“Normalising genocide was a way to normalise colonial expansion in Gaza. Only three weeks after Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich revealed plans for three Israeli settlements, the Nachala settler group organised a march last Sunday, in which settlers and ministers, including Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Economy Minister Nir Barakat and other Likud politicians, marched to a closed military zone, bypassing the Israeli military’s roadblocks to reach the border with Gaza. The call was for rebuilding the former settlements of Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nisanit which were evacuated in 2005 under the Disengagement Plan by then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.” (07/23/26)
“A local mayor in central Mexico was shot dead in a town hall, authorities reported Wednesday, after the politician had survived a previous assassination attempt. The town of Temoac is located in the state of Morelos, a region close to Mexico City where several drug cartels are active. Mayor Valentin Lavin, who was allied to President Claudia Sheinbaum’s leftist party, had already survived an armed attack in January, according to local media reports. … Almost 100 mayors have been murdered in Mexico since 2006, when drug-related violence surged, official figures show. Since the current government took office in October 2024, 14 mayors have been murdered in Mexico, three in 2026, Uno TV reported this week. ” (07/22/26)
“Few political ideas have proven as durable as the complaint embedded in the Declaration of Independence that the British Crown was ‘imposing taxes on us without our consent.’ That grievance was not merely rhetorical flourish; it captured a central concern of the American colonists about the relationship between political authority and individual liberty. More than two centuries later, citizens continue to debate taxation, representation, and accountability, albeit within a vastly different institutional and economic landscape. The question, then, is not whether taxation remains contentious—it clearly does—but whether the underlying concern about consent still has meaningful relevance in contemporary governance.” (07/23/26)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Alina Khamatdinova & Matthew Blackburn
“In Western policymaking circles, the destruction of Russian infrastructure, the rise of fuel shortages, and the resultant public dissatisfaction lead many to conclude Russia is on the ropes. The strategy of expanding Ukraine’s deep strike capacities enjoys the support not only of major European NATO states but also of the White House, as recent comments from President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio make clear. The Western pressure strategy rests on a simple calculation: raising the costs of continued fighting will increase discontent in Russian society to the point of forcing the Kremlin to the negotiating table via a ceasefire. For most Russians, who interpret the war as a struggle to secure concrete geopolitical goals, this calculation holds true; mounting costs erode support for war. Missing from this picture, however, is a vocal and intense minority who see the war in moral terms, as a zero-sum struggle over sacred values.” (07/23/26)
“The seizure of Max Blumenthal’s phones shows how the war on Iran and the border-security state can turn foreign conflict into domestic repression. Max Blumenthal returned from a reporting trip to Iran and left Washington Dulles International Airport without the two phones that contained much of his working life. According to a federal filing submitted on his behalf, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers questioned him about his journalism, funding, and travel plans and seized the devices after he declined to provide their passcodes. The Committee to Protect Journalists called the episode alarming. What happened at Dulles exposed how war abroad, exceptional border powers, and hostility toward dissenting media can converge in a single act of state pressure.” (07/23/26)
“Former special counsel Jack Smith was hit with a criminal referral Wednesday for allegedly misleading House lawmakers about the Biden-era investigation into President Trump. In his complaint to the Justice Department, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) contended that newly released records appear to contradict Smith’s testimony to the panel that he did not obtain or review text messages from lawmakers as his team looked into Trump’s alleged efforts to interfere in the 2020 election. ‘The Committee on the Judiciary writes to refer strong evidence that appears to show Jack Smith, former Special Counsel, knowingly made false statements during his December 17, 2025, deposition,’ Jordan wrote in a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, obtained by The Post.” (07/23/26)
“Drive through almost any established suburb in the United States, and you’ll see the pattern: single-family homes large enough for growing families occupied by just one or two retirees whose children left the nest a decade ago. Meanwhile, young families double up in cramped apartments, first-time buyers are priced out of the communities where they grew up, and school enrollment data tells the story of whole neighborhoods closed off to the people who would benefit from access to what they offer. It’s a problem made worse by our tax code, but it’s one that the tax code can help correct.” (07/23/26)
