Opinion Archives - The Hayek Council

22Apr 2026 by Martin van Staden

Pahlavi Is Iran’s Man: The “Fractured Opposition” Excuse Is Dead

Excerpt This moment is rare. I am not Reza Pahlavi fanboy – my interest is exclusively with the liberty of the people of Iran. The worry is that those with the power to effect change are selling out this prospect of freedom by gaslighting the world about how popular politics works. The people of Iran should not be betrayed because Pahlavi is not “popular enough” yet – he is plenty popular for the purposes of this endeavour. The Islamic Republic’s fractures, exposed further by the 2025-2026 strikes, leadership losses, and ongoing protests, have created a once-in-a-generation strategic opening. A free, secular Iran would be a moral triumph: the right of a people to self-determination without the boot of ideology on their necks. It would also deliver immense strategic gains for…

10Apr 2026 by The Hayek Council

SPOTLIGHT: NATO Blinked – Europe’s Hesitation on Iran Undermines Western Deterrence

Fox News, Opinion, Spotlight

Synopsis In this op-ed, former US Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, argues that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and key European allies “blinked” in the wake of US and Israeli strikes against the Iranian dictatorship, revealing a dangerous reluctance to stand firmly with Washington DC and Jerusalem. Sondland contends that true defence in 2026 cannot mean passively waiting for the next attack - it requires decisive action, unity, and credible Western deterrence against a regime that has waged a 47-year campaign of hostility, including proxy attacks and threats to Israel and international shipping. Sondland defends President Donald Trump’s frustration with NATO, pointing to chronic burden-sharing imbalances, European legal hand-wringing, and a tendency to create political distance rather than offer immediate operational or political support. He warns that…

10Apr 2026 by Nicholas Woode-Smith

Frontlines for Freedom: Resisting the New Axis

Opinion

Excerpt The frontline states share a single, brutal truth. Freedom is not defended by speeches, summits, or symbolic condemnations. It is defended by people and countries willing to absorb the first hit, the first missile volley, the first wave of terrorists, the first cyberattack, the first blockade. Ukraine bleeds so Europe does not. Taiwan holds the technological high ground, so the world does not wake up under a Chinese chip monopoly. The comfortable capitals of the West like to pretend that history has ended, that trade can tame tyrants, and that “stability” is achieved by bargaining with the very forces that destroy it. That illusion is finished. The New Axis is not a misunderstanding - it is a project. It aims to rewrite borders by force, weaponise supply chains, export…

10Apr 2026 by Nicholas Woode-Smith

The New Axis: South Africa?

Opinion

Excerpt For the ANC the Cold War never really ended. And while it maintains an air of respectability when begging for Western investment and foreign aid, in truth it sides with rogue states, dictators and war criminals to not just push an anti-Western agenda, but also to receive bribes. The ANC has ensured that South Africa’s foreign policy is not just irrationally in favour of the New Axis but also uses it as a fundraising tool. Since 1994, the ANC has effectively leased its foreign policy to the highest bidder. These bribes have been used to fill ANC party and official’s coffers, while providing diplomatic cover and legitimacy to dictators like Libya’s Gaddafi, Nigeria’s Abacha and Indonesia’s Suharto, all of which were engaging in brutal violence against civilians. The ANC…

10Apr 2026 by Nicholas Woode-Smith

The New Axis: China

Opinion

Excerpt China uses access to its market and its control over manufacturing to punish countries and force itself into positions where it can dictate the policies of other nations. Australia’s wine industry was decimated after its government called for investigations into the source of COVID-19, and Beijing retaliated effectively with sanctions on Australian wine. The list goes on and on and is almost impossible to exhaust. Couple these actions with the fact that China is the fastest growing nuclear power, and its never-ending imperial ambitions. China has also proven far more adept than even Russia at information warfare – utilising its control over TikTok to control algorithms and push users into believing pro-Beijing narratives, while censoring or quashing the reach of anything critical of China. China has never given up…

10Apr 2026 by Nicholas Woode-Smith

The New Axis: Iran

Opinion

Excerpt Iran is not merely an authoritarian state with internal abuses. It is a revolutionary regime whose survival depends on repression at home and chaos abroad. Violence is not a failure of the system. It is the system. The same institutions that shoot protesters in Tehran and Mashhad direct terrorist proxies across the Middle East, exporting instability as a matter of doctrine. It is therefore essential to separate the Iranian regime from the Iranian people. The millions who have repeatedly taken to the streets at enormous personal risk are not enemies of the free world. They are among its most courageous defenders. Women tearing off their veils, students defying clerics, and workers striking in the face of bullets represent a moral struggle that aligns naturally with liberal democratic values, not…

10Apr 2026 by Nicholas Woode-Smith

The New Axis: Russia

Opinion

Excerpt Russia is a paper tiger. The war in Ukraine proves it. A two week “special operation” has lasted longer than the Soviet Union’s involvement in the Second World War. Millions of young men have been thrown into a meat grinder to satisfy Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambition. Russia cannot win a traditional war against the West. Only its nuclear arsenal, and the threat of mutually assured destruction, allow it to misbehave with relative impunity. Unable to achieve decisive victories, it has instead become a master of information warfare. Russian information warfare does not aim to convince Western publics that Moscow is virtuous. It succeeds when citizens conclude that truth is unknowable, institutions are corrupt, and political participation is futile. Read in the Rational Standard

02Apr 2026 by Martin van Staden

Defending Roman-Dutch Law Against Ghana’s Bizarre UN Slavery Resolution

Daily Friend, Opinion

Excerpt Condemning European complicity is fair, because they were complicit. But it cannot be done non-reciprocally while ignoring the broader context. Slavery has been practiced across civilisations for millennia, including in parts of Africa and the Middle East into modern times. Estimates from the Global Slavery Index indicate millions still live in forms of modern slavery today – forced labour, forced marriage, and descent-based servitude – particularly in parts of Africa and Arab states. The condemned West is almost entirely free of slavery, while the condemning accusers still practice it at intolerable rates. What distinguishes the West is not the original sin of participation (shared by many societies), but the fact that Western civilisation, drawing on the initial Roman note on slavery’s tension with natural freedom, became the first civilisation to abolish it systematically…

26Mar 2026 by Martin van Staden

The West’s Responsibility in Iran

Daily Friend, Opinion

Excerpt The realists oppose support for uprisings before they fail (which itself then guarantees failure), and then lament the failure as solid proof against action. The “no plan” complaint only holds if we pretend the alternative – doing nothing in January – was cost-free. It was not. The regime had already demonstrated its willingness to slaughter its way to survival. By refusing even limited support then, the West ensured the very (overstated) “vacuum” it now decries. Ethically, the bloc now has to make the best of a bad situation rather than pretend its hands are clean. Read in the Daily Friend.

Category: Opinion