The 'Criminal State' Was Coined to Describe the Nazis. Here's Why It's Relevant Now. A conversation with legal scholar Lawrence Douglas, who wrote a book about the struggle to hold states accountable for the most radical forms of state violence

Here's my full conversation with legal scholar Lawrence Douglas, about how international law has failed to deal with the problem of the 'criminal state' publicsphere.news/p/the-crimin...

last year when I was in Kyiv, I joked to a few friends that Ukraine should name its electrical plants after trump for protection. but this? seriously?

A Year After U.S.A.I.D.’s Death, Fired Workers Find Few Jobs and Much Loss

What a colossal, needless human tragedy for all of the workers involved -- who were doing important, lifesaving work. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/u...

The FBI Director Is MIA Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

No previous American president, in any era, of any party, would have tolerated a drunken, erratic, absent FBI chief
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Сергій FLASH | Про технології Сьогодні вночі росіяни спробували мене вбити. Випустили на мене 4 реактивніх «Шахеда». Один керований реактивний «Шахед» долетів та врізався у стіну мого будинку. Будинку в мене більше немає. Мене з...

Ukraine's top drone warfare expert, Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, was injured when a Russian drone hit his house, which he said was an attempt on his life. He’s recovering in the hospital, but he says his house is gone. t.me/serhii_flash...

Why Has the U.S.-Israel War Against Iran Killed So Many Civilians? Much attention has been paid to Trump's apocalyptic threats. But what about what's already taken place?

Trump again threatened to attack Iran's civilian infrastructure, which barely made news. Another thing barely making news in the U.S.: the brutality of the 40-day campaign publicsphere.news/p/why-has-th...

Opinion | Does the Trump Administration Really Want More Teen Pregnancies?

The Trump administration wants to take money that has long paid for modern contraception for low-income women and spend it on helping sperm swim better. This is not a joke.
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/o...

Trump has announced another round of talks in Tehran and even sent a delegation to Pakistan. Meanwhile, Iran hasn’t confirmed.

It feels like we’re in a situation akin to the overeager high-school boy telling his friends that the girl is going out with him on Friday, but she hasn’t said ‘yes’.

publicsphere.news/p/why-has-th...

Why Has the U.S.-Israel War Against Iran Killed So Many Civilians? Much attention has been paid to Trump's apocalyptic threats. But what about what's already taken place?

My latest: Why has the U.S.-Israel War against Iran killed so many civilians?

publicsphere.news/p/why-has-th...

I didn't think I would be saying this a few weeks ago, but it's a meeting of two world leaders that Trump doesn't much like.

CPJ calls on Kuwaiti authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, detained under new security and fake news laws.

Read more: cpj.org/2026/04/cpj-...

#FreeAhmed #FreeAhmedEldin

Too Big to Rig Hungary's lessons for the U.S. midterms

Orban's attempt to create a narrative around Ukrainian interference was a psychological projection of Fidesz's open embrace of Russian help publicsphere.news/p/too-big-to...

Too Big to Rig Hungary's lessons for the U.S. midterms

Orban was always an authoritarian. He conceded early because he had to. My take from last night's results publicsphere.news/p/too-big-to...

@ljohnson.bsky.social here pushes back on Marine le Pen's narrative this morning that Orban's concession means he was never an authoritarian after all.
publicsphere.news/p/too-big-to...

"The April 12 results were too big to rig. It is easier to steal a close election than a landslide."

publicsphere.news/p/too-big-to...

Too Big to Rig Hungary's lessons for the U.S. midterms

My take on Hungary's political earthquake and why Orban conceded and didn't steal the election: that option is not available when you lose by a lot publicsphere.news/p/too-big-to...

I'm skeptical that the US wont fold first here as blockading the strait will cause global oil prices to skyrocket, no matter how much oil the us produces.

the central problem for the us is that every step up the escalation ladder causes oil prices to rise.

Rutte said the meeting was like a discussion among "good friends." However, Trump blasted NATO again in an all-caps rant after publicsphere.news/p/the-end-of...

The End of 'Daddy' Diplomacy NATO Secretary Mark Rutte's flattery of Trump is wearing thin

NEW: This week has shown the limits of Europe's Trump appeasement strategy. Flattery might have been defensible had it achieved something, but it simply hasn't worked. publicsphere.news/p/the-end-of...

Meduza is reporting that the Kremlin is acknowledging that Fidesz will lose Sunday: "Even with our help, they couldn't accomplish anything," a Kremlin source told Meduza. meduza.io/news/2026/04...

Good question by Zelenskyy: now that there's a ceasefire, will sanctions on Russian oil be reinstated?

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My early take on the cease-fire. 5.5 weeks of war have strengthened Iran and weakened the U.S. publicsphere.news/p/trumps-ira...

Families in Tehran are taping up their windows and sleeping together in rooms away from the glass. Their buildings have already been shaken by nightly explosions from the most sustained bombing in the capital since the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war. Some are rushing to buy generators, concerned that new attacks could cause critical services like electricity and water to unravel. The bombings and threats have left many Iranians living in fear not only of their own government, which killed thousands of people in a crackdown on protesters early this year, but their would-be American rescuers, who pledged at the beginning of the war to create the conditions for their government to fall. A 43-year-old woman living in Tehran and undergoing treatment for breast cancer said she worried what intensified attacks on infrastructure could mean for her healthcare.

We are terrorizing an entire country.

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

"A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again."

We're so numb to Trump's rhetoric, but I think we need to take a step back and realize how this statement is so violent, dark, and horrifying.

Orban Offered to Be ‘Mouse’ Helping Russian ‘Lion’ in Putin Call Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told Vladimir Putin during a phone call in October that he was willing to go to great lengths to assist the Russian president, including to help settle the war in...

Another astonishing unbylined, undatelined scoop from Bloomberg with the transcript of a conversation with the Kremlin www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Iran: America's First Post-Reality War Not even 'truthiness' does justice to Trump's military 'excursion' in Iran

From the weekend: "Iran is not only post-truth, but it is the first war conducted by the U.S. in a different reality." publicsphere.news/p/iran-ameri...

Call me crazy, but I don't think that threatening war crimes against Iran makes it any likelier that NATO allies would join in on this operation.

Vance visits Hungary to boost Orban ahead of pivotal election U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Hungary on Tuesday on a ​mission to boost the campaign of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who faces the toughest re-election bid of his career.

I think JD Vance is being sent to Hungary because Orban is weak and is set to lose. If he was going to win, Trump would have gone and taken credit for it. Vance is consolation. www.reuters.com/world/europe...