Trump’s authoritarian dream is crumbling and America is paying the price
January 23rd, 20260 By Mohamad Ozeir This week marked the first anniversary of President Trump’s return to the White House for a second term, after a forced four-year interruption. That comeback was loaded — during those loud and turbulent years — with authoritarian promises, racist delusions, totalitarian programs, distorted ideas and hotheaded...
Trump’s military assault on Venezuela may not end well
January 23rd, 20260 President Trump might be popping corks, toasting “one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history.” Celebrations, however, are premature. In reality, the assault on Venezuela and kidnapping and transfer of President Maduro to stand trial in U.S. court are by no...
Let’s resolve to strengthen Congress
January 16th, 20261 The start of a new year is traditionally a time to reflect on past failures and make resolutions for doing better. Here’s a suggestion for members of Congress: They should resolve to start asserting their rightful role as a separate and coequal branch of government. Such a resolution will need to extend well past 2026. Congress has...
A war without headlines: Israel’s shock-and-awe campaign in the West Bank
January 16th, 20260 A shock and awe. The phrase is apt in describing what Israel has done in the occupied West Bank almost immediately following the events of October 7, 2023, and the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Naomi Klein defines “shock and awe” not merely as a military tactic, but as a political and economic strategy that exploits moments...
We all breathe the same air, but someone else sets the terms
January 16th, 20260 By James Allen On June 10, 1963, standing at American University, John F. Kennedy said something that now feels almost radical in its simplicity: “We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” It was not just rhetoric. It was a direct challenge to a way of thinking about war that had...
Inside Trump’s plans to protect killer ICE agents “no matter what”
January 9th, 20260 Minnesota officials want to investigate ICE’s killing of a mother in Minneapolis. Team Trump has been planning for a moment like this. By Asawin Suebsaeng and Prem Thakker Donald Trump and his administration have always known the time would come that they would have to protect one of their Immigration and...
America First or Israel First: Owen Shroyer’s break with Trump and the cost of dissent
January 9th, 20260 Owen Shroyer has never been a figure built for quiet loyalty. His rise came inside the loud and confrontational universe of populist media, a space where certainty is prized and compromise is treated as weakness. Yet in recent months, Shroyer has turned that confrontational style inward, directing it not at liberals or the political...
U.S. media coverage of Gaza continues to be disconnected from realities
January 8th, 20260 After more than two years of Israel’s assault on Gaza, one might think that there would be appreciable improvement in the way the Israeli/Palestinian issue is understood and presented. But U.S. press treatment of last week’s meeting between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear we still have a...
Participating in civic life is our duty as American citizens
January 7th, 20260 It’s a fundamental premise of American democracy that our elected representatives will do what we expect them to do. That doesn’t mean we can dictate every action they take. Overall, however, their job is to represent their constituents, not anyone else. But here’s the catch. Politicians can only do what we want if they know what...
The silent takeover: How Iran will control the Arabian Gulf
December 26th, 20251 For decades, the Arab rulers of the Gulf have lived inside a fantasy — one in which their skyscrapers, oil wealth and American alliances somehow guarantee their dominance of the region. But the future of the Arabian Gulf will not belong to them. It will belong to Iran. And not because Iran is loved, admired or embraced, but because...
Why Zohran Mamdani won: Demographics, grassroots power and Gaza
December 26th, 20250 Analysts are still working to understand Zohran Mamdani’s decisive victory in last month’s New York mayoral race. Like the blind men in the old Indian story of the “Blind Men and the Elephant”, the explanations offered have been mostly accurate but incomplete. Mamdani’s focus on affordability was appealing, as was his...
The three narratives: Gaza as the last moral frontier against Israel’s policy of annihilation
December 25th, 20250 Three dominant narratives contend for the future of Gaza and occupied Palestine, yet only one is being translated into consequential action: the Israeli narrative of domination and genocide. This singular, violent vision is the only one backed by the brute force of policy and fact. The first narrative belongs to the Trump...
Washington analysts are misreading voters on Israel and Palestine
December 19th, 20250 U.S. voters’ attitudes towards the Israeli Palestinian conflict have changed, but media commentators and political consultants haven’t figured that out. They are stuck in the past with outdated assumptions about the electorate and as a result continue to operate from an old playbook. A feature article in last week’s Washington...
