Source: The Atlantic
by Thomas Wright
“The window for Donald Trump to end the Iran war by simply declaring victory and walking away is rapidly closing. Soon he will face a stark choice: He can take greater risks in pursuit of a decisive tactical success, prepare the country for a prolonged conflict that could last for many months, or seek a negotiated settlement that involves a real compromise with Tehran.” (03/17/26)
Source: Foreign Policy
by Stephen M Walt
“This war did not come out of nowhere. To be sure, the United States and Iran have been at odds for decades, and neither Israel nor the lobby is solely responsible for the suspicion with which each country views the other. Nonetheless, lobby groups such as AIPAC, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the Zionist Organization of America, and United Against Nuclear Iran have worked to demonize Iran over the years, prevent U.S. companies from doing business there, and derail prior attempts by former Iranian presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammed Khatami to improve relations. … by making it almost impossible for either Democratic or Republican presidents to put meaningful pressure on Israel, the lobby has enabled Netanyahu to engage in ‘reckless driving’ all over the region, whether in Israel’s sustained efforts to oppress its Palestinian subjects or in its repeated attacks on Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iran, and even Qatar.” (03/17/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“This is Zionism put into practice. The wars. The massacres. The bombed-out schools and hospitals. The millions of displaced individuals. The invasion of Lebanon. The explosions carpeting Tehran. The hollowed-out moonscape of Gaza. The horrific pogroms in the West Bank. The child amputees. The smell of rotting corpses. The assassinated doctors and journalists. The blackened sky and the poisoned water. The nonstop deluge of brain-melting propaganda. The aggressive promotion of Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism. The erosion of free speech rights throughout the western world. The corrupt warmongering politicians. The legions of online hasbara trolls. The soaring fuel prices. Money which could pay for social services buying bombs for Israel instead. All the death, destruction, instability and suffering that’s being visited upon countless civilians throughout west Asia. This is Zionism.” (03/17/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes
“At a time when gambling is increasingly treated by governments as a vice to be regulated or restricted, it is worth recalling a curious episode in European economic history: a casino once saved a country. In the 19th century, Monaco went from being a virtually bankrupt state to the playground of millionaires that we know today.” (03/17/26)
Source: Project Liberal
by Oliver Gale
“Why democracies must confront Russian hybrid warfare and the return of fascism to Europe.” [editor’s note: Fake “liberals” might want to keep the McCarthyism at least a little hidden until they actually have power – TLK] (03/17/26)
https://projectliberal.substack.com/p/the-ghost-of-1938-the-russian-threat
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“The Iran war is a regional war in a way that previous reckless U.S. interventions were not, and it is having global effects. The Iran war is already wider and more damaging to international peace and security in its first three weeks than the Iraq war was in its early years. If it is allowed to continue for several more months, the damage to regional security will be severe. The damage to the interests of many of our treaty allies will also be significant, and the entire global economy will suffer. This was an entirely avoidable disaster, and the U.S. and Israel are responsible for causing it.” (03/17/26)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/the-iran-wars-terrible-effects
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“I’m not one of those people tapping their foot saying, ‘When is the war going to end? It’s been dragging on and is a disaster!’ No, those people are idiots actively hoping the United States is damaged because of who the President of the United States is. Nor do I think the Iranian regime didn’t deserve to be wiped out; those who used to be in charge (and alive) were evil and them no longer existing is a great thing for humanity. But what comes next isn’t up to us, it’s up to the people of Iran to act. And there is still an open question about what it is they want, so we have to consider the possibility that most of them simply don’t want to be ‘free.'” (03/17/26)
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jon Duffy
“In describing the U.S. war in Iran, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth often sounds less like a leader burdened by the grave public trust of killing in the nation’s name than like a man performing for an audience. On ’60 Minutes,’ he said ‘the only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians that think they’re gonna live.’ Days earlier, Hegseth described the torpedoing of an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka — an attack that killed more than 80 sailors — as ‘quiet death,’ with a relish that has no place in the public voice of American war. Some will hear lines like that and dismiss them as swagger from a man temperamentally unsuited to his office. The deeper problem is the view of war those lines reveal. … Hegseth does not speak of war as responsibility, burden or tragedy. He speaks of it as a stage for display.” (03/17/26)
Source: The Daily Economy
by Jeffery L Degner
“COVID lockdowns transformed education and exposed the limits of centralized policymaking. Six years later, students are still paying the price.” (03/17/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-long-shadow-of-covid-school-closures/
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“It is supremely ironic that President Donald Trump, who in 2016 gained a reputation as a staunch opponent of regime-change wars, is 10 years later placing a huge political bet on achieving success with multiple U.S. crusades of that nature. He has already launched regime-change military campaigns against Venezuela and Iran. Some comments by Trump indicate that he is contemplating a campaign to oust the entrenched communist regime in Cuba. It’s a massive gamble for the president and the Republican Party. If Trump can carry off the strategy, and pro-U.S. successor governments replace repressive and hostile systems in all three countries, his historical legacy would be impressive in the eyes of many. … A failure to achieve such transformational outcomes at low cost in American blood and treasure, though, would likely prove politically disastrous for Trump and his supporters. The early indicators are not especially encouraging for the administration’s strategy.” (03/17/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trump-risks-it-all-on-regime-change-abroad/