Netanyahu Takes the Stage: Israeli PM Dispels Death Rumors, Talks Iran Decimation

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There is a particular moment when a leader must address not only the enemy abroad but also the rumors gathering at home. Benjamin Netanyahu stepped before the cameras Thursday evening to do both. He had been the subject of online speculation about his health and safety — the kind of digital fog that now accompanies every major conflict. He dispensed with it directly. “First of all, I just want to say I’m alive — and you are all witnesses. now that I’ve dispatched this piece of fake news, I want to give you an update on Operation Roaring Lion,” the

An Old Law Meets a New Crisis: Trump Reaches for the Jones Act Waiver

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There is a phrase that has always defined the American character in crisis: improvise and adapt. The Jones Act, passed in 1920, was not designed for a world in which the Strait of Hormuz goes dark and crude oil climbs past a hundred dollars a barrel. So President Trump has done what presidents in emergencies do — he has reached for the available lever. The White House confirmed Wednesday that Trump has issued a sixty-day waiver suspending the century-old maritime law, temporarily lifting its requirement that goods shipped between American ports travel on American-built, American-owned, and American-crewed vessels. It is

No Votes, No Endorsement: Trump Escalates on SAVE America Act

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There is a particular quality to a presidential ultimatum delivered in capital letters on a social media platform in the early hours. It is not the language of persuasion. It is the language of compulsion. On Tuesday, Donald Trump turned his attention to the United States Senate and the SAVE America Act — legislation he has declared “one of the most IMPORTANT & CONSEQUENTIAL pieces of legislation in the history of Congress.” The bill would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, a provision its supporters argue is a common-sense safeguard, and its opponents call a mechanism for

Blackout Nation: Cuba’s Long Decline Reaches a Breaking Point

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There is a darkness settling over Cuba that is no longer metaphorical. On Monday, the island’s electrical grid failed completely — a “total disconnection,” in the clinical language of the Ministry of Energy and Mines. Eleven million people lost power. It was not the first time. It will not be the last. The outage is the latest convulsion in a crisis that has been building for years, driven by fuel shortages, decaying infrastructure, and an economy that has been losing ground for decades. President Miguel Díaz-Canel disclosed last week that Cuba had not received an oil shipment in more than

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