Follow-up -- Iran's Basiji paramilitary

 

The head of Iran's Basij paramilitary force, Brig. Gen. Gholamreza Soleimani, was killed alongside several other top leaders during a massive wave of targeted U.S. and Israeli airstrikes. The strikes aimed to dismantle the internal security command structure. While the broader military conflict has since transitioned into a fragile ceasefire and potential peace deal, the Basij remains central to escalating local and international human rights controversies. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Leadership Decapitation & War Damage

• Command Defeated: The⁠Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed that Soleimani, who led the Basij since 2019, was assassinated in central Tehran alongside his deputy. [1, 2]
• Command Infrastructure Destroyed: Airstrikes wiped out an estimated 300 Basij commanders and field agents overnight. [1, 2]
• Logistical Blows: Strikes annihilated the force's principal repair, maintenance, and vehicle fleet nodes. This heavily restricted their street-patrol capabilities. [1]
• Checkpoint Neutralization: U.S. and Israeli operations deliberately targeted Basij street checkpoints across major urban areas to disrupt their chokehold on the civilian population. [1]

Domestic Attacks and Uprisings

• Coordinated Resistance Sabotage: Marking the June 20 revolutionary resistance anniversary, domestic MEK Resistance Units launched 45 coordinated operations. They hit Basij bases, judicial centers, and propaganda offices across 30 cities—including Tehran, Ahvaz, and Chabahar. [1]
• Checkshirt Disguises: Reports emerged of local Basiji agents seen changing out of their military uniforms into civilian clothes on the streets of Tehran's Aryashahr district to escape public identification and targeted retaliation. [1]
• Post-War Crackdowns: Despite internal infrastructure wreckage, remaining Basij plainclothes enforcers are heavily participating in the regime’s brutal, expedited execution campaigns targeting anti-regime dissidents and January protesters. [1, 2]

International Legal Action

• War Crimes Liability: Human rights groups like ⁠Amnesty International documented the Basij's systematic recruitment and deployment of child soldiers as young as 12 to guard checkpoints and manage wartime internal security. Critics state that exploiting underage children through predatory employment or education incentives during armed conflict constitutes an active war crime under customary international humanitarian law. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Do they have popular support in Iran or did they ever have popular support?

The Basij lacks popular support in Iran today, but they held significant, genuine popularity during the 1980s. [1]

Public perception has shifted drastically over the past four decades, transforming the group from revered wartime volunteers into a widely resented internal security apparatus. [1]

The Past: Genuine Popular Support (1980–1988)

• Wartime Patriotism: During the Iran-Iraq War, millions of Iranians viewed the Basij as selfless, heroic defenders of the nation against Saddam Hussein's invasion.
• Religious Devotion: Driven by Ayatollah Khomeini’s religious rhetoric of martyrdom, thousands of young volunteers willingly joined the human-wave attacks on the front lines. [1]
• Social Mobilization: The force was deeply rooted in local mosques, drawing immense respect from working-class and religious families who saw participation as both a civic and spiritual duty. [1, 2]

The Present: Widespread Public Resentment

• Shift to Internal Oppression: Following the war, the regime repurposed the Basij into an ideological police force tasked with crushing domestic dissent rather than fighting external enemies. [1]
• Brutal Crackdowns: Popular support evaporated as the Basij became the primary face of violent crackdowns against student uprisings, economic protests, and the⁠Woman, Life, Freedom movement. [1]
• Enforcers of Social Restrictions: Iranians widely resent the Basij for enforcing strict Islamic dress codes, raiding private parties, and policing everyday social behaviors. [1, 2, 3]
• Opportunism Over Ideology: Many modern recruits are viewed by the public not as religious zealots, but as opportunists joining purely for state benefits, including university quotas, government jobs, and military service exemptions. [1]

What is the Petrodollar and why is it important?

 

The petrodollar is not a separate currency; it simply refers to U.S. dollars (USD) earned by oil-exporting nations in exchange for crude oil. [1, 2, 3]

The petrodollar system is a highly consequential, uncodified financial architecture established in 1974 through a strategic alliance between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Under this arrangement, Saudi Arabia (and subsequently other OPEC nations) agreed to price and invoice their global oil exports exclusively in U.S. dollars. In return, the U.S. provided the Gulf states with military protection, arms, and geopolitical security. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

This system is a foundational pillar of global economics. It creates a continuous cycle where the global reliance on energy directly reinforces the global supremacy of the American financial system. [1]

Why the Petrodollar System is Important

The petrodollar architecture fundamentally shapes international finance by providing the United States with what economists call an "exorbitant privilege." Its global importance breaks down into four structural mechanics: [1]

1. Guarantees Artificial Global Demand for the USD [1]

Because oil is the lifeblood of modern industrial economies, every nation must buy it. To buy oil, foreign governments and corporations must hold large reserves of U.S. dollars. This creates a baseline, non-domestic demand for the dollar, keeping its value high regardless of the health of the internal U.S. economy. [1, 2, 3, 4]

