Siamak Tundra Naficy (Nafissi, Nafisi)
@bl4ckwo7f.bsky.social
My views are mine, not yours. Interdisc Social Scientist @ Dep of Defense Analysis. #Lazio 🤍🩵 Laziali hanno detto no ai fascisti dal 1927 / anche Hellas #Verona 💛💙 /=\
Pinned
A Persian in the Ranks: Rethinking Military Culture through the Life of a Forgotten Civil War Sharpshooter | Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University
John Emmahi Khan, a Persian-born Muslim who served as a Union sharpshooter, defies nationalist war myths. His story illustrates how identity, loyalty, and military culture are shaped by empire, race, ...
smallwarsjournal.com
I've waited a while to publish this. A Persian-born sharpshooter, he fought in the US Civil War not out of nationalism, but forged by camaraderie, ritual, and shared struggle. His story invites us to stop thinking like states—and start thinking like soldiers.
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/07/11/j...
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/07/11/j...
My latest #SmallWarsJournal. The old U.S. security theology is fracturing, while Washington still navigates by a broken mirror.
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/12/17/b...
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/12/17/b...
Black Boxes and Broken Mirrors: Iran, Israel, and the New Geography of Instability
Security in the Middle East requires regional integration and acknowledgment of the permanent change in the region's perception of Israel.
smallwarsjournal.com
December 17, 2025 at 8:05 PM
My latest #SmallWarsJournal. The old U.S. security theology is fracturing, while Washington still navigates by a broken mirror.
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/12/17/b...
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/12/17/b...
Peter Thiel (2010): if your ideas are too toxic to win votes, use technology to bypass democracy and seize power.
October 27, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Peter Thiel (2010): if your ideas are too toxic to win votes, use technology to bypass democracy and seize power.
I feel seen.
October 15, 2025 at 7:22 PM
I feel seen.
Behind the high walls of their $3.6m lakefront mansion lies a dark-guarded reality: “Peter” is actually Parviz Sabeti, the head of SAVAK & chief torturer of the Shah, now facing a $225m civil lawsuit in Florida for atrocities committed in Iran.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
After years living quietly in Florida, Shah of Iran’s alleged ‘chief torturer’ must face accusations in court
Parviz Sabeti crafted a low-profile life for his family – but now he faces a $225m lawsuit over atrocities committed in prisons in Tehran and elsewhere
www.theguardian.com
September 16, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Behind the high walls of their $3.6m lakefront mansion lies a dark-guarded reality: “Peter” is actually Parviz Sabeti, the head of SAVAK & chief torturer of the Shah, now facing a $225m civil lawsuit in Florida for atrocities committed in Iran.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
Easy wins can teach the wrong lessons. My latest piece looks at Japan’s rise and fall, and what it teaches us about Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Iran, and the shifting balance with China. Hubris, not defeat, is often the fatal blow.
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/09/15/e...
#FragileAdversary #Meiji
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/09/15/e...
#FragileAdversary #Meiji
Easy Victories, Hard Defeats: Fragile Adversaries and the Lessons of War and Society | Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University
Japan's rise in Asia in the late 1800's serve as both a lesson and a warning. Easy victories can give way to hard defeats when misinterpreted.
smallwarsjournal.com
September 15, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Easy wins can teach the wrong lessons. My latest piece looks at Japan’s rise and fall, and what it teaches us about Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Iran, and the shifting balance with China. Hubris, not defeat, is often the fatal blow.
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/09/15/e...
#FragileAdversary #Meiji
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/09/15/e...
#FragileAdversary #Meiji
Finally, science confirms what politics and dating apps have hinted at for years.
Humans are in fact a venomous species (Figure 6 from "A global database on blowguns with links to geography and language" Aguirre-Fernández et al doi.org/10.1017/ehs....)
August 30, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Finally, science confirms what politics and dating apps have hinted at for years.
Thrilled to see @patporter76.bsky.social's new book "How to Survive a Hostile World" coming out. At a time when ideologues, charlatans, and worse peddle rhetoric and false comforts, this promises to be the realist’s healthy antidote. I have already ordered it!
We have liftoff! With thanks to @stanfordpress. To be launched in Oxford with @OxfordCCW, details to follow. Coming in October.
August 26, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Thrilled to see @patporter76.bsky.social's new book "How to Survive a Hostile World" coming out. At a time when ideologues, charlatans, and worse peddle rhetoric and false comforts, this promises to be the realist’s healthy antidote. I have already ordered it!
Reposted by Siamak Tundra Naficy (Nafissi, Nafisi)
We have liftoff! With thanks to @stanfordpress. To be launched in Oxford with @OxfordCCW, details to follow. Coming in October.
August 25, 2025 at 9:21 PM
We have liftoff! With thanks to @stanfordpress. To be launched in Oxford with @OxfordCCW, details to follow. Coming in October.
