Thankyou.

Fresh free link (they expire after 300).

as.ft.com/r/3cb9d0aa-9...

I don't moderate our comments. Were there offensive terms in your post?

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu share a lot of traits. They are both solipsistic, mendacious, narcissistic, and paranoid megalomaniacs who perceive themselves as victims of a cabal of elites. Now they share something else: They have lost a war together. Driven by vanity and hubris, the U.S. president and Israeli prime minister miscalculated Iran’s mettle, and now their mutually inflicted failure is causing them considerable political harm at home. What started as a Smith & Wesson partnership has degenerated into a Thelma & Louise ending.

Great piece by @alonpinkas.bsky.social—Trump and Netanyahu are co-authors of the fiasco in Iran. They have helped each other fail. It could not have happened to two more deserving monsters.
newrepublic.com/maz/article/...

true

This is free to read version. as.ft.com/r/fe9a9b7f-5...

Thanks so much.

thanks so much David.

This, from @edwardluce.bsky.social, is exactly right. Netanyahu is toxic in the US & deserves to be. The Israel-US special relationship is over. But I don’t mourn for it as I do for his other innocent victims. The main reason Americans sympathize with Palestinians is it is the right thing to do.

indeed

thanks Alon!

perhaps read the piece and you'll find out

Why America is falling out of love with Israel Public opinion and elite sentiment has turned decisively against Netanyahu

"There should be no mystery why younger Americans are as pro-Palestinian today as their forebears were once pro-Israeli. Rabin staked his life on peace. What will posterity say of Netanyahu?" My column on why America is falling out of love with Israel. www.ft.com/content/353e...

Re-phrased, "Other than the obvious, is there any bigger fraud than etc.."

Is there any bigger fraud than Russell Brand? It's an exorbitantly high bar nowadays yet he clears it.

Greatly enjoyed this discussion.

Clear. How it should be done.

haha. Purdah is a good word. But I realise I meant to write "purgatory"

Auguries from Hungary Orbán’s election defeat is a blow to Trump and Maga

"Putin, Xi and Trump all liked Orbán for the same reason: his hostility to liberal democracy and his willingness to play the role of spoiler within the EU. Orbán also played a useful ideological role"

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

Ha, which words?

Auguries from Hungary Orbán’s election defeat is a blow to Trump and Maga

“Orbán’s banishment is a blow to the fatalism that has become so fashionable in western democracies. There’s nothing inevitable about the march of the populist-oligarch right.”
My Swamp Notes with @gideonrachman.bsky.social. Free to read. as.ft.com/r/a16fea82-8...

I didn’t realize it was putting you down to ask that you follow the standards of your own beliefs. YouTube video by Monte Mader

This is good-- I wish I was that articulate on my feet.

youtube.com/shorts/UhICW...

In just under an hour, I’ll be going live with @edwardluce.bsky.social of the Financial Times to talk about Trump’s strategy (a generous word) on Iran, his mental fitness for office, and how small countries like ours should be approaching the capricious president.

open.substack.com/live-stream/...

Thanks!

that's another way of putting it 👍

The Zbig Man Gets His Due Zbigniew Brzezinski shaped American grand strategy after the Cold War.

""Edward Luce's "Zbig" stands as a masterly biographical achievement....it succeeds brilliantly as both biography and historical analysis." Thankyou Leon Haidar
modernagejournal.com/the-zbig-man...

The ever-shrinking JD Vance After a series of setbacks, the vice-president is no longer Trump’s obvious successor

Why Vance is losing his cage fight with Rubio. My column. www.ft.com/content/6354...

😂

Could not agree more with this assessment. ‘Zbig’ was one of my 2025 absolute favorite books. I learned so much about 🤔 well, so much — from the folks he engaged with & Zbig himself to geopolitics then and now … before I was finished, I was looking forward to reading it again

Thankyou both very much! Yes, tons of research - pretty immersive.