The Castle Report
Defending Western Civilization
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Regime Change in Iran
Darrell Castle talks about Iran today and exploring the possibilities for changing the regime there from one run by Islamic fundamentalists to one run by the ex-Shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi.
Transcription / Notes
REGIME CHANGE IN IRAN
Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 16th day of January in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be talking about Iran today and exploring the possibilities for changing the regime there from one run by Islamic fundamentalists to one run by the ex-Shah’s son Reza Pahlavi. What does the US want in Iran and what is it willing to do to have it.
Yes, it seems that revolution is in the air once again in Iran but this time it seems to be different. Every few years people grow weary of the Ayatollah’s strict laws, its moral police, etc. and they take to the streets to protest. This time it seems to be different for several reasons. The protests are much more massive and widespread this time and the people are showing great courage because the last report I saw showed more than 2500 dead and 10,000 arrested so not just protests but war in the streets it seems.
The Iranians don’t waste much time on niceties such as a fair trial either because they arrest a protester one day and publicly hang him the next as a warning to others. Another reason why this time might be different is that the US President is clearly fully supporting the protesters with his words and promises of military action. The primary reason, however, is that this time there are real reasons other that the resistance to fundamentalist Islam. The last large-scale protests happened when a young woman was arrested by the moral police and she ended up raped and murdered in their custody.
The regime is apparently then made up of very bad people and that is always involved in the unrest. This time, in addition, there is a critical, life threatening nationwide water shortage caused or at least made worse by the regime’s misuse of water facilities, reservoirs, etc. The water shortage is so bad that the capital city of Tehran is threatened with water rationing. For a city of 9 million that would be catastrophic. The final straw in this round of unrest has been the skyrocketing inflation and destruction of the purchasing power of the Iranian rial. The rial has been devalued so much that Iranian reports now express inflation in terms of dollars. It has lost 60% of its value since last June.
So, the regime is bad and the people are courageous. Hundreds killed and thousands arrested which for many is the same thing. The US, through its chief executive, threatens to “hit them very hard.” The US currently has about 2000 troops next door in Iraq and all US bases in the region are on high alert. The US Central Command and certain regional partners have opened a new Middle East Air and Missile Defense command center at the US airbase in Qatar. Reports yesterday said that US troops are now being evacuated in expectation of an Iranian attack.
If you have any doubt about whether the US considers itself to be responsible for policing the world and making it right in the US President’s eyes those doubts should be erased. When one country has regime change fostered on it quite often it makes a lot of other countries mad and this situation is no different. The US announced a 25% tariff on countries that do business with Iran and that has made the Chinese very angry, Iran is a key part of China’s multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative and they desperately want the Mullahs to stay in power. So, the US is, in its own eyes, the policeman of the world.
The Iranians seem genuinely disturbed this time unlike all the other times. Their repressive tactics don’t seem to be working as well this time. I guess all the Mossad and CIA agents on the ground in Iran encourage the people to carry on. Reports coming out of Iran are that many in the regime want to talk diplomatically with the US this time to avoid a US attack. Talks were scheduled but when Trump heard that people were being killed and hanged he canceled the talks.
My opinion is that the regime wanted talks not to diplomatically agree to reforms but to preserve their power. The other problem with talks is that if the US held talks and agreed for the regime to stay in power with US blessing then the US administration would lose its standing. Right now, the people protesting, undoubtedly with Mossad and CIA encouragement, are literally dying and risking their lives to bring about the downfall of the Ayatollah’s rule and they expect the US to refrain from diplomatically supporting it.
We now have about four decades of diplomatic efforts with Iran without any noticeable results except to make the situation worse so I suppose talking to them and sending them money is pointless. It makes sense to me to stop business and encourage our allies to stop business with a regime that commits such human rights abuses as long as it’s universally applied. That’s the problem though isn’t it. The concept of isolating human rights abusers is not universally applied and everyone knows it including the Iranians. It’s hard to stay on the moral high road under such circumstances.
