Evidence Collection as Propaganda

Jan 18, 2026

Students of propaganda learned a great deal about the evolution of their subject matter from the multi-decade Western regime-change operation in Syria, especially as this played out from 2011 onwards.

Perhaps the fundamental lesson is that subtle propaganda is not so much about the message or, perhaps, is about the message only at the end of a much longer process. Rather, the main deal is about purposefully shaping “reality,” and perceptions of reality, or even creating a new reality, or simulacrum thereof. This is intended to impact interpretations of “evidence” by selected audiences by means of representations fed to mainstream media that are pre-primed (through corporate ownership, transactional deals with power, preferred ways of doing journalism, recruitment and training) to align with how the interests of the main centers of power would like events to be interpreted (despite various obfuscations, distractions and narrow windows of permitted “controversy” and and “disagreement” that serve to disguise the fundamental alignment). This does not mean that these strategies are always successful.

In Syria they included secretive Western backing of armed jihadi groups with whose ideology the West was supposed to be in opposition; the provision of training and education in “public relations” to these armed groups so as to supply a steady stream of “information” to shape the mainstream media narrative in conditions of great danger to both mainstream and alternative journalists alike; the creation of supposed humanitarian relief organizations that were actually tied to jihadi groups and which on occasions aided and abetted jihadi false-flag operations, sometimes in the supply “evidence” for the benefit of Western investigators. Humanitarian relief operations as propaganda also dovetailed with Western investigations and legal manouvers to support preferred Western narratives. The money was often channelled or, should one say, laundered from government agencies to “NGOs,” usually not far distant from Western intelligence organizations.

Within the panoply of such organizations was one highlighted in recent days by The Gray Zone and by Kit Klarenberg namely: The Commission for International Justice and Accountability, which had operated in Syria and now operated in Ukraine.

“The Grayzone exposed how the Commission for International Justice and Accountability concocted a malign scheme to blackmail and intimidate EU anti-fraud agency OLAF, and the European Commission. Established in close coordination with CIA and MI6 officials to prosecute Syrian officials for alleged war crimes, CIJA was by EU regulators to be criminally corrupt…the Commission has ben irrefutably implicated in evidence tampering and inducement of false testimony to secure wrongful arrests and prosecutions related to its work in Damascus.”

Klarenberg (Klarenberg) examined leaked documents that showed how CIJA had taken on a secret role in the Ukraine proxy war since 2022. Further, he claims, individuals and organisations intimately tied to the Commission were implicated in clandestine British intelligence efforts to assist Kiev in perpetrating atrocities.

CIJA’s operations identified by OLAF was that the Commission was indivisible from Tsamota, a legally separate company founded by its chief William Wiley. Grant money given to one entity could be surreptitiously funnelled to the other, for illicit profit. Furthermore, contrary to CIJA’s professed commitment to international justice, Tsamota advised Western mining corporations on how to limit and evade their legal liabilities in the event they committed or were implicated in serious crimes. A veteran Tsamota operative was posted to Kiev’s Prosecutor General’s Office, and led the supply of extensive clandestine British military and intelligence support to Ukraine. This included monitoring the country’s “pro-Russian contingent” - individuals routinely targeted by the SBU for arbitrary detention, torture, false conviction and murder.

Wiley had proposed to the EU Commission and OLAF that his organizations should covertly insert or recruit assets in both entities who could illicitly provide the Commission with “internal emails” and “documentation.”

Wiley had been interviewed by the BBC in 2022 about the Bucha massacre, and about methods for investigating atrocities purportedly committed by Russian forces in the city. In Klarenberg’s estimation Wiley defensively dismissed any insinuation that a Ukrainian investigation of Bucha “would be a stitch-up.” In March 2025 Ukrainian police charged 34 Russians for war crimes allegedly committed in the city, in absentia.

No international investigation into Bucha has materialised. An emergency UN Security Council meeting on the incident proposed by Russia was blocked by Britain. Moscow’s request for the names of the alleged victims to be published have been ignored. Bucha was exploited by then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to sabotage peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and keep the proxy war grinding on.

The Commission has contributed to few legal actions in 14 years of operation.
Throughout the West’s dirty war against Damascus it fed mainstream media with material that formed the basis of investigsations into purported Syrian government atrocities.