2. The Mechanics of "Petrodollar Recycling"

Oil-exporting nations routinely generate more revenue than their domestic economies can internalize. Through a process called petrodollar recycling, these nations reinvest their surplus cash back into U.S. financial markets—primarily by purchasing massive volumes of U.S. Treasury securities. [1, 2, 3]

3. Lowers U.S. Borrowing Costs [1]

The continuous influx of foreign capital into U.S. Treasury bonds drives up bond prices, which naturally lowers their yields. This dynamic allows the U.S. government to borrow money cheaply, running massive federal budget deficits and trade deficits that would otherwise trigger a severe currency collapse in any other nation. [1, 2, 3]

4. Enhances U.S. Geopolitical Weaponization [1, 2]

Because the vast majority of global oil transactions flow through the U.S. banking system, Washington holds supreme leverage over international trade infrastructure. This enables the U.S. to issue highly effective economic sanctions, cutting adversarial nations completely out of the global financial system. [1, 2, 3]

Current Trends and Vulnerabilities (As of 2026)

While the U.S. dollar remains the dominant reserve currency, the petrodollar system is currently facing its most significant structural pressure in decades: [1, 2]

• Sanctions Backlash: The frequent weaponization of the dollar-based financial system has caused nations like China, Russia, and Iran to aggressively seek alternative payment systems to mitigate geopolitical risk. [1, 2]
• The Rise of "Petroyuan": Approximately 20% of global oil transactions are now settled in non-dollar currencies. China and Russia settle an increasing share of energy trade in yuan and rubles, and some entities use alternative local currencies for bilateral settlements. [1, 2, 3]
• Energy Transition: The multi-decade global shift toward green energy and away from fossil fuels means that the baseline commodity guaranteeing dollar dominance may slowly lose its systemic weight over time. [, 2]

Despite these developments, prominent financial institutions like ⁠ING Analysis note that a sudden collapse is highly unlikely. The depth, transparency, and liquidity of U.S. financial markets ensure that the dollar remains the world's most trusted asset haven for the foreseeable future. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The Leonara Carrington Story

 

The story of Leonora Carrington (1917–2011) is one of the 20th century’s most extraordinary narratives of rebellion, survival, and creative triumph. Born into a wealthy and conservative English family, she famously abandoned her high-society life to join the Surrealist movement. Her life took her from an idyllic romance with Max Ernst in France to a harrowing descent into a Spanish psychiatric asylum, before she ultimately found lasting refuge, artistic freedom, and a legacy as a national treasure in Mexico. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

1. Rebellion and the Parisian Avant-Garde

• A Gothic Upbringing: Carrington was born in Lancashire, England, into a strict, wealthy Catholic family. Growing up in a drafty mansion surrounded by animals and Celtic folklore, she was notoriously rebellious, getting expelled from multiple convent schools. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• Snubbing Society: Her father, a textile magnate, demanded she debut as a proper English lady at court. Instead, she spent the obligatory ball sitting on the sidelines reading a book—a resistance she later immortalized in her dark short story, "The Debutante," where a young woman escapes a society party by swapping places with a hyena. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• The Surrealist: In 1937, at age 19, she saw the works of German Surrealist Max Ernst and fell instantly in love. They met at a dinner party, ran away to Paris, and eventually bought a stone farmhouse in Provence, transforming it into a surrealist work of art. [1, 2]

2. War, Breakdown, and "Down Below"

• Trauma and Arrest: The outbreak of World War II shattered their paradise. Ernst, a German citizen, was imprisoned by the French authorities and later by the Gestapo. [1, 2]
• Institutionalization: Devastated, Carrington fled to Spain but suffered a severe psychological breakdown. She was committed to a notoriously brutal psychiatric asylum in Santander. She was subjected to heavy sedation, insulin shock therapy, and trauma. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• Escape: After her release, she escaped her caretakers in Lisbon, fleeing straight to the Mexican embassy. She later chronicled her horrifying and hallucinatory journey into "madness" in her famous memoir, ⁠Down Below. [1, 2, 3, 4]

3. A New Life in Mexico

• Sanctuary in Mexico City: To secure safe passage out of Europe, Carrington briefly married Mexican diplomat Renato Leduc. After moving to New York, she dissolved the marriage and relocated to Mexico City in 1942. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Artistic Bloom: In Mexico, she thrived in a vibrant community of exiled European surrealists, including the painter Remedios Varo. Here, Carrington created lush, detailed paintings and sculptures blending Celtic myths, alchemy, Jungian psychology, and Mesoamerican folklore. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Family and Feminism: She married Hungarian photographer Emeric "Chiki" Weisz, with whom she had two sons. She lived in Mexico for the rest of her life and even helped found the Women's Liberation Movement in Mexico in the 1970s. [1, 2, 3]

Today, her highly detailed paintings of hybrid creatures and mythic women fetch record-breaking prices at auction, with works like The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington capturing her wildly imaginative literary voice. [1, 2, 3]