The end of the Islamic regime in Iran?

It appears for the second time this year that the United States has managed to remove a foreign leader they didn't like from power, with  Ayatollah Khamenei possibly killed in the large-scale US and Israeli attack on Iran.

This was an attack of choice with no Congressional backing, let alone one from the United Nations. The Trump administration is riding roughshod over international law, the US Constitution and common decency.

But not many will be mourning the death of Ali Khamenei, leader of one of the most oppressive regimes in the world, a literal inspiration for Gilead from The Handmaid's Tale. That is probably why there will be no real consequences for the US action here - the EU itself believed Iran was a threat in multiple ways.

It has not been a good century for those opposed to the United States. Bin Laden is lying at the bottom of the ocean. Saddam Hussein died the death of a common criminal. Gadaffi was killed by his own people. Maduro is in a prison cell. Assad is in exile.

But US action has unleashed horrific forces in many of the countries it has targeted. Improvements have occurred only after a massive wave of chaos and not always then. Refugees coming from Libya are probably a major cause of the rise of the far-right in Europe.

So, Iran has become the next 'victim' - and one can only pray a better government emerges there.

Rob Grant 1955-2026

 The co-creator of Red Dwarf has died suddenly aged 70. 

A comic genius, whose work was a source of joy to many millions around the world, has passed away. He will deeply missed.

o7 Mr Grant, o7.

Update - February 2026

I am continuing to work my way through Star Trek: The Animated Series, but the other Star Trek series on at the moment, which is actually pretty good, is limiting my time for that. I might put up a post when I hit episode 10, so you at least get some content.

I've got some stuff on Netflix that I really ought to finish off that's been partly watched for years. One thing that's not been on there for years and which I might review is a Korean show called Agents of Mystery.

Olivia's no longer in Kansas (Review: 'Fringe' 1.20, "There's More Than One of Everything")

Not that she was ever exactly in Kansas in the first place. The Fringe Division is largely confined to the NE United States, it seems.

Murder in Minneapolis

No sense in mincing words here. ICE is rotten to the core, an army of masked thugs with no willingness to abide by the rules of common decency.

It needs to be abolished and those in charge of it criminally investigated.

Enforcing borders is important, but it must be done humanely. ICE is incapable of doing that.

Who Mourns for Maduro? The US attack on Venezuela

There are two words that come to mind when thinking about yesterday's events. "Outrageous" and "farce".

Firstly, this is a clear and brazen violation of international law. Venezuela poses no threat to the United States - it is not even a major source of narcotics for that country, with fentanyl largely coming from other places. Donald Trump's new doctrine of foreign policy twists the Monroe Doctrine, which was in its original form meant to be about protecting the independence of the countries that had just ejected the Spanish. Not about asserting US dominance in the Western hemisphere. It's abundantly clear that this is about getting hold of the oil.

Not that Maduro is exactly an innocent here. He was a dictator who rigged elections and jailed dissidents. He's run his country's economy into the ground and forced much of his population to flee. The narcotics stuff - well Biden didn't cancel the arrest warrant, did he? The fact that Maduro was like that has meant that all we'll be getting, even from China, is "thoughts and prayers". Well, just thoughts from China, which is officially atheist even as it is heading for the largest Christian population in Asia.

Second, the United States controls precisely zero territory on the country. They don't even have a functioning embassy in the country, with relations run from Bogota. Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez is in charge and she doesn't exactly seem willing to cooperate. If the United States wants to control the country, bar a coup, it is going to need ground troops. Quite a lot of them, possibly. Especially if an insurgency starts.

Does Trump really want hundreds of US troops coming home in coffins, like what partly did for George W. Bush's presidency?

"Short, victorious wars" rarely are.

Landing stuck. Mostly. (Review: 'Stranger Things 5')

 They came. They saw. They conquered...

(Spoilers galore below)