In November 2022,

“The Grayzone exposed how Prevail Partners, a private sector cutout staffed by British military and intelligence veterans, was leading a covert effort to create and train a vast Operation Gladio-style Ukrainian terror army to carry out assassinations, sabotage and other dirty work behind enemy lines on behalf of the SBU’s Odessa branch. Prevail colluded in this venture with a shadowy company named Thomas In Winslow (TIW). In the wake of that exposé, TIW’s website was subject to an intensive cleanup”.

TIW was said to have ongoing “war crimes investigation” and “justice sector capacity building” programs in place locally, in conjunction with Kiev’s Attorney General and the President’s Office. “All data collected” by its expert team “will be shared…and archived for future use,” TIW pledged.

A subsequent “capability proposal” to SBU included domestic operations against Ukraine’s “pro-Russian contingent,” involving the tracking and monitoring of devices, improved technology to intercept and monitor social media, messaging, emails, smart phone transmissions.” Assistance in this field was subsequently provided in the form of technology that identifies individual smartphone users and monitors their movements. The SBU sought technology to access electronic information contained in captured smart phones.

In June Kiev and the Council of Europe signed an agreement to establish a “Special Tribunal” to prosecute Russian officials for war crimes. The CIJA will likely be barred from directly participating. CIJA’s malicious targeting of the EU Commission and OLAF as landed it on an EU blacklist and is unable to secure contracts from Brussels and other international donors. But it remains protected by Western governments as it remains a dependable source of atrocity propaganda, with which Anglo-American imperialism can be consistently justified.

De-Escalating Prior to Escalating

Oliver Boyd-Barrett

Jan 17, 2026

Iran

While there seems little reason to doubt that the protests in Iran have subsided, there is very good reason to think that there will be further action by the US and by Israel against Iran. While 3,000 protestors are reported to remain in Iranian custody, it appears that Iran, probably in response to assertions from US President Trump that to do so would be a pretext for strong, immediate US retaliation, has drawn back from earlier threats that it would proceed to executions.

The US is nonetheless still in the process of sending further military and naval assets to the region led by the USS Abraham Lincoln, currently heading from the South China Sea towards the Middle East/U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area. As always, there remains the constraining factor of a potential shut-down of, or severe interruption to, the flow of oil (20% of global oil trade) through the Strait of Hormuz, although there are conflicting assessments of whether Iran actually does have this capability. China’s dependence on Iranian oil for a significant percentage (13-16%) of its entire consumption is something always to keep in mind.

The relative if temporary return to normalcy may be a result of Russian and/or Chinese intervention in providing the technology for the jamming of Starlinks communications, in the context of the shutting down of the internet in Iran, which allowed for the coordination of demonstrations and attacks by protestors. Russia may also have been instrumental in advising Tehran against executions and advising the West to back off. The ensuing calm signals the failure of what even some Western mainstream media ackowledge to have been an attempt at regime-change involving Israeli and US operatives, building on what were initially authentic protests against the sharp increase in prices when the value of the rial suddenly plunged on December 28.

That Vladimir Putin has been talking with both President Netanyahu of Israel and President Pezeshkian of Iran might signal scope for further diplomacy and de-escalation. But hostility to Iran from both Israel (which sees Iran as one of the strongest restraints on Israel’s bid to build a Greater Israel, encompassing huge swathes of land across the Middle East and in North East Africa - a development that has gathered speed with the fall of Assad in Syria, Israel’s invasion of both southern Lebanon and Syria, and its support for the secessionist Somaliland) and the US, which regards Israel as its proxy bully boy in the region and which is itself deeply permeated with pro-Zionist elements within the US administration and the wider US citizenry, counsels against expectations of an actual termination of this feature of US-Israeli foreign policy any time soon.

While the strength of the current government structure of Iran - much more democratic, by the way, than almost any Western leader will concede - is perenially underrated by Western pundits, Iran is surely weaker now than it was prior to the 12-day war last June, even if it has rebuilt its stocks of missiles and recovered some of its air defense capabilities. This is not simply because of the continuing impact of sanctions (most lately a threat of a 25% additional tariff on Iranian trade with countries that also trade with the US) and deeper economic difficulties that it experiences but also because of the grave challenges of water shortage and of pollution. Additionally there have been negative developments along its northeren border.

