Dr Gina van Raphael

@aliagvr.bsky.social

1508 Followers 390 Following

Political Anthropologist｜IR: Diplomacy, Authoritarian Rule｜Arab/Saudi Studies — Historiography, Ethnography, Tribe)｜US Policy Intersection | Non Exec Dir UKG | NRS

July 4, 1919: "An international peace parade on Pennsylvania Avenue, huge crowds on the Ellipse, and the biggest Fourth Washington had ever seen. Crowds pack the Ellipse for the peace celebration on July 4th, 1919. The scaffolding in the background holds the set pieces for the evening’s fireworks." Source: Washington Evening Star, Jul 5, 1919, p8. “Tableaux Will Be Repeated Tonight.” / Library of Congress
July 4, 1919: An international peace parade on Pennsylvania Avenue, huge crowds on the Ellipse, and the biggest Fourth Washington had ever seen. Crowds pack the Ellipse for the peace celebration on July 4th, 1919. The scaffolding in the background holds the set pieces for the evening’s fireworks. Source: Washington Evening Star, Jul 5, 1919, p8. “Tableaux Will Be Repeated Tonight.” / Library of Congress
Defence expenditure as a share of GDP in the United Kingdom from 1988/89 to 2024/25 [Source: Statista]
King Charles b. 1948 Trump’s mother b. 1912
US gasoline prices 1920–2025, nominal and inflation-adjusted, showing the end of the long cheap era ending abruptly at the 1973 OPEC embargo and a dramatic spike in real terms by 1981 Iran–Iraq War.
Ashraf Pahlavi, Shah of Iran's twin sister
US-Israel attacks inside Iran, and retaliatory strikes by Iran on Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/02/28/israel-launches-attack-against-iran/#1772289333416
7th January 2020: Mourners attend a funeral ceremony for Iranian General Qassem Soleimani killed in Iraq in a US drone strike on Friday. Source: Tasnim News Agency
July 1988: USS Vincennes shot down an Airbus 300 passenger plane, Iran Air Flight 655, killing all 290 passengers.
July 1988: USS Vincennes location in the Straits of Hormuz
News report of failed 1980 rescue mission to rescue hostages. Operation Eagle Claw's failure resulted in the death of 8 Americans.
4 November 1979: a group of Iranian students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and took 66 American hostages.
Photograph of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, an Islamist charismatic Shi’ite cleric living in exile in France.
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi — a brutal dictator whose secret SAVAK police tortured and murdered thousands of Iranians — self-described himself as the ‘King of Kings’ and spent billions on parties, palaces and mostly-US weapons.
Time Magazine cover of Muhammad Mossadegh (1882-1967) as 'Man of the Year', 7th January 1952
Western oil companies dominating Iranian oil: Esso, Sunoco, Gulf, Texaco, Shell, Mobil, Chevron, Standard, Flying, Union 76, Castrol, Pennzoil.
1925: Colonel Reza Khan crowned himself the shah of a new ruling Pahlavi dynasty, as Reza Shah Pahlavi.
Letter from Louis Mallet to British Foreign Office, 3rd June 1908, informing the British government of oil struck by 'the syndicate' in Persia.
Photo of Shah Muzaffar al-Din, early 1900s.
Distribution map of Sunni versus Shi'a Muslims worldwide.
Map of Iran, clearly located.