The proper thing to do when readers respond to a newspaper article is to respect their right of reply. There were two irate responses to my article last week, “Not the Iran We Thought It Was: What Has Changed in the Persian Gulf.”

One, entitled “Not the Azu We Thought He Was,” by Yakubu Musa, a guest author for 21st Century Chronicle, an online newspaper, and the other, “Basking in the Euphoria of Narrative Origami,” by Mahfuz Mundadu, a friend of one Hassan Karofi, who claimed he is a journalist.

Both articles could have been from the spiteful fingers of one hand. Of particular interest, however, was the second article. It was WhatsApped to me by Karofi on behalf of his friend, a certain Mundadu, whose photo he refused to provide and whose name he faked. He also faked a Kaduna address for his fake friend. Despite the layers of disingenuity, “Mundadu” deserves, if not a right of reply, the courtesy of his or her opinion:

“To read Mr. Azu Ishiekwene’s article ‘Not the Iran We Thought It Was’ is to witness a masterclass in doublethink. That Orwellian art of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind and believing both. To know that Israel is a nuclear power armed to the teeth and yet present it as a trembling David before an Iranian Goliath.

“To remember decades of pre-emptive strikes, assassinations, and occupation, and yet narrate them as self-defence. To bend history into a shape so unfamiliar, it must be admired. We call it narrative origami, and then we present the resulting illusion with a straight face beneath a yam cap.

“Nothing completes the theatre of intellectual mimicry like cultural fabric draped over borrowed imperial scripts. Mr. Azu doesn’t merely distort reality; he stages its semblance. Armed with metaphors, blindfolded by bias, and conducted by the invisible hand of Western hegemony.

“Azu’s article, ‘Not the Iran We Thought It Was,’ reads like a desperate telegram from the last surviving bureaucrat of Orwell’s Ministry of Truth. Only this time, instead of “Oceania is at war with Eastasia (sic),” we are told “Iran is David (sic); Israel is Goliath,” while the United States, ever the omniscient puppet master, is left conveniently backstage, sipping its habitual cocktail of oil, contracts, and self-righteousness.

“Let us begin with the metaphor. Mr. Azu, in a stroke of Biblical theatre, casts Iran as a Goliath of sorts, towering, terrifying, menacing, and poor little Israel as the shepherd boy of peace with nothing but a sling and a smile. Never mind that this “David” owns an arsenal of nuclear warheads and is bankrolled by the world’s most militarised empire.

“Never mind that this Goliath-sized David has, since 1948, bulldozed villages, murdered children, and claimed the role of eternal victim while hoarding some of the world’s most advanced weapons. It seems Mr. Azu mistook his ‘Testament’ for a press release from the Israeli Ministry of Defence.

“Had I not read the name, I might have thought this piece was penned by a clever intern at Lockheed Martin, fresh off a propaganda boot camp and eager to impress his line manager. But alas, it bears the name of a seasoned editor.

Even though I am not a philosopher, I’ve heard somewhere that lies can be mistaken for wisdom when repeated with sufficient polish, frequency, and decibels. Mr. Azu’s article does not merely repeat lies. It baptises them in footnotes and anecdotes and then dresses them in history. Thereafter, he sends them out to war on behalf of the criminal enterprise of Zionism.

“Now, let us speak of memory, the selective kind. Azu writes of October 7, 2023, as though history were born that morning. He forgets, or pretends to forget, that Netanyahu has been threatening Iran since ‘Fantalo, Garmaho and Sakadali’ were fashionable. He forgets the years of assassinations, sabotage, cyber-attacks, and open incitement. He forgets, like an old man with convenient amnesia, that this conflict was manufactured in laboratories of paranoia long before Hamas fired a single rocket.

“Azu wants us to believe that Hamas is a remote-controlled invention of Tehran, programmed to harass 'innocent' settlers. What he fails to mention, or perhaps deliberately buries under rhetorical debris, is that Israel itself initially nurtured Hamas to fracture Palestinian resistance. Yes, Israel midwifed its own Frankenstein, then turned to the world and screamed ‘monster’!”

“Let us not waste too much ink debating whether Iran is a saint or a sinner. That is not the point. The point is that Azu’s article presents a caricature, a reduction, a fairy tale where the villain wears a turban, and the hero rides an F-35. It is not a critique of policy. It is a bedtime story for geopolitical infants.

“And yet, Mr. Azu expects his readers to clap like trained seals. To swallow each sentence like sugar-coated arsenic. To believe, in 2025, that the same old tricks still fool the world. But alas, the internet has arrived. The children of this generation carry in their palms a library of resistance. The age of monopoly over meaning is over. The age in which we carry our transistor radios around, waiting for Western media outlets to dish out imperialist propagandaas world news, is over.

