A Liberalism That Builds
A News Link Round-Up
The latest weekly round-up of links, covering: our mercurial Iran strategy (or lack thereof); global democratic backsliding; an agenda so conservative it’s bringing back everything bad about the 1950s; some enlightening articles about immigration and assimilation; hope for a pro-growth liberal agenda; and re-animating dead brains, but in a good way.
This format is new, so below, the main headlines are there to provide context and perhaps a little commentary, the headlines with the links are the original headlines from the articles, and the quotations beneath are extracts from the articles. And please follow through on the link to go the original sources, because each of them is worth reading.
The Iran War: What Is It Good For?
Trump Threats, US Troop Build-Up Raise Specter of Battle for Hormuz
Reopening the strait—a critical conduit for global energy supplies—has emerged as perhaps the paramount objective of a war that security officials now believe is unlikely to achieve goals that briefly seemed possible at the outset of the US-Israeli military operation, including overthrowing Iran’s theocratic regime and putting a nuclear weapon permanently out of Tehran’s reach.…
At the same time, Trump’s unusual decision to lift oil sanctions on Iran, potentially giving his enemy access to a windfall of revenue, has prompted a handful of Republicans to raise concerns about the war’s direction and merit….
US strikes have pounded Iranian positions along the Gulf waterway, destroying missile launch sites, suspected mine-laying vessels and small watercraft capable of racing toward vulnerable tankers—but that has done little to ease the near-shutdown of tanker traffic.
Israeli officials said that a perceived US reluctance to send its own ships into the strait and Trump’s efforts to outsource that mission to European allies or China underscore its danger and complexity. “The fact that they are slow going to Hormuz shows that it’s more complicated than expected,” a former senior Israeli security official said.
Trump Postpones Deadline for Strikes on Iran’s Energy Infrastructure
Mr. Trump said he was postponing any American attacks on Iranian power plants by five days while the talks take place. However, at least publicly, Iran appeared to reject any progress in ending the US-Israeli war on the country, now in its fourth week.
American, Israeli, and Iranian officials have frequently given clashing prognoses throughout the war as they seek to advance their competing agendas and motives.
Mr. Trump himself has often issued contradictory pronouncements about his plans for the next steps in the conflict, sometimes on the same day. On Saturday, Mr. Trump had threatened to bomb Iran’s power plants after 48 hours unless Iran agreed to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil shipping route in the Persian Gulf.
Iran Floats Hormuz Transit Tolls as Persian Gulf States Warn of Military Response
Iran is considering charging transit fees on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a lawmaker said on Thursday, as officials in Tehran stepped up rhetoric over the strategic waterway after this week’s attacks on energy sites in the Persian Gulf….
Mohammad Mokhber said one of the most important opportunities created by the war was the possibility of reshaping Iran’s role in the Strait of Hormuz. “After the imposed war, by defining a new regime for the Strait of Hormuz, Iran will move from being under sanctions to a powerful position in the region and the world,” Mokhber said.
Who Has the Cards Now?
Washington Should Jump on Ukraine’s Outreach to the Middle East
