IRGC attack on Vessels Defying Iranian Tariffs on Strait of Hormuz. Screenshot via X
Peloni: The folly of Western support for the Islamist Iranian regime’s hegemony over Lebanon is as nonsensical and distorted as has been the West’s support for the Islamist regime’s hegemony over the Iranian people. Is it possible that the ultimate outcome of the current wars in Lebanon and Iran will seek to maintain this old hat policy while describing it as a new hat? As the US insists that Hezbollah’s dominance in Lebanon can be eliminated with enough resolve from the Lebanese govt which lacks the governing capability to even meet with the Israelis, to have disarmed a single Hezbollah unit, or to even eject what should be understood to be Hezbollah’s most immediate superior in Lebanon, the Iranian ambassador. As Trump is still carving out a safe space in negotiations for the survival of the Mullah regime in Iran, he is simultaneously doing so for Hezbollah’s continued survival in Lebanon, and both of these propositions should be understood to be preserving the stabilization of instability which should be understood to be counter productive to American interests as well as that of her regional allies.
Victor Satya | TOI Blogs | May 3, 2026
Aftermath scene following the 2020 explosion in Beirut. Screengrab via Youtube
There are few things in modern journalism as reliable as the sunrise, the tide, and the headline: “Israel violates ceasefire.” It appears with precision that one suspects it is pre-written, waiting patiently in a newsroom drawer, needing only the date and a suitably indignant quote from “international observers” to complete it. Rockets may fly, tunnels may open, drones may hum across borders—but the true emergency, we are told, is that Israel has responded.
