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Timothy Snyder
U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of U.S. military action against Iran resulted in strategic failure, increased Iranian strength and left the United States without leverage in future negotiations with Tehran.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2026
Trump’s march of folly in Iran
It did not occur to the Trump administration that Iran would have a plan: retaliate with long-range strikes and close the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies toward Iran, science, education, diplomacy and democratic institutions are accelerating a self-inflicted decline of U.S. global power.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2026
America’s superpower suicide in the Trump era
At a minimum, a superpower must be a modern state that includes, through the rule of law and other institutions, a substantial body of citizens committed to a common endeavor.
U.S. President Donald Trump may try to use war with Iran and escalating crises as a pretext to cancel or overturn elections, invoking emergency powers or even staging a false flag operation to remain in power.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2026
Trump’s wartime strategy sparks coup concerns
Trump’s chief concern is preserving his own comfort and power, much of which will be lost if the Democrats retake control of the House of Representatives.
Nicolas Maduro, the ousted president of Venezuela, and his wife, Cilia Flores, are escorted off a helicopter on their way to the federal courthouse in Manhattan on Jan. 5.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2026
The precedents to Trump’s Venezuela operation
Whereas fascists and imperialists know that war requires real combat, Trump seems unwilling or unable to go that far, not least because he is weak at home.
Christmas has been corrupted by nonhuman entities: Algorithms that we flatteringly call artificial intelligence have desecrated the season’s music and holiday ritual. 
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2025
The AI war on Christmas
My guess is that someone prompted an AI model to generate winter and Christmas songs that avoided “controversial” subjects such as divine and human love, resulting in mush.
Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations Samuel Moncada holds a printout of The Trinidad and Tobago Guardian newspaper at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Oct. 16. U.S. President Donald Trump uses false narratives to justify aggressive policies, including military strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 4, 2025
The big lie behind Trump’s Venezuela strikes
This display of military power is intended to serve as political spectacle. The danger is that that it could escalate into an unwinnable, open-ended conflict.
A U.S. Marine and a member of the National Guard patrol outside a federal building in Los Angeles in June.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2025
Resisting Trump’s show of force
In Trump’s paradigm, this is all a reality show and we are merely inconsequential extras without lines forever in the background.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival