Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff

“More than material weapons might sway the war in Iran. As both Washington and Tehran are finding out, allies that would come to your assistance probably prefer to first share your values and not just mutual interests. On Saturday, President Donald Trump put out a call to seven countries to send ships to defend the vital oil-shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz. The response has been largely halting – at best, hesitant. The international uncertainty over the legal premise for the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran is probably a hindrance to those nations in risking their military to protect petroleum flows. ‘This is not our war; we did not start it,’ said Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister. For Iran, two of its most powerful partners, China and Russia, are largely playing a minor role in the conflict, focusing mainly on crisis management or diplomacy.” (03/16/26)

https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0316/How-the-Iran-war-might-shape-a-new-world-order

Source: USA Today
by Alen Amini

“I loved my father, and I still admire his instinctive belief in freedom and justice. But in the years since his passing, I have grown uneasy with how confidently diaspora voices like his continue to shape American debates about Iran. Too often, those conversations are marked by certainty untethered from lived experience and by a readiness for confrontation that carries little personal cost. … Many of the loudest calls for regime change in Iran come from outside the country. Figures such as Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah of Iran who was ousted from power in 1979, are frequently elevated in Western media as potential transitional leaders, even though their level of support inside Iran is unclear and cannot be freely measured under current conditions.” (03/17/26)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/03/17/iran-war-influencers-exile-american-democracy/89125947007/

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“You vill eat ze bugs! Sorry, Klaus. Not interested. … as if to prove that Schwab’s Great Reset of our diet will not be driven by cartoonish elitists, Ÿnsect — Europe’s largest insect farm — has officially gone bankrupt.” (03/17/26)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/03/16/ynsect-repellent/

Source: Gideon’s Substack
by Noah Millman

“The notion that the ancient Israelites were a kind of prototype for a modern nation is more a creative misreading than solid history — which is not really a knock, since most novel ideas start as creative misreadings of old ones, but which does suggest that plain old nationalism is all we’re talking about here, with the use of the word ‘Zionism’ being just a kind of rhetorical trapping. And the most obvious problem with advocating a nationalist revival is that the first round of nationalism was incredibly bloody, and continues to be so today; pay a visit to the Donbas if you doubt it. Contrary to the theory that the often violent birth of nations was a mere transition, nationalists have not generally been happy to tend their own gardens but often take a keen interest in those of their neighbors.” (03/17/26)

https://gideons.substack.com/p/what-is-a-zionism-for-the-palestinians

Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jennifer Sey

“[N]early everyone was complicit. Politicians, media, educators — they all went along with the hysteria. Now, they want to sweep it under the rug, pretending it never happened. Everyone failed. But we cannot forget.” (03/17/26)

https://brownstone.org/articles/the-reckoning-we-owe-generation-covid/

Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman

“Or, why America is on its own.” (03/17/26)

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/slavery-tariffs-and-the-dire-strait