Notebooks

Notebooks are snapshots from our writers, reflecting on current affairs and underappreciated aspects of culture and history.

View of a massive demonstration against the Shah of Iran in downtown Tehran, 9 October 1978.

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Iran’s protest movement and the shadow of 1979

Iran’s current wave of unrest echoes the revolutionary fervour that gripped the country in the late 1970s.

Ashkan Hashemipour January 13, 2026

The Bastille in the days of the Revolution.

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How France forged the prison memoir

Nicolas Sarkozy’s 'Journal d’un prisonnier' joins a centuries-old tradition of political and personal prison writing.

Muriel Zagha January 13, 2026

An image of the US Navy's new autonomous aquatic drone submarine.

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America’s techno-imperial moment

The audacious raid in Venezuela reveals how technological advances are expanding the United States' geopolitical options.

Christian Ruth January 13, 2026

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The war for oil never really went away

From Venezuela to Ukraine, the struggle for oil continues to shape global conflict.

Paul Josephson January 12, 2026

Images of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and Ruhollah Khomeini, his predecessor, in Tehran.

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The Islamic Republic’s Trump problem

With Iran crippled by renewed popular unrest and economic turmoil, President Trump is presented with an opportunity to dismantle the regime and its nuclear programme for good.

Charlie Laderman January 8, 2026

General George Washington says farewell to his officers after the Revolution at Fraunces Tavern, New York City. Credit: North Wind Picture Archives

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A return to the classical foundations of American statecraft

Trump's coup in Caracas exemplifies a form of statecraft rooted in antiquity – and in America's founding.

Joshua Treviño January 8, 2026

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After the Eighth Great Power

Each communications revolution rewrites the political order. Democracies will not survive by clinging to broadcast certainties or chasing every viral falsehood.

Lisa Klaassen January 7, 2026

Iranians protesting against the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police, in Tehran, 1 October, 2022.

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Iran’s new age of revolutions

Iran's protests are part of a new phase of unrest in the Islamic Republic that began in 2017, when calls for reform were displaced by demands for regime change.

Kasra Aarabi and Saeid Golkar January 6, 2026

Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, 1965.

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The art of agent-running

Agent-running is all about people. The safety of agents – who often treat their case officers as confessional, priest-like figures – is paramount.

Marc Polymeropoulos January 6, 2026