“It would serve Mr. Azu well to recall that journalism, like history, is not a mirror but a lamp. Its duty is not to reflect the faces but faeces of the powerful and illuminate the oppressed's footprints. Right now, the footprints are red, the trail is long, and the truth bleeds through the white noise of mainstream punditry.

“Let Mr. Azu, if he is so fond of metaphor, visit Gaza and bring back a sling. Let him visit Tel Aviv and count the silos. Let him read the nuclear declarations of Israel, if he can find them, for they are kept like family secrets in dynasties of denial.

“Until then, we the readers, armed with logic, reasoning, and the inquiry of philosophers, shall continue to ask uncomfortable questions, to deflate inflated narratives, and to demand that those who write for the public do so not with fear of favour, but with favour for the truth.

“Mr. Azu, you are not the journalist we thought you were.”

….. Laws of Human Stupidity

In a post on Premium Times, which also published the article, pharmacist, banker, and author, Olu Akanmu, referenced the “Five Basic Laws of Human Stupidity” by Carlo M. Cipolla, and wrote: “Good article by Azu. Iran has truly (surprisingly) been made to look so ordinary. It overrated itself and fails with its Hamas ally, the military maxim that war is not just about your attack, but whether you have the counterforce to neutralise what will be a counterattack to your attack. Can’t but relate Hamas to one of the quadrants of Cipolla’s law of stupidity.”

** Ishiekwene is Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP and author of the book, Writing for Media and Monetising It.

Lisa Drayer

When you’re thirsty and in need of a drink, which beverages are best at keeping you hydrated?

Sure, you can always reach for a glass of water— but plain H20 isn’t the most hydrating beverage around, according to a study from Scotland’s St. Andrews University that compared the hydration responses of several different drinks.

The researchers found that while water — both still and sparkling — does a pretty good job of quickly hydrating the body, beverages with a little bit of sugar, fat or protein do an even better job of keeping us hydrated for longer.

The reason has to do with how our bodies respond to beverages, according to Ronald Maughan, a professor at St. Andrews’ School of Medicine and the study’s author. One factor is the volume of a given drink: The more you drink, the faster the drink empties from your stomach and gets absorbed into the bloodstream, where it can dilute the body’s fluids and hydrate you.

Milk is more hydrating than water

The other factor affecting how well a beverage hydrates relates to a drink’s nutrient composition. For example, milk was found to be even more hydrating than plain water because it contains the sugar lactose, some protein and some fat, all of which help to slow the emptying of fluid from the stomach and keep hydration happening over a longer period.

Milk also has sodium, which acts like a sponge and holds onto water in the body and results in less urine produced.

The same can be said for oral rehydration solutions that are used to treat diarrhea. Those contain small amounts of sugar, as well as sodium and potassium, which can also help promote water retention in the body.

“This study tells us much of what we already knew: Electrolytes — like sodium and potassium — contribute to better hydration, while calories in beverages result in slower gastric emptying and therefore slower release of urination,” said Melissa Majumdar, a registered dietitian, personal trainer and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics who was not involved in the study.

Sugar in moderation

But here’s where it gets tricky: Beverages with more concentrated sugars, such as fruit juices or colas, are not necessarily as hydrating as their lower-sugar cousins. They may spend a little more time in the stomach and empty more slowly compared to plain water, but once these beverages enter the small intestine their high concentration of sugars gets diluted during a physiological process called osmosis. This process in effect “pulls” water from the body into the small intestine to dilute the sugars these beverages contain. And technically, anything inside the intestine is outside your body.

Juice and soda are not only less hydrating, but offer extra sugars and calories that won’t fill us up as much as solid foods, explained Majumdar. If the choice is between soda and water for hydration, go with water every time. After all, our kidneys and liver depend on water to get rid of toxins in our bodies, and water also plays a key role in maintaining skin’s elasticity and suppleness. It’s the cheapest moisturizer you’ll find.

While staying hydrated is important — doing so keeps our joints lubricated, helps prevent infections, and carries nutrients to our cells — in most situations people don’t need to worry too much about how hydrating their beverages are.

“If you’re thirsty, your body will tell you to drink more,” Maughan said. But for athletes training seriously in warm conditions with high sweat losses, or for someone whose cognitive function may be negatively impacted by working long hours without beverage breaks, hydration becomes a critical issue.

Can beer and lattes keep me hydrated?

