The Colony Archive

**This is a collaborative episode with Delete Ur Account podcast hosted by Kumars Salehi and The Adnan Husain Show***

This week’s episode is a collaboration with The Colony Archive and The Adnan Husain Show. As Roqayah continues to report from the front lines of Israel’s assault on south Lebanon, Kumars is joined by returning guest Navid Zarrinnal and debutante Adnan Husain. 

The gang discusses President Masoud Pezeskhian’s letter to Americans, Javad Zarif’s ceasefire proposal in Foreign Affairs, the Iranian government’s response to the mass displacement caused by US-Israeli bombing, the history of Western opposition to Iranian development, relations between the Islamic Republics of Iran and Pakistan, whether the war will ultimately push the Gulf states out of the imperialist orbit, and what it could mean for Iran to become a global power.

You can find Navid’s courageous reporting and insightful analysis for The Colony Archive on Instagram and subscribe to The Adnan Husain Show on YouTube for all of your politically Shi’i needs.

**This episode is co-published with Kumars Salehi at Delete Ur Account and Sina Rahmani from The East is a Podcast**

This week’s episode is another collaboration with The Colony Archive and The East is a Podcast. As Roqayah continues to document the resistance to Israel’s attempted ethnic cleansing of south Lebanon, Kumars and friend of the show Sina Rahmani reconnected with Navid Zarrinnal in Tehran after two weeks. 

Navid updates us on the current mood in Iran as US-Israeli bombardment continues, sharing his experiences of the significance of Quds Day and Palestinian liberation to people in Iran, and how Iranians are responding to their country’s resilience. The gang also discusses the political divisions within the Iranian establishment, the source of accusations of corruption and economic mismanagement, and what a strategic defeat for the US and Israel means for Iran and the world.

Don’t miss Navid’s urgent reporting and analysis for The Colony Archive on YouTube. 

Watch the video edition on The East is a Podcast YouTube channel

This week’s episode of Delete Your Account is a Patreon-exclusive collaboration with The Colony Archive and The East is a Podcast.

While Roqayah is off documenting the lead-up to another Israeli ground invasion of south Lebanon, Kumars and friend of the show Sina Rahmani were finally able to contact fellow friend of the show Navid Zarrinnal in Tehran.

Speaking on the phone as the internet blackout continues, Navid discusses his experience of the bombardment of Tehran, the US and Israel’s increasingly untargeted strikes across the country, Western media’s psychological warfare against people in Iran, and how Iranians are responding to the assassination of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. 

Sina and Kumars also fill Navid in on the abysmal response to this attack in the United States, Iran’s ongoing retaliation against Israel and US bases in the region, and the massive mobilization of Shia Muslims in response to the news of Khamenei’s martyrdom.

Navid spoke to Geo Maher about the history of Western colonialism in Venezuela, and the recent politics surrounding the kidnapping of President Maduro. Geo Maher is an educator, organizer, and writer who has written extensively on Venezuela.

For more on his work and books on the subject, visit https://geomaher.com/about/

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Navid explains the economic and geopolitical causes of the 2026 Iranian protests from Tehran.

When we recorded this episode on January 7, the Iranian protests against inflation, which had begun on December 29, appeared largely peaceful. Since January 8, they have taken on a more violent turn, with documented damage to public properties, and it appears that the US and Israel had prepared armed groups to join the protests and create chaos in the country. As of today, the situation seems to have largely stabilized, at least for now...

Navid provides a primer on liberalism. He defines what it means to be a liberal! He then explains three things: why everyone in the US political mainstream is a liberal; how liberalism has historically denied certain demographics their rights; and, why there is such a close connection between liberalism and colonialism!

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The United States government created "area studies" around the Second World War, funding universities to understand the "areas" of the world that were important to the expanding U.S. empire. But, now, with the U.S. empire entering the autumn of its decline, and the repression that followed the events of October 7, area studies is entering a new phase of insecurity. This is especially true about Middle East Studies.

Navid joined Ameem Lutfi, Duke PhD and an assistant professor of historical anthropology at LUMS, to discuss all of this.

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Navid explains the major differences between colonial empires and the agrarian empires that preceded them.

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The founder of ⁨‪PersianPoetics, Muhammad Ali Mojaradi (known as Sharghzadeh) returned to the Colony Archive to talk Iranian "diaspora fatigue." We talk about the politics of the Iranian diaspora, national "dislocation," and how Iranians view their neighbors.

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Navid dives into the history behind Iran's negotiations with the West over its nuclear program; this history stretches some 22 years back to when Mohammad Khatami was Iran's president. He also explains whether there is any possibility for renewed negotiations between Iran and the United States, after the 12-day war against the country stalled prospects for a new nuclear deal.