MUST READ by Mark Ruffalo This is Biden's chance to end the war in Gaza. Just threaten to cut off weapons for Israel latimes.com/opinion/story/…

It is so weird that Graham is treated like a serious foreign policy voice given his unbroken decades-long record of stuff like this.

What would America be Like if it was Like Gaza? juancole.com/2024/08/what-w… via Juan Cole

Presidents have enormous latitude when it comes to foreign policy, and they aren’t bound by anything that gets written for the purposes of winning a campaign, columnist @stephenwalt writes. foreignpolicy.com/2024/08/26/rep…

I had a very illuminating conversation with Stephen Walt about the declining quality of Israel's strategic decisions and how the US has abetted that trend. You can watch here or listen on the Nonzero podcast. youtube.com/watch?v=YfwX79…

Daniel Levy nails it: "Netanyahu is a loose cannon, which Kamala Harris should have no interest in reloading." Much wisdom here: theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

I'm not surprised many people see Ukraine's Kursk offensive as a potential game-changer, but I explain here why I doubt it will have big long-term effects: foreignpolicy.com/2024/08/28/ukr…

It’s true that Iran has relationships with a number of Palestinian militant groups but it’s important to understand that the claim that Iran is the key actor in Palestine is just disinformation to obscure the fact that the occupation remains the main driver of violence.

Pleased to have this International Security article with Basil Bastaki and Bryan Popoola out in the world. We wanted to explore how civil wars can be stabilized - or even ended - when international peacekeeping and other forms of externally-supported peace-building are not plausible.

Glad you enjoyed it!

What I love about America, and what makes me feel patriotic: Yesterday my husband (Moroccan-Dutch) and I (Israeli-American) went over to two of our Iranian friends' house for dinner. Last time they came over and we made them Moroccan couscous. God bless this nation of immigrants

“The threat of Philadelphi corridor is invented by Netanyahu to torpedo any deal with Hamas. Alon Ben David (senior military correspondent) reported last night on Channel 13 that so far the IDF has not found a single tunnel that crosses the corridor to the Egyptian side”

The administration has repeatedly condemned maps that do not show Israel and has expressly conditioned critical aid benefitting Palestinians on their elimination from textbooks. Yet it refuses to even comment when Israel’s Prime Minister uses a map erasing Palestinian territory.

There’s nothing fascinating about this piece. It’s the usual threat inflation with exaggerated axis of evil rhetoric, calls for bigger defense budgets, topped off with a vague recommendation about how the U.S. needs to show more resolve. It’s frankly boring and predictable.

The far right’s popularity is a vivid reminder that what seems like a stunning triumph at one point in time can sow the seeds of big trouble down the road, columnist @stephenwalt writes. foreignpolicy.com/2024/09/04/ger…

By now it is clear that there is nothing #Netanyahu could do or say that would lead Secretary Antony Blinken to withhold U.S. support. A more ineffectual approach to diplomacy is hard to imagine, and the failure to achieve any positive results is entirely predictable.

It's a big deal that veteran journalist Mike Barnicle has now called out his media colleagues for failing to adequately cover Trump's visibly worsening mental state. It should spur a real discussion about how to do this, before it's too late. 1/ New piece newrepublic.com/article/185622…

Steve Inskeep Steve, agree this is worth reading. That particular part, though, struck me as very important and also straw man: >>It is beyond shortsighted to give up journalistic independence out of fear that it might later be taken away.”<< *No one* is suggesting that NYT or anyone else

Israel has dropped almost 80,000 tons of explosives - this means that Israel has dropped ~36 kilograms of explosives on Gaza for every man, woman, and child. Each red dot shows a bombed place in Gaza. (UN Satellite Centre, July 6th) This is what genocide looks like.

Truly shocking development. This is exactly how authoritarianism and censorship creeps into society, how our free speech rights are stymied, and our civil society eroded. Private actors are cowed into submission by powerful forces, and cancel events at the last minute for