Day 1,926: execute, dissident, captive

In the past year Iran has accelerated uranium enrichment, armed the Houthis, executed hundreds of dissidents at home and supplied vast numbers of drones to help Russia kill Ukrainians. Its newish president, Masoud Pezeshkian, is supposedly a reformer but really a captive of conservatives.

The year that shattered the Middle East

Artwork of the day 
Christ Taken Captive
Albrecht_Durer
Date: 1510
Style: Northern Renaissance
Series: The Large Passion
Genre: religious painting
Media: woodcut
Location: Albertina, Vienna, Austria

Word of the day 
execute: to kill someone as a legal punishment:
dissident: a person who publicly disagrees with and criticizes their government:
captive: a person or animal whose ability to move or act freely is limited by being kept in a space; a prisoner, especially a person held by the enemy during a war:

Quote of the day
“The noble title of "dissident" must be earned rather than claimed; it connotes sacrifice and risk rather than mere disagreement.”

― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian