Veronika Cernadas

La terre nous en apprend plus long sur nous que tous les livres. Parce qu'elle nous résiste. L'homme se découvre quand il se mesure avec l'obstacle. - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult.” - Carl von Clausewitz Be mindful of “analysts” or media that oversimplify strategy, war,’warfare while not recognizing the uncertainty, fog and friction, complexity of geopolitics, and all the information no one knows because it is classified.

Middle East [and others]: Using AI to stop dissent before it even starts...p.dw.com/p/59HsG?at_med…

What a fantastic picture of the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial -- reflective of this uncommon stretch of frigid, icy weather. Thanks to @hocofoto (Seth Hoffman) for sharing this amazing capture with us on Instagram.

Today the Taliban has issued a "charter of principles" which has formally eliminated for women who face violence at home (abuse) the ability to legally separate themselves or get divorced. This is not legal reform - it is the formal establishment of the requirement for a woman to endure violence. the way the charter is structured shows the overall approach to law taken by the Taliban. The brief legal provisions cited within the charter include a plethora of jurisprudential citations as if authority must be referenced rather than claimed. Legal systems develop law based upon obligation - the law does not reference or cite prior authorities - justice is not provided through footnotes. the reliance upon jurisprudential citations indicates an awareness by the Taliban of the weakness of its own legitimacy. The inclusion of religious citations within legislative enactments by the Taliban attempts to convert political power into unassailable doctrine and protect the Taliban's laws from legal challenges by presenting dissent as heresy rather than as a valid legal critique. the use of only arabic citations also shows the purpose of this endeavor. A legal system that does not communicate with the people in the language of its people, does not seek consent, it seeks submission. What is being developed here is not a legal system - it is a vehicle of domination cloaked in the guise of jurisprudence.

Undaunted by the winter storm, Buddhist monks continue their Walk for Peace on a quiet, snow-covered Raleigh road Sunday morning. 📹 @vizjourno #WalkForPeace #PeaceWalk #BuddhistMonks #NorthCarolina

The @nytimes has compiled an incredibly detailed and comprehensive account of the massacre committed in Iran, by direct order of Supreme Leader Khamenei. It was so graphic and so harrowing that I was unable to read to the end. If you know someone downplaying what happened or peddling conspiracies please show them this. @farnazfassihi nytimes.com/2026/01/25/wor…

@RedPilledNurse Courtney Love?

Nurses ?

Me explaining my writing process

"White winter had set in the cruel stillness of cloudless frosts...A January day was drawing to its close; the evening cold pierced keenly through the motionless air and a brilliant sunset was rapidly dying away" -Ivan Turgenev, 'Fathers and Sons' (1862)

From the streets of Tehran to the heart of the European Parliament, the message is clear: Iran must be free. Iran will be free. The @Europarl_EN has overwhelmingly voted to back the aspirations of the Iranian people. We have called for decisive action to: • Stop the violence: End the brutal crackdown and mass killings of peaceful protesters. • Halt executions: Immediately stop the state-sanctioned killings used to silence dissent. • Free the brave: Release every imprisoned demonstrator and political prisoner. • Target the oppressors: Designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation and hold those responsible accountable. To the courageous people of Iran: Even when cables are cut, we hear you. Even when blackouts fall, we see you. You are not alone. The European Parliament stands firmly with you.

@grok @HamEggsnSam @SLOTUS @VP He still pays for it. It’s not “free”

US Vice President and family get healthcare via White House Medical Unit (DoD), offering comprehensive, worldwide care at little to no direct cost. They can join FEHB, with govt covering up to 75% of premiums. Average family: Employer plans cost ~$27K/year total; families pay ~$6.8K in premiums + $4K+ out-of-pocket (deductibles, copays). Differences: VP has priority, on-demand access to top specialists; averages face higher costs, potential delays, and coverage limits.

We’re very happy to share some exciting news. Our family is growing!

