# pahlavi — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 1 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover pahlavi. Page: Feed: --- ## [The World Cup of Selective Fairness](https://nkowsar.substack.com/p/the-world-cup-of-selective-fairness) _2026-07-07 · Nik Kowsar · Nik’s Substack_ When FIFA looked ready to bend its own rules for the host, the tournament stopped resembling a competition and started resembling soccer gerrymandering: a map quietly redrawn so the home team wins the district no matter how the votes fall. ## [I Cannot Hate This Team](https://nkowsar.substack.com/p/i-cannot-hate-this-team) _2026-06-27 · Nik Kowsar · Nik’s Substack_ There are facts I cannot ignore. ## [The Anatomy of a Failed Bet](https://nkowsar.substack.com/p/the-anatomy-of-a-failed-bet) _2026-06-15 · Nik Kowsar · Nik’s Substack_ And we will see how Mojtaba Khamenei was moved closer to the center of the equation. Now the old layers of the onion have been peeled away and discarded. But the same foul-smelling onion of the Islamic Republic remains in place, only thinner, more wounded, and more exposed than before. ## [War and Piece: Everyone Wants a Slice](https://nkowsar.substack.com/p/war-and-piece-everyone-wants-a-slice) _2026-06-14 · Nik Kowsar · Nik’s Substack_ As a kid, I was too lazy to finish Tolstoy’s War and Peace. I had read a few Russian writers — Tolstoy, Chekhov, and the usual heavyweights — and at some point I decided to retreat with dignity. Enough Russian suffering for one childhood. ## [The World is Going Crazy](https://nkowsar.substack.com/p/the-world-is-going-crazy) _2026-06-06 · Nik Kowsar · Nik’s Substack_ I stopped updating my blog for a while. ## [The Entitled and Their Enablers](https://nkowsar.substack.com/p/the-entitled-and-their-enablers) _2026-05-10 · Nik Kowsar · Nik’s Substack_ The real danger in being the child of powerful men is not the DNA. Bloodlines are not magic, however much courtiers insist otherwise. The danger is the bad blood injected later by enablers, people who know exactly how to use the son of a cleric, the son of a president, or the son of a king. ## [Playing Chess With the Islamic Republic](https://nkowsar.substack.com/p/playing-chess-with-the-islamic-republic) _2026-05-09 · Nik Kowsar · Nik’s Substack_ To deal with the Islamic Republic, slogans are not enough. You need to play three-dimensional chess while remembering the rules of backgammon. You also need to understand the creature across the table. It may have the temper of an enraged gorilla. It may pretend to be mad. But do not be fooled by the performance. It is still playing. And it is still trying to fool you. ## [He Called for the Streets, Others Paid in Blood](https://nkowsar.substack.com/p/he-called-for-the-streets-others) _2026-04-20 · Nik Kowsar · Nik’s Substack_ When Pahlavi called on people to take to the streets, did he clearly warn them what they might face? I do not think so. And now he seems to want people to forget those failures. ## [Excerpts from the AP story: Killing of Iranian activist in Canada exposes increasingly bitter divisions within the diaspora](https://nkowsar.substack.com/p/excerpts-from-the-ap-story-killing) _2026-04-20 · Nik Kowsar · Nik’s Substack_ Masood Masjoody had a long history of firing accusations at those he considered adversaries. ## [Watch Chovy Code Live (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/Sew7INj8lO3v) _2026-04-20 · **Sponsored**_ Join live coding streams with real-time collaborative screen sharing, open source and free. ## [The Cult Around Iran’s Forrest Gump](https://nkowsar.substack.com/p/the-cult-around-irans-forrest-gump) _2026-04-14 · Nik Kowsar · Nik’s Substack_ He is a walking paradox, a man who says one thing today and the opposite tomorrow, then waits for his followers to explain why both positions were secretly brilliant. And they do, faithfully, reflexively, almost tenderly. They follow him through every contradiction like the crowd running after Forrest Gump, convinced that motion itself is meaning and that every change of direction must contain…