Latest news with #Pandora'sBox
New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
UCLA grad brazenly shows off ChatGPT that did his assignments for him — and critics aren't happy: ‘We're so cooked'
Was it CheatGPT? It's no secret that artificial intelligence use is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in academia. But while most prefer to keep their AI schoolwork aids confidential, one student at the University of California, Los Angeles, brazenly boasted about employing the tech during his commencement ceremony. The shocking moment was captured during UCLA's livestream at the Pauley Pavilion earlier this month, but videos have since been reshared to Instagram and X, where they've amassed millions of views. 3 The grad shows off the ChatGPT text he used for his final exams in front of fellow students. Instagram/andremaimusic In the brief clip, which was displayed on the facility's Jumbotron, Andre Mai, a computational and systems biology major, is seen holding up his laptop to show off walls of AI-generated text that he ostensibly used for his final exams. The footage shows the undergrad proudly scrolling through the evidence of his so-called high-tech homework hacking as the rest of the graduating class of 2025 whoops and cheers in the background. 'Let's gooooo!!!!!!' he mouths while hyping up the crowd. 3 'If ChatGPT is why you graduated, ChatGPT has already taken your job,' said one critic. Instagram/andremaimusic The video didn't sit nearly as well with online viewers, many of whom saw it as indicative of societal decline. 'We're so cooked,' lamented one disillusioned commenter under a repost on X, while another wrote, 'Pandora's Box has been opened.' 'We're still supposed to take college degrees seriously btw,' scoffed a third. 'Our future doctors really gon have one AirPod in asking ChatGPT how to do open heart surgery,' quipped one X wit. 'If ChatGPT is why you graduated, ChatGPT has already taken your job,' theorized one poster, reiterating techsperts' concerns that AI could render effectively render human employees obsolete. 3 Academics are growing increasingly concerned over the prevalence of ChatGPT and other AI chatbots in the classroom. AlexPhotoStock – These fears were also echoed on Reddit. 'This is going to be the biggest problem,' fretted one poster. 'People just aren't going to learn anything anymore, instead of a tool to help you learn people are just going to think it's a magic answer box.' However, some defenders applauded Mai for seemingly gaming the system with one X fan writing, 'Hot take ChatGPT and AI are tools that are going to be with us for good or bad for the foreseeable future.' 'So proving that they can effectively use the tools he had to achieve what was required of him is not cheating,' they added. 'It proves he will be able to provide similar results in the real world.' Mai, who is also a DJ, addressed the viral moment in a video on Instagram, explaining, 'you guys might know me from this viral clip from graduation today. I wanna let you guys know what was actually on my computer screen.' In the post, which was reshared by ChatGPT's official page, the tech whiz clarified that he'd used the chatbot to help with two complicated finals, one of which was due at 5pm and the other at midnight. 'I was wrapping up all the documentation that I've ever [done] for my machine learning lab,' he declared. 'I also had to use AI to summarize the key equations that I'd be using for what would essentially be the last test I'd ever take in my undergraduate career.' Mai suggested that this wasn't cheating as he had his teachers' blessing. 'My professors have really encouraged the use of AI,' he said. 'So much so that when the jumbotron people came around, I just flipped my screen around and I had to show them what I was doing. I never could have imagined all this exciting attention.' Mai added that he's used the tech AI in 'so many different ways as a college student,' ranging from understanding 'operating systems or computer networking' to selecting the best DJ equipment. Nonetheless, techsperts remain concerned over the omnipresence of AI in the classroom. According to a winter survey by the Pew Research Center, approximately 26% of teen students used the AI chatbot to help them with assignments in 2024 — up from just 13% in 2023. Unfortunately, using ChatGPT to fudge assignments could potentially make people dumber in the long run. An alarming study by researchers with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that students who use ChatGPT to complete essays have poorer cognitive skills than those who rely on just their brain.