Iran, ever the implacable adversary, as usual is talking tough. Would a sensible leader threaten war with an adversary many times stronger when that leader has what appears to be a weakened or destroyed armed forces. The Ayatollah is doing just that but I don’t think he is insane, no, he is living out the Islamic book as he perceives it. It tells him seek death instead of life and wash the cities of the world with blood and constant war until the 12th Imman, the Mahdi comes and makes the world into what the books tells him it should be and will be.
Rather than insanity he really does literally believe the words in the Islamic Holy Book written almost 1400 years ago. Western leaders don’t understand that because they believe nothing. Religion, whether Christianity or anything else is just a ruse they use to get elected. They really believe nothing and worship only the god of power to which they are utterly addicted. This man, the Ayatollah, the unbending foe is different. He will pretend to negotiate for a better deal but when his gullible adversaries in the West deliver he will not comply because he believes the words in that book and nothing else matters to him. He warns the US, through his foreign minister, that he is ready for war if Washington wants to test it. I’m sure he is ready and he apparently doesn’t mind how much his people suffer. Why doesn’t he get them some food and especially water. I guess it’s because he doesn’t know how and besides the book doesn’t tell him to do that.
Why won’t he make a deal with the great Satan for water technology and resources, well the answer to that question is obvious by the name of his adversary. The foreign minister said if the US wants war like it did before, Iran is ready for it but he hopes the US will choose the wise diplomatic option. The other way leads to criminal war like the abduction of Nichalos Maduro did. He hopes the US will negotiate rather than make war for Israel’s interests.
There is a man here in the US who has been very vocal in support of the protestors on social media. That man is Reza Pahlavi, the son of former Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who has been living in exile in the US since the ouster from power of the Shah in 1979 Islamic Revolution. He has been very active with international media appearances as well as social media and the other day he met with Trump’s chief Middle East negotiator, Steve Wittkof. Some of the demonstrators in Tehran shout long live the Shah. My guess is that they are too young to remember what life was really like under the Shah.
Pahlavi, to my knowledge, has not stated his true intentions with respect to Iran but he is scheduled to travel to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump as well as to deliver a speech at the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast. Very interesting indeed because that makes me think of the real reason for all this. Who are the American politicians who favor the interests of a foreign country over that of the American people. Just about all of them it seems. Last Tuesday, the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said there is no room in his party for those who do not support regime change wars. He said all should be in on overthrowing the Iranian government allegedly on Israel’s behalf.
There are many polls which show the Ambassador is dead wrong (no pun intended) about that. Polls show that far more Americans support my position of come home and mind your own business rather than the Ambassador’s position of fighting for greater Israel in the Middle East. Did Trump commit an act of war against Iran when he sent stealth bombers a few weeks ago. The real question is not was the attack an act of war but was the attack at the bequest of a foreign leader and if so will that same leader request or demand another attack on Iran this time. My conclusion is that yes, he will do it despite the undeniable fact that the American people are sick of foreign wars that have nothing to do with them but are beneficial to foreign nations and their leaders.
Meanwhile, in Iran the regime has shut down the internet across the country in an effort to prevent people from organizing meetings and protests. Elon Musk has provided his Starlink system and anyone in Iran can access it without charge he says. There are rumors that the Chinese have provided technology to Iran to disable Starlink. Anytime it is so obvious that an entire people group is not free it causes anger and outrage here in America. In response the Iranians have threatened to assassinate President Trump pledging that “this time we will not miss.”
Well, a regime that murders and hangs its own people and which is mired in a water crises and inflation might want to consider a more low-key approach especially when that regime’s past performance against the US air force is considered. For now the ISW reports that protests have been suppressed by security forces but could erupt again at any time so we will see.
Finally, folks, to close this Castle Report here is an interesting quote from Paul Craig Roberts.
