Bulwark Takes, 02/19/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Former General: Hegseth’s Loyalty Tests Are Paralyzing Military Promotions.” (02/19/26)
SolutionsWatch, 02/19/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“Escaping Energy Poverty.” (02/19/26)
https://corbettreport.com/escaping-energy-poverty-solutionswatch/
The Ugly Americans
Source: CounterPunch
by John Kendall Hawkins
“In the classic Cold War film The Ugly American, Marlon Brando plays an American ambassador neck-deep in the kind of covert operations that would later get tens of thousands of Vietnamese killed. The film gave us a phrase, but most people forgot what it actually meant. Burdick and Lederer’s novel portrays the ‘ugly American’ as Homer Atkins, a straightforward engineer who genuinely cared about the locals and actively listened to their perspectives. The real ugliness came from the polished diplomats who saw Southeast Asians as pieces on a chessboard. Sixty years on, we’ve become exactly what we pretended to oppose. Only worse.” (02/19/26)
Venezuela’s Oil and the Death of a Latin American Dream
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“On January 29, Venezuela’s acting President, Delcy Rodríguez, signed a law that opens Venezuela’s oil industry to privatization. With the stroke of a pen, Rodríguez signed, not only the law, but the death certificate of a decades old Latin American dream.” (02/19/26)
Bail for All, Except Undocumented Immigrants
Source: Washington Monthly
by James D Zirin
“The Fifth Circuit embraces a radical vision of endless detention, as does the Trump administration. Will it be too much even for the Roberts Court?” (02/19/26)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/02/19/detention-without-bond-fifth-circuit/
Peru: Balcázar becomes eighth president in a decade
Source: Associated Press
“Peru’s Congress late Wednesday elected legislator José María Balcázar as the country’s eighth president in a decade, replacing another interim leader who was ousted the previous day over corruption allegations just four months into his term. Balcázar, an 83-year-old former judge representing the leftist Perú Libre party, defeated three other candidates with a majority of the 130-member legislature. The revolving-door presidency in Peru reflects a political crisis fueled by a lack of legislative majorities for leaders. Lawmakers have frequently used a broad interpretation of a constitutional article regarding ‘permanent moral incapacity’ to remove sitting presidents.” (02/19/26)
https://apnews.com/article/peru-president-congress-interim-election-c6f1e2d6c061ea8ba1cb0f4f467609bc
The Daily, 02/19/26
Source: New York Times
“‘Thugs’: The Moderate Democrat Railing Against ICE.” (02/19/26)
Speech and Panel Discussion on Brussels Bureaucracy
Source: Cobden Centre
“A couple of weeks ago I [Max Rangeley] gave this speech on EU bureaucracy, followed by a panel discussion at the Martens Centre think tank in Brussels. The Martens Centre is the think tank of the EPP, the largest political group in the European Parliament. The European Commission massively understates the cost of bureaucracy — but what can be done?” (02/19/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/02/speech-and-panel-discussion-on-brussels-bureaucracy/
Structure, Loyalty, and Power: Understanding China’s Party-State Under Xi Jinping
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“In late January 2026, China’s Ministry of National Defense announced investigations into two of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) most senior officers …. These investigations capped a wave of high-level purges that began in 2023 and steadily hollowed out the PLA’s senior leadership. At one point, the CMC, China’s supreme military decision-making body, was reduced in functional terms to Xi himself as chairman and the anti-corruption chief Zhang Shengmin as vice chairman. … To understand what these developments mean, one must understand the architecture of Chinese politics. China is not merely an authoritarian state. It is a Leninist party-state in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dominates every lever of power, the PLA functions as the party’s armed wing, and central authority increasingly overrides provincial discretion. The recent purges illuminate not dysfunction, but design.” (02/19/26)
Does Aristotle’s assertion that a viable political system requires a supportive culture still have relevance today?
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Winton Bates
“Some readers may be wondering why anything written about culture and politics over 2000 years ago could possibly have contemporary relevance. Fred D. Miller J.R. makes a strong case that Aristotle’s views remain relevant in his recently published book, Aristotelian Statecraft. In particular, Miller demonstrates that we can still learn a lot from Aristotle about the relationships between moral character, culture and political systems.” (02/19/26)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2026/02/does-aristotles-assertion-that-viable.html