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- NYT: ‘Why Does No One Care About the World Cup This Year?’
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- Carl von Clausewitz: An Intellectual Biography
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* ‘I’m So Trained’: How The Credential Society Burned Down the Palisades (12-28-25)
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Category Archives: Iran
Why do elites argue that Iran’s war plans are super rational and coolly calculating while Trump’s plans are impulsive and crazy?
The contrast between the “Rational Iran” and “Irrational Trump” narratives is a perfect example of what David Pinsof calls patchwork narratives. These are moral or intellectual stories created on the fly to support a specific alliance’s status. The Logic of … Continue reading
NYT: In War’s First Week, a Punishing Military Campaign With No Coherent Endgame
The New York Times reports: “The U.S. and Israel have pounded Iran’s leadership and undercut its defense capabilities, but President Trump has offered wildly different explanations for what he hopes to achieve.” The blob aka the foreign policy establishment places … Continue reading
When The Search For Meaning Leads To War
Ross Douthat writes in the NYT: The best essay for understanding right-wing support for Donald Trump’s war against Iran was published in National Review in 2023, at the 20th anniversary of the Iraq invasion. Written by Tanner Greer, a conservative … Continue reading
The Leading Iran Experts
Academic and Policy Scholars Afshon Ostovar: An Associate Chair at the Naval Postgraduate School and FPRI Fellow, Ostovar is widely cited for his expertise on the IRGC and Iranian military strategy. He recently provided extensive commentary on the limitations of … Continue reading
Where Do The Elites Get Their Iran War Info?
I’ll group them by the real prestige ecosystems that feed decision makers. Think of them as different alliance clusters in the information market. 1. The “insider strategy” publications These are read by Pentagon staff, intelligence analysts, and think-tank people. Many … Continue reading
Decoding Iran Expert Hassan Ahmadian
Hassan Ahmadian is best understood through David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory as the internal-regime interpreter who explains the strategic logic of the Islamic Republic to foreign audiences. Most Iran analysts I have been decoding sit outside the Iranian state ecosystem. Ahmadian … Continue reading
Decoding Iran Expert Arman Mahmoudian
Arman Mahmoudian is best understood through David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory as the technical logistics interpreter for Iran’s military endurance problem. Farzin Nadimi explains Iranian weapons systems and hardware. Afshon Ostovar explains the IRGC as an institution and political actor. Mahmoudian … Continue reading
Decoding Iran Expert Jay Solomon
Jay Solomon is best understood through David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory as the investigative historian of the U.S.–Iran conflict for the Western policy-media ecosystem. He occupies a different niche from the think-tank analysts and academics you’ve been decoding. Solomon spent decades … Continue reading
Decoding Iran Expert Avi Melamed
Avi Melamed is best understood through David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory as the regional intelligence interpreter who translates Middle Eastern political psychology for Western and Israeli audiences. His role differs from academic Iran specialists. He does not primarily produce scholarly research. … Continue reading
Decoding Iran Expert Farzin Nadimi
Farzin Nadimi is best understood through David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory as the technical battlefield interpreter for the hawkish Iran policy coalition. His job is not primarily to debate grand strategy. His role is to explain what is actually happening to … Continue reading