Spectator
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
The vicious genius of Adam Curtis
In an interview back in 2021, Adam Curtis explained that most political journalists couldn't understand his films because they aren't interested in music. Having known a fair few political journalists, I can say with some certainty that he was right. Most politically motivated types are – not to be unkind, but it's true – total losers. This cuts across left and right, all ideologies and tendencies, from Toryism to anarchism to Islamism and back: whatever you believe, if you believe it too strongly you were probably a weirdo at school. The other kids went out clubbing; you stayed at home, drawing pictures of Lenin or von Mises on your satchel. The other kids were in bands, you were in a reading group. When political freaks grow up a bit they often get very performatively into social binge-drinking, as if to prove a point, but it's all hollow. The joy isn't there. There are important things about the world that will always be closed off to the political obsessive, because political obsessives don't understand music. Adam Curtis considers himself to be a political journalist, and he definitely used to be one. His BBC documentaries from the 1990s and 2000s are thorny and thematically dense attempts to grapple with the condition of the present. Pandora's Box (1992) was about how human reason bumps up against the inherent messiness of reality, and how projects for rationally governing the world end up collapsing into bizarre forms of unreason. Over six episodes, Curtis talks about von Neumann's game theory, Milton Friedman's Chicago school of economics, Kwame Nkrumah's dream of African self-sufficiency, the cult of Taylorism and how it overrode Marxism in the early Soviet Union, nuclear physics, insecticides, and the way our social biases are repackaged for us in the form of a supposedly neutral science. There are a lot of words in there. Plenty of interviews with experts and significant figures, but also Curtis's clipped, precise narration, set to a collage of footage dug out of the BBC archive. Street scenes, offices, factories, politicians getting out of cars, but sometimes more abstract shots of industrial infrastructure and spaceships exploding in the sky. According to Curtis, most of that footage was there because he needed to finish the film on time and couldn't find anything else. But since then, this stuff has become his stock in trade. You know you're watching an Adam Curtis film when you hear someone talking about how plans to rationally control society fell apart to a Burial track and lots of black-and-white archive footage of people dancing at Butlin's. He was convinced he was simply illustrating his ideas. But this was a fantasy. In fact, he was unleashing forces that he could neither control nor understand. And then something strange happened. His style has become very easy to parody, which might be why Curtis has spent the last few years steadily paring it down. Shifty is his most abstract, imagistic film yet. His narration has now vanished entirely; instead, there are a series of sparse title cards that flash up over the archive footage, saying things like 'The Concept Of Privatisation Had Been Invented By The Nazis' or 'Underneath There Was Nothing.' All in all, over five episodes and five-and-three-quarter hours, Adam Curtis gives us significantly fewer of his own words than are contained in this review. They are sparse and stony, less like an argument than propaganda signs glowing in the night. The story he tells with them is – if you've seen any of his previous work – a familiar one. Every episode begins with the same words. 'There come moments in societies when the foundations of power begin to move. When that happens things become SHIFTY.' In Britain, that moment came at the end of the 20th century. Before Thatcher, Britain was about strong communities, solidarity, labour unions, and a productive industrial base. But during the Thatcher and Blair eras, all of that was emptied out, and we became a society of cynical, self-interested individuals, trapped in a fantasy of the past, and led by politicians who no longer believed in anything at all. This story is not necessarily untrue, but it's also not really groundbreaking. To the extent that this country does still have a unifying national myth, it's this one – about how Thatcherism tore all our unifying national myths apart. But it doesn't really matter, because Curtis is doing something different to ordinary political journalism. His constant rummage through the BBC's archives has yielded a lot of good stuff, and he has a real vicious genius for putting it together. At the start of the very first scene, we see Jimmy Savile ushering a group of angelic blond children into Thatcher's office. Once they're inside he gives a chortling thumbs-up to the camera, and then closes the door. Alongside the stories of monetarism and shots of fox hunters riding in front of huge hazy steelworks, there are weirder threads. A dog owner is concerned that their pet seems to have spontaneously switched sex. At the London Zoo, which can no longer rely on state financing, zookeepers now have to be personable and cheerful, play-acting for a public who have become the only source of income. A kid plays with the effects pedal on his guitar. A woman shows off her designer handbags. In the planning meetings for the Millennium Dome, they try to pin down the values of modern Britain, but discover that they don't really have any. In the 'Spirit Zone,' instead of endorsing any particular religion, they've decided to fill the room with fog and write the words 'How shall I live?' on the wall. They're very proud of it. 