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New Statesman
a day ago
- New Statesman
One hundred and one Dalmatian wines
If the wine world has buried treasure, it's genetic. There are 10,000 identified vine varieties, yet half of the world's vineyards are planted with just 33 of these, and the top 13 'international' varieties account for one-third of plantings. The greatest change in the past half-century has been the flowering of wines from the southern hemisphere. Exciting? In terms of craft and origin, perhaps – but not genetically. They're dominated by those wine-primer varieties: Chard, Cab, Shiraz, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. Where is the buried treasure? In difficult places, notably in central and eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Between the late-19th-century phylloxera era and the border realignments and colour revolutions that began in 1989, those difficulties were not merely physical, but political, economic and social, too. The wine cycle is slow, its chronological units merely annual. Forty years of restitution have yet to pass – but the excitement is growing. Wine-world change over the next half-century may draw deeply on these formerly despised zones. Dalmatia is a test case. This is the Mediterranean's most intricate archipelago, where the western edge of the Dinaric Alps crumbles into the sea within the present-day borders of Croatia. It's a garden-like assembly of islands and islets, inlaid with the turquoise gifted to quiet, sunlit waters by sea-bottom limestone. My dentist rhapsodised about it to me, drill in hand, 20 years ago; I finally toured it with Croatia's leading wine writer, Saša Špiranec, this June. Islands, like mountains, are barriers to homogenisation. Such barriers help preserve diversity; Switzerland, too, still works with many varieties lost elsewhere. You can happily ferry yourself from promontory to island to peninsula, up and down this coastline, and find indigenous varieties from each: haunting, sinewy white Grk and the characterful, aromatic white Pošip on the former Venetian island of Korčula; light, zesty white Bogdanuša and Prč on big Hvar; the apricot-scented Vugava on distant Vis; powerful red Dobričić on little Šolta; juicy red Babić and silky red Lasina in Primošten and Skradin on the mainland. Other varieties are pan-Dalmatian, including Plavac Mali, the muscular grape from which many of the most ambitious reds are crafted, and lushly fruity Tribidrag – the local name for Zinfandel (whose original home is here in Croatia). Delicate, faintly bitter white Maraština is found up and down the coast, too. The finest reds of all are found on the Pelješac peninsula, especially from the protected destination of origin zones of Dingač and Postup. Of course, there are challenges. Serbo-Croat nomenclature terrifies anglophones, particularly when vowels go missing and diacritics flutter like confetti. Eschew caution and blurt: once learned, the sounds themselves are not difficult. Dalmatia is lucky to have so many fragrant, quenching whites in its pocket, as they sing with the coastline's cornucopia of fish and seafood. Plavac Mali and Tribidrag reds, by contrast, are archetypical winter wines. The almost daunting power and force of a great Dingač red, made from Plavac Mali, rivals similarly contoured reds from Châteauneuf du Pape, Priorat or the Douro. If you get a glimpse of its steep, sea-fronted vine terraces – a furnace on a summer afternoon – this style seems inevitable and tastes precious, though it's fighting the new skinny-wine zeitgeist. A final hazard is that much of Croatia's wine is family-made and for personal use, and if you bump into wines like these (a possibility in small restaurants), their imperfections may be evident. It's worth seeking out bottled wines from the best producers – such as Antičević, Bedalov, Bire, Carić, Kiridžija, Korta Katarina, Krajančić, Marlais, Miloš, Rizman, Saints Hills, Stina, Tomić and Zure, to name just a few. Stories of this sort are underway at multiple points east of Venice and Palermo; indeed, coastal Istria and inland Croatia has as much again to offer (as, to be fair, does Italy). The dictatorship of the familiar stops here. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe [See also: Kemi Badenoch isn't working] Related
Fox News
a day ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Iran's Jews caught in crossfire of regime's propaganda war
