everyone with real American manliness and a basic knowledge of military history knows that serious war efforts have never been derailed by such trifling matters as "communicable diseases"

Fascinating. I got away from chinos many years ago because I associate them with twenty something Hill staffers (also why I don't own a navy blazer with gold buttons) but I'm going to have to give them a rethink.

A Divided America Processes a War That Trump Has Scarcely Explained

Republicans facing competitive races in November must view the Iran War with great trepidation.

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/u...

Donald Trump's pope feud spurs rift with a top European ally Trump responded to Italian Prime Minister Meloni describing his comments about Pope Leo XIV as "unacceptable."

My thoughts for Newsweek on the Trump-Meloni beef.

www.newsweek.com/donald-trump...

Really surprised that this article doesn't discuss the importance of either 1. US threats to seize a NATO's ally by force and 2. the incoherence of US goals and strategy on Iran in leading European allies to stand back.

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Just different levels and kinds of pessimism from NATO experts on whether the alliance will survive.

carnegieendowment.org/europe/strat...

US threats to seize the territory of a NATO ally by force drastically reduced the value of the US as an ally, contributing to allies' refusal to assist the US in the Iran war.
Apparently, Trump's takeaway was that allies should have forced Denmark to concede?

Next up, the Mar-a-Lago papacy.

This NATO poll suggests a high degree of public support for the alliance's nuclear deterrent. It fails, however, to show the extreme variation within the alliance, including very low public support in allies that participate in nuclear sharing like 🇮🇹, 🇹🇷, and 🇳🇱.

www.cambridge.org/core/books/e...

Iran demands fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire Oil exporter’s union says fees to be paid in cryptocurrency and vessels monitored for weapons

FT scoop - Iran will demand that shipping companies pay tolls in cryptocurrency for laden oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz. One official says it could be equivalent to $1 per barrel of oil www.ft.com/content/02ae...

As Trump declares victory over Iran, just a reminder....

Europe mulls the prospect of a NATO without the US As the US president escalates threats to destroy Iran, will NATO be collateral damage? A former American ambassador says the alliance is "not dead" but "deeply damaged" by trans-Atlantic divisions.

"NATO is broken" says
@ivodaalder.bsky.social
It brings me no joy to agree with Ambassador Daalder. I firmly believe that NATO has served European and American interests since its creation in 1949.
It is very hard, however, to see how it survives the current crisis.

p.dw.com/p/5Bkcs

When one of the most pro-US governments in Europe is publicly saying this, it's pretty clear what leaders across Europe are thinking privately.

5 ways Trump could destroy NATO The U.S. president has repeatedly slammed the alliance since returning to power last year. But what are his options if he decided to follow through on his threats?

Good rundown of Trump/NATO scenarios with likelihoods and ramifications.

www.politico.eu/article/five...

Trump’s rage at NATO allies is binding them together — against him Leaders and defense officials have started hedging against the risk America will pull out of NATO, the bedrock of European security since 1949.

Let's not forget that the Trump administration already caused so much damage to the transatlantic relationship (Greenland, "civilizational erasure") that even pro-US allies aren't willing to make big sacrifices to save it.

www.politico.eu/article/dona...

Trump has threatened to leave NATO over Iran. There are few signs that’s happening. A withdrawal from the alliance would require discussions with lawmakers and a defined process that does not appear to have started.

“With Trump in office, NATO is worthless,” said a German official.

The "will he" v. "won't he" is irrelevant. Trump has already hollowed out the credibility of the US commitment to NATO in a way that is irreparable.

www.politico.com/news/2026/04...

Allies are great if they do what I want even if it has nothing to do with our alliance and I didn't discuss what I'm doing with them first and I have no clear strategy for achieving my goals.

I'm sure Donald Trump is fully fluent in the details of the 1954 base agreement. LOL!

www.politico.eu/article/ital...

If Republicans in Congress appropriate anything close to $1.7 trillion, they will be signing their own political death warrant.
Good luck to any of them trying to argue that this would put America first!

www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

Meloni’s referendum defeat shows the cost of the Trump factor | Riccardo Alcaro The Italian PM has won plaudits for her tightrope-walking pragmatism. But have voters now had enough, asks international relations expert Riccardo Alcaro

Proximity to Trump is political poison in many European polities

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Hegseth Strikes Two Black and Two Female Officers From Promotion List

"Mr. Buria [Hegseth's chief of staff] told Mr. Driscoll [Secretary of the Army] that President Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events, the officials said."

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/27/u...

For example, here's an explanation:

press.georgetown.edu/Book/NATO-Af...

NATO report card: Who gets a gold star and who gets detention? While all allies reached the 2 percent of GDP spending target on defense last year, there’s still a big gap in how much countries shell out.

If only there was an explanation for _why_ some NATO allies spend more than others on defense (v. just giving them "grades").

www.politico.eu/article/nato...

Really hard to understand why European allies wouldn't want to help the US clear the strait of Hormuz.

Pentagon considers diverting Ukraine military aid to the Middle East A shift would highlight the growing trade-offs required for the U.S. to sustain its war with Iran as the conflict depletes the military’s critical munitions.

“the Pentagon notified Congress… that it intended to divert about $750 million in funding provided by NATO countries through the PURL program to restock the U.S. military’s own inventories, rather than to send additional assistance to Ukraine.” www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Trump’s ‘absurdly incoherent’ Iran pleas leave allies befuddled European countries have ruled out helping secure the Strait of Hormuz until the conflict is over — but also haven’t received any specific requests for assistance from the U.S.

Trump’s 🇺🇸 revealing itself to be very dangerous and very incoherent.
www.politico.eu/article/donl...

Before Greenland Pistorius might have thought this but wouldn’t have said it publicly. An indicator of the state of transatlantic relations.

Iran war tests Rutte’s NATO Trump strategy A lack of consensus and NATO’s limited role in the Middle East make the crisis particularly hard for the alliance chief to resolve.

Rutte is watching NATO's cohesion dissolve before his eyes and there is little/nothing he can do about it.

www.politico.eu/article/iran...

How the Trump White House tries to sell war and death as a game Declassified footage spliced with cartoon and action movie clips seeks to glorify US military prowess

This is disgusting.

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...