To What End?

So now we know that Trump’s plan is to double down on the bombing campaign that so far has not caused the Iranian regime to concede nor the Iranian people to rise up against their leaders.

All this strategy has done is backfire.

So Trump has learned nothing from his month of war, and odds are it will continue to backfire.

Nobody likes this. The stock markets are tumbling, oil prices are soaring, tensions are building with our allies while our would-be king rants and raves.

Thousands of U.S. troops now stand in harm’s way, by order of their Commander-in-Chief. To what end?

HEADLINES:

• Trump: U.S. will bomb Iran “back to stone ages” over next 2-3 weeks (Axios)

• Trump Claims Military Success but Offers No Clear Timeline to End Fighting (NYT)

• Trump, Iran Trade Barbs Over Control of Strait of Hormuz (WSJ)

• Iran denies Trump’s claim it requested ceasefire, calling it ‘false and baseless’ (BBC)

• Two-thirds of Americans believe that the US should work to end its involvement in the Iran war quickly, even if that means not achieving the goals set out by the ‌Trump administration. (Reuters)

• U.S. and Iran discussing ceasefire for reopening strait, officials say (Axios)

• Iran Maintains Nuclear Capacities Despite Trump’s Claim of U.S. Success (NYT)

• U.S. plan to seize Iran’s uranium envisions risky excavation mission (WP)

• No Good Way Out (Atlantic)

• Israel strikes Lebanon as Trump is set to deliver a speech on the Iran war (NPR)

• Iran war costs grow as key U.S. systems are knocked out (Axios)

• Iran has damaged a surprising amount of American kit (Economist)

• Trans-Atlantic rift widens as Trump lashes out at NATO allies over Mideast war (AP)

• France and Italy have pushed back against some US-Israeli military operations, sources said, as Trump criticised NATO allies in Europe as unhelpful in the month-long war in Iran, highlighting ‌divisions. (Reuters)

• Why emergency measures can’t solve the global oil crisis (LAT)

• U.S. Plans Military Expansion in Greenland (NYT)

• Trump signs order directing creation of a national voter list, a move already facing lawsuit threats (AP)

• Supreme court justices appear skeptical of Trump administration’s argument to restrict birthright citizenship (Guardian)

• Trump calls U.S. ‘STUPID’ for birthright citizenship after attending Supreme Court arguments (CNBC)

• Supreme Court’s Birthright Decision Could Deal a Heavy Blow to Asians (NYT)

• Trump attends Supreme Court arguments over his executive order, a presidential first (NPR)

• The Supreme Court on Who Gets to Be an American (New Yorker)

• SpaceX Files to Go Public, Setting Stage for Huge I.P.O. (NYT)

• The Real Religious ‘Renewal’ Happening in Gen Z (Atlantic)

• Artemis II Successfully Kicks Off 10-Day Lunar Mission (NYT)

• Wikipedia bans AI-generated content in its online encyclopedia (Guardian)

• Wikipedia Just Drew the Line on A.I.-Written Content (Slate)

• ChatGPT fed his students easy answers, so he built an app to argue with them (WP)

• Study: 97% Of All Sounds Infuriating (Onion)