In mid-June, as Israeli airstrikes targeted Iranian military bases, senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders and nuclear facilities, the Islamic Republic shifted its battlefield to a new front: the airwaves. On state-run television, a chilling propaganda campaign aired. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appeared flanked by Revolutionary Guard officers while a narrator declared, "We are all proud soldiers…we will uproot the Jews with our power." The message was clear, projecting defiance after the regime's military and nuclear apparatus were dealt a humiliating blow by Israel, while also carrying a more ominous signal to Iran's Jewish population. In the days following the 12-day war, regime forces launched a wave of arrests. Hundreds of Iranians were detained on espionage charges, including at least 35 Jews in Tehran and Shiraz. Many were interrogated and harassed. Their social media activity was reportedly scrutinized, and they were pressured to sever contact with relatives abroad, particularly those in Israel. This was not just a crackdown, but a calculated move to isolate and intimidate an already vulnerable community. Jews have lived in Iran for nearly 3,000 years. Their roots predate Islam and Christianity. Shaped by the legacy of Queen Esther, whose story is retold each year during Purim, Iran's Jews have survived persecution, war and revolution not through confrontation, but through careful adaptation and, often, silence. Iran's Jews are regularly used as pawns by the regime to fan anti-Israel sentiment, as was seen on Oct. 30, 2023, when reports showed Iranian authorities "coerced Iranian Jewish leaders and their communities" to engage in anti-Israel protests across five cities just weeks after the Iran-backed October 7 terror attacks. Today, roughly 10,000 Jews remain in Iran, constituting the largest Jewish population in the Middle East outside of Israel. They are recognized in Iran's constitution as a "people of the book," and are permitted to pray in synagogues and run kosher restaurants, butcheries and schools — all under the watchful eye of the regime. This limited freedom comes not out of religious tolerance, but because it has served a strategic purpose and helps the regime deflect accusations of antisemitism. That same political calculus explains why Iran's parliament, or Majles, reserves one seat for a Jewish representative, and why Jewish representatives have occasionally joined the Islamic Republic's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly's high-level week held every September in New York. As Iranian American writer Roya Hakakian observes in The Atlantic, "the existence of Jewish Iranians inside the country became an important symbol [to the mullahs], especially in contrast with the absence of Jewish life in other Muslim countries in the region…Iran's Jews became the regime's principal defense against accusations of anti-Semitism, even as some leaders notoriously questioned the veracity of the Holocaust." Indeed, in 2005, then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hosted an international Holocaust cartoon competition — a grotesque display of Jew-hatred and Holocaust denialism that continues today with state backing. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when a theocratic, anti-American and anti-Israeli regime seized power, Iran's Jewish population has plummeted by 90% — from approximately 100,000 under the country's last monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The shocking execution of Habib Elghanian, a Jewish Iranian businessman, philanthropist and community leader, in 1979 accelerated the exodus. Yet unlike other Jewish communities across the Middle East, Iran's Jews were never forcibly expelled en masse. Their presence has been continuous, but their safety has always been fragile. The recent arrests of Jews in Iran are just the latest reminder that the Islamic Republic sees loyalty to the regime as absolute – and any perceived deviation, whether through protest or even having a relative abroad, can be construed as a threat. The same regime that censors journalists, jails artists and musicians, and punishes schoolgirls for removing their hijab now targets Jews for having family ties abroad. This is one of the central themes of my forthcoming book, Unveiled: Inside Iran's #WomanLifeFreedom Revolt, which explores how the 2022-2023 uprising sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini revealed a growing rift between the Iranian people and the regime. The enemy of the Islamic Republic isn't just Zionism or the West—it's autonomy and dissent. Iran's Jews are once again caught in a geopolitical storm. Their silence is not complicity, but survival. And their endurance is not a reflection of the regime's tolerance, but of the Jewish people's resilience. They must not be forgotten by global Jewry nor by those who still believe in a future for Iran that is free and just.
France 24
3 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
A month after ceasefire with Israel, Iranians fear another war
"I don't think this ceasefire will last," said Peyman, a 57-year-old resident of Shiraz in Iran's south, one of numerous cities hit last month as Israel unleashed an unprecedented bombing campaign against its staunch rival. The Israeli offensive targeted key nuclear facilities and military sites, killing top commanders and nuclear scientists and hundreds of other people, while also wreaking havoc in some residential areas. The attacks triggered the fiercest fighting in history between the longtime foes, ending with a ceasefire announced on June 24. But Israel has signalled it could return to fighting if Iran attempts to rebuild nuclear facilities or carry out any actions deemed a threat, such as moving to develop an atomic bomb -- an ambition Tehran has consistently denied it was pursuing. Iran, in turn, has vowed to deliver a harsh response if attacked again. Nuclear diplomacy with the United States -- which briefly joined the war with strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites -- has stalled, deepening a sense of uncertainty about what lies ahead. "I am scared the war would start again," said Hamid, a 54-year-old government employee who gave only his first name. "It will lead to the death of more innocent people and the destruction of the country's infrastructure." During the war, Israel struck major Iranian cities including the capital Tehran, hitting military sites, government buildings and the state television headquarters. More than 1,000 people were killed in Iran, according to authorities. Retaliatory missile and drone attacks killed 29 people in Israel. 'Don't want to flee again' Many residents fled Tehran, seeking refuge in other parts of the country, even though few regions were untouched by the blasts and smoke-covered skies. Nearly a month later, a series of fires that broke out across Iran in recent days -- including one at a major oil facility -- have triggered speculations which officials were quick to dismiss, denying any acts of sabotage. "This war really frightened me," said 78-year-old housewife Golandam Babaei, from the western Kermanshah province. She lived through the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, a painful memory for many of her generation. "I kept telling myself, please God, do not let the past repeat itself," Babaei told AFP. The war with Israel, although much shorter and fought mostly with air strikes and missiles rather than by ground forces, revived grim memories of the conflict with Iraq. That war, triggered by an Iraqi invasion in 1980, killed an estimated 500,000 people on both sides. It featured chemical warfare and prolonged front-line bombardments, scarring Iranians in the then-nascent Islamic republic born out of the 1979 revolution. Since then, for decades, Iran had managed to keep conflicts away from its territory. But now after the 12-day war with Israel, some Iranians feel a profound sense of vulnerability. "I kept thinking I don't want to flee again, we have nowhere to go. I cannot run to the mountains like the past," said Babaei. Uncertain future For Ali Khanzadi, a 62-year-old war veteran, the conflict with Israel highlighted a change compared to the 1980s when "we didn't have any advanced military equipment" to fight the Iraqis. Khanzadi, who was wounded in battle in 1983, said that the war with Israel, while much shorter, had a more sinister dimension. Unlike in the past, modern military technology means "they can kill a child in his sleep remotely using a drone," he said. In the face of the Israeli threats and attacks, Iranian authorities have repeatedly invoked national unity. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said the offensive was aimed at toppling the Islamic republic's clerical system, and urged Iranian diplomats and military officials to proceed with "care and precision" as the country cautiously moves on. Tehran has said it remained open to nuclear diplomacy with the United States which the war had derailed, but officials have expressed concerns over renewed attacks and demanded unspecified US guarantees to resume negotiations. Ordinary Iranians appear to share fears that the conflict could erupt again. "I hope that this will not happen," said Hamid. © 2025 AFP
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Bus crash kills at least 21, injures 34 in south of Iran
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — At least 21 people were killed after a bus overturned in the south of Iran, state media reported Saturday. Masoud Abed, the head of Fars province's emergency organization, said that 34 other people were injured in the accident to the south of Shiraz, the province's capital. Abed said that rescue operations are ongoing and that additional information and final figures will be announced after the operation is complete and detailed investigations have been carried out. He added that the incident occurred at 11:05 a.m., and rescue forces were immediately present at the scene. The cause of the incident is under investigation. With nearly 17,000 casualties annually, Iran is among the top countries for road and street accidents. The toll is attributed to the disregard of safety measures, the use of old vehicles and inadequate emergency services. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Bus crash in southern Iran kills at least 21, injures 34
At least 21 people have been killed after a bus overturned in the south of Iran, state media has reported. Masoud Abed, the head of Fars province's emergency organisation, said 34 other people were injured in the accident on Saturday south of Shiraz, the province's capital. Abed said rescue operations are ongoing, and additional information and final figures will be released to the public after the operation is complete and detailed investigations have been carried out. The cause of the incident is under investigation. With nearly 17,000 casualties annually, Iran is among the countries most affected by road and street accidents. The high toll is attributed to lax application of safety measures, the widespread use of old vehicles and depleted emergency services. Solve the daily Crossword
