Dr Bamo Nouri
@bamonouri.bsky.social
#OneYoungWorld Ambassador, Author 'Elite theory and the 2003 Iraq Occupation by the United States: How US corporate elites created Iraq's political system'
‘A scenario involving significant US casualties would also undermine the “America First” approach associated with Donald Trump, esp at a time when domestic political & economic pressures in the US are already high, & public tolerance for costly foreign entanglements is low.’
January 14, 2026 at 4:01 PM
‘A scenario involving significant US casualties would also undermine the “America First” approach associated with Donald Trump, esp at a time when domestic political & economic pressures in the US are already high, & public tolerance for costly foreign entanglements is low.’
‘Adjusting troop levels is therefore a precautionary move to reduce vulnerability and protect personnel in a moment of heightened risk, reflecting realism about how Iran has behaved in past confrontations rather than any loss of US commitment to the region.
January 14, 2026 at 4:01 PM
‘Adjusting troop levels is therefore a precautionary move to reduce vulnerability and protect personnel in a moment of heightened risk, reflecting realism about how Iran has behaved in past confrontations rather than any loss of US commitment to the region.
‘US planners are acutely aware that if Iran were attacked, it would almost certainly respond, and history shows that response would most likely involve strikes on nearby US military bases rather than on the US mainland,’
January 14, 2026 at 4:01 PM
‘US planners are acutely aware that if Iran were attacked, it would almost certainly respond, and history shows that response would most likely involve strikes on nearby US military bases rather than on the US mainland,’
I argue that a missile strike won’t break the regime, it will solidify it & true solidarity with Iran lies not in dramatic intervention, but in principled restraint & grounded support for Iranian civil society. Democracy can't be imposed - especially not at the point of a missile.
January 13, 2026 at 4:43 PM
I argue that a missile strike won’t break the regime, it will solidify it & true solidarity with Iran lies not in dramatic intervention, but in principled restraint & grounded support for Iranian civil society. Democracy can't be imposed - especially not at the point of a missile.
And yet, military escalation risks reframing it as exactly that - giving the regime the excuse it needs to escalate repression even further.
January 13, 2026 at 4:43 PM
And yet, military escalation risks reframing it as exactly that - giving the regime the excuse it needs to escalate repression even further.
The current protest movement in Iran is decentralised, civic-led, and powered by women and marginalised groups - especially in Kurdish regions. It is not a foreign project.
January 13, 2026 at 4:43 PM
The current protest movement in Iran is decentralised, civic-led, and powered by women and marginalised groups - especially in Kurdish regions. It is not a foreign project.
That’s why many Iranians today reject foreign-backed figures like Reza Pahlavi - not because of who they are as individuals, but because of what they represent: monarchy, exile politics, and external agendas disconnected from local struggles.
January 13, 2026 at 4:43 PM
That’s why many Iranians today reject foreign-backed figures like Reza Pahlavi - not because of who they are as individuals, but because of what they represent: monarchy, exile politics, and external agendas disconnected from local struggles.
The Shah’s authoritarian reign that followed left behind a legacy of trauma and distrust that still shapes Iranian political consciousness today.
January 13, 2026 at 4:43 PM
The Shah’s authoritarian reign that followed left behind a legacy of trauma and distrust that still shapes Iranian political consciousness today.
#Iran is not a blank slate. In 1953, the CIA and MI6 overthrew a democratically elected government led by Mohammad Mossadegh - not to promote democracy, but to protect oil interests.
January 13, 2026 at 4:43 PM
#Iran is not a blank slate. In 1953, the CIA and MI6 overthrew a democratically elected government led by Mohammad Mossadegh - not to promote democracy, but to protect oil interests.
As #Washington weighs military responses to Iran’s brutal crackdown on protesters, the real question is not whether the US has tools - but whether any of them will actually work, and what unintended consequences may follow.
January 13, 2026 at 4:43 PM
As #Washington weighs military responses to Iran’s brutal crackdown on protesters, the real question is not whether the US has tools - but whether any of them will actually work, and what unintended consequences may follow.
The piece examines the limits of #US foreign policy toward Iran and the dangerous allure of interventionism - especially in moments of legitimate, organic domestic protest.
January 13, 2026 at 4:43 PM
The piece examines the limits of #US foreign policy toward Iran and the dangerous allure of interventionism - especially in moments of legitimate, organic domestic protest.
Add #Iraq, #Afghanistan, #Syria; intervention hollowed states or empowered armed actors. Escalation risks turning protest into proxy war, not change. Support civil society - don’t rewrite it as a security threat.
January 12, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Add #Iraq, #Afghanistan, #Syria; intervention hollowed states or empowered armed actors. Escalation risks turning protest into proxy war, not change. Support civil society - don’t rewrite it as a security threat.
History matters. #Iran was a #democracy. In 1953, a CIA-backed coup overthrew PM #Mossadegh and installed the Shah - ushering in decades of repression. That trauma still shapes how Iranians hear Western talk of “freedom.”
January 12, 2026 at 1:39 PM
History matters. #Iran was a #democracy. In 1953, a CIA-backed coup overthrew PM #Mossadegh and installed the Shah - ushering in decades of repression. That trauma still shapes how Iranians hear Western talk of “freedom.”
When the moral alibi expires, power stands exposed. And that - not decline - is what makes this moment so unsettling.
December 22, 2025 at 1:58 PM
When the moral alibi expires, power stands exposed. And that - not decline - is what makes this moment so unsettling.
The world hasn’t become what the West claimed it could make it. It has become proof that the claim itself was never necessary.
December 22, 2025 at 1:58 PM
The world hasn’t become what the West claimed it could make it. It has become proof that the claim itself was never necessary.
This doesn’t mean power politics or repression have disappeared. It means the moral language that once justified intervention no longer persuades.
December 22, 2025 at 1:58 PM
This doesn’t mean power politics or repression have disappeared. It means the moral language that once justified intervention no longer persuades.
What links these cases isn’t ideology - but outcomes. Safety, efficiency, cultural confidence, and global relevance are no longer Western monopolies.
December 22, 2025 at 1:58 PM
What links these cases isn’t ideology - but outcomes. Safety, efficiency, cultural confidence, and global relevance are no longer Western monopolies.
Across East Asia, #Japan, #Singapore, and #China demonstrate safety, prosperity, and innovation without conforming to Western liberal orthodoxies long treated as universal.
December 22, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Across East Asia, #Japan, #Singapore, and #China demonstrate safety, prosperity, and innovation without conforming to Western liberal orthodoxies long treated as universal.
Even more uncomfortable for Orientalist thinking: political innovation in places still framed only through violence. In northeast Syria, #Kurdish women’s co-leadership structures and autonomous councils challenge assumptions about governance capacity.
December 22, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Even more uncomfortable for Orientalist thinking: political innovation in places still framed only through violence. In northeast Syria, #Kurdish women’s co-leadership structures and autonomous councils challenge assumptions about governance capacity.
Governance without Western tutelage is also visible. Oman’s stability. Jordan’s resilience despite hosting vast refugee populations. These outcomes contradict decades of predictions of inevitable collapse.
December 22, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Governance without Western tutelage is also visible. Oman’s stability. Jordan’s resilience despite hosting vast refugee populations. These outcomes contradict decades of predictions of inevitable collapse.