THREAD: Verified videos of Iran protests published during the internet blackout. Protesters on Khaghani Street in Isfahan push security forces back and take over the street after intense clashes. Date: 8 January Location: maps.app.goo.gl/iYG87wuZm5Lcjg… @GeoConfirmed

As 20,000 innocent Iranians are murdered in the streets, Iranians are shocked to see that neither the disgraceful UN Secretary General nor many of the West's famous news organizations nor virtually all the 'humanitarian' NGOs nor the international 'human rights' courts and their lawyers have supported them, exposing much about who controls who in the hierarchy of grievances and the degradation of the entire NGOsphere and the rules-based supranational infrastructure. For 40 years, Iranian dissidents nicknamed the British broadcaster “BBC Ayatollah” and in the last three weeks, the BBC and Sky initially avoided the protests. Ironically the comedian Omid Djalili was providing better coverage than the BBC whose coverage was embarrasing. The UN, long protecting Iran, abetted by its allies Russia and China, ignored it altogether and its secretary-general was revealed as a patspaw for vicious tyrannies. Only on Thursday did the security council hold a session at which the dissident Masih Alinejad, whom the regime had tried to assassinate, reprimanded António Guterres, the compromised secretary-general: “the Secretary-general has not spoken publicly against the massacre … Secretary-general why are you afraid of the Islamic Republic?” Iranian protesters chanted 'Neither Gaza nor Lebanon My Life for Iran' and in favour of the Shah and his son. Western activists have resisted backing this new anti-Islamic revolution, long seeing radical Iran as an authentic popular bulwark against US and Israeli power and Western imperialism - a shameful now unveiled view long espoused by many prominent TV anchors, newsrooms as well as the 'humanitarian' and international law NGOsphere and the 'peace' pro-Palestine activists. Iranians are outraged by his brazen ammoral humbug: “Where is the left now? Where are the ‘pro-Palestinian’ and ‘anti-war’ activists when the Islamic Republic is killing innocent Iranians?” asks Alinejad. The Iranian Yale lecturer Arash Azizi reflects: “You would have thought leftists would understand the killing of Iranians on the streets fighting against a brutal capitalist regime. But unfortunately they don’t. The western leftist movements hate the West. They hate their own societies.” Unlike the Islamists, the shah refused to slaughter Iranians, as did Louis XVI, Charles X, Louis Philippe, Napoleon III and Nicholas II who hesitated to unleash violence so as not to taint the succession of their sons. Now almost to the day since his father left Iran 47 years ago, Prince Reza is the leading opposition symbol. Critics question whether he has real support and we know little of who Iranians would really support after a revolution. But inconvenient and embarrassing as it is to the West's 'anti-imperalists' he obviously has spport as a symbol if not a future king. He will never represent that the 20% of Iranians who support the Islamist dictatorship nor probably the far left but it is now up to Prince Reza to assemble a wider coalition of other parties and attitudes if he really wishes to become a future leader around whom most Iranians can rally. But it is little wonder Iranians see the shah’s reign as golden: their royalism, says the journalist Roohola Ramezani, who escaped Iran days ago, is “not a return to absolute autocracy but a symbolic bulwark against the failure of clerical republicanism … the throne reimagined as a secular shield” and he adds that the funding of faraway Islamist organizations, Hamas and Hezbollah, have outraged Iranians who see billions of their money wasted on murderous paramilitaries. Some have chanted for Israel and waved Israeli flags.... thetimes.com/comment/column…

People in Iran deserve to live free. The European Parliament will keep pushing to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation. It would mean further degradation of the IRGC's ability to operate with impunity, disrupt their cash flow, their modus operandi and underline that they will find no safe haven. Equally importantly, it would send a strong message to the brave Iranians on the streets that Europe has heard them, that we stand with them and we have acted against their tormentors.

"Often the Gasht-e Ershad (Iran's morality police...) turn up at some hapless suspected Christian's home, waving a Bible and asking the children if they've seen it before. If the children say "Yes, Mummy reads it all the time" then one of two things happen. If she is at home, she is carted off to jail, probably tortured and told to rat on her fellow Christians. But she's not normally executed- which normally she should be-and that implies there are enough Christians to cause concern to the regime.... If she is out Daddy rings her and says 'Whatever you do don't come home'. " spectator.com/article/irania…

Expliquer que « le peuple iranien doit renverser son régime tout seul », sans aide extérieure, revient de facto à défendre les mollahs. Enjoindre des civils désarmés à affronter un pouvoir qui tire à balles réelles, ce n’est pas de la neutralité, c’est choisir son camp.

In UN Security Council, Masih Alinejad breaking down while listing the names of killed Iranian protesters over the years #Iran #IranProtests

یک هفته از قطع اینترنت ایران گذشت؛ یک هفته‌ای که افول انسانیت رو دیدیم. #IranRevolution2026 #DigitalBlackoutIran

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Martin Luther King Don't remain silent. Remaining silent is siding with the murderer.