Alcohol acts as a diuretic, which causes you to pass more urine, so when it comes to alcoholic beverages hydration will depend on a beverage’s total volume. “Beer would result in less water loss than whiskey, because you are ingesting more fluid with beer,” Maughan said. “Strong alcoholic drinks will dehydrate, dilute alcoholic drinks will not.”

When it comes to coffee, how well your java hydrates you will depend on the amount of caffeine you consume. A regular coffee with about 80 milligrams of caffeine — roughtly what you would find in 12 oz. of Folgers’ house blend– would be pretty much as hydrating as water, according to Maughan’s research.

Consuming more than 300mg of caffeine, or about 2-4 cups of coffee, could cause you to lose excess fluid as the caffeine causes a mild, short-term diuretic effect. This is more likely to happen with someone who doesn’t typically consume caffeine, and it could be offset by adding a tablespoon or two of milk to your cup of joe.

CNN

Four travelers lost their lives when an explosive device detonated along a major highway in Borno State on Wednesday afternoon, according to local media reports.

The deadly blast occurred around 3:00pm on the Damboa-Maiduguri road, striking a passenger vehicle carrying an undetermined number of occupants. In addition to the four fatalities, several other passengers suffered injuries in the attack.

This incident marks the latest in a series of bomb attacks that have plagued the strategic highway. Just weeks earlier, a similar explosion on the same route claimed seven lives, highlighting the persistent security challenges facing the state.

The Damboa-Maiduguri road remains officially closed to civilian traffic due to safety concerns. Despite this restriction, travelers occasionally use the route under military protection, though Wednesday’s attack demonstrates the continued risks even with security escorts.

Security analysts note that insurgent groups frequently target this corridor, strategically placing explosive devices to deter civilian and military movement along what serves as a crucial transportation link in the state.

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has issued a grave warning to the Federal Government, declaring that Northern Nigeria is “bleeding” under the weight of unrelenting violence and that continued inaction amounts to “criminal negligence.”

The statement follows a horrific attack on June 20, in which over a dozen people were killed when a mob set fire to a bus carrying wedding guests traveling from Zaria, Kaduna State, to Quan Pan Local Government Area in Plateau State. Many of the victims suffered severe burns and injuries in what NEF described as a “brutal massacre.”

In a strongly worded statement released Tuesday by the forum’s spokesperson, Abubakar Jiddere, NEF condemned the attack as a reflection of Nigeria’s deepening security crisis and a collapse of leadership at the highest levels.

“This country is bleeding, and it is bleeding from the North,” the forum declared. “The obligation to protect life and restore order is not a favour the government grants — it is a constitutional imperative. Failure to act now is not just negligence. It is complicity.”

NEF described the targeted attack on innocent travellers as a “premeditated atrocity” and a “crime against humanity,” accusing the Nigerian state of failing its most basic duty: safeguarding human life.

The group painted a bleak picture of security across the region, highlighting widespread suffering:

• North-West: Villages are deserted, and communities are ravaged by mass abductions and killings.

• North-East: Terrorist attacks persist, with no end in sight.

• North-Central: Daily life is haunted by random killings and routine kidnappings.

“What was once sporadic unrest has now mutated into systemic terror,” the statement continued. “This terror thrives under the shadow of impunity and government inertia.”

NEF urged the federal government to act decisively and immediately, warning that failure to address the spiraling violence could lead to deeper instability and further erode citizens’ trust in governance.

“The cost of delay is paid in blood. The time to act is now,” the forum concluded.

President Bola Tinubu has dismissed recent moves by opposition leaders to form a coalition against his government, describing them as “politically displaced persons” desperate for relevance and shelter.

Speaking during a visit to Nasarawa State on Wednesday, where he commissioned a series of infrastructure projects undertaken by Governor Abdullahi Sule, Tinubu ridiculed the opposition’s early preparations for the 2027 general election.

“Those rushing into early politics and forming coalitions are nothing but political IDPs — internally displaced persons,” Tinubu said in a veiled jab at former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai, who are reported to be behind the proposed coalition. “Don’t give them a home. The hope is here.”

Last week, the coalition group submitted a letter of intent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) seeking registration of a new political party, the All Democratic Alliance (ADA), aimed at challenging Tinubu’s re-election.

While stopping short of naming his critics directly, Tinubu warned that he would not stand by while opposition forces attempt to undermine his administration through premature political campaigns.

“I’m not one to sit quietly while some political gangsters try to destabilize the system,” he said. “They’re not forming a coalition to unseat me — they’re forming one to unseat themselves.”

