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Conversations’s Substack

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The Day the "Special Relationship" Cracked: Why Trump and Vance are Finally Turning on Israel

This is the moment the “special relationship” stopped looking special and started looking dangerous.

Jun 21

The Great Decoupling: Are We Watching the Beginning of a US-Israel Split?

A reported Iran agreement has exposed a possibility long dismissed in Washington: that the United States and Israel may no longer want the same war.

Jun 17

The End of the Moral Alibi

States do not wage war with force alone. They wage it with stories, and some stories collapse under the weight of what the world can see.

Jun 14

The New Rules of the Middle East: How Iran Rewrote the Regional Balance

Iran has established a new regional doctrine. By extending a protective umbrella over its allies, Tehran is directly challenging Israel's long-term…

Jun 10

How to Arm Iran With Nukes in 5 Simple Steps

Want to guarantee Iran builds a nuclear bomb? Just follow this foolproof, five-step guide to diplomatic sabotage and unhinged escalation.

Jun 6

Russia’s Restraint in Ukraine May Have Been Its Biggest Mistake

Moscow spent years trying to contain the war in Ukraine. The result may have been the opposite: a longer war, weaker deterrence, and a far more…

Jun 2

May 2026

Washington’s Three Bad Options on Iran

The United States still has choices in the Iran crisis. What it no longer seems to have is a good one.

May 28

As Support for Israel Collapses, the Risk of War Grows

What once seemed untouchable in American foreign policy now looks brittle, exposed, and increasingly out of step with the public it claims to represent.

May 25

Why the Next Global Conflict May Not Look Like a World War

The West Is Not Marching Toward World War III. It Is Drifting Toward Something Stranger and More Dangerous.

May 21

The Spectacle and the Quagmire: Why Global Adversaries are Humoring a Waning Empire

A superpower can survive setbacks. What it may not survive is the widening gap between its image and its actual capacity.

May 18

The Stories We Refuse to Tell About Ukraine

“Russia invaded” is true. It is also incomplete. And incomplete truths have a way of prolonging wars rather than ending them.

May 16

Preparing for the Day After

The most unsettling feature of this moment is not conflict itself, but the sense that no one is still in control of it.

May 13

Bringing a 20th Century Military to a 21st Century War

For decades, Washington assumed money, bases and firepower guaranteed control. The confrontation with Iran is exposing how outdated that assumption has…

May 11

Hostage to an Ally: The Nuclear Blackmail Washington Refuses to Name

Respectable debate treats Israel’s nuclear arsenal as unspeakable. That silence is no longer strategic. It is dangerous.

May 9

Everyone Thinks This Will Blow Over. It Won’t.

The most dangerous part of an energy crisis is not always the shortage itself. Sometimes it is the illusion that there is no shortage at all.

May 7

In Lebanon, Israel’s Power Meets Its Limits

Israel can devastate southern Lebanon from the air. What it has never proven is that it can turn ruin into lasting control.

May 5

What Happens When a Superpower Can No Longer Sustain War

Wars do not only destroy cities and stockpiles. They destroy myths. This one may have shattered the biggest myth of all.

May 1

April 2026

What Happens When Citizens Realize They Were Managed

A public can survive being wrong. It struggles to survive the realization that it was deliberately misled about war, loyalty, and who its enemies were.

Apr 29

The Most Dangerous Illusion in Washington

Many Americans assume the costs of war will force restraint. That assumption may be the most dangerous illusion in politics today.

Apr 26

A State Built on Domination Cannot Be Reformed Gently

A conflict this brutal does not end because passions cool. It ends only when the structures that reward domination begin to fail.

Apr 25

What the West Sees in Gaza and Refuses to See in Ukraine

There is a revealing asymmetry in how many Western audiences process modern war.

Apr 23

When Military Power Becomes Strategic Failure

Explosions make for compelling images, but spectacle is not strategy. The current conflict may prove how badly power can misread its own limits.

Apr 21

The Last Taboo in American Politics Is Cracking

A moral and political rupture is underway as more Americans question the silence, pressure and power that long shielded Israel from scrutiny.

Apr 20

The War Washington Cannot Quite Admit It Is Losing

For years, Washington treated Iran as a weaker regional power. This war is exposing how costly that miscalculation may be.

Apr 18