My latest: "Note how hard it is not to slip into considering leaders and followers as being opposites, if you’re not a leader—then you must be a follower. This isn’t really true, for both are roles in a setting...trying to achieve some common goal."
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/08/20/c...
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/08/20/c...
Critical Followership: Thinking, Failing, and Leading - Expanded Analysis | Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University
Understanding the role of critical followership within hierarchical military structures emphasizes its importance in mission command and decentralized decision-making. As modern warfare continues to e...
smallwarsjournal.com
August 20, 2025 at 8:00 AM
My latest: "Note how hard it is not to slip into considering leaders and followers as being opposites, if you’re not a leader—then you must be a follower. This isn’t really true, for both are roles in a setting...trying to achieve some common goal."
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/08/20/c...
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/08/20/c...
Ozzy Osbourne
Prince of Darkness, voice of rebellion.
You shook the world and never bowed.
Bit the bat by mistake, broke the rules on purpose,
Pissed on the Alamo,
Raised hell—and sometimes, made it beautiful.
Rest in Peace.
Prince of Darkness, voice of rebellion.
You shook the world and never bowed.
Bit the bat by mistake, broke the rules on purpose,
Pissed on the Alamo,
Raised hell—and sometimes, made it beautiful.
Rest in Peace.
July 22, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Ozzy Osbourne
Prince of Darkness, voice of rebellion.
You shook the world and never bowed.
Bit the bat by mistake, broke the rules on purpose,
Pissed on the Alamo,
Raised hell—and sometimes, made it beautiful.
Rest in Peace.
Prince of Darkness, voice of rebellion.
You shook the world and never bowed.
Bit the bat by mistake, broke the rules on purpose,
Pissed on the Alamo,
Raised hell—and sometimes, made it beautiful.
Rest in Peace.
America confuses destruction with leverage. Iran confuses survival with sovereignty. Somewhere in between, deterrence mutates—and diplomacy dies on the vine.
My latest piece elaborates:
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/07/17/i...
My latest piece elaborates:
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/07/17/i...
Red Lines and Black Boxes: Iran, Deterrence, and the Weaponization of Uncertainty | Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University
Explore how Iran weaponizes ambiguity and deterrence in response to military and diplomatic pressure amid nuclear tensions and Israeli strikes.
smallwarsjournal.com
July 17, 2025 at 3:32 PM
America confuses destruction with leverage. Iran confuses survival with sovereignty. Somewhere in between, deterrence mutates—and diplomacy dies on the vine.
My latest piece elaborates:
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/07/17/i...
My latest piece elaborates:
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/07/17/i...
Three-parent babies: because nothing says progress like rewriting the human blueprint before we’ve fixed daycare.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Babies from three people's DNA prevents heriditary disease
The method was pioneered by UK scientists to overcome devastating, sometimes fatal inherited diseases.
www.bbc.com
July 17, 2025 at 5:23 AM
Three-parent babies: because nothing says progress like rewriting the human blueprint before we’ve fixed daycare.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” -Greedo, probably.
July 13, 2025 at 2:42 AM
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” -Greedo, probably.
I've waited a while to publish this. A Persian-born sharpshooter, he fought in the US Civil War not out of nationalism, but forged by camaraderie, ritual, and shared struggle. His story invites us to stop thinking like states—and start thinking like soldiers.
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/07/11/j...
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/07/11/j...
A Persian in the Ranks: Rethinking Military Culture through the Life of a Forgotten Civil War Sharpshooter | Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University
John Emmahi Khan, a Persian-born Muslim who served as a Union sharpshooter, defies nationalist war myths. His story illustrates how identity, loyalty, and military culture are shaped by empire, race, ...
smallwarsjournal.com
July 11, 2025 at 4:39 PM
I've waited a while to publish this. A Persian-born sharpshooter, he fought in the US Civil War not out of nationalism, but forged by camaraderie, ritual, and shared struggle. His story invites us to stop thinking like states—and start thinking like soldiers.
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/07/11/j...
smallwarsjournal.com/2025/07/11/j...
Careful what you wish for, it might become true.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
An illegal immigrant arrested in LA – this Iranian Maga mom still backs Trump
Speaking from a detention facility in California, an Iranian immigrant says she believes "the good people will be released".
www.bbc.com
July 10, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Careful what you wish for, it might become true.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
The Green Berets don’t face an identity crisis, they face meaning creep. Quiet influence drifts to kinetic validation. SF’s core problem isn’t what they do, but why. Mission hasn’t changed, meaning has. We argue it’s time to reclaim their unique space.
www.jsou.edu/Press/Public...
www.jsou.edu/Press/Public...
July 1, 2025 at 7:52 PM
The Green Berets don’t face an identity crisis, they face meaning creep. Quiet influence drifts to kinetic validation. SF’s core problem isn’t what they do, but why. Mission hasn’t changed, meaning has. We argue it’s time to reclaim their unique space.
www.jsou.edu/Press/Public...
www.jsou.edu/Press/Public...
