A Political Refugee From The Global Village

Wednesday, 4 March 2026

Not a single death in this unnecessary war can be justified

Vladimir Putin on television:

"And now other markets are opening up. And perhaps it would be more profitable for us to stop supplying the European market right now. To move into those markets that are opening up and establish ourselves ‌there. But this is not a decision, it is, in this case, what is called thinking out loud. ⁠I will definitely instruct the government to work on this issue together with our companies."

Trita Parsi 15 minutes ago

"Rather than declaring victory (having killed the Supreme Leader), Trump has decided to throw good money after bad, but now with an even more shocking plan: Arming Kurdish separatists in Iran and, most likely, also sending US troops into Iran through the Kurdish areas together with Israeli special forces. What was supposed to be a 48-hour air campaign is fast deteriorating into a land invasion with US troops on the ground.

"Neither the Iranians nor Trump will back down in the next few days. Trump thinks he can turn the tables on Iran with his Kurdish plan, and Tehran believes a land invasion will help unify the population against invaders and separatists. Both believe they can absorb and sustain the casualties, which likely will be massive. Yet, not a single death in this unnecessary war can be justified."

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić yesterday:

"Everyone in Europe will be in hell if this continues. It's vital for people that the Strait of Hormuz remains open."

What they said

Glenn Diesen

@Glenn_Diesen

The US is giving Tehran the Gaza treatment. Only a few days ago, the US political-media establishment was shedding crocodile tears over Iranian protesters

“The Iranian head of state was not only liquidated by a precision strike — this act was also hailed as a triumphant achievement and a blessing for future conflict resolution. Ali Khamenei was, according to his country’s laws, the legitimate supreme authority of a UN member state that is internationally recognised almost universally and participates as a full-fledged actor in world affairs — including political negotiations with the very states that brought about his death.

"The fact that one state deliberately assassinates the head of another state and does so according to the same scheme used to eliminate leaders of terrorist cells or drug cartels gives world politics a completely new, dangerous dimension. "This is true even in comparison to previous regime changes and their violent endpoints, such as the lynching of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya or the execution of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Although both events resulted from external military interventions, Gaddafi died at the hands of Libyan adversaries amid internal unrest. Saddam Hussein, on the other hand, came to an end through a ruling by an Iraqi court — despite legitimate doubts about the objectivity of this procedure. "The case of Iran marks the transition to a method that Israel has so far practiced primarily against the leadership of Hezbollah and Hamas. The United States now fully supports this approach."

Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the magazine

Alan MacLeod

@AlanRMacLeod

This is just one trick media use to manufacture consent for war.

Today

"In recent discussions about how the Foreign Office could improve productivity with AI, some senior colleagues were more concerned with the need for an environmental impact assessment than for any proposed gains. Colleagues in the Department for International Development (now merged with the Foreign Office) justified to me their refusal to limit working from home to two days a week on the grounds that they didn’t want to work in a “colonial” office building." Ameer Kotecha who is resigning from the the British Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in The Times today.

Alan Lester

@aljhlester

A really odd thing has happened to British conservatism. It has surrendered its national sovereignty and become part of the MAGA cult.