For generations, the Iranian regime has survived by fear. That fear is beginning to crack, and the regime's only answer is more.
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In December alone, Iranian authorities carried out more than 360 executions—a regime trying to terrorize its way through crisis. Across multiple cities, Iranians are again in the streets. Chants of “Death to the Dictator” now echo over universities. On Wednesday night in Asadabad, rebels set fire to a hideout for the Ministry of Intelligence, then stood their ground against water cannons in sub-zero temperatures.
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​Protesters in one Iranian city chanted “This is the year of blood…Ali (Khamenei) will be overthrown.”
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This is no longer about fuel prices or sanctions. It's about a rigid system grown brittle: an aging clerical leadership, an economy hollowed out by corruption, and a population that no longer believes.
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From Tehran to Havana to Caracas, sclerotic systems face a reckoning. These regimes have endured for decades through fear and inertia. But they cannot survive mass fury at their failure to meet basic human needs.
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That moment has arrived. 2026 will test whether tyranny or liberty prevails.
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That's the context for how Dispatches from the Rebellion will evolve this year. Beginning in January, the newsletter will focus less on breadth and more on depth, insight, and consequences:

• Tuesdays will remain the flagship global edition. Each week will include five compelling stories from around the world—tracking where power is shifting, which regimes are weakening, and where defiance is spreading.
  
• Fridays will yield deeper insights. It will no longer be a USA-only roundup. Instead, it will be American-focused, but globally informed—offering fewer stories, but a clearer view of how U.S. power, institutions, and choices intersect with the wider struggle for freedom. There will no longer be a Saturday edition.
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• Freedom Fighter of the Week will move to Fridays, where individual courage can be examined with the space and seriousness it deserves.
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• Friday editions will include in-depth essays and a feature called Counterstrikes—a place for contrarian takes, for calling out lazy mainstream media narratives, and arguments I'm actively rethinking as new evidence emerges. The American Renegade of the Week feature will also appear here as events dictate, as will reader responses and corrections.
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In February, we'll introduce a paid tier for the Friday edition. Tuesday's global dispatch will remain free. The second edition will be for readers who want deeper analysis, sharper judgment, and a closer look at consequences. As an early subscriber, you’ll receive preferential pricing.
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For two decades, the authoritarian tide has risen. 2026 could mark the turn. In Iran, Venezuela, Serbia, and Cuba, regimes are teetering on collapse. Elsewhere, control tightens—but centralized power increasingly fails to deliver. Defiance is rising to fill the gap.
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​Dispatches from the Rebellion is sharpening to meet that moment—with less breadth, but more clarity.
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More to come, and look for the next edition on Friday, January 9^th.
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Thank you for being a part of it.
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Eric

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