Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Eldar Mamedov
“They frame the crisis not as an act of war against a UN member state, but as a natural consequence of Tehran’s failure to capitulate unconditionally.” (03/01/26)
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“The proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which the principals are trying to get done quickly before state attorneys general can react with a challenge, is terrible for a host of reasons, the most politically salient being the fairly explicit effort to convert a healthy chunk of American media organizations into a swamp of pro-MAGA propaganda. But perhaps the worst part is how bad a business deal it is, and that has implications for both the future of Hollywood and the ability for states to actually block it. The deal is tied up with so much debt that it virtually guarantees layoffs the likes of which Hollywood hasn’t seen before. That’s going to mean far less output from the suite of properties under Paramount and Warner’s control.” (03/02/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/03/02/paramount-warner-merger-netflix-hollywood-jobs-layoffs-antitrust/
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Robert A Pape
“On April 21, 1996, Russian forces executed one of the most precise assassinations of the modern era. The target was Dzhokhar Dudayev, leader of Chechnya’s separatist war against Moscow. … When U.S. strikes failed to kill Moammar Kadafi in 1986 or Saddam Hussein numerous times in the 1990s, many airpower advocates concluded near misses were the problem. If the leader actually died, the regime would fracture. Russia — with a critical U.S. assist — proved the execution could be perfected.
But execution was never the core variable. Leadership assassination in international disputes does not simply remove authority; it redistributes it under emotional mobilization.” (03/01/26)
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“Yesterday’s attack by Israeli and US forces on Iran has within hours expanded to include a dozen different nations. As usual, we have nowhere near enough information to figure out what is really going on. The claims made by various and sundry (including The Donald and Bibi) seem to be contradictory and are challenged by people in all corners of the political diamond. Not just in Israel and the States, but around the world.” (03/01/26)
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Anonymous
“Last Friday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared AI company Anthropic a ‘supply chain risk,’ the first time this designation has ever been applied to a US company. The trigger for the move was Anthropic’s refusal to allow the Department of War to use their AIs for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. A few hours later, Hegseth and Sam Altman declared an agreement-in-principle for OpenAI’s models to be used in the niche vacated by Anthropic. Altman stated that he had received guarantees that OpenAI’s models wouldn’t be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons either, but given Hegseth’s unwillingness to concede these points with Anthropic, observers speculated that the safeguards in Altman’s contract must be weaker or, in a worst-case scenario, completely toothless.” (03/01/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/all-lawful-use-much-more-than-you
Source: Notablog
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“So, imagine if you will, that it’s 1933. Armed with these ideas about ‘citizens’ and ‘aliens,’ enraged over the mess he’s inherited from his predecessors and by the nightmarish conditions his country has endured, Hitler explains that he will target ‘illegal alien criminals’ and anyone who chooses to ‘block the removal of criminal aliens.’ … I can almost see the eye-rolling and hear the shouting: ‘Please Sciabarra. Not the Hitler Analogy. Spare us!’ Let me assure you: I do not believe that Donald J. Trump is Adolf Hitler or that the United States is a full-blown fascist dictatorship. Yet. But insofar as Trump draws from the same crude collectivist well of racism as an antidote to palpable fear of contemporary conditions, the ominous parallels exist.” (02/28/26)
https://notablog.net/2026/02/28/two-wrongs-dont-make-a-reich/
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“Trump and Netanyahu are responsible for everything that happens next. They own this war and its consequences. Every life lost in Iran and throughout the region as a result of this war is their doing. They are war criminals, and they should be held accountable for the death and destruction they have chosen to cause. They have set the region on fire on a whim.” (02/28/26)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/trump-starts-his-criminal-war-of
Source: Glenn Greenwald
by Glenn Greenwald
“It is hard to overstate what a massive fraud Donald Trump, his campaign and his political movement are. For more than a decade, Trump has ranted and raved against the evils of regime-change wars and neoconservative dogma, only to launch a new war that most perfectly encapsulates and aggressively advances both. … This new war against Iran is as pure a continuation of the bipartisan DC posture of endless war that has, more than any single cause, destroyed American prosperity, standing, and future over the last six decades at least.”
(02/28/26)
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/trump-starts-a-major-regime-change
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Trita Parsi
“Now that President Trump has launched an illegal, unprovoked war of choice on Iran, the next question inevitably becomes: how does this end? Or, what are some off ramps Trump can take to end it before the situation turns out of control? There are three broad scenarios; the first and most likely is that Trump continues this until he gets some sort of regime implosion and then declares victory, while also washing his hands of whatever follows. This has been very clear in internal conversations: no one wants to take responsibility for the aftermath.” (02/28/26)
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“I’ll grant that at the founding, rulers thought that importation was a privilege, not a right. Who cares? We know better now. Besides, to regular people in those days, the smuggler of goods was a hero. The villain was the meddlesome customs official. He, not the smuggler, was likely be tarred, feathered, and ridden out of town on a rail. I’ll give Thomas this: he and his clerks were certainly able to find many legal citations to back his claim. I’ll tell you what that means. It means that legal scholar John Hasnas is right. His paper ‘The Myth of the Rule of Law’ demonstrates that the legal system in America is like ‘Alice’s Restaurant,’ where ‘you can get anything you want.'” (02/27/26)
https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-justice-thomass-pathetic-tariff