“The United States is a strange place. Americans pledge their allegiance to the United States of America, but their government pledges allegiance to Israel. President Trump parades around as if he is master of the world, but he is not even master of his own country.”
At least that’s the way I see it,
Until next time folks,
This is Darrell Castle,
Thanks for listening.
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Trump’s Version of the Monroe Doctrine
Darrell Castle discusses the raid in Venezuela, the capture or arrest of Nichalas Maduro and his wife and whether it was beneficial to anyone.
TRUMP’S VERSION OF THE MONROE DOCTRINE
Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 9th day of January in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be discussing the raid in Venezuela and the capture or arrest as the DOJ calls it of Nichalas Maduro and his wife and their criminal prosecution by US Federal authorities in the federal district court of New York. Did it benefit anyone, was it right or wrong, was it legal or illegal.
Yes, folks 2026 has barely started and it has already been quite a year. Was the capture of Maduro an indication by the administration that one year of his term is complete and now the gloves come off. I certainly think that was one of the many intentions of the raid, but not the most significant by any means. What then was the real intent or reason for the raid. The truthful answer to that question is, I don’t know and neither does anyone else. We look at it and we see the results short term but what was in his mind only he knows for sure.
Let’s look first at the legality of the raid. In my opinion it was clearly legal if US law is the judge. The 1973 War Powers Resolution allows the president to deploy military forces; however, he chooses without prior approval of congress if he decides its in the national security interest of the United States. Its’s more than a little hypocritical for any Democrat with a microphone to scream illegal because they could always repeal the War Powers Act but they don’t/ Why not, because they use it too, and they want it available.
When Hillary Clinton rejoiced at the death of Muammar Gaddafi who was killed in a US bombing attack while apparently asleep in his bed, was that illegal. What about when George Bush sent American forces into Iraq and eventually hanged Saddam Hussein, was that illegal. In fact, Trump should be thanked by Maduro and his supporters in congress because he could have sent a cruise missile through his window but instead he arrested him. The DOJ insists this was a law enforcement action whereby a wanted fugitive was arrested in a foreign country.
So, the question is, what do you mean by illegal. Clearly it does not violate US law so perhaps you mean it violates your sense of consciousness or morality. Well, most of what the US government does violates my sense of morality but that is not the judge. I guess the argument then is that it violates international law. My answer is that international law is a nebulous concept that doesn’t even exist anymore. International law was invented at Nuremburg as a way to justify dealing with Nazi war criminals when there was little real evidence of the crimes with which they were charged. In other words, it began and ended at Nuremburg.
OK then, did anything good come out of the raid. Yes, lots of things, starting with the way the raid was conducted. This was perhaps the greatest and most successful special forces raid in history. Conducted in a foreign capital with very few known casualties. As I said he could have just put a warhead on Maduro’s forehead but he didn’t so in that sense the rule of law is intact. To carry that thought forward, the President has this very elite force the best of the best and he is committed to using them to accomplish his foreign policy rather than mobilizing vast armies with coalition partners at a cost of hundreds of billions.
Everyone around the world took notice and the countries you would expect voiced their disapproval, but at the same time they know he is not bluffing and when he warns that he will act it is prudent to pay attention. It was a demonstration of what the US military can do especially when you consider that Venezuela supposedly had the latest version of Russian and Chinese anti-air defense system. It was Trump’s version of, we are still here and we are still the best so pay attention.
The other benefit that it is hard to argue against is that Maduro is a very bad man and Venezuela will be better off without him. There was an election in 2024 which was won by Edmundo Gonzalez but Maduro used his military to hold on to the most addictive thing in the world, power. He was so bad as a leader that 20% of the Venezuelan population left the country. I personally know many Venezuelan people some of whom live here in America and some in Venezuela and they are happy he is gone. The pro Maduro crowds of young white liberals marching through the streets of New York are really anti-Trump not pro Maduro. I guess one can justify supporting a vicious dictator if it means hurting Trump.
