Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Trita Parsi

“The war in Ukraine shattered a core assumption about great-power dominance: that size and military strength are enough to impose one’s will. Ukraine showed otherwise. With the right strategy, geography, and resolve, a weaker state can survive and blunt — and in key respects even defeat — a much stronger adversary. The United States now faces an uncomfortable parallel. The war with Iran is exposing similar limits to American power. For decades, U.S. grand strategy has rested on primacy — the belief that America’s unmatched military capabilities enabled it to uphold global stability and shape outcomes across regions. After the failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, many Americans have reached a stark conclusion: the cost of primacy is no longer sustainable — and no longer serves U.S. interests.” (05/08/26)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/war-with-iran/

Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman

“If today, compared to the past, you need to work only half the time to earn the money for a television, in effect, you’ve acquired half of the television for free! (Actually, you’ve done better than that because it will be a better television.) And you have the time to acquire other things or enjoy leisure. This is more or less true for everyone whose society is amenable to freedom of enterprise, the division of labor, and world trade.” (05/08/26)

https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-abundance-keeps-increasing

Source: Fox News
by David Marcus

“For almost the entirety of the half century I have lived on Earth, I have had experts, teachers, politicians and activists hectoring me about how climate change is going to destroy the planet. But this week, in The New York Times, of all places, is evidence that climate alarmism is finally cooling down.’Democrats Do Not Have To Campaign On Climate Change Anymore,’ blared the headline, this week, as author Matt Huber argues that voters are rather turned off by the subject. I would like to suggest that this is because it is the single most expensive lie in human history.” [editor’s note: I’d say the single most expensive lie in history is “the state is necessary” – TLK] (05/10/26)

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-new-york-times-announces-end-climate-change-hoax

Source: Quillette
by Ian Nieves

“Despite the dangers, we must seize the gifts bequeathed by existential dangers, since these amount to life in unprecedented abundance.” (05/09/26)

https://quillette.com/2026/05/09/creators-and-destroyers-of-worlds-ai-alignment-nuclear-war/

Source: The American Conservative
by Leonid Ragozin

“If you were exclusively on a mainstream Western media diet in recent weeks, you’d be excused for thinking that the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime now lies on its deathbed. Signs of ‘public discontent’ are all over the place, you see. Silicon-lipped beauty blogger Viktoria Bonya attacked the government on YouTube. So did the notorious Kremlin propagandist Ilya Remeslo, fresh from a stint at a psychiatric ward. Meanwhile, the former defense minister Sergey Shoygu might be plotting a coup, according to CNN. But if you talk to people inside Russia, as this author does on a daily basis, you’ll find them perplexed and doubting the West’s sanity upon hearing about this fresh bout of ‘Russia is finished’ sentiments.” (05/09/26)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/no-russia-isnt-finished/