The International Correspondent

04/15/2026

Going live on Substack in 5 minutes to talk about the Iran war.
Joining me is Iram Ramzan, British journalist and contributor to Middle East Uncovered, someone who has been consistently sharp (and unafraid) in calling out the nonsense whenever she finds it.

We’ll try to cut through the noise, the propaganda, and the wishful thinking and talk about what’s actually happening, what people are getting wrong, and what might come next.

If you’ve been confused, frustrated, or just trying to make sense of this war, join us live.

Link coming shortly.

04/09/2026

Every year, I come back to the day that defined my life, my family, my friends, and 40 million Iraqis: the Iraq War.

Today marks the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad (where I am from).

I write this from the United States, and each year I try to revisit my own thinking. I try to evolve. I try to change my mind where needed. I try to listen to new evidence in a world that often punishes freedom of thought and mistakes growth for inconsistency.

The question I get asked the most is simple: What do you think about the Iraq War?

One day, I may write a book about it. But here is where I stand today, in 2026.

Regardless of what anyone thinks about Saddam Hussein, and there will always be arguments about that, history is not just about choosing between good and bad, but often between bad and worse.

What became painfully clear after 2003 was not just the fall of a regime, but the absence of something deeper: a cohesive national identity.

When that regime fell, what surfaced was a fragmented Iraq. Identities that had been suppressed did not transform into a shared national project. Instead, many turned inward toward sect, religion, and ethnicity. Politicians emerged who represented these divisions, not a unified Iraq.

That fracture led to civil war. It opened the door for Iraq to be deeply influenced, if not overtaken, by another state: Iran.

The result is a country that has struggled for years to function as a true sovereign nation.

Was this the intention of the United States? I do not know. And I suspect we may never fully know.
But after living here, after reading some of the architects of that war, I can say this: they should feel a deep sense of responsibility, if not shame.

Some of them are still alive today and they are regular "commentators" on US television pretending to be experts.

They should be ashamed for the lack of understanding. For the lack of expertise. For the failure to anticipate the consequences that Iraqis are still living with decades later.

And yet, despite all of this, I still hold on to something.

I hope one day it will have been worth it.
Because I know many Iraqis, who are still fighting for that idea of a country. A real one. A united one. One that rises above sectarianism and external control.

That fight deserves support. And it deserves not to be forgotten.

04/02/2026

I was genuinely surprised not by Riyadh or Abu Dhabi, but by what I heard on Al Jazeera.
Something is shifting in how the Arab world talks about Iran.

And it’s happening faster than most people realize.
I break it down here:

The Arab position on Iran is shifting again, as a strategy built on de-escalation gives way to a more skeptical, security-driven assessment informed by recent attacks.

03/30/2026

Read full post:
https://substack.com//note/c-235309761?r=7yo2u

03/26/2026

We went live for the first time on Middle East Uncovered to make sense of a war that many are talking about, but few actually understand.

What are the real goals of this conflict?
Are the U.S. and Israel even aligned?
And why do so many assumptions about regime change in the Middle East keep proving wrong?

This is not advocacy. This is an attempt to cut through noise, challenge easy narratives, and ask the questions that should have been asked before the war started.

Watch the full discussion and let me know what you think. Your questions will shape the next one.

Please consider following Middle East Uncovered at: themiddleeastuncovered.com

03/24/2026

I worked hard on this one.

ttps://www.themiddleeastuncovered.com/p/why-public-anger-doesnt-bring-down?utm_campaign=reaction&utm_medium=email&utm_source=substack&utm_content=post

Widespread dissatisfaction may weaken state structures, but it does not determine their survival. The critical factor is whether those inside the system choose to hold or break.

03/22/2026

Trump Signals Retreat From Goal of Regime Change in Iran

In the first days of the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, Mr. Trump pressed for a popular uprising against Tehran’s government.

03/22/2026

"For many of us with roots in the Middle East working in foreign policy and national security, the fog of war—seemingly without end—extends far beyond the battlefield. It weighs heavily on me as an Arab American with family in Jordan and friends and colleagues across the region, from Dubai to Doha. Showing up to work each day and maintaining dispassionate analysis carries a weight of its own. In conversations with counterparts and friends—Arab American, Iranian American, and Jewish American alike—that weight is both emotional and mental."

As war stretches across the Middle East, those of us with roots in the region carry its weight from afar—balancing professional detachment with deeply personal stakes.

03/22/2026

not activism.

03/19/2026

63% of young registered US voters have a negative view of israel.

03/18/2026

What You Don’t Know About Iran’s Theocracy

Mehran Kamrava’s work empowers us to analyze the Islamic Republic not as just a crude dictatorship, but as a doctrinal system that turned political theology into durable institutions of rule.