The crowds of Venezuelan people rejoicing in the streets of Caracas are far more important than those in New York. Sometimes I think the people in such demonstrations have lost touch with reality. Certainly, they have lost touch with the needs of ordinary people if they ever had touch with them. It reminds me of when Trump sent the National Guard into the most crime ridden cities to help slow violent crime. Washington DC was the first but my city of Memphis was also included. The people in New York marching against the deployment were probably the same as the pro Maduro crowd but in the streets it was different.
I talked to many people in my law office who live out there with reality and that reality is constant fear of violent crime. People told me in no uncertain terms that they were glad to see the Guard on the streets and they felt safer walking or going shopping. The people of the cities worry about whether their kids will be killed in a drive by, and so they are glad for protection. So, Maduro was a very bad man who caused many to leave their country and many more were starving. Yes, he was a leader who lived in palatial luxury while his people starved.
Venezuela has one of the largest deposits of petroleum in the world but the people have no gas. We learned after Maduro’s capture that the infrastructure of pumping and getting oil to market was in such a poor state that it could take ten years to fully bring it up to speed. Venezuela has all this wealth under its soil and under its ocean but no one cared enough for the people to exploit it for their benefit. Will the American oil companies that are competing for Venezuelan oil use it for the people’s benefit. Well, that is a good question but I believe that while trump is president they will.
Right now, Venezuela is left in a highly volatile and uncertain phase of its history. Who will lead after Maduro. Delci Rodriguez, Maduro’s vice president is in charge as I record this. She talked tough but only for a moment and then she saw the light and started saying something like I will be glad to cooperate with the Americans and I am just glad to be here. That is of course another point and that is that he did leave her in power and let natural progression take its course.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado said that she would like to see Gomzalez given power because he won the election in 2024 but Trump seems committed to let the laws of succession take their course. So, the next several months are very uncertain and many questions remain. Will Roddriguez accommodate US pressure and demands, defy them, or perhaps some hard line socialist from Maduro’s old party, The United Socialist Party of Venezuela, will try to seize power. One thing should be obvious though and that is that the US military will be used if it becomes necessary so the leaders of that country obviously know that.
So, the President is reimposing the Monroe Doctrine to protect US interests in this hemisphere. When President Monroe announced his doctrine in 1823 or 24 it was to be a two-way street. To the European colonists he said stay out of our hemisphere and we will stay out of yours. Spain had colonies so it was primarily directed at them and it eventually took the Spanish-American War to get Spain out of the Caribbean. It would be hard to argue that the US has stayed out of European affairs since the US has fought two World Wars and currently has bases and troops all over Europe. In addition, the US has China surrounded by bases and carrier battle groups so two-way street, no not yet.
Perhaps it indicates a return to the old Monroe doctrine whereby the US watches its own back yard and lets others do the same. I for one would be happy if that were the policy. In regard to that thought Trump has repeatedly referred to the Venezuelan oil deposits as “our oil. “Is he bringing a Machiavellian concept of might makes right to the table with that expression. No, he is referring to the contracts US companies had with the Venezuelan government before Hugo Chavez took power in 1998. One of Chavez’s first acts was to nationalize the oil industry thus stealing all the oil, at least from an American point of view.
So, Trump is referring back to the pre-Chavez days and saying by contract that oil is ours and you should thank me instead of criticizing me for enforcing contracts and the rule of law. None of that had anything to do with Nicholas Maduro of course since it happened long before he took power. Chavez named Maduro as his successor from his death bed in 2010. Venezuela is supposed to have free elections but if you know the history of that region you know that often free elections are in name only.
You’ve probably noticed that I have spent very little time on the topic of drug interdiction. That’s because the whole concept is ridiculous and had very little to do with US military action. Slowing the flow of narcotics into the US was at best a side benefit but it made for good theater. Interestingly, Bibi Netanyahu made his fifth visit to the Trump White House just before this happened. Bibi has been complaining for some time that Venezuela was allowing Iran to train its terrorists there and he wanted something done about it. So, was it an Israeli operation? I don’t know since knowing is virtually impossible but I will wager it didn’t hurt.
