Commentaries

Billy Bob invited me on another podcast about the Gaza conflict, this time with Professor Vladimir Golstein from the Department of Slavic Studies at Brown University.

There has been a lot of discussion in the past month about Israel’s “Samson Option,” what it is, how serious of a threat it poses, or if Israeli nuclear weapons even exist. Here’s my best attempt at answering these questions. First, the most important question – do Israeli nukes exist? Simply, yes they do. Nuclear … Read more

I am visiting a friend and reader of the blog in Saint Petersburg this weekend. Maria and I visited once before in the summer of 2022, so getting to see it a second time was good. For starters, I have been in Russia longer so know my way around better than I did. Secondly, I’m … Read more

Americans adore the fantasy of plucky rebels, ragtag hyper individualists standing up against tyranny. That fantasy (however selectively) resembled our early history. Revolutionaries kicking out the British Empire, Texans fighting to the last man at the Alamo, American blockade runners to Alaska during the Crimean War, and so on. But eventually, the fairy tale no longer resembled reality, but that didn’t stop us from pretending.

Recent events prove that American conservatives hate free speech just as much as American liberals. After years and years of whining that the hegemonic “left” is suppressing conservatives, right-wingers pounced on the opportunity to smash free speech… against Israel.