Pro-Iran narrative

Tehran has already shown its goodwill by releasing a dual Iranian-American citizen a few months ago, but Washington has not yet responded in kind. Moreover, Western media is concealing the fact that Iranians are imprisoned in the US simply for violating illegal US sanctions against Tehran. It is up to the US, which already unilaterally terminated the nuclear deal, to bring the negotiations to a positive end.

Anti-Iran narrative

Along with the three detained Iranian Americans, Iran is using many other dual and foreign nationals as bargaining chips to force concessions. Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters have been killed and about 20K arrested since the Mahsa Amini protests began. Washington must not allow itself to be blackmailed by the Tehran regime and should demand political concessions in return for the release of Iranian assets.

Narrative C

Before protests erupted in Iran, which brought talks to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement to a virtual standstill, the release of up to $9B in Iranian assets in South Korean banks was seen as a first step toward resuming talks to revive the deal. Releasing the money as part of a US-Iran swap could create new momentum.

Nerd narrative

There's a 48% chance that Iran will possess a nuclear weapon before 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

Pro-establishment narrative

Russia's deliberate targeting of energy infrastructure — unnecessarily increasing the suffering of civilians — amounts to war crimes. This continuing barbarity must be confronted.

Pro-Russia narrative

Attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure are a direct consequence of the failure of the country's leadership to meaningfully engage in peace talks and mistaken belief they can defeat Russia on the battlefield. These attacks will stop once a more sober position is reached.

Nerd narrative

There is a 2% chance that Russia will be removed from the UN Security Council by 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

Republican narrative

Every link to potentially mishandled classified documents adds to Biden's long list of offenses. If the most recent documents are found to contain classified matters, then we know he’s been illegally handling them for more than a decade. The White House keeps saying it’s taking this case seriously, but the president has voiced no regrets over the matter, and his spokespeople have been stonewalling questions about the investigation.

Democratic narrative

The only similarity between Biden's and Trump’s situations is that both cases involve classified documents. Otherwise, the scenarios are totally different, as Biden has voluntarily informed the DOJ about the discoveries and has cooperated with authorities every step of the way. Trump, however, forced the DOJ to get a warrant and conduct a surprise search — and we still don’t know if all of his documents have been returned.

Cynical narrative

That both Biden and Trump have been called out for possessing documents they shouldn’t have had should shed light on the issue of overclassification, which has increased exorbitantly over the past decade, creating an administrative nightmare. There must be reforms to the flawed classification system.

Pro-China narrative

Though no one likes when their benefits are being cut, China is in a tough situation socially and economically. In addition to the long-known fact that the population is rapidly aging, China's zero-COVID policy took a serious toll on the economy, especially on a local level. The reforms will give retirees additional benefits that will hopefully counteract the decrease in available monthly funds.

Anti-China narrative

While the sick and old are facing what amounts to austerity measures on their healthcare, party officials have access to generous medical treatments at public cost without having to pay for basic healthcare insurance. Retirees were already struggling before these cuts to their benefits, and now they will have to be even more frugal to survive.

Democratic narrative

Republicans are holding the debt ceiling hostage in order to dismantle American welfare programs. Though raising the debt ceiling isn't a big deal in comparison to the repercussions of doing nothing, the new GOP majority is only too happy to continue with a stalemate as a government closedown will favor them. It's likely that the US will once again take a ride on the same stopgap merry-go-round as always, to the detriment of average Americans.

Republican narrative

The chief financial officer of the US is begging Congress to increase the nation's credit line because lawmakers continually spend more money than they have. Democrats have been likened to an out-of-control child with a credit card, already having given nearly $100B to Ukraine while Americans struggle to pay for gas and groceries. Hopefully, this emergency will serve as a wake-up call to those in power to manage the nation's finances responsibly.

Nerd narrative

There's a 50% chance that the US national debt will reach $50T by September 2029, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

Pro-China narrative

These sanctions are deserved as both these companies have been advocating for massive weapons shipments to Taiwan, which is a direct threat to Chinese security. Though the US has imposed sanctions on Chinese companies, the punishments against Lockheed and Raytheon may go further than the fine as they lose access to Chinese-based rare-earth elements for manufacturing.

Anti-China narrative

These sanctions are unnecessary as the US has never exported weapons as a means of antagonizing China. Since China and Taiwan split in 1949, the two states have never been the same. The US, as a long-time ally of Taipei, is also obligated by its federal law to maintain economic security with Taiwan, which is why Raytheon and Lockheed Martin conduct both military and commercial aerospace business with the island.

Nerd narrative

There is a 33% chance that China will launch a full-scale invasion of Taiwan before 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

Narrative A

This peace treaty project displays Armenia's long-standing commitment to restoring peace in the Caucasus, which Azerbaijan has so far failed to meet. It's Azerbaijan's occupation of the Armenian sovereign territory and aggressiveness toward Armenians that is blocking peace, not Armenia. If Baku is indeed pragmatic and serious about peace, there's nothing impeding its return to negotiations.

Narrative B

This proposal is yet another political stunt made by Yerevan to try to deceive foreign powers into putting pressure on Baku in a cynical game of power politics that uses ethnic Armenians in Karabakh merely as pawns. There is no commitment to peace in this offering as Armenia has once again engaged in negotiations to play for time as it seeks to prepare its troops for a new offensive.

Nerd narrative

There's a 50% chance that the Armenia–Turkey border will reopen by October 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

Narrative A

Naloxone should be as accessible as common headache medications and cold and flu remedies, and the American Medical Association is urging the FDA to make this happen. The wider availability of this life-saving drug will go a long way in destigmatizing drug use and will help in fighting the horrors of the opioid crisis.

Narrative B

While everyone should have access to Narcan, much more must be done to teach people how to use it. In particular, kids must be able to administer it to their parents or siblings. Labels and instructions can be negotiated to ensure that anyone legally allowed to purchase it can then safely administer the medication for the intended outcome. Implementing this solution is more complex than the FDA approval alone.

Pro-Palestine narrative

This legislation, like many Israeli policies of the past 75 years, has one goal to advance the Zionist project of disenfranchising and displacing the Palestinian people from their homeland. Arabs were already second-class citizens, and the Knesset continues to codify this reality into Israel's legal system. Such a policy will not affect Jews who commit acts of violence against civilians. Indeed, this policy constitutes a war crime and only strengthens the Israeli apartheid.

Pro-Israel narrative

Though the Palestinians love to cry foul whenever Israel implements a common sense policy such as this one, the reality is Israel is being far more lenient to terrorists and traitors than most other countries in the world. In many other countries, if a citizen were to betray their nation, they would be served the death penalty. However, Israel instead has decided that traitors will simply be deported to the West Bank, where they can live with the governing body that pays their salaries. The outrage is just the usual double standard applied to the Jewish state.

Pro-Trump narrative

Just like its predecessors, this politically motivated investigation into Trump found absolutely nothing on him. The whole “Special Purpose Grand Jury '' was senseless from the beginning, and after wasting everyone’s time, it's trying to spin its findings to say that one or more witnesses “may” have committed perjury without revealing any names.

Democratic narrative

Trump is taking a very strange — and premature — victory lap by issuing a statement to a partial release of a report in which his allies may have lied under oath. Trump boasts about the report not mentioning him by name, but the partial report didn’t mention anyone’s name. This is another misleading statement from the former president, and much more will come to light from this investigation.