The president also used the occasion to defend his administration’s performance, pointing to what he called measurable progress in economic reforms and public sector efficiency.

“We’ve cut down on waste and brought discipline to governance,” Tinubu said. “Yes, we are facing economic challenges, but I assure Nigerians — the hope is real, and from this moment, you will have no regrets.”

He praised Governor Sule for his development initiatives in Nasarawa and linked the state’s progress to the broader successes of his federal administration.

“Sule is delivering because Tinubu is delivering,” he declared.

Tinubu’s remarks come amid growing political maneuvering by opposition figures seeking to realign ahead of the next election cycle. While critics have accused his administration of economic hardship and insecurity, the president maintains that his reforms will yield long-term benefits and restore national prosperity.

Sixteen people died during nationwide anti-government protests in Kenya on Wednesday, most of them killed by police, the head of Amnesty Kenya said, a year after deadly demonstrations against a tax bill culminated in the storming of parliament.

Thousands of Kenyans took to the streets to commemorate last year's demonstrations, in which more than 60 people died, with police firing tear gas and water cannons to disperse them in the capital Nairobi, according to local media and a Reuters witness.

Some protesters clashed with police, and 16 people were "verified dead as of 8:30", Amnesty Kenya's executive director Irungu Houghton told Reuters, adding that the figures were verified by the global rights watchdog and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

"Most were killed by police," Houghton said, adding that at least five of the victims had been shot dead.

The government-funded KNCHR earlier said eight deaths had been reported across the country, all "allegedly from gunshot wounds".

"Over 400 casualties have been reported, including demonstrators, police officers and journalists," KNCHR said in a statement shared on its official X account.

The watchdog noted heavy police deployment and "allegations of excessive use of force, including rubber bullets, live ammunition and water cannons, resulting in numerous injuries".

Kenyan police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga declined to comment on the statements by Amnesty Kenya or KNCHR.

State-funded body Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) said in a statement at least 61 people were arrested during the protests.

An official at the capital's main Kenyatta National Hospital said the facility had received dozens of wounded people.

"107 admitted, most with gunshot injuries," the source said, referring to rubber bullets and live rounds. He added that no deaths had been reported at KNH.

National electricity provider Kenya Power said one of its security guards was shot dead while patrolling its headquarters in Nairobi.

Large crowds were seen earlier heading in the direction of State House, the president's official residence, in scenes broadcast by Kenyan channel NTV before it and another broadcaster KTN were pulled off the air after defying an order to stop live broadcasts of the demonstrations.

Both channels resumed broadcasts later on Wednesday after a court in Nairobi suspended the order issued by the Communications Authority of Kenya.

ANGER AGAINST POLICE

Isolated clashes were reported in the port city of Mombasa, according to NTV, with protests also in the towns of Kitengela, Kisii, Matuu and Nyeri.

Although last year's protests faded after President William Ruto withdrew proposed tax hikes, public anger has remained over the use of excessive force by security agencies, with fresh demonstrations this month over the death of a blogger in police custody.

Six people, including three police officers, were charged with murder on Tuesday over the killing of 31-year-old blogger and teacher, Albert Ojwang. All have pleaded not guilty.

Ojwang's death has become a lightning rod for Kenyans still mourning those who perished at last year's demonstrations, blamed on security forces, against a backdrop of dozens of unexplained disappearances.

"We are fighting for the rights of our fellow youths and Kenyans and the people who died since June 25... we want justice," Lumumba Harmony, a protester, told Reuters in Nairobi.

The unprecedented scenes on June 25, 2024, showing police firing at protesters as they broke through barriers to enter parliament, created the biggest crisis of Ruto's presidency and sparked alarm among Kenya's international allies.

Reuters

Seven Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza, pressure on Netanyahu for ceasefire

The Israeli military said seven soldiers were killed in a single attack in southern Gaza on Tuesday, the military's deadliest day in the territory since it broke a ceasefire with Hamas in March.

A lieutenant, three staff sergeants and three sergeants, members of a combat engineering battalion, were killed when a explosive device planted on the armoured vehicle they were travelling in ignited a fire, the military said on Wednesday.

The latest deaths are likely to increase public pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-long war, a move strongly opposed by hardline members of his right-wing ruling coalition.

Public support for Netanyahu collapsed after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel from Gaza, which exposed Israel to its deadliest security failure.

But his standing has been boosted by his surprise decision to strike Iran — a campaign widely viewed as dealing a significant blow to Israel's longtime adversary.

Attention has shifted back to Gaza following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a truce between Israel and Iran that came into effect on Tuesday and continues to hold.