'I think the question 'how shall I live?' is anything but banal. In fact, I think it's the biggest single question, probably, that's begged in the entire dome.' None of this really coalesces into a single point, but trying to make things coalesce into a single point is part of the rationalist, sense-making project Curtis has been critiquing his entire career. Our world is shifty now, and things will not make sense. You won't understand them with facts, but music. There's far less actual music here than in any of Curtis's previous films. Instead of Kanye or Nine Inch Nails or Aphex Twin, a lot of the shots of decaying industry are set to the sounds of static or howling wind. But music is one of the threads here. In one episode, we're introduced to the Farlight CMI digital sampler, a machine that can take any sound, convert it into data, and digitally reproduce it. The first song to be recorded entirely using samples was 'Relax' by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, which is then banned from the BBC for being too flagrantly gay, but it's already self-replicating around the world. People start using the Farlight CMI to switch out samples in the track and create their own remixes. Which is, of course, what Curtis is also doing. Later, we meet a bedroom producer called DJ Fingers, playing around with turntables in his south London home. 'Basically you're just making music out of other people's records. You know the record inside out when you're cutting up this break.' Once again Curtis has found a vision of himself in the archives. But it's not exactly celebratory. He was one of the first people to point out that in recent decades newness seems to have vanished from the world: we just repeat old fashions, old music, old fantasies about how to live. What does it mean, then, when one of our greatest and most popular documentarians does nothing but rearrange the past? At the end of the final episode, there's a kind of Adam Curtis auto-parody, of the type I just did above. A Bowie song, paired with clips from old films. 'Will People Come Together As They Did In The Past And Fight Back?' his stark title cards ask. 'Or Is This Just Another Feedback Loop Of Nostalgia? Repeating Back Sounds Dreams And Images Of The Past, Which Is The Way The System Controls You, And Is The Way This Series Was Made.'
Time of India
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
What is Pandora's Lunchbox, and when should you use it in PEAK?
(Image via Landcrab) In the bizarre, high-stakes world of PEAK, survival demands quick thinking, and sometimes, blind luck. That's where Pandora's Lunchbox comes in. This mysterious box is equal parts chaotic and clutch. It's not your everyday tool; it's more like cracking open chaos. But in the right situation, it could be your unexpected lifeline. Here's what it is and why you should use it. What Exactly Is Pandora's Lunchbox? Pandora's Lunchbox is one of the most unpredictable items in PEAK. The moment you use it, it wipes away all negative status effects from your character. Sounds like a win, right? Well… not so fast. Right after the cleanse, the Lunchbox activates a hidden mechanic—a kind of internal "effect budget"—that randomly adds new status effects to your character. These can be: Positive boosts (like healing, energy recharge, or buffs), Negative effects (such as debuffs, weird modifiers, or fresh conditions), Or a combination of both. The number of effects ranges from none to five, with two being the average. The outcomes? Totally unpredictable. This is why YOU NEVER use Pandora's Box | PEAK So, Why Would You Use It? Despite the risk, Pandora's Lunchbox can actually be a clutch move, especially when things go south fast. 1. It Removes the Curse Debuff Got revived and stuck with a nasty Curse? You can't heal, you're constantly losing progress, and it just won't go away. The Lunchbox is currently the only known way to remove this specific debuff. If you're Cursed and don't want to burn valuable resources or die (again), popping the box could be your best shot. 2. Emergency Reset Button If you're hanging by a thread, poisoned, drained, low on health, this item can act as a full reset. In some runs, it has completely restored health and energy in one go. Is that guaranteed? Nope. But when you're already spiraling, it's worth the gamble. PEAK Trailer: OUT NOW! When Not to Use It If you're in control, fully powered, and moving smoothly through the game, maybe don't mess with it. Opening Pandora's Lunchbox when things are going well could replace your good fortune with a string of bad effects. And remember: once it's open, there's no undo button. Pandora's Lunchbox is both a blessing and a bombshell. It clears your problems, but invites new ones in. That makes it perfect for desperate moments, but risky in stable ones. If you're already sinking, take the chance. If you're soaring, maybe keep it sealed. Because in PEAK, sometimes the only way forward... is to roll the dice. Game On Season 1 kicks off with Sakshi Malik's inspiring story. Watch Episode 1 here
