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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   8483 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026

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Trump has given a "red line" to Iran about killing protestors, but we still aren't seeing US involvement as deaths move into the thousands, reportedly. If the regime follows through with its claims, it will be executing many if not most of the thousands it has arrested.

I have an essay on my view that the US/West/Israel should clearly intervene in the Transnational Thursday thread, but the Culture War dynamics strike me as interesting in that it's not really Culture War Classic material. Traditionally, the Left has been soft on Iran and the Right has been hawkish. Iran has tried to kill Trump and Trump officials, as revenge for the Soleimani assassination.

There's a strong anti-interventionist Right and Left. During the 12-Day War, Trump went from tweeting about regime change, to abruptly demanding cessation of hostilities, which Israel and Iran complied with. (I think had the war continued the regime would already have fallen, given how easily Israel was bombing them.) This is something that's already kicked off, unlike the Maduro rendition. My understanding is that action got more popular in the polls having succeeded, though it's an open question what Venezuela's fate will be.

The Right strongly criticized Obama for declaring a red line in Syria, and then backing off. In hindsight, I think it would have been correct to have intervened against Assad. Here, I think there's a clear cost-benefit analysis case, whether you care about the plight of the Iranian people or the amoral realist power dynamics for America First Global Superpower Edition.

CBS now is also reporting a death toll of at least 12,000 people in Iran, potentially as high as 20,000.

This line appears on Al-Jazera, Turkish broadcasters etc. The numbers seem ludicrous (and I hope they're wrong) but I'm surprised what sort of outlets are carrying it. The report

If you're surprised by CBS news making claims like this are you unaware of their recent(well, a few months ago) purchase and change in leadership? Bari Weiss explicitly attacked the journalistic standards unit at the broadcaster, presumably because the reporting she wants them to focus on and perform would not meet those standards - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/bari-weiss-cbs-news-standards-and-practices-b2862631.html

I mean, prior to the new ownership CBS faced several high profile scandals wherein the fabricated sources, deceptively edited videos, etc. Probably anyone in the news division thats been there since before Weiss is lucky to have a job, based purely on performance.

Interesting article from the Associated Press: Here’s how AP reports on the death toll from Iran’s protests

The difficulty of tracking the death toll from Iran’s nationwide protests has been compounded by the government’s decision to cut off the internet and international calling to the country, but some information has still been getting out.

The Associated Press has been relying on figures provided by the Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has reported hundreds of deaths. The U.S.-based agency has been accurate throughout multiple years of demonstrations, relying on a network of activists inside Iran that confirms all reported fatalities.

With communications blocked in Iran, the AP has been unable to independently confirm the group’s toll. The theocratic government of Iran has not provided casualty figures for the demonstrations.

Iranian state media has provided little information about the demonstrations, making it difficult to assess the scale of the protests. Videos that have surfaced online offer brief, shaky glimpses of people in the streets or the sound of gunfire.

The AP reporting has relied on some of these videos, which likely have made it out of the country via Starlink satellite dishes. The AP authenticates such footage by checking it against known locations and events, as well as talking to regional experts. The AP also ensures the substance of the video is consistent with its own reporting.

In a different article, AP relays that organization's number but conspicuously refrains from endorsing it: Death toll from nationwide protests in Iran spikes to at least 2,000, activists say

The death toll from nationwide protests in Iran spiked Tuesday to at least 2,000 people killed, activists said, even as Iranians made phone calls abroad for the first time in days after authorities severed communications during a crackdown.

The number of dead, as reported by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, dwarfs that in any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The activist group said 1,847 of the dead over more than two weeks of protests were protesters and 135 were government-affiliated. Another nine children were killed, and nine civilians it said were not taking part in protests also were killed. It said over 16,700 people had been detained.

But I'm surprised what sort of outlets are carrying it.

The Gulf Arab states and Turkey don’t like Iran much either, nor do liberal Americans.

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