Broken Bangles: Life, Stories, Thoughts

  Is Iran a Full-fledged Nuclear State? Iran is a nuclear threshold state. It has in its possession enough enriched Uranium to make several atomic bombs. The US intelligence has warned that if Iran wants to build a nuclear bomb, it can do it at some point in future. Iran has always maintained that its nuclear programme was meant for peaceful purposes alone. According to a 2024 US Congressional Research Service Report, Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons programme and did not have all the technologies necessary to develop nuclear weapons. Iran’s Uranium enrichment programme has been running since 2000. These facilities, in theory, could generate highly enriched Uranium used in nuclear weapons. In nuclear reactors used for generating energy, low enriched Uranium is used, and Iran has always said that the enrichment programme is solely for that purpose. Which International Treaties restrict Iran from Developing Nuclear Weapons? In 2015, a nuclear agreement was signed between Iran and...

  Hezbollah is an intriguing phenomenon, a nation inside a nation that is volatile and out of control beyond the reach of Lebanese state machinery. Still, it has a huge presence socially, politically, and militarily.   Hezbollah is basically a Shiʿah Muslim political party and a militant group. The role of Hezbollah in Lebanon is one legitimate yet without responsibility. Curiously, Hezbollah is assessed as having the military prowess to take over Lebanon if it wants to. Yet, the organisation seems not inclined to do so. However, it commands its own armed force.  Hezbollah operates inside and outside Lebanon and is not accountable to the Lebanese government. The Lebanese democratic system has many cracks, which Hezbollah takes advantage of and grows roots in. The group also has informal agreements with the country's elite groups. Yet, it is not as if this organisation is holding hostage the Lebanese government with military might. The reality is much more complex....

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons) Ancient Egypt had the undisputed and exclusive legacy of the entire Africa till it fell under the colossus of Empire, and became colonies. Not only did the power tilt, but a culture was almost erased. A ton of sand upon a magnificent bust in marble.  From it, emerged the nation states- Egypt, a weak shadow of its ancient counterpart, and Ethiopia and Sudan- like impoverished cousins from the lineage of mighty patriarchs.  Iran went through a similar fate. The formidable Persia, one of the largest Empires in human history, transformed into economically weak Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Greece, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and even Egypt. Persia had surpassed Egypt in empire-building by swallowing Egypt too. Yet, the colony era humbled them and rid them of many parts of a proud heritage. Stripped and paraded before an alien tribe. Looted and ground to earth beneath its crusading feet.    Persia, though non-existent, survives ...