The proposed trading route in Armenia, often referred to as the Zangezur corridor, potentially cuts off Iran’s land access to the South Caucasus and introduces Western militsry/security influence. Iran views the potential presence of U.S. or other Western (NATO-linked) security forces or companies along its northern border in Armenia’s Syunik region as a direct national security threat. Given the close ties between the U.S., Azerbaijan, and Israel, Tehran is concerned about a reinforced Israeli intelligence and security presence along its frontier, which could be used to harm Iran’s national security interests. Iranian officials worry, further, that the corridor is part of a broader strategy by the U.S., NATO, and Turkey to encircle Iran, sever its connection to the Caucasus and Russia, and impose a “land blockade” from the south. The corridor, by creating a direct link between Azerbaijan’s main territory and its Nakhchivan exclave (and on to Turkey and Europe) that bypasses Iran, would deprive Tehran of lucrative transit fees and diminish its role as a regional trade route. Iran fears losing its only friendly land link with Armenia, which provides crucial access to the wider South Caucasus region, Georgia’s Black Sea ports, and ultimately the European market. By diminishing its economic and transit importance, the project could weaken Iran’s overall political and economic leverage in the South Caucasus, allowing Turkish and Azerbaijani influence to expand at Iran’s expense. The project is seen as part of a larger push (including other initiatives like the “Middle Corridor”) to exclude Iran from major international trade arteries like China’s Belt and Road Initiative, leading to potential “geopolitical suffocation” Hardline Iranian figures view the establishment of a “corridor” under extraterritorial control as a violation of Armenia’s sovereignty and a potential step toward its disintegration. There are anxieties that increased interaction with kin in Azerbaijan and Turkey facilitated by the corridor could inflame ethnic tensions among Iran’s large Turkic population and incite separatist movements within the country.

Armenia has offered assurances that the route will remain under its full control and no third-party military presence will be permitted, but the potential for a new U.S. presence and the strategic bypass of Iranian territory remain central to Tehran’s strong opposition. In addition, recent developments in Azerbaijan, particularly its strengthening ties with Israel and the West, a more assertive foreign policy post-Karabakh, and rhetoric about Iranian Azerbaijanis who occupy a major area of northwest Iran, pose significant security and strategic threats to Iran, fueling tensions over regional influence, border security, and potential instability, leading to concerns about proxy conflicts and territorial integrity.

Iran views Azerbaijan’s close military and energy cooperation with Israel as a direct security threat, potentially allowing Israeli influence on its borders. Azerbaijan’s growing regional power, backed by Turkey and Israel, challenges Iran’s traditional dominance in the South Caucasus, disrupting shared interests with Russia and creating a more assertive regional landscape. Baku’s rhetoric about the large Azerbaijani ethnic group in Iran raises concerns in Tehran about separatist movements and potential instability within its borders

There has been recent, escalating rhetoric from leaders on both sides, including accusations of airspace violations and support for adversaries, countered by increased military exercises by Iran near the border as a warning signal.

Russia

The problematic implications for both Russia and Iran of recent developments in Armenia and Azerbaijan (sometimes connecting to Georgia) are threats not only to Iran but also to Russia. They may have contributed in a small way to the increase in volume from Russian President Vladimir Putin as to what for Russia has been fundamental to the four year conflict between Ukraine/NATO and Russia over Ukraine namely, that Russian security interests need to be taken into account through some form of international dialog concerning the reshaping of Europe’s security architecture (although, as developments in the southern Caucasus might indicate, one might argue that it is the umbrella security architecture of the whole of EurAsia that first needs attention).

This was what Russia was insisting on in December 2021. Western disdain for Russian eagerness for talks on a new European security architecture, along with its disregard of Russian concerns about US siting of intermediate missiles in Romania and Poland and, potentiallym in Ukraine, as well as the growing pressure of the Ukrainian army on the independent republics of the Donbass, are what started this war over Ukraine in 2022 and why Russia considers that it was provoked into war in February that year. It was clear that war was inevitable, so Russia chose to fight it on its own terms as represented by the Special Military Operation rather than just wait for conditions to grow even less favorable for Russia.

Putin has been talking this week of seeing signs in Italy, France and, especially Germany, that European leaders may have, at last, come round to the view that it would be sensible for them to talk with Russia, and even to appoint a European negotiator.

