I’m in @foreignpolicy.com taking a big swing (but not a hot take): Trump’s defeat in Iran is a bigger US defeat in strategic terms than the US loss in Vietnam foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/16/i...

alright I agree with the general idea (the theaters were interconnected in confusing and non-intuitive ways), and Madagascar was seized to secure the (future) Persian Corridor... in May 1942. But by this point the IJN was committing to ops MO, MI and AL anyway. Guadalcanal and Stalingrad came after

"Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia have a plan for World Peace"

and that was glaringly obvious from the start, when his Pearl Harbor fizzled out and by day 3 it became clear there literally was no "step two".

tbf he kinda nailed it

the correct move was not to play which is why nobody was opening that can of worms it was all excessively obvious all along

the reason most people never think about how amazing sewers are is because some amazing people are always thinking about sewers.

Listen to Dr. Taber. Farmers aren’t poor stupid hicks, they are largely rich landowners with inherited wealth who vote exactly like you would expect rich landowners with inherited wealth to vote.

Sure, this is fine.

Slightly diminish a book 1983

So, if you don't mind my sayin', I can see you're out of aces...

how about a big wall to keep people inside??

that's because fictional villains can have unrealistically high moral standards, if that's the story you want to tell.

to be fair that's just one among many other things he broke and can't fix

there’s a scene in the movie Margin Call, where Zach quinto’s character is in a cab and he looks out the window and is like “look at all these people, walking around with absolutely no idea what’s about to happen.” I think about that a lot these days.

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me. It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."

Today, I am teaching a unit on deterrence and nuclear weapons in a multipolar system to students whose university has been threatened with destruction by a potential nuclear power during a war driven in part by fears of nuclear proliferation. Who says theory isn't relevant

housing is more expensive now, but also a lot safer. this kind of home was considered cream of the crop in the 1980s

The electorate not understanding how the world works is actually not a problem on its own. The modern world is very complex and *nobody* understands it in toto! The problem is that the electorate thinks things they don't understand can't, don't, or shouldn't exist.

"I'm a baker, I make and sell bread _ I have no idea what any of these words mean!"

the new normal is that nothing gets back to its box, because the mad king doesn't care if there are broken toys everywhere.

If you’re now fighting to restore the status quo ante bellum in a war you began, you lost the war

The performance of violence as a symbolic proof of manhood is our culture’s true religion

this is missing the point: an actively defended Greenland meant that it couldn't be seized Crimea-style by little green men. It would require an actual war, when Trump favors tactical fait accompli with little strategic commitment. and it worked: the bully backed down and picked another victim

Turns out those minesweeping LCS we thought were in the gulf actually got withdrawn, too: www.twz.com/sea/u-s-navy...

WWII leadership and civ-mil relationship was genuinely good (not perfect in terms of personalities or systems, but good) and probably the best America has ever had.

technically, hunter-gatherers can afford a lot of sitting around not wasting calories, if there's no overlord expecting them to work for free

"oh that should be easy"

That's not true. But the Tokugawa Shogunate closed Japan to the world for 215 years in a futile attempt to keep Chotiner away.

"Recent events have brought Trump’s governing style into sharper focus," Jonathan Rauch argues. "'Fascist' best describes it, and reluctance to use the term has now become perverse." theatln.tc/wVq7MFaa

now that more people finally started paying attention re: Greenland, maybe a quick reminder: Iceland is even more strategic.

A joke for the history buffs: Germany’s satirical newspaper @der-postillon.com titles: “Vienna Academy of the Arts offers Trump admission as a student — They don’t want to get blamed again“

The State department continues to use false allegations of "censorship" to censor people, or in this case sanction them www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/t...

President Donald Trump announced a new class of battleships to build out what he has dubbed the Navy's "Golden Fleet" that he says will be "the fastest, the biggest, and by far -- 100 times -- more powerful than any battleship ever built."