Polemology Positions

During the 19th century, French nationalism and widespread literacy developed a mass interest in medieval history and national heroes, with Joan of Arc foremost among the latter. Images of French history appeared regularly in popular publications and posters of the time. As one might expect, artists tended to romanticize their reconstructions of medieval sieges in a contemporary mode, though they turned to the historical texts for their material.

Islam did not experience a straightforward or unified progress. The Abbasid caliphate and its capital Baghdad had existed for over a century, surviving defeats and challenges, when the Zanj rebelled in what is today southern Iraq and southwestern Iran, devastating the imperial plantation economy. According to al-Tabari, Ali b. Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Rahim, “the abominable one” who led the great slave rebellion, claimed preternatural powers that rivalled the prophet.

In this famous scene, the coffee is a power play. One character is exerting authority over another to enforce a hard economic reality on them It all feels so familiar because it is familiar, by now. The president calls a timeout for negotiations at the behest of the Saudis, Qataris, and Pakistanis with planes in the air. Then Iran denies any negotiations are happening with the great orange Satan. Ships in the Strait of Hormuz report projectile strikes.

Detail from “Toulouse Fortifies its Defenses to Resist Simon de Montfort in 1218” by Jean-Paul Laurens (1899), a mural located in the Salle des Illustres within the Capitole de Toulouse, France. Note the presence of women in a scene of hasty trebuchet construction.

Launch of an FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile by Ukrainians Ukraine has surpassed Russia in the scale of their long-range strike capabilities. Successive, overlapping campaigns have created gas lines in Russia, swept the Sea of Azov clear of Russian ships, hammered logistics, and in recent days has expanded to Wildberries warehouses. Wildberries is frequently compared to Amazon as a business, but this does not quite explain what is happening, here.

Early on the morning of 3 January 2026, at least 32 Cuban guards around Nicolás Maduro were reportedly incapacitated by a weapon that American forces were using for the very first time. According to an alleged surviving Venezuelan security guard, there was an “intense sound wave” or energy pulse that cause an internal head-exploding sensation, nosebleeds, vomiting of blood, disorientation, and collapse, leaving the guards unable to resist the Americans.

The Chabahar maritime watchtower was 78 meters tall. It was constructed during the 2010s upgrades to the Shahid Beheshti terminal of Chabahar Port. Chabahar is the only deep water seaport Iran has on the Indian Ocean and it has become a regional trading hub. It allows the regime to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

On July 13, 2026, Ukraine’s 123rd Separate Territorial Defense Brigade conducted what it described as the world’s first known combat operation combining an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) to land an armed unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) and engage targets on the Russian-occupied shore of the Kinburn Spit. Here is what I wrote in September of 2025, less than one year ago, forecasting this exact scenario: an all-drone assault on a contested shoreline, sparing Ukrainian lives.

The lids on large petroleum tanks like this one are not fixed into place. They float on the surface of the oil, sealed to the wall of the tank, so that pressure changes do not damage the structure. This one was reportedly struck by a Russian surface-to-air missile that failed to intercept a Ukrainian drone that reached Moscow.

The United States Treasury Department revoked its waiver of sanctions on Iranian oil yesterday. CENTCOM reported strikes on “Iranian air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in and near the strait to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international commerce flowing through the international trade corridor.” Altogether, more than 80 targets were hit.