A couple of days ago, I talked of how Russia is a more natural and a safer ally for Europe than the US, but I was skeptical that any of this current generation of European leaders could bring themselves to see this. I am still skeptical, but the fact that some major European leaders are actually contemplating the possibility of direct dialog suggests that a significant change may be taking place in European-US- Russian relations as it becomes increasingly possible that a seizure or, for that matter, a purchase of Greenland by the US would entail the collapse of NATO and freeze relations between Europe and the US. This would provide an off-ramp for European leaders searching for a reason, finally, to bring an end to the flow of European tax-payer wealth to Ukraine, something that Europe cannot afford and is not in a position to go to direct war over.

This will not happen overnight. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is still talking, unbelievably, about seizing frozen Russian assets. This is because French President Macron has withdrawn support for the 90 billion Euro loan that was recently agreed by the Commission as a substitute for the seizure of Russian assets as collateral for a 140 billion loan. Von der Leyen has therefore returned to the notion of the Russian assets being a last resort in the event that Ukraine is unable to repay the loan or that European governments are unable or unwilling to repay the loan, or that Russia refuses to repay the loan - as some form of Russian “reparations” payment. But none of this even addresses the legal concerns and sensible worries about European financial credibility that torpedoed the possibility of a Commission-wide commitment to seizure of the assets in the first place. And what kind of lender will want to take the legal risks?

Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, Colombia

Amid White House claims that Acting President Dilcy Rodriguez is doing whatever she is asked by the US, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned Trump not to trust her, calling her a “bad actor.” This might conceivably be a play to restore the chances of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, whose gifting of her Nobel peace prize medal to Trump this week (in violation of the Nobel committee’s own rules) must count as one of the more extraordinarily grovelling acts of sychophancy to one of the most extraordinarily narcissistic and vain leaders the world has ever seen.

Pompeo’s worry notwithstanding, Rodriguez has done Trump a huge favor, first by releasing the first batch of detained foreign nationals and, more significantly for the US, submitting a proposal to reform the country’s hydrocarbon law, as investors in the U.S. push for easier access to the South American country’s oil industry. Rodriguez said the reforms would “allow these investment flows to be incorporated into new fields, fields where no investment has ever been made and into fields where there is no infrastructure.”

Bending to US will this may be, but one should also take into account that it goes no further than anything it seems that Maduro was prepared to do before his being kidnapped, and is arguably in Venezuela’s best interest anyway. The New York Daily News has reported that the White House has stashed millions of dollars from sales of Venezuelan oil in Qatari banks, money that Trump complains is under his control (so much for US democracy), raising huge questions about how the money will be allocated and if Congress and the American public will have a say. An estimated $500 million from the first Venezuelan oil sales has already been deposited. American officials are reported to be seeking to broker sales of up to 50 million barrels. The purpose of using offshore accounts could be to keep the cash out of the hands of Venezuela’s creditors.

Cuba continues to suffer increased food and energy shortages as a result of the cessation of Venezuelan oil to Cuba at subsidized prices. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canal led large demonstrations yesterday in Havana in protest against the slaying of 32 Cuban nationals in Maduro’s bodyguard team during the US abduction of the President and his wife. Venezuelan oil accounted for about a third of Cuba’s supply; with its own oil accounting for a quarter. Some of the shortage is being made up with purchases from Mexico which probably cannot be sustained. There is a good chance that Cuba will look to Russia to resolve its difficulty.

Vulnerable to Washington already, amidst increasingly aggressive US pressure on Mexico to allow US land-strikes against Mexican drug cartels, Mexico is kow-towing to Washington on the imposition of 50% tariffs on 1400 categories of imports from China. Colombia too, is playing a similar game, with President Petro anxious to secure a meeting with Trump, about which we will learn more in due course.

Ukraine

There are no signs of any relaxation in Ukraine’s continuing insistence on a “peace plan” that is utterly unacceptable to Russia. But in the meantime there are indications of unusually severe pressure on Ukrainian energy facilities as a result of ever more damaging Russian missile and drone strikes, leading to prolonged blackouts in Kiev and in other major Ukrainian cities and, worse even, the shut-down of supermarkets that are similarly unable to function, that the prospect of a total economic collapse is more real now than it has ever been. In the absence of any prospect of elections in the forseeable future, Zelenskiy’s grip on power remains tight although perhaps more conditional than it was on the goodwill of long-time sponsors, such as Britain that is promising long-range missiles that will enable Ukraine (or Britain itself, more likely) to strike further into the Russian heartland. It is being speculated that former Ukrainian military chief Zaluzhnyi might resign his UK ambassadorship to take on a key role in Kyiv, potentially heading security or intelligence, with significant interest from both UK and Ukrainian sides in his future.