Finally, folks, from all this talk you might get the impression that I am in favor of this attack but no I’m afraid not. America first to me means that we have enough problems at home to last all of our lifetimes and I think the American people are about sick of Foreign policy. Rather than empire building or the imperialism of Pax Americana our concerns are or should be here at home. I reject these grandiose schemes in favor of home and family the way it should be. Let us raise our children in peace and prosperity and keep the price of ground beef modest.
At least that’s the way I see it,
Until next time folks,
This is Darrell Castle,
Thanks for listening.
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Blessed Are The Peacemakers
Darrell Castle ushers in 2026 by talking about the world as he sees it today along with some year-end thoughts about the past, the present, and the unknown future.
Transcription/Notes
BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS
Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is the 2nd day of January in the year of our Lord 2026. In this Castle Report I will be talking about the world as I see it today along with some year-end thoughts about the past, the present, and the unknown future.
“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” Those are the words of the Prince of Peace whose birth we just celebrated, and his words have been the bed rock of Western Civilization for over 2000 years. The decorations, gifts, and celebrations are just one of our connections to a Christian culture that has held Western Civilization together throughout its history. My thanks once again for Dr, Ron Paul’s recent Liberty Report where he so eloquently sets these concepts out.
Somehow it all seems different now. The mayor of New York City has been sworn in on the Quran rather than the bible. The nation itself with debt having surpassed $38 trillion Continues its enforcement of the Wolfowitz Doctrine which is part of the project for a new American century. Paul Wolfowitz put his name on a policy that still seems to drive the American government even under the America first president. Simply put, that doctrine says that American hegemony will dominate the world and no competitor which threatens that policy will be allowed to rise. The U.S. military will be used to destroy any competition.
In practical terms, it means that the U.S. government will continue to use its military to bankrupt the country while exporting misery and suffering to others in pursuit of a global military empire on the framework of ancient Rome. My argument for you today is that this policy places the U.S. government in direct opposition to the title of this Castle Report. This year marked the first time the Defense budget item has surpassed the $1 trillion mark. Congress was so enthusiastic about it that they voted more money than the president asked for.
The $1 trillion doesn’t include interest on the defense related debt, veteran’s affairs such as hospitals and lifetime care for the wounded and components of other agencies and departments with items related to defense so it is much larger than the published amount. Those who are responsible for such things probably still have a chance to save the economy if they did the responsible thing but instead they repeatedly do the opposite of the right thing.
President Eisenhower was the last president to recognize what was happening and to refuse its allure. He also warned President Kennedy who tried to heed the warning but he died for those efforts. I paraphrase President Eisenhower’s famous speech from 1953 entitled “The Chance for Peace” each of these dollars spent on military offense and the maintenance of the US global empire rather than on defense of our own nation is taken from the mouths of the hungry and off the backs of hardworking American families.”
The new National Security Strategy document recently released by the Trump administration has set off a firestorm among those who favor warfare to solve every perceived problem. The document seems to be a reversal of the foreign policy doctrine that has existed since the end of World War ll. That policy included the formation of NATO with the US as the unofficial guarantor of military security. The US would accept responsibility for the defense of Western Europe and ensure that the Soviet Union was held intact. In return the US would have reserve currency status and would through that status control the world’s economy.
Reserve currency status ensured that the US would have the means through the accumulation of debt to fund its military in all circumstances. This was also a recognition by Europe that it was free to devote virtually all of its resources to rebuilding and to the welfare projects that would keep its citizens comfortable and thereby avoid revolution. The new strategy document seems to refute that policy and it appears to place Europe in some responsibility for its own defense.
