Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“A troubling convergence has emerged among Western think tanks, Israeli politicians, and exiled opposition figures advocating for the partition of Iran along ethnic and sectarian lines. This strategy represents a dangerous escalation from traditional regime change toward what can only be described as regime destruction, a policy shift that would benefit Israeli regional ambitions while catastrophically destabilizing the Middle East and creating humanitarian disasters that would dwarf the Syrian refugee crisis.” (02/02/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/fantasies-of-fragmenting-iran-only-serve-israeli-interests
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Martin de Caro
“In his second inaugural address, Trump claimed he wanted to be remembered as a peacemaker. Instead, he’s practicing what the scholar Alex de Waal calls ‘global mafia politics,’ the new rules of an unraveling order that render familiar debates between realists and idealists, or restrainers versus primacists, somewhat stale. To better understand this dynamic, I spoke to de Waal about his thesis that the ‘political marketplace’ now dominates international relations.” (02/02/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/global-mafia-politics/
Source: Washington Monthly
by Garrett Epps
“Thanks to conservative justices, the law doesn’t allow him to compel cities, like Minneapolis, to bow to his immigration orders, and so he used ICE thuggery. It backfired. Now what?” (02/02/26)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/02/02/trumps-ice-problem-and-ours/
Source: ABC News
“Activists filed two impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte Monday, accusing her of large-scale corruption after an initial attempt to unseat her a year ago was shot down by the Supreme Court on a legal technicality. The new impeachment bids filed before the House of Representatives are the latest episode in the stormy political life of Duterte, a 47-year-old lawyer and former city mayor who has been touted by supporters as a potential presidential contender in 2028. She is the daughter of ex- President Rodrigo Duterte, who oversaw bloody anti-drug crackdowns while in office from 2016 to 2022. He was arrested and detained in the Netherlands by the International Criminal Court last year for alleged crimes against humanity.” (02/02/26)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/philippine-vice-president-faces-2-new-impeachment-bids-129775355
Source: New York Times
“Epstein Victims Outraged Over Unredacted Info, and the Supreme Court Made Itself More Secretive.” (02/02/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxAPkBl2jaU
Source: The Realist Review
“An interview with TRR editor James W. Carden.” (02/02/26)
https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/podcast-peace-is-lonely
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“After Friday, when I worried about robots taking over, I was glad to read a debunking of the AI Will Destroy Us All meme, so in vogue. In ‘Superintelligent AI Is Not Coming To Kill You,’ from the March issue of Reason, Neil Chilson argues that we shouldn’t freak out. Not only do I not want to freak out, I don’t want to use AI very much — though I understand that, these days, sometimes it makes sense to consult the Oracles.” (02/02/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/02/02/everyone-dies/
Source: Foreign Policy
by Julian E Zelizer
“The president’s decision to send troops to Los Angeles received broad national, bipartisan support.” (02/02/26)
https://archive.is/oDCtO
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Police say no suspicious packages or devices have been located after a bomb threat was sent to schools in the Columbia Heights neighbourhood, a suburb of Minneapolis, on Monday. Multiple schools in the district, where a number of students have been abducted in recent weeks as part of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in Minnesota, were nonetheless forced to close for the day. Columbia Heights Public Schools said it closed the schools out of an abundance of caution following a credible threat. Classes will resume on Tuesday. The school closures come as protests against ICE continue in Minnesota and across the US. Among the students [abducted] by federal agents in the Columbia Heights district was five-year-old Liam Ramos. A photo of Ramos in a blue bunny-eared hat being held by ICE agents led to a national outcry.” (02/02/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2kzzz3m51o
Source: United Press International
“President Donald Trump has threatened to sue Trevor Noah over a joke the comedian made while hosting Sunday night’s Grammy Awards. … Trump frequently pursues lawsuits against critics and media organizations over comments he says damaged his reputation, drawing criticism from opponents who accuse him of trying to silence dissent. Noah, a South African comedian who has hosted the Grammy Awards since 2021, attracted the ire of the American president with a joke about Trump’s relationship with the convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.” (02/02/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/02/02/Trump-suing-Trevor-Noah-Epstein/1191770021184/