Imperial Connections for 01.15.2026

Oliver Boyd-Barrett

Jan 16, 2026

9/11

24 years after 9/11, 15 Still Imprisoned In US Military Prison At Guantanamo

Popular Resistance

Europe

Europe’s cannon fodder: Introduction and expansion of conscription in numerous EU countries

WSWS

Gaza

Winter Cold and Collapsing Buildings Kill Palestinians in Gaza as Israel Blocks Shelter Supplies

Drop Site

Greenland

The Transatlantic Order is Cracking! Can Russia Save Greenland and Europe, amid American Threats?

Global Research

Denmark rejects US “conquering Greenland,” as NATO countries send troops

WSWS

Greenland Is The Crown Jewel Of “Fortress America”

Pressenza

Honduras

Who Governs Honduras?

Popular Resistance

ICE

Trump threatens to deploy troops to Minnesota: What is the Insurrection Act?

The Hill

The Minneapolis Crucible

Krugman

Exclusive: Secret ICE Programs Revealed

Klippenstein

Iran

Encouraging News: Lindsey Graham Looks HEARTBROKEN About Iran

Caitlin

Would-Be Iran Monarch Reza Pahlavi Declares a Civil War in Iran

Intercept

How The West Has Stolen Iran’s Sovereignty For Centuries

Popular Resistance

Iranian Intelligence Seizes US-Made Weapons, Explosives

Popular Resistance

Mossad Spycraft: Engineered Protests in Tehran: Psychological Warfare

Global Research

Israel

Maccabi Tel Aviv thugs - we’re being gaslit

Jones

Keir Starmer to rule over Gaza?

Declassified

Middle East

The Wheels Come off the CW Narrative: Douma 2018 and the OPCW Whistleblowers: Part Five

Robinson

IntelliNews: Egypt Outlook Report - 2026

Intellinews

Russia

If Europe starts attacking Russian cargo ships, all bets are off

Lieven

Ukraine

CIA/MI6 Lawfare Op Aids Ukrainian Atrocities

Klarenberg

Putin attempting to freeze Ukraine into surrender

IntelliNews

France blocks the use the €90bn EU loan to buy US weapons, insists on Europe-only supplies

IntelliNews

US announces Phase II of Gaza peace deal amid Israeli concerns

IntelliNews

A Cruel Truce: Israel’s Ongoing Demolition of Gaza

Countercurrents

US Announces Launch of Phase Two of Trump’s 20-Point Gaza Ceasefire Plan

Countercurrents

A War without Headlines: Israel’s Shock-and-Awe Campaign in the West Bank

Countercurrents

Venezuela

Senate Republicans block effort to limit further U.S. action in Venezuela; Witkoff announces “Phase Two” of U.S. plan for Gaza

Drop Site

U.S. Races to Sell Venezuelan Oil, Transforming Ties With Former Foe

NYT

The Bush Family and the Mexican Drug Cartel

Global Research

How New Venezuela President Will Save Us from Trump’s Crazy

Palast

Venezuela - ‘War Is Peace’

Media Lens

Western Media Whitewashes Deadly Riots In Iran

Popular Resistance

Western Mainstream Media and the Emerging "Greater USA" and "Greater Israel" Complex

Oliver Boyd-Barrett

Jan 14, 2026

Iran

Following our experience of Western mainstream media’s almost exclusive conduiting of official Western sources on “WMD” prior to the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 and numerous other media’s incontestably grovelling obeisance to power in Western interventions worldwide at least since Vietnam, through to Grenada 1983, Panama 1989, Yugoslavia 1999, WTC in 2001 and the invasion of Afghanistan 2001, Georgia’s invasion of Ossetia in 2008, NATO bombing of Libya in 2011, Western regime-change shennanigans in Syria from 2011, and in Ukraine from 2004 through 2014 and onwards, its virtually eternal parroting of Israeli narratives of the colonial reality in Palestine since even before Israel’s founding in 1948 and, of course, of the genocide in Gaza since 2024; and equally eternal rabbiting on about Iran (which has no nuclear weapons) being a “nuclear threat,” (while largely quiet about Israel’s own illegal nuclear armory), why should we expect anything remotely different when it comes to Iran?

