Iran’s Crisis of Legitimacy

An Embattled Regime Faces Mass Protests—and an Ailing Supreme Leader

Early this month, the Iranian rumor mill cranked into overdrive amid reports that Iran’s 83-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who survived prostate cancer surgery in 2014, was again gravely ill. On September 16, the New York Times reported that emergency bowel surgery had left Khamenei bedridden and too frail to sit upright, citing four anonymous sources said to be “familiar with his health situation.” In the wilder corners of Persian-language social media, claims that Khamenei was on his deathbed gave way to speculation that he had already died. As has happened for more than a decade, such rumors quickly morphed into feverish conjecture about how Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the body of 88 Islamic jurists who choose the supreme leader, would select Khamenei’s successor and lively debate over the relative merits of the clerics jockeying for the role.

Sudan’s Stalled ‘Transition’ Could Create a Failed State

Next month will mark the one-year anniversary of Sudan’s military coup, which toppled the transitional government created in 2019 after the overthrow of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir. Almost a year after Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s military chief, announced what he described as his “corrective measures,” the country is faced not just with a stalemated transition but also a chaotic, paralyzed political landscape.

Iraqi parliament speaker resigns

Iraqi parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi resigned from his post but is expected to be re-elected.

The Iraqi parliament announced today that it will hold a session on Sept. 28 to vote on parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi’s resignation.

Halbusi was elected last January by the triple alliance of Shiite Sadrists, the Sunni Taqaddum bloc and the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Syrian opposition launches program to teach Kurdish language in Aleppo

Syrian Kurds in the areas of the Syrian opposition welcomed the decision to launch a program to teach the Kurdish language at the opposition-affiliated Free Aleppo University in the city of Azaz.

The Free Aleppo University, affiliated with the Syrian opposition’s Interim Government, in Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo has started a training program for teaching the Kurdish language.

Are Turkish drones complicating disputes in Central Asia?

Kyrgyzstan’s use of Turkish drones in a border dispute with Tajikistan leaves Turkey in a tight spot on how to balance its ties in Central Asia, a region where it has long sought to expand its influence.

Turkey’s efforts to add strategic depth to its ties with Central Asia appear to have hit a stumbling block, albeit not a big one, amid controversy over Kyrgyzstan’s use of Turkish combat drones in border clashes with Tajikistan.

Seven Things To Know About Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s Likely New Catholic PM

Italy’s national elections on Sept. 25 ended with Giorgia Meloni, a Catholic mother, poised to become the country’s first female prime minister.

In the snap elections — called after former prime minister Mario Draghi’s unity government collapsed due to economic and military tensions — Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party captured the most votes at around 26%, skyrocketing from a roughly 4% share four years ago.

A Return To Austerity In Europe: Feasible Or Fictional? – Analysis

Inflationary pressure, rising levels of public debt and the fading post-pandemic recovery may suggest the premature adoption of policies for fiscal consolidation. However, the international economic outlook and the geopolitical situation created by the war in Ukraine rule out a return to the model of growth that emerged from the financial crisis in 2008-10.

Melonissolini!

İtalya’da erken genel seçimlerin ilk sonucu şaşırtıcı değil. Faşist lider Mussolini’nin ardılı olarak kabul edilen İtalya’nın Kardeşleri Partisi (Fdl) lideri Meloni oyların yüzde 26’sını aldı. İçinde bulunduğu aşırı sağ ittifak yüzde 44 civarında oy aldı, hükümeti çok büyük olasılıkla bu yelpaze kuracak.

Fdl 2018’de aldığı yüzde 4.4 oyu, altı kat artırdı.