Fred Kaplan

Why arming and the encouraging the Kurds to go fight in Iran is at best a cynical gesture and at worst a recipe for widening the war and turning Iran into a landscape of sectarian civil war.

Trump Just Made a Shocking Admission About His Iran War His explanations for why he went to war keep getting worse. His plans for the future aren’t looking any better.

Trump's new rationales for the war only make his case, and him, look worse. slate.com/news-and-pol...

I'm on Brian Lehrer's show, at WNYC Radio, at 10am to talk about the Iran war.

Trump Is About to Send More U.S. Forces to Iran—and There’s Still No Clear Strategy The president leapt into this war without first thinking through his goals or the criteria of success.

The war widens, Trump widens it further, and still he has no strategy. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Trump Just Crossed a Line He Promised He Would Never Cross This is different than his past strikes on Iran and Venezuela.

War with Iran is on--then what? (It seems Trump hasn't thought that through.) slate.com/news-and-pol...

The Iranians Offered a Good Deal. Here’s Why Trump Might Not Take It. There are only two possible reasons.

Iran has put a pretty good deal on the table. Here's why Trump will probably reject it. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Why This Iran Comment From Trump’s Top General Is a Big Deal Trump still has a moment to shift course.

Trump's top general warns of risks in Iran--and why this is a big deal. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Wait, Is Trump About to Go to War With Iran? The president who promised an end to military misadventures in the Middle East sure looks ready to embark on a military misadventure in the Middle East.

Is Trump going to war with Iran--if so, why? slate.com/news-and-pol...

Trump Wants Veterans to Lose Benefits As Soon As Their PTSD Symptoms Are Treated. There’s One Problem With That. The consequences of this shift are not abstract.

Shocking report, by a disabled Iraq-war vet, of how a new VA rule will reduce his well-earned benefits. slate.com/news-and-pol...

The Miles Davis Quintet's Live 10-LP Masterpiece Gets A Second Release A new vinyl reissue of "The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel"

My Tracking Angle review of the newly reissued 10-LP boxed set of Miles Davis' "The Complete Live At the Plugged Nickel 1965" (enthralling music, mixed sonics). trackingangle.com/music/the-mi...

Pete Hegseth Is Being Even Dumber Than Usual The secretary of defense just revealed that he fundamentally misunderstands what war is.

The idiocy of Hegseth cutting DoD's ties with Harvard (and, by the way, does he know Gen Caine, the JCS chairman, went to Harvard's Kennedy School?) slate.com/news-and-pol...

The Real Reason Trump Wants to Rip Up Our Nuclear Weapons Treaty With Russia The president's lies have gone nuclear.

The real reason Trump let the New START nuclear arms treaty die--and the especially egregious lies he told while doing so. slate.com/news-and-pol...

For the First Time in Half a Century, We Won’t Have a Nuclear Treaty With Russia. Trump Is Totally Unprepared. And there's a new dimension to the possible arms race scenarios ahead of us.

The last US-Russia nuclear arms treaty expires this week. Trump has done nothing about it. What he should do. slate.com/news-and-pol...

NATO Is Doing Military Exercises—Without America. That Does Not Mean Anything Good. The rupture deepens.

If US-Europe relations really do rupture, historians will look back on last week as the breaking point. Here's why. slate.com/news-and-pol...

A Seat on Trump’s “Board of Peace” Costs $1 Billion. Guess Who Gets the Money. The leaders of China, India, and Russia are among those who haven’t yet responded.

Trump's preposterous, going-nowhere Board of Peace. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Our European Allies Just Exposed Trump’s Core Weakness—and Also America’s The Europeans did something that the president, with some reason, thought they would never do.

Trump goes TACO on Greenland. Good news, sort of, but it doesn't end--in some ways, it worsens--the crisis for him, the Europeans, and us all. slate.com/news-and-pol...

At Davos, Trump’s Speech Stood Out—but Another One Mattered Much More The Canadian prime minister started to outline what comes next.

Two speeches at Davos (Carney's and 'Trump's) and how they point the way to a turbulent new world. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Canada engaging 'with open eyes' as great powers use economic integration as 'weapons,' PM says YouTube video by CBC News

Canadian PM Carney's speech at Davos today is THE speech about international politics in our time. Watch! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg4r...

It Might Have Seemed as if Trump Couldn’t Get More Irrational. Greenland Proves He’s Just Getting Started. The Mad King era is upon us. Will the people with the power to do something about it do anything at all?

Trump's Greenland obsession marks a new level of madness. What to do about it? slate.com/news-and-pol...

It’s Time to Dismantle the Department of Homeland Security Even Republicans used to know that this was a mistake.

It's time to dismantle the Dept of Homeland Security. slate.com/news-and-pol...

The Defense Department’s Case Against Mark Kelly Is Even Dumber Than It Sounds At the same time, it’s still having its intended effect.

Why Hegseth's crusade against Mark Kelly is even dumber than it seems. slate.com/news-and-pol...

I wrote this @Slate column (calling for the break-up of DHS, including CBP) 7 years ago, but it does seem particularly relevant today.

Trump Is Talking About Taking Over Greenland. The World Is Taking Him Seriously. U.S. allies worldwide are alarmed by Trump’s unabashedly imperialist turn.

Why Trump is talking again about grabbing Greenland. Why the world is taking him seriously. Why it's still a daft idea. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Again, you’re misreading my earlier column. I said at the time (in the column and to your comment) that Trump clearly wanted to oust Maduro, but that Maduro was doing things (shadow fleets, etc) that drew sanctions even from Biden.

It Remains Unclear Who’s Running Venezuela—and Who’s Actually Running U.S. Foreign Policy There is a clear lack of strategy right now.

Who's running Venezuela--and who's running US foreign policy? slate.com/news-and-pol...

It’s Painfully Clear What Trump’s Attack on Venezuela Is All About Rarely has an American president been so blatant about his motives.

Re Trump's press conference on the nabbing of Maduro: never has a president been so unabashedly imperialist about his motives in foreign policy (at least not in public). slate.com/news-and-pol...

Trump Wants to Introduce New Battleships Named After Him. Oh Boy. There's good news and bad news here.

Why the "Trump-class battleship" is a bad idea, even apart from the megalomania of Trump's naming it after himself. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Trump Is Ignoring the Biggest Obstacle to Peace in Ukraine The president doesn’t seem to understand that making peace is not a one-off gesture.

Why the latest Ukraine "peace" talks failed (hint: it's not Zelensky's fault). slate.com/news-and-pol...

This Report Should Be Setting Off Alarm Bells in the Pentagon The people running the U.S. military should be sweating right now.

The leaked Pentagon report that says DoD is spending its trillion-dollar-budget on, mainly, the wrong things. slate.com/news-and-pol...

He says drug prices down 400, 500, even 600% - “numbers nobody had ever imagined.” Indeed.