A Reuters report yesterday cited an anonymous Iranian official source to the effect that 2,000 had been killed in the wave of recent “protests” in Iran, of whom the vast majority had been members of Iranian security forces. Understandably, this has been criticized for its singularity, its anonymity, and for the unlikelihood of any Iranian official choosing to release such information to a Western news agency, but I think the more important thing to look at is the disproportionate number of deaths cited among security personnel, very reminiscent of what happened in Syria when Western-supported offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood engaged (for the second time - it had happened earlier under Hafez (1979-1982) in brutal killings of security forces in 2011.

We are told by Mohammad Marandi in interview today with Judge Napolitano that the protests began peacefully, mainly among small business owners, in reaction to the sudden collapse in value of the Iranian rial (in my view, a collapse that was almost certainly contrived as a Western military covert operation involving the shorting of the rial on currency markets) and continued peacefully for two days before suddenly becoming extraordinarily well-armed, violent, and indiscriminate.

Ordinary protestors acting in good faith, almost never resort to armed violence, not only because violence is not their intention but also because they typically lack the means of violence. Many of the dead among security forces have been killed by pistol shorts, according to Mirandi, indicating the presence of armed protestors among the crowds These are no ordinary protests. Mirandi also points out that these conditions are typically taken advantage of by organized crime and that the presence of criminals introduces new risks of violence.

Recall how a few weeks ago, when President Milei of Argentina was faced with a collapse of the peso, Trump stepped in immediately to intervene to support the currency. Some commentators have asked why Iran did not prepare for such a contingency in negotiations with BRICS countries and, especially, Russia and China, who surely had the means to come to the support of Iran. Well, we don’t know, but there does seem to be a continuing pattern, understandable, of Iranian resistence to dependence on others which is why, in the “12 Day war” last June it was discovered that Iran did not, in fact, enjoy the level of Russian air defense support that many had assumed existed. Putin explicitly said that such support had been offered but declined.

The situation in Iran mirrors that of Ukraine in 2014 when genuine protests against corruption in Ukraine (when is THAT is ever going to change?) were hijacked by Western-supported neo-Nazi or Banderite movements who turned the protests violent on the Maidan and, as Ivan Katchanovski has shown, even shot their own supporters and other protestors in order to push up the numbers of dead to the kind of level that US neocons and their minions thought was necessary to rationalize the ensuing coup d’etat.

Much of the actual Western reporting on Iran, especially since Iranian authorities shut down the Internet a couple of days ago originates from two “NGOs” (= government funded, generally) based (where else?) in Fairfax, Virginia, US: (1) Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA) and (2) United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) that provides reports and dossiers on Iran’s nuclear program and malign activities that are used by U.S. lawmakers and media. It designs programs to “ensure the regime’s economic and diplomatic isolation until it abandons its pursuit of nuclear weapons, support for terrorism, regional destabilization, and human rights violations”. Such dependable, honest, neutral sources! (Again, reminiscent of Western mainstream media dependency on Jihadi sources in Syria financed by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office).

Western mainstream media have ignored, obscured or demonized the vast pro-government demonstrations that took place last Monday. Marandi cites a crowd size of three million in Tehran. He makes it clear that there continues, at the very least, to exist a sizable contingency in Iran that supporst the Iranian government, certainly well above the threshold at which the structure of power in Iran would collapse. Even as the Financial Times has conceded that a degree of calm has been restored to Iranian streets in recent days, US mainstream broadcasters have continued to furnish what they claim are images of vast, protesting crowds.

Intellinews today cites the highly dubious “Iran International” (IITV) source for its report that at least 12,000 people have been killed in what has been described as the largest killing in Iran’s contemporary history, while other reports put the death toll even higher at some 20,000 killed in four days of country-wide protests. IITV calls itself an “independent”, 24/7 Persian-language news channel based in London, owned by Volant Media UK, that broadcasts critical news and analysis about Iran. It is funded by a secretive entity with alleged links to Saudi Arabia, and provides extensive coverage of Iranian social unrest and human rights issues.