Schrödinger's foreign policy: Burn the bridge, rebuild it, then charge tolls.
June 26, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Schrödinger's foreign policy: Burn the bridge, rebuild it, then charge tolls.
You would think that it would be important to note that this point also works in the opposite direction. That it's significant to address it. But, I guess that is beyond CNN's [checks notes] "journalism."
June 26, 2025 at 5:55 PM
You would think that it would be important to note that this point also works in the opposite direction. That it's significant to address it. But, I guess that is beyond CNN's [checks notes] "journalism."
If you care about real political change in Iran, you should welcome the ceasefire. War stalls the grassroots and demographic shifts reshaping Iran from within. But the real obstacle now is the deep trust deficit—the Iranians see little good faith now from Israel or the U.S.
June 24, 2025 at 7:29 PM
If you care about real political change in Iran, you should welcome the ceasefire. War stalls the grassroots and demographic shifts reshaping Iran from within. But the real obstacle now is the deep trust deficit—the Iranians see little good faith now from Israel or the U.S.
Orcas with loofahs?! Scientists just caught killer whales red-handed... using kelp to groom each other. Tool use in the ocean just got way cooler.
theconversation.com/drone-footag...
theconversation.com/drone-footag...
Drone footage captured orcas crafting tools out of kelp – and using them for grooming
For the first time, orcas have been seen making and using tools out of seaweed. The reason? Most likely as a form of social grooming.
theconversation.com
June 24, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Orcas with loofahs?! Scientists just caught killer whales red-handed... using kelp to groom each other. Tool use in the ocean just got way cooler.
theconversation.com/drone-footag...
theconversation.com/drone-footag...
So much theater on all sides—the ghost of Baudrillard is here.
June 23, 2025 at 6:46 PM
So much theater on all sides—the ghost of Baudrillard is here.
Kierkegaard’s Parable of the Clown-A fire breaks out backstage. A clown warns the crowd but they think it’s part of the act. He pleads; they laugh louder.
Ends w/ this chilling line:
“That’s how the world will end. Not with screams, but with applause—from people who believe it’s all just a joke.”
Ends w/ this chilling line:
“That’s how the world will end. Not with screams, but with applause—from people who believe it’s all just a joke.”
June 23, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Kierkegaard’s Parable of the Clown-A fire breaks out backstage. A clown warns the crowd but they think it’s part of the act. He pleads; they laugh louder.
Ends w/ this chilling line:
“That’s how the world will end. Not with screams, but with applause—from people who believe it’s all just a joke.”
Ends w/ this chilling line:
“That’s how the world will end. Not with screams, but with applause—from people who believe it’s all just a joke.”
Israelis calling on ethnic minorities in Iran to rise up likely don’t even know that khamenei and the current president (and the leader of negotiations who was murdered) are all ethnic minorities.
June 21, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Israelis calling on ethnic minorities in Iran to rise up likely don’t even know that khamenei and the current president (and the leader of negotiations who was murdered) are all ethnic minorities.
The world: teetering on nuclear war, climate collapse, and AI doom.
Antarctica: sends mysterious signals defying physics.
Me: Things were already spiraling. If it's Cthulhu stirring, I say let it wrap us all in its mighty tentacles.
www.livescience.com/physics-math...
Antarctica: sends mysterious signals defying physics.
Me: Things were already spiraling. If it's Cthulhu stirring, I say let it wrap us all in its mighty tentacles.
www.livescience.com/physics-math...
Bizarre radio signals that defy physics detected under Antarctica
Researchers detected mysterious radio waves in Antarctica that seem to defy the rules of particle physics. Now they're searching for a cause.
www.livescience.com
June 21, 2025 at 8:34 PM
The world: teetering on nuclear war, climate collapse, and AI doom.
Antarctica: sends mysterious signals defying physics.
Me: Things were already spiraling. If it's Cthulhu stirring, I say let it wrap us all in its mighty tentacles.
www.livescience.com/physics-math...
Antarctica: sends mysterious signals defying physics.
Me: Things were already spiraling. If it's Cthulhu stirring, I say let it wrap us all in its mighty tentacles.
www.livescience.com/physics-math...
This article reads like a victory lap for a specific geopolitical imagination—one that believes in neat endings, in the idea that military strikes erase ideology, narratives of meaning, and that firepower equals finality. 1/6
t.co/PsmlarqFj1
t.co/PsmlarqFj1
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/how-iran-lost
t.co
June 20, 2025 at 6:57 PM
This article reads like a victory lap for a specific geopolitical imagination—one that believes in neat endings, in the idea that military strikes erase ideology, narratives of meaning, and that firepower equals finality. 1/6
t.co/PsmlarqFj1
t.co/PsmlarqFj1