Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Nick Cleveland-Stout & Ben Freeman
“In 2024, top think tanks received over $25 million from foreign governments and $7 million from Pentagon contractors, according to the most recently available donor rolls. This figure is a conservative estimate, as about 40% of think tanks do not disclose any donors at all. These findings come from our newly updated Think Tank Funding Tracker, which now includes the top 75 foreign policy think tanks in the U.S. and tracks all of the foreign government, U.S. government, and Pentagon contractor money flowing to them. The top Pentagon contractor donor was Northrop Grumman, which gave over $1.1 million to think tanks in 2024. These same think tanks routinely promote ambitious new weaponry which benefit their donors.” (03/16/26)
“A story about Paul Conyngham, an AI entrepreneur from Sydney who treated his dog Rosie’s cancer with a personalized mRNA vaccine, has been circulating on X this week. What makes the story inspiring is the initiative the owner showed: he used AI to teach himself about how a personalized vaccine could work, designed much of the process himself, and approached top researchers to take it forward. Whether the treatment itself was curative and how much of an improvement it represents over the current state of the art is not the point here. What interests me instead is the bureaucratic absurdity Conyngham encountered while trying to pursue the treatment.” (03/16/26)
“Doubtless, the war launched by US President Donald Trump is not popular among ordinary Americans. According to the latest public opinion poll, only a minority of Americans (part of the dwindling [sic] core of Trump’s supporters) believe that the US-Israeli aggression against Iran has merit. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in early March 2026, only 27 percent of Americans approve of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran—while 43 percent disapprove and 29 percent are unsure. This pro-war constituency is likely to remain supportive of Trump until the end of his term in office, and long after. However, the war on Iran is not popular, and it is unlikely to become popular, especially as the Trump administration is reportedly fragmented between those who want to stay the course and those desperate for an exit strategy. Such a strategy would allow their president to save face before the midterm elections in November.” (03/16/26)
“As the Iran war dominates global economic calculations, media and social media alike, there’s one place where it’s been strangely absent: Washington, DC. The American capital in the second Trump administration has developed a bit of a devil-may-care, drink-with-lunch spirit captured in the Pentagon’s cheerily bellicose memes. Still, when I was in DC last week, I was surprised by the total absence of yellow ribbons, patriotic banners, or the usual wartime acknowledgements of fallen troops and the many others in danger. … During the Iraq War, yellow ribbons — showing support for the troops, if not the conflict — were ubiquitous, as were anti-war demonstrations. Then came the long global war on terror, which meant that the US was both constantly at war and never at war. Washington remembered Afghanistan, only briefly, when we withdrew. … The nation’s capital is, as always, a bubble, but it’s hard to see how this relative good cheer can last.” (03/16/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Ryan Costello
“With the Iran war going very poorly, President Donald Trump has given increasing indications that he is looking for an off-ramp. He made the mistake of listening to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and other hawks in the run-up to the war, and now their Pollyannish predictions have all fallen flat. Declaring victory and getting out as soon as possible is far and away the best option available. … Yet, ending the war is not as easy as simply declaring victory. Key Iranian figures have signaled that they are not seeking a ceasefire and intend to inflict sufficient pain to deter any future attack on Iran. … To avoid a Forever War consisting of repeated short conflicts, the U.S. should start thinking about how to stop Israel from dragging it into Mideast hostilities.” (03/16/26)
“One of the more curious tendencies of the modern Western left — which claims to defend gender equality, pluralism, and secular democratic governance — is its knee-jerk defense of radical Islam. In fact, the further left the group, the more predictably it defends theocratic Muslim states that encourage violence against women, criminalize homosexuality, and outlaw free expression. Here on U.S. soil, increasing Muslim immigration, irrespective of the cultural attitudes held by given migrant groups, has become another boilerplate Democratic party cause. This contradictory ideological hybrid can best be described as Islamo-socialism: the merging of Islamist identity politics with socialist theories of power, grievance, and redistribution.” (03/16/26)
“Two things happened the week before Trump finally decided to end his will-he-won’t-he relationship with regime change in Iran. The first is that Benjamin Netanyahu told the Donald that Israel was going to whack the Ayatollah with or without him and that the results would be identical either way. Iran would retaliate by dumping literal tons of drones on the American bases that encircle it throughout the region and Trump would be duty bound to prove his manhood with blood. The other telltale thing that happened that week was that evidence surfaced from the heavily redacted Epstein Files that appears to show multiple sources corroborating the failed lawsuit of Katy Johnson; an anonymous plaintiff who accused our current president of raping her with Jeffrey Epstein at his side and then threatening to murder her if she spoke.” (03/15/26)