Volant Media UK Ltd, based in London was established on December 16, 2015. The company operates as the parent entity for major international news channels focused on the Middle East and Central Asia (including Iran International and Afghanistan International). Adel Abdulkarim, a British-Saudi national, is currently listed as a director and the major shareholder. Fahad Ibrahim Aldeghither, a Saudi national and former chairman of the telecommunications company Zain Saudi owned over 75% of the company from 2016 until May 2018. The company has frequently been at the center of geopolitical tensions. Journalists working for Volant Media channels have faced significant threats and intimidation from the Iranian government, leading to heightened security measures at its London facilities. The company has faced scrutiny regarding its funding sources; reports have historically linked its financial backing to Saudi-linked entities. Multiple investigative reports have challenged the company’s claims of total independence. Reports have alleged that the company received approximately $250 million in initial funding to launch Iran International, with sources claiming the funds originated from the Saudi royal court. Investigations have suggested the station is funded through a secretive offshore entity and linked to figures close to the Saudi crown prince. The Iranian government frequently labels Volant Media as an “arm of Saudi foreign policy” and has sanctioned the company on these grounds. According to Companies House records as of late 2025, the company has historically reported significant annual losses, which it offsets through continued capital allotments from its private shareholders

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the riots in Iran are the product of a Western regime-change operation instigated by the US and Israel. As Larry Johnson pointed out over the weekend on Sonar21, the US has been beefing up its forces in the Gulf since before the protests began. Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted a few days ago his best wishes to the protestors and to the “Mossad agents” that walked alongside every one of them. Israeli media like Channel 14 have openly reported the funneling of weapons by Israel into Iran. Washington-based and financed Iranian armed dissident group MEK has also been cited as involved by media and security forces in Israel. In interview this morning with Judge Napolitano, Max Blumenthal cites an Israeli military source to the effect that Israel intends to continue striking Iran even after a regime change has been executed. There has been a massive supply (40,000, reportedly) of Starlink terminals into Iran which has continued to enable a degree of coordination even in the circumstances of an Internet shutdown by Iranian authorities. Russia (and China?) had supplied aid to Iran in the form of jamming these Starlink communications.

In further displays of extraordinarily inappropriate and nonpresidential lack of decorum (and sanity), Trump, possibly realizing that the immediate goal of regime change has once more failed, has lashed out, threatening the imposition of a further 25% tariff on the business that countries that trade with Iran do with the US, and urging protestors in Iran to take over government institutions, and promising them that “help is on the way.”

It will be interesting to see how the tariff threat unfolds, as it seems to provoke China to break its one-year tariff truce with the US and return to a denial of raw earths and supply of other precious materials to the US, while it may be enough to persuade India, once and for all, of the sheer futility of dealing with the US in any way, shape or form. India does significant trade with the US but is far from being existentially dependent on that trade.

Nobody with more than a slightest knowledge of Iranian history and the history of Iranian relations with the West can plausibly conclude that this is anything less than greed, war-lust, demogoguery and culpable ignorance, expressing not just the views and passions of Donald Trump and the Zionist financiers who pushed him into power, but of almost the entire (mainly pro-Zionist) Washington establishment.

But, as I have argued in recent posts, just because they are stupid, ignorant, greedy or evil, does not mean that they are not winning. It seems highly likely at this stage that although the regime change operation has failed, the US and Israel will launch a second major attack on Iran, following their 12-day war last June (from which they had to exit begging for a ceasefire after Iran had subjected Israel to dome-breaking barrages of missiles, doing real damage). US threats, always intoxicated with their “Iran is just a house of cards” propaganda) have been so open that they have given Iran, supposing it even needed them, every pretext for a preemptive strike on Israel. I would be surprised, however, were this to happen, since it is something that Iran simply never does, along with its continuing refusal, so far as we know, to weaponize its nuclear technology. Gilbert Doctorow, I notice, finds such restraint as astonishing as the reluctance of Russia and China to deal head-on with the West’s escalating hatred of these highly-principled nations.

