Power and Its Malcontents
Shadi Hamid has an uneasy conscience, and he doesn’t yet know what to do with it.
Brian Stewart
· 25 min read
Politics
A collection of 614 posts
Despite Israel, Not Because of It
Israelis repeatedly warned the Bush administration that invading Iraq would be a disaster.
David Brog
· 10 min read
Tara Freesoul and the Future of China
After decades of brainwashing, China continues to produce dissidents who absorb the same information as their classmates but reject it.
Aaron Sarin
· 7 min read
The Qatar Problem
Doha can change when it is forced to, and it must be forced to choose moderation.
Chama Mechtaly
· 14 min read
A Self-Created Tyrant
In a new biography of Stalin, William Nester does his best to locate a human being within the monster, but those efforts eventually run aground.
Ron Capshaw
· 6 min read
Appetite for Destruction
Trump and the art of the demolition, from Bonwit Teller to the White House.
Julia Friedman
· 8 min read
The Middle East Will Not Improve
Decades of free riding has meant that many Middle East countries lack the skills and institutions necessary to maintain and build upon the favourable circumstances in which they now find themselves.
Eric Bordenkircher
· 10 min read
Terror’s Intelligence Apparatus
Netanel Flamer’s book about Hamas’s intelligence war on Israel could be read with equal interest by members of Western security forces, and by members of the very groups against which they struggle.
Daniel Allington
· 7 min read
The Central Dichotomy
An appreciation of Richard Herzinger (1957–2025).
Jeffrey Herf
· 7 min read
They Don’t Believe It Either
The “Gaza genocide” calumny has become the Left’s equivalent of the “stolen election” hoax on the American Right—a baseless accusation that signals ideological allegiance precisely because it defies logic and evidence.
Maarten Boudry
· 13 min read
David’s Unholstered Sling
Lessons from 7 October and the 2023–25 war.
Brian Stewart
· 17 min read
The Honour and the Duty
Yossi Cohen has written a bracing and lively memoir about his time as head of Mossad.
Michael M. Rosen
· 6 min read
Rewarding Rejectionism
A new book by two former peace processors makes clear that statehood was never the goal of the Palestinian cause.
Shany Mor
· 12 min read
The Problem with Alt. Media
What the Hughes/Smith debate tells us about the podcast era.
Matt Johnson
· 14 min read
The Melbourne Crimewave
Criminal-justice reformers like to say that it is better to be ‘smart on crime’ than ‘tough on crime.’ But sometimes being tough is the smart choice.
Andrew Bushnell
· 10 min read