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
The fighting between Iran and Israel raises questions about Russia's influence in the Middle East
When the United States joined Israel this weekend in attacking Iran's nuclear sites, the outrage and condemnation flowed from Russia. Moscow's U.N. ambassador said Washington was opening 'a Pandora's Box,' and Tehran's top diplomat rushed to the Kremlin to seek support from President Vladimir Putin. But in his meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday, Putin offered only more words of condemnation of the strikes as 'unprovoked aggression' with 'no basis or justification.' Analysts say that muted response without any apparent military aid is likely to disappoint Iran and reflects Russia's diminished influence in the Middle East, where it already has lost a key ally and is seeking a delicate diplomatic balance. Moscow could instead realize some short-term benefits from the Iran-Israel war, such as increased oil prices to aid Russia's sinking economy, or distracting the world's attention from its 3-year-old war in Ukraine. An ally in need of help Russia's ties with Iran have grown since the start of Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Tehran supplying Moscow with Shahed drones and the technology to build them. The drones have been a key weapon in the war. The Kremlin praised the new era of Russian-Iranian relations in January 2025, when Moscow and Tehran signed a strategic partnership agreement aimed at nurturing economic, political and military ties. Its timing was significant, says Renad Mansour, a senior research fellow for the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House. 'This was done after (2024), which was a very bad year for Iran," he said, having lost regional allies amid the ouster of Bashar Assad in Syria and the weakening of Hezbollah. "Iran wanted to rely on Russia,' he said. But in practice, the agreement has meant little since Israel's attacks on Iran. It only forbids Russia and Iran from helping any country that attacked the other and is not a mutual defense pact. 'I think from the Iranian perspective, there's been some disappointment in how much Russia is willing to support,' Mansour said. 'They're feeling now that when we're facing this colossal giant of Israel and the U.S., Russia isn't really stepping in.' The Kremlin has bristled at suggestions it is abandoning or neglecting Iran. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday denied claims that Moscow had not given meaningful support to Tehran. Many people want 'to spoil the partnership between Moscow and Tehran,' he said. 'Russia has in fact supported Iran with the clear position it has taken. And, of course, we intend to further develop our relations with Iran,' he said. Asked Monday whether Russia would provide equipment such as air defenses to Tehran, he said 'everything depends on what the Iranian side, on what our Iranian friends say.' Israel has destroyed most of Iran's air defenses, and replacing them would not be easy, even if Russia wanted to. Iran desperately needs such systems, Arman Mahmoudian, a research fellow at the Global and National Security Institute, told The Associated Press. '(But) Russia itself needs these very weapons — both air defense systems and missiles — for its own war effort in Ukraine.' he said. 'The likelihood that Russia will meet Iran's requests is minimal.' That need will only become more acute if Iran is unable to keep supplying Russia with attack drones, which are being increasingly deployed by Iranian forces, which is likely to leave little capacity for exports, Mahmoudian said. 'Another critical factor is that Israel has extensively targeted Iran's drone and missile production facilities. Even if the war ends soon, Iran will need time to recover and rebuild these sites,' he added. Moscow's balancing act in the Middle East Iranian demands are not the only ones that Moscow is balancing. Russia also wants to maintain good relations with Israel. Both countries' militaries are active in Syria, and they have been careful to maintain contacts in order to avoid direct clashes. Israel has remained largely neutral during the war in Ukraine, wary of antagonizing Russia because of its large Jewish population. Putin said Friday at a conference in St. Petersburg that Israel was home to nearly 2 million people from Russia and other former Soviet nations, 'a factor that we always have taken into account.' Moscow also is paying close attention to its relationship with Washington, which has warmed since President Donald Trump returned to office this year. Phone calls have resumed between leaders in both countries for the first time since the war in Ukraine. 'For now, Trump shows no inclination to endorse the harsh new sanctions against Russia which a bipartisan majority in the U.S. Senate has proposed,' says Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank. 