The Europeans don’t like the policy shift at all but they are at least verbally adjusting to it. They came up with a way to obtain loans of up to $100 billion for Ukraine to continue the war to the last Ukrainian. The last few years have seen them trying to provoke a new war with Russia and this new policy might have a chilling effect on that desire. The US also included $800 million in the defense bill for Ukraine.
Joan and I were talking about all this over breakfast the other day and she pointed out that people are starting to see fraud despite media refusal to discuss it. Some of those things like the fraud of the Somali community in Minnesota and the election fraud in Georgia now freely admitted are obvious. We also have the American people seeing their standard of living eaten away by inflation and an economy declining because it’s burdened by debt. People are becoming aware of all this more and more as they see their country committed to the defense and foreign policy of a country far away.
The people have come to realize that if they express criticism of that country’s foreign policy the argument requires them to defend a charge of antisemitism instead of the policy. The same is true of the billions of fraud in Minnesota because the Governor of that state said that criticism was white supremacy so the argument is a defense of that charge instead of the fraud. Joan’s position is that people are not ignorant despite media’s refusal to report and investigate they are aware of what is going on.
My response to her was yes, you are right but that puts us in the most dangerous position possibly ever. People see rampant crime and theft by government and they see government saying America first but its foreign policy seems to put another country’s interest first, and that creates a dangerous, revolutionary atmosphere. I’m afraid that people are becoming aware that one of the founding principles which helped make America great is being erased and that principle is the empowerment of the individual over the power of the collective to demand obedience and compliance. In the American culture the individual counts and I’m afraid many are losing sight of that. The individual can take a stand against injustice without fear of reprisal from government.
When governors have no argument against fraud except those who uncover it and point it out are white supremacists, and when senators have no response to pointing out the foreign policy faults of another country except to accuse those who object of antisemitism it means thee government officials have lost the argument because they have nothing to say. The real problem happens when government loses the argument as it has currently, which makes fraud and waste obvious to anyone. People try to change the system through voting but they see that it does not change very much. The worst frustration is that the dangerous revolutionary civil war tension is created when people see it, understand it, but nothing is ever done.
They see fraud costing billions and they know that is just the tip of the iceberg. They see their money taken by the IRS to fund the wars in favor of other nations. They see fraud at every level and yet they are struggling to get by and they cannot get by without accumulating debt, which becomes unpayable. They know the difference between their debt and government debt is that they actually have to answer for theirs.
Some of the things which have changed the lifestyles of the American people since the end of the covid confinement are really startling for the American families. Since covid, gas for utilities up 48.8%, car maintenance and repair 48.8%, car insurance 56.1%, coffee 46.1%, electricity 40.4%, meat 38.1%, used cars 33.6% bread 29,4%, milk 24.1%. I could go on and on with these numbers but just ask yourself if your income since covid has increased by anything close to these numbers.
So, we can see the elements of an explosion building and smoldering. Couple this to the knowledge people have that they must send their children to schools which are run by people who hate them. Their children will be indoctrinated by teachers who hate them so their children will become like those who hate them and look to people who have caused the problem for the answer thus the inauguration of the mayor of our greatest city on the Quran. I know what you must be thinking, it’s not everyone of them and there are some officials who really do care.
Yes, I know about those people, but the truth is that the ones who claim to care make some angry speech to that effect and then go on about their business as if nothing happened. That is the demoralizing truth that we face here in the first month of 2026.
In conclusion, whether we know it or not, we are all beneficiaries of the religion created by the one who is the author of the title of this Castle Report. The moral doctrine created by that religion has curbed power and defended the weak and helpless for over 2000 years. When you lay aside those moral principle you have power unleashed, enforced through force, and not limited by anything, to paraphrase Lenin.
Finally, folks, as we start 2026 I close with another quote from President Eisenhower or at least I paraphrase him,” the people of the world are so desperate for peace that sooner or later the governments will have to step aside and let them have it.”
At least that’s the way I see it,
Until next time folks,
This is Darrell Castle,
Thanks for listening.
