Mike

Sits in a tank and thinks.

[Mike @Doranimated]

Scientists in Switzerland have busied themselves with burying underpants and then noting the different rates of underwear decomposition. They are doing this to make a stupid point, which bores me, so I am not going to tell you what it is. But their attempt to get attention with underwear is amusing.

[Mike @Doranimated]

Of course it is.

[The Wall Street Journal @WSJ]

By squeezing the Strait of Hormuz, both the U.S. and Iran expected to outlast their foe, believing time would work in their favor. Now, it looks like the trend is moving against Tehran. https://t.co/nJQJxoDqyC

[Mike @Doranimated]

File under: Iran is winning! 300 dollars are equivalent to 669 million rials. You need a cart full of cash to buy groceries.

[Mike @Doranimated]

The self-destructive elitism of the Ivy League. Why did they join in the first place? They crave the perks of the secret fraternity that they gut it in the name of progressivism. They’re similar to progressive college presidents in gated communities, shielded from the consequences of the socialist policies their institutions advance.

[Sulla @spqr_sulla]

Progressives join, immediately set about including as many progressives as possible and openly muse about tearing the entire thing down. Remember Conquest’s Second Law

[Mike @Doranimated]

Yes

[Robin Brooks @robin_j_brooks]

Iran's currency is really tumbling. The dominant narrative on Iran is wrong. The US has time on its side. Iran doesn't. In the end - like Russia - Iran is a gas station masquerading as a country. You choke off oil exports and the house comes falling down.
https://t.co/sqEjdJEjDx

[Mike @Doranimated]

What do Matt Damon and I have in common?

[Mike @Doranimated]

My latest in Tablet.

[Mike @Doranimated]

Academia speaks!

[Ken Moriyasu @kenmoriyasu]

From Gwadar on the Arabian Sea to the Golden Horn in Istanbul, a new geopolitical arc is taking shape: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

From Mumbai on the Arabian Sea to Piraeus in the Aegean, another arc is taking shape: India, UAE, Israel, Cyprus and Greece.

Two arcs are descending across the Middle East.

[Mike @Doranimated]

President Erdogan on Syria: We are the ones who want Syria to remain united and whole. The dissolution of the SDF will open the door to a new era for the entire region. The chapter of terrorism must be closed, and the era of weapons and violence must come to an end.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

If you or I say the Israeli prime minister ‘influences’ American politicians to get them to think his way and fight his wars, it’s antisemitic. But if the Israeli prime minister says it…

[Hudson Institute @HudsonInstitute]

The Russia-Ukraine war has brought about two irreversible changes to warfare, @ckasapoglu1 explains in a recent interview.

1. Public-private space cooperation has built a distributed battlefield nervous system: commercial low-Earth-orbit satellites, military sensors, drones, and acoustic networks now feed the same operational picture. Private firms have become participants in national defense architectures.

2. Compute is becoming combat power. The decisive contest is over which side can keep sensing, deciding, striking, and adapting under electronic and kinetic attack. A force unable to process data when connectivity deteriorates is operationally done.

Read Kasapoğlu's full conversation with Olga Budnyk on the lasting lessons from Ukraine and the future of warfare.

@Ukrinform_News
https://t.co/T3TSPLv01Q

[Ludovic Hood @Ludo_Hood]

The fifth protest movement in Iran since 2018 is a question of when, not if.

[Mike @Doranimated]

Iran’s rial hit another record low on Saturday, trading at 2.06 million rials per US dollar on the open market.

[Hudson Institute @HudsonInstitute]

Central Asia is emerging as a new battleground in great-power competition. Both the United States and China need the region to reduce their dependence on each other.

Next week, Kyrgyzstan will host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's annual summit, with Xi, Putin, Erdogan, Modi, Pezeshkian, Sharif, and Gor in attendance.

In @turkiyetodaycom, @kenmoriyasu breaks down the top issues to be discussed at the summit and how the United States should position itself to gain long-term influence in the region.

Read: https://t.co/i6lYXcDj7F

[Mike @Doranimated]

Iranian terror operatives on American soil. Citing a US law enforcement source, Newsmax reports that Israeli intelligence learned late last year that Iranian operatives were monitoring Netanyahu’s son Yair at his Miami residence, prompting him to leave "hurriedly.” The report follows Netanyahu’s Monday claim that Iran "tried to murder" one of his sons.

[Ludovic Hood @Ludo_Hood]

My reflections in ⁦@WashPostOpinion⁩ on Iran’s destructive behavior and the imperative of ensuring the regime collapses under its own weight. A new Iran is necessary for US interests, the region’s future prosperity, and the Iranian people above all. https://t.co/ijHO5z7ZUL

[Richard Grenell @RichardGrenell]

Tom Barrack @USAMBTurkiye is as close to Donald Trump as one can be. He speaks regularly to the President and isn’t a free-lancer.

His work in Turkey is part of the larger policy that President Trump has for protecting Americans.
It is an America First policy.

Tom is doing exactly what he’s asked to do.

[Yuriy Husyev @Husyev]

Baku looks especially amazing this evening!
Our heartfelt thanks to Azerbaijan! 🇺🇦🇦🇿

[Al Arabiya English @AlArabiya_Eng]

🔴 Al Arabiya English obtains the US offer conveyed by Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir to Iran

🔴 The US proposed lifting the blockade and sanctions in exchange of opening the Strait of Hormuz and stopping attacks by Iran’s proxies, a senior source tells Al Arabiya English

🔴 During his visit to Iran, Munir met Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and representative of the supreme leader, the source said, adding that the meeting was “clear and decisive”

🔴 Munir called for an end to attacks by Iran-linked groups, according to the source

🔴 He also called on Iran to resume working by the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the US in June, the source said, adding that Munir told Rezaei that both Washington and Tehran were responsible for disrupting the implementation of understandings