'But if Putin were to annoy Trump over Iran in any significant way, Trump may change tack and impose new heavy sanctions on Russia.' New complexities and opportunities for Russia While the Israel-Iran war has unleashed new complexities for Moscow, it also has created opportunities. The confrontation in the Middle East is likely to distract Western attention and resources from the war in Ukraine and make it easier for Russia to pursue its battlefield goals. Rising oil prices would also benefit Moscow, which relies heavily on fuel exports to boost its budget, allowing the Kremlin to fund weapons production, fight rising inflation, and provide the significant financial bonuses that entice Russian men into military service. Moscow also has sought on several occasions to position itself as a potential negotiator in the Iran-Israel war, although Putin himself later appeared to back away from such a role after Trump dismissed the idea of Kremlin mediation while fighting continued in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow is ready to help settle the conflict, but will not act as a mediator. Ksenia Svetlova, a former member of Israel's parliament who was born in Moscow and is an associate fellow at Chatham House, says 'Russia lacks any mechanism of pressure or leverage on Iran.' She noted that the war in Ukraine has drained its resources and its failure to halt Assad's fall shows that Moscow's influence in the region is fading. 'To be successful as mediators, you would need to make Iranians compromise,' she said. Whether Russia can now increase its sway in the Middle East remains uncertain. The war in Ukraine has left Moscow overstretched, said Mansour, the Chatham House research fellow. After Assad's ouster following years of Russian military support, the Kremlin already is making overtures to the new government in Syria, as well as an effort to approach other states in the region and beyond with transactional deals that serve both sides. 'You can lose battles, you can lose allies, but I am sure that Russia will maintain influence in the Middle East, including in Syria, where it's already negotiating with the new government,' Mansour said. Russia's actions in the Iran-Israel war could have other unforeseen long-term consequences. 'Even if the Islamic Republic survives the war, Russia's inability or unwillingness to assist its closest Middle Eastern ally will inevitably raise doubts about Moscow's reliability,' Mahmoudian said. 'Other regional players — such as Egypt and Turkey — have lately sought closer ties with Russia, yet watching Moscow fail to defend or meaningfully support Tehran may prompt them to reconsider how dependable a partner Russia can be,' he said. ___ Davies reported from Manchester, England. Kirka reported from London. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.
San Francisco Chronicle
5 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
The fighting between Iran and Israel raises questions about Russia's influence in the Middle East
When the United States joined Israel this weekend in attacking Iran's nuclear sites, the outrage and condemnation flowed from Russia. Moscow's U.N. ambassador said Washington was opening 'a Pandora's Box,' and Tehran's top diplomat rushed to the Kremlin to seek support from President Vladimir Putin. But in his meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday, Putin offered only more words of condemnation of the strikes as 'unprovoked aggression' with 'no basis or justification.' Analysts say that muted response without any apparent military aid is likely to disappoint Iran and reflects Russia's diminished influence in the Middle East, where it already has lost a key ally and is seeking a delicate diplomatic balance. Moscow could instead realize some short-term benefits from the Iran-Israel war, such as increased oil prices to aid Russia's sinking economy, or distracting the world's attention from its 3-year-old war in Ukraine. An ally in need of help Russia's ties with Iran have grown since the start of Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Tehran supplying Moscow with Shahed drones and the technology to build them. The drones have been a key weapon in the war. The Kremlin praised the new era of Russian-Iranian relations in January 2025, when Moscow and Tehran signed a strategic partnership agreement aimed at nurturing economic, political and military ties. Its timing was significant, says Renad Mansour, a senior research fellow for the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House. 'This was done after (2024), which was a very bad year for Iran," he said, having lost regional allies amid the ouster of Bashar Assad in Syria and the weakening of Hezbollah. "Iran wanted to rely on Russia,' he said. But in practice, the agreement has meant little since Israel's attacks on Iran. It only forbids Russia and Iran from helping any country that attacked the other and is not a mutual defense pact. 'I think from the Iranian perspective, there's been some disappointment in how much Russia is willing to support,' Mansour said. 'They're feeling now that when we're facing this colossal giant of Israel and the U.S., Russia isn't really stepping in.' The Kremlin has bristled at suggestions it is abandoning or neglecting Iran. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday denied claims that Moscow had not given meaningful support to Tehran. Many people want 'to spoil the partnership between Moscow and Tehran,' he said. 'Russia has in fact supported Iran with the clear position it has taken. And, of course, we intend to further develop our relations with Iran,' he said. Asked Monday whether Russia would provide equipment such as air defenses to Tehran, he said 'everything depends on what the Iranian side, on what our Iranian friends say.' Israel has destroyed most of Iran's air defenses, and replacing them would not be easy, even if Russia wanted to. Iran desperately needs such systems, Arman Mahmoudian, a research fellow at the Global and National Security Institute, told The Associated Press. '(But) Russia itself needs these very weapons — both air defense systems and missiles — for its own war effort in Ukraine.' he said. 'The likelihood that Russia will meet Iran's requests is minimal.' That need will only become more acute if Iran is unable to keep supplying Russia with attack drones, which are being increasingly deployed by Iranian forces, which is likely to leave little capacity for exports, Mahmoudian said. 'Another critical factor is that Israel has extensively targeted Iran's drone and missile production facilities. Even if the war ends soon, Iran will need time to recover and rebuild these sites,' he added. Moscow's balancing act in the Middle East Iranian demands are not the only ones that Moscow is balancing. Russia also wants to maintain good relations with Israel. Both countries' militaries are active in Syria, and they have been careful to maintain contacts in order to avoid direct clashes. Israel has remained largely neutral during the war in Ukraine, wary of antagonizing Russia because of its large Jewish population. Putin said Friday at a conference in St. Petersburg that Israel was home to nearly 2 million people from Russia and other former Soviet nations, 'a factor that we always have taken into account.' Moscow also is paying close attention to its relationship with Washington, which has warmed since President Donald Trump returned to office this year. Phone calls have resumed between leaders in both countries for the first time since the war in Ukraine. 'For now, Trump shows no inclination to endorse the harsh new sanctions against Russia which a bipartisan majority in the U.S. Senate has proposed,' says Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank. 'But if Putin were to annoy Trump over Iran in any significant way, Trump may change tack and impose new heavy sanctions on Russia.' New complexities and opportunities for Russia While the Israel-Iran war has unleashed new complexities for Moscow, it also has created opportunities. The confrontation in the Middle East is likely to distract Western attention and resources from the war in Ukraine and make it easier for Russia to pursue its battlefield goals. Rising oil prices would also benefit Moscow, which relies heavily on fuel exports to boost its budget, allowing the Kremlin to fund weapons production, fight rising inflation, and provide the significant financial bonuses that entice Russian men into military service. Moscow also has sought on several occasions to position itself as a potential negotiator in the Iran-Israel war, although Putin himself later appeared to back away from such a role after Trump dismissed the idea of Kremlin mediation while fighting continued in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow is ready to help settle the conflict, but will not act as a mediator. Ksenia Svetlova, a former member of Israel's parliament who was born in Moscow and is an associate fellow at Chatham House, says 'Russia lacks any mechanism of pressure or leverage on Iran.' She noted that the war in Ukraine has drained its resources and its failure to halt Assad's fall shows that Moscow's influence in the region is fading. 'To be successful as mediators, you would need to make Iranians compromise,' she said. Whether Russia can now increase its sway in the Middle East remains uncertain. The war in Ukraine has left Moscow overstretched, said Mansour, the Chatham House research fellow. After Assad's ouster following years of Russian military support, the Kremlin already is making overtures to the new government in Syria, as well as an effort to approach other states in the region and beyond with transactional deals that serve both sides. 'You can lose battles, you can lose allies, but I am sure that Russia will maintain influence in the Middle East, including in Syria, where it's already negotiating with the new government,' Mansour said. Russia's actions in the Iran-Israel war could have other unforeseen long-term consequences. 'Even if the Islamic Republic survives the war, Russia's inability or unwillingness to assist its closest Middle Eastern ally will inevitably raise doubts about Moscow's reliability,' Mahmoudian said. 'Other regional players — such as Egypt and Turkey — have lately sought closer ties with Russia, yet watching Moscow fail to defend or meaningfully support Tehran may prompt them to reconsider how dependable a partner Russia can be,' he said.
