinejad, who said that he would neither participate nor recognize the election. Hassan Rouhani, the incumbent Iranian president, could not run for re-election under the constitution of Iran as he had already served his maximum two consecutive terms.
Considered a "show election" to elect the handpicked candidate of the Iranian Supreme Leader, the elections were the first in Iranian history in which the invalid ballots (around 3.8 million) outnumbered every non-winning candidate and far outnumbered the votes received by second-placed Mohsen Rezaee. The elections were widely described as "neither free nor fair," a "sham," and a "selection" by different international human rights organizations, such as the Human Rights Watch and the Center for Human Rights in Iran, and others called for an investigation into an election which saw a person accused of crimes against humanity (referring to the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, of which Raisi was a supervisor) becoming the winner.
Iran is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BCE. It was first unified by the Iranian Medes in the seventh century BCE, and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BCE, when Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire, which became one of the largest empires in history and the world's first superpower. The empire fell to Alexander the Great in the fourth century BCE and was divided into several Hellenistic states. An Iranian rebellion established the Parthian Empire in the third century BCE, which was succeeded in the third century CE by the Sasanian Empire, a major world power for the next four centuries. Arab Muslims conquered the empire in the seventh century CE, which led to the Islamization of Iran. It subsequently becoming a major center of Islamic culture and learning, with its art, literature, philosophy, and architecture spreading across the Muslim world and beyond during the Islamic Golden Age. Over the next two centuries, a series of native Muslim dynasties emerged before the Seljuq Turks and the Mongols conquered the region. In the 15th century, the native Safavids re-established a unified Iranian state and national identity and converted the country to Shia Islam. Under the reign of Nader Shah in the 18th century, Iran once again became a major world power, though by the 19th century a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses.
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sī vīs pācem, parā bellum
igitur quī dēsīderat pācem praeparet bellum therefore, he who desires peace, let him prepare for war sī vīs pācem, parā bellum if you wan...