Ukraine

As the Iranian crisis develops, so does that in Ukraine, where recent massive Russian drone and missile attacks have severely damaged energy infrastructure in Kiev, Dnipro and other major cities to the extent that in Kiev the mayor, Vitali Klitschko, has advised those who can to leave the city. It is reported this morning that even as weather conditions detiorate and cold increases there is no timeline for the restoration of power in Kiev. This situation does not have to continue much further before we can expect official or unofficial evacuation and emigration into neighboring cities, neighboring countries, greatly facilitating Russia’s push from the east while further destabilizing Europe. Zelenskiy has wasted no time in seizing on the excuse of the energy crisis as another reason why Ukraine cannot possibly contemplate presidential elections - cannot possibly contemplate getting rid of Zelenskiy, in other words - even as Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities are targeting his rival Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Prime Minister of Ukraine and current leader of the Batkivshchyna party. She is charged with offering bribes to RADA members to influence their voting. Tymoshenko has categorically rejected all accusations, describing the raid as a “PR operation” and a politically motivated action. This is a double edged sword since Tymoshenko plausibly possesses evidence that may be used against Zelenkiy.

Greenland

High-level talks today (Wednesday January 14) between Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland ended without an agreement. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen stated the U.S. position remained unchanged, but continue to pretend that they are dealing with a rational interlocutor with reasonable goals and concerns and that these have to do with what they claim is a security concern shared by the US and Europe about a “threat” in the Arctic from Russia and China.

Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen have unequivocally rejected any takeover. Nielsen stated that if forced to choose, Greenland chooses Denmark, NATO, and the EU. The White House has not ruled out the use of military force to annex the territory, citing “national security” as a priority to prevent Russia or China from gaining control of the region. a concern for which there is no known evidence.

In response, Denmark has begun reinforcing its military presence in Greenland. A Republican-led bill, the “Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act,” has been introduced in Congress to authorize the president to take steps toward acquiring or annexing Greenland. Conversely, a bipartisan bill has emerged in the Senate attempting to block any such purchase. Prime Minister Frederiksen has warned that any U.S. attack on a fellow NATO member would “spell the end” of the alliance. The European Union has signaled support for Greenland’s self-determination, though it has dodged questions on whether a U.S. move would trigger mutual assistance clauses. A January 2026 Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only 17% of Americans support a U.S. takeover of Greenland.

Venezuela

Senate Republicans in the US are facing intense pressure from President Donald Trump to vote down a war powers resolution Wednesday that is aimed at limiting the president's ability to carry out further military action against Venezuela. Five GOP senators joined with Democrats to advance the resolution last week (one has since relented). Democrats are forcing the vote after U.S. troops captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid earlier this month. PBS reports that the legislation, even if passed by the Senate, has virtually no chance of becoming law because it would eventually need to be signed by Trump himself. But it represented both a test of GOP loyalty to the president and a marker for how much leeway the Republican-controlled Senate is willing to give Trump to use the military abroad.

Resistance to the January 3, 2026, U.S. military operation that captured Nicolás Maduro and the subsequent U.S. move to control Venezuela’s oil industry has manifested through official state defiance, popular protests, and international diplomatic maneuvers. Acting President Delcy Rodriguez, sworn in nine days ago on January 5, 2026, has vocally denounced Maduro’s removal as a “kidnapping”. The Venezuelan military has reaffirmed its recognition of Rodríguez as the legitimate leader and vowed to resist what Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López called an “invasion” and the “greatest outrage” in the nation’s history. Venezuela harequested an urgent meeting of the UNSC accusing the U.S. of violating international law and endangering regional stability. While the U.S. has declared it will “run” Venezuela and its oil exports indefinitely, the Venezuelan government continues to reject these claims, asserting its sovereignty over its natural resources. Thousands of Maduro supporters have taken to the streets in Caracas and other major cities protesting U.S. piracy. The U.S. State Department has warned citizens to leave Venezuela due to the threat from pro-government paramilitary groups reportedly targeting U.S. citizens.

Imperial Connections 01.13.2025

Oliver Boyd-Barrett

Jan 13, 2026

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EU enlargement is formally regaining momentum, with the European Commission signalling that negotiations with Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine could conclude within two years. However, meeting ambitious accession timelines will require far deeper reforms in competitiveness, labour markets and fiscal governance. Meanwhile, the EU’s influence in its neighbourhood is being challenged by rival powers, not only China and Russia, but also economic actors such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE)”.

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