Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Katherine Thompson
“When combatant commanders become more powerful than civilians in the eyes of the media, Washington, and world leaders, it throws off a critical balance.” (10/12/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/hegseth-generals-admirals/
Source: Fox News
“President Donald Trump last week touted a diesel agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, asserting that prices for the fuel would swiftly fall, but some Republicans have responded by rebuking the president’s move. … The announcement sparked blowback from some Republicans, including outgoing Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who declared in a post on X that Trump’s ‘policies towards Russia and Ukraine are failures.’ … Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., declared in a post on Saturday, ‘We will be introducing bipartisan legislation to block any and all purchases of Russian oil.’ … A bipartisan group of senators — including Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Ron Wyden of Oregon, as well as GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Curtis of Utah — joined together in a statement pressing the administration to ‘reverse course.'” (10/12/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republican-lawmakers-break-trump-diesel-deal-russia
Source: Liberal Currents
“Samantha Hancox-Li and Ben Wittes, editor in chief of Lawfare, discuss how we went from the triumph of the fall of the Berlin Wall to our current world: more war, more conflict, and no end in sight. How did structural factors combined with strategic choices lead to a world where peace has broken down and major power war has returned? Spoiler: it starts in Iraq.” (10/11/26)
Source: Law & Liberty
by Aaron Alexander Zubia
“The Founders’ constitutional morality demands more than mechanical checks and balances.” (10/12/260
Source: Asia Times
by Faisal Mahmud
“Demanding the resignation of a minister is one thing. It is uncomfortable for a government, occasionally embarrassing for a prime minister, but ultimately manageable. Ministers can be sacrificed and their departures can be presented as accountability, and governments can move on. Demanding the resignation of the chief election commissioner is quite another matter and for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the difference could hardly be more consequential. The latest wave of protests in New Delhi centers on allegations of widespread voter manipulation through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and other suspected electoral irregularities, with demonstrators demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.” (10/12/26)
https://asiatimes.com/2026/10/is-modi-facing-his-own-bangladesh-moment/
Source: Los Angeles Times
by David Hebert
“Last month, the White House announced that the United States and China had ‘operationalized’ their new Board of Trade. The working procedures, however, say remarkably little about how the board is actually supposed to operate. Years of tariff disputes between Washington and Beijing have produced many announcements. The Board of Trade is the newest one. Tariffs and other forms of trade restrictions have been a largely ineffective strategy against China.” (10/12/26)
Source: The Guardian
“Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, are considering firing US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after a series of reports alleging she has engaged in improper and possibly illegal conduct before and during her tenure in Athens. A senior US official said Sunday that Trump and Rubio are ‘extremely pissed off’ by Guilfoyle’s reported conduct and would likely decide on what action to take this week after Monday’s federal holiday. … In a series of stories, the Wall Street Journal has reported questionable conduct by Guilfoyle, including an alleged threat to a host country official, accepting improper gifts and services and offering to use her influence inside the administration in return for the payment of a large credit card bill.” (10/11/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/11/trump-rubio-weigh-firing-kimberly-guilfoyle
Source: The Dispatch
“The Tumultuous, Remarkable Middle East | Interview: Simon Sebag Montefiore.” (10/12/26)
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“Three decades before he was first elected president, Donald Trump had big plans for a 26-acre building site near the South Street Seaport in Manhattan. … He imagined a 150-story structure, including offices, apartments, and a hotel, that would be 1,940 feet high, surpassing Chicago’s Sears Tower, then the world’s tallest building, by nearly 500 feet. Paul Gapp, the Chicago Tribune‘s architecture critic, did not think much of that plan. … ‘The world’s tallest tower would be one of the silliest things anyone could inflict on New York or any other city.’ Trump was indulging in ‘Guinness Book of World Records architecture,’ Gapp said. … Trump did not like what Gapp said. And according to Trump, Gapp had no right to his opinion. Two months after the Tribune published Gapp’s column, Trump sued him and the newspaper for defamation.” (10/11/26)
Source: Washington Monthly
by Tamar Jacoby
“[A]fter nearly five years of fighting, Europeans are running out of options, which is why the debate is circling back again to an idea proposed and rejected several times in the past—leveraging the Russian Central Bank assets held in European financial institutions. Europeans—both nation-states and the European Union—have tried just about everything else.” (10/12/26)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/10/12/europeans-look-for-options-as-costs-mount-in-ukraine/