On the pod, @atabatabai.bsky.social and I discuss Energy Sec Chris Wright's meltdown on the Hill. Trump cabinet members don't see it as their job to tell the truth to Congress or the American people. They only see their job as managing his pathologies.
She's so good:
newrepublic.com/article/2116...
From Venezuela to the Middle East, the Trump administration has not hesitated to use force. But even the world’s most powerful military has its limits, the Council's @atabatabai.bsky.social writes.
More expert analysis ⤵️ #[bit.ly/4uBFwip
A dash…
I can’t believe we’ve been through this ugly flight for 1.5 decades because some people claimed the JCPOA didn’t do enough and have—through their advocacy—brought us to this point. Perhaps it’d be less absurd if those same people weren’t still attacking me as this car crash unfolds.
Welp, it’s time to dust this one off again, because 18 days later, everything I said here stands (except for the typo).
In other words, we’ve wasted all this time and resources and people’s lives in the region have been put on hold for what seems like more or less the same abysmal deal.
Thanks for having me on the pod. A great conversation on a less great topic.
3/ If we take the admin’s own (shifting) objectives for these operations, it’s hard to see this episode—the war and the deal that ended it—as anything but a colossal failure.
But there is no quick solution here. And the admin lacks the attention span and is already onto its next target, Cuba.
As Trump’s threats and rants about the war get crazier, a former Defense Department official explains why Trump seems so stuck—and why it’s a fiasco for the rest of us.
newrepublic.com
From Venezuela to the Middle East, the Trump administration has not hesitated to use force. But even the world’s most powerful military has its limits.
I am going to talk with @joecirin.bsky.social and @atabatabai.bsky.social tomorrow and break down what happened, how this leave the US and Iran, and what has been gained and lost from the war. And I’ll post to my substack at open.substack.com/pub/thinking...