When comedy meets conscience: Tucker Carlson, Theo Von and the question America cannot avoid
December 19th, 20250 Tucker Carlson’s appearance on Theo Von’s podcast This Past Weekend unfolded less like a structured interview and more like a long unguarded conversation that drifted toward subjects most mainstream platforms approach cautiously. Theo Von’s curious and disarming style gave Carlson room to speak without the time limits or tonal...
Dismissing politics as “dirty” is wrong and self-defeating
December 19th, 20250 I’m often struck by how often I meet people who think that all politics are dirty. They view politics as innately unethical, something they should avoid altogether. They stereotype politicians as dishonest and corrupt. I spent decades working in politics, and I can say with confidence that this view is mistaken and deeply unfair.......
The Gaza and Ukraine plans compared
December 12th, 20250 In one week, the Trump administration passed a United Nations Security Council resolution on Gaza and released a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine. Commentators and critics have noted both similarities and profound differences between the two initiatives. First, both plans appear to be driven by the simple and commendable goal of...
If Gaza resistance ends: What history tells us about the Palestinian fate
December 12th, 20250 President Trump’s “Board of Peace” is reportedly set to be announced before the year’s end. This news coincides with increasing reports that the U.S. administration is serious about pushing forward the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire. However, many critical questions remain unanswered. How can a governing council be......
Netanyahu’s pardon bid: How the war on Gaza, an ICC warrant and U.S. politics are reshaping accountability
December 5th, 20250 On November 30, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially submitted a request for a presidential pardon to Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel. This dramatic move seeks to end his long running corruption trial, a case that has hung over Israeli politics for years and has often reflected the deep fractures within the country....
UNSC 2803: The U.S.-Israeli scheme to partition Gaza and break the Palestinian will
December 5th, 20250 United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 is destined to fail. That failure will come at a price: more Palestinian deaths, extensive destruction and the expansion of Israeli violence to the West Bank and elsewhere in the Middle East. Why UNSC Resolution 2803 is doomed to fail The resolution, passed on November 14, was a...
Our system of checks and balances needs attention
December 5th, 20250 Checks and balances are essential to our representative democracy. Under our system of government, the legislative, executive and judicial branches provide balance and prevent each other from growing too powerful. The American people have supported this arrangement. My concern is that the checks and balances have eroded. The system is...The waning loyalist: How America is turning away while its weapons continue to devour Gaza
There are moments in history when a powerful illusion finally breaks. For decades the illusion of unwavering American devotion to Israel felt unshakeable. It governed policy, shaped public opinion and crafted a political world in which any criticism of Israel was treated as a dangerous trespass. Yet today that illusion trembles. Bit by......
No end in sight to Israel’s wars
November 21st, 20250 In the days after October 7, 2023, then-President Biden cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to make the same mistakes the U.S. made following 9/11. Biden never publicly spelled out his meaning, but it was understood as a warning to Netanyahu: Don’t overreact or overreach, as President George W. Bush had done by...
The new kill zone: Gaza’s borders after the “ceasefire”
November 20th, 20250 The so-called Gaza ceasefire was not a genuine cessation of hostility, but a strategic, cynical shift in the Israeli genocide and ongoing campaign of destruction. Starting on October 10, the first day of the announced ceasefire, Israel transitioned tactics: moving from indiscriminate aerial bombardment to the calculated, engineered......
The American people want Congress to do its job
November 20th, 20250 It caught my attention recently when two senators issued a news release about trying to repeal laws that authorize the president to use military force against Iraq. This is a positive effort for several reasons. It deserves support. First, as the senators, Indiana Republican Todd Young and Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine, point out, the...
The majority without power: Lebanon’s Shi’as and the politics of exclusion
November 14th, 20250 Lebanon prides itself on being a democracy, but for countless citizens, that ideal exists only on paper. No community feels this disconnect more deeply than the Shi'a. Though they are widely believed to be the country’s largest sect — perhaps even its true majority — they remain excluded from genuine political power and access to......
