Shia Islam
As the State Decides Who Rules, Believers Choose Who Is Authoritative
The Shi’i Religious Tax Operates Outside Monitoring Frameworks, Relying on Trust Rather than Formal Accountability
The Displaced Syrian Shia in Homs Are Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Afraid or Unable to Return Home, and Now Facing Israeli Airstrikes in Lebanon
In Practice, Sectarian Identity and Geopolitical Interest Outweigh Claims of Pan-Islamic Unity
Since the 1980s, Iran’s Influence Networks Have Embedded Tehran Within the Hemisphere’s Political and Informational Terrain
Mojtaba Is a Fraud Under the Islamic Republic’s Constitution, Which Sets ‘Grand Ayatollah’ as the Full Rank for the Supreme Leader
Many Iranians May See the Ongoing U.S.-Israel Military Operation as an Attack on Their Nation and Their Faith
Many Young Iranians Have Turned from Shi’ism in Recent Years Out of Disgust with Iran’s Clerical Hierarchy
That Indian Shi’a Hold Extraterritorial Loyalties Towards a Murderous Regime Defies Logic and Reason
Several Prominent Iran-Backed Bahraini Shi’i Figures Have Emerged Amidst Current U.S.-Iran Tensions
Power Does Not Always Flow from Ideology, Legitimacy, or Repression; Sometimes, Consequence Matters
The Shi’a, Constituting 15 Percent of India’s Muslims, Lionize Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Respect the Iranian Religious Hierarchy
Turkish President Erdoğan’s Long-Standing Message Is That Mass Protests Invite Chaos, Foreign Plots, and State Collapse
Iranian Youth Have Been Turning Against Organized Religion for Some Time, In Part Because of Khamenei’s Brutality
Protesters Mocked Khamenei’s Latest Speech, in Which He Declared That the World Should Wait for the ‘Collapse of Trump’s Regime’
A Challenge to the Regime by Religious Leaders Could Deliver the Coup de Grâce to the Islamic Republic
Syria’s Shia Find Themselves Tolerated but Subdued
Lebanon’s Plan to Demilitarize Hezbollah by Year-End Could Falter, Risking Renewed Tensions with Israel and Economic Crisis
The Author Visited the Badr Organization’s Najaf Office to Get a Sense of the Group’s Outlook on Iraq and the Wider Region
The Islamic Republic and Its Opponents Both Draw on Myths and Religious Narratives, Shaping Political Culture to Mobilize Support