Moshe Gafne, a lawmaker from an ultra-Orthodox party within Netanyahu’s coalition government, on Wednesday publicly questioned why Israel was still locked in the war in Gaza.

"This is a very sad day, with seven soldiers killed in Gaza ... I still don’t understand why we are fighting there. To what end?" he told a parliamentary committee.

Hamas' military wing confirmed that it had carried out the deadly attack in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Tuesday. It said its fighters had also fired an anti-tank missile at another vehicle that came to help.

The war in Gaza has isolated Israel from many of its international partners critical of the military campaign. During the 12 days Israel was fighting Iran, more than 800 Palestinians were killed in Gaza by the Israeli military, including at least 30, among them a journalist, on Wednesday, according to local health officials.

The deadliest day for the Israeli military since the war started was in January 2024, when 24 soldiers were killed, 20 of them in a single explosion.

HOSTAGES

The Gaza war has persisted despite mounting domestic and international calls for a permanent ceasefire and to secure the release of the remaining hostages, as coalition members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have pressed to keep fighting.

Netanyahu's right-wing coalition of secular and religious parties holds a narrow parliamentary majority, meaning the prime minister can ill afford dissent.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the relatives of some captives, this week called on the United States to push for a comprehensive deal that would secure the release of the hostages.

Twenty hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, while Hamas is also holding the bodies of 30 who have died.

Netanyahu has demanded that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, release the hostages, relinquish any future role in Gaza and lay down its weapons in order to end the war.

Hamas has said it would release the hostages if Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire and withdraws from Gaza. It has refused to discuss disarmament.

The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing close to 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Most of the hostages released so far have been freed through indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza has so far killed 56,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, most of them civilians, and destroyed much of the coastal strip.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Zelenskiy opts for more formal, calibrated wardrobe ahead of Trump meeting

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has retuned his wardrobe since a disastrous Oval Office meeting with Donald Trump in February, switching his typical khaki military-style tee-shirts and long-sleeved tops for more formal, but still rugged, black suit-style jackets and shirts.

The media-savvy leader had wanted to show solidarity with the troops fighting Russia on the frontline. But he was chided by a U.S. reporter for not wearing a suit at the White House event, which descended into a shouting match over whether he was showing sufficient gratitude for U.S. wartime support.

Since then, Zelenskiy has worked to rebuild relations with Washington, whose military help Kyiv still badly needs, even though the U.S. president has shown no sign of resuming the donations of weaponry that his predecessor Joe Biden had instituted.

When Zelenskiy met Trump at Pope Francis's funeral in Rome in April, he wore a heavy black field jacket and black shirt buttoned to the collar, with no tie.

He sported a similar look when meeting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on Monday, and again at the dinner hosted on Tuesday by the Dutch king that preceded Wednesday's NATO summit in The Hague.

Although he was not invited to the meeting itself, he met with Trump afterwards, with an agenda including a wish-list of arms purchases.

The subtle switch, stopping short of white shirt or tie, has captured attention on social media and from the Ukrainian edition of ELLE magazine, which on Wednesday described his changed look as "visual diplomacy of a new kind".

The negative focus on Zelenskiy's attire at the White House was widely criticised by Ukrainians, who have largely rallied around their leader since Moscow's February 2022 invasion.

A communications adviser for the president's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kiev-orchestrated bomb plot thwarted in Moscow Region – FSB

Two Russian citizens who were collecting an improvised explosive from a cache outside Moscow, have been killed after opening fire on law enforcement, the Federal Security Service (FSB) reported on Wednesday.

The deceased were identified by the agency as “accomplices of Ukrainian special services,”who allegedly planned to use the device in a terrorist attack targeting a Russian military service member.

According to the FSB, video footage appearing to show surveillance scenes along with the alleged IED proves that the bomb was ready for activation when it was seized.

Plot details were subsequently discovered on suspects’ phones and investigators are reportedly treating the case as a felony involving unlawful possession of explosives.

The FSB frequently reports having disrupted terrorist operations allegedly coordinated by Ukrainian intelligence services, though suspects are typically apprehended alive. Exceptions have occurred, particularly when Kiev is believed to rely on radicalized individuals with links to international terrorist organizations.

One such case was reported in April 2024, when two Central Asian Islamists allegedly planned to use first-person-view drones armed with explosive devices to target an oil refinery in Nizhny Novgorod Region.

The FSB claimed the suspects were directed to retrieve the equipment from a cache and were given operational instructions by a “Ukrainian handler.”

Reuters/RT