What Caught My Eye (no. 28)
Some interesting articles and podcasts that caught my eye this week
Here’s this week’s edition of articles I thought worth reading and sharing. Don’t hesitate to recommend your own reads; I may include some as well.
Barton Swain, Will the Democrats Go Centrist in the 2028 Election? Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2025. Former White House Chief of Staff, Congressman, Mayor, and Ambassador Rahm Emanuel talks to the Journal’s editorial board about what the Democrats should learn from the 2024 elections, where they went wrong and what they need to do to win again.
Janan Ganesh, Trump’s ambiguity is the worst of all worlds, Financial Times, August 20, 2025. The FT’s columnist pens an excellent analysis of how Trump’s ambiguity is not only hurting America but creating real challenges for Europe. “An absent America is bad, but at least it is analysed to the nth degree. Too little is said about an America that does just enough to give Europe false hope of salvaging the post-1945 order.”
Marietje Schaake, Beware America’s AI colonialism, Financial Times, August 20, 2025. The author of The Tech Coup, issues a timely and necessary warning about the dangers American AI can pose to other countries. “The choice facing world leaders is not between US or Chinese AI dominance but between technological sovereignty and digital colonialism. Each trade confrontation should teach potential partners that today’s commercial relationships can become tomorrow’s coercive leverage.”
David Ignatius, How the national security bureaucracy blocked Reagan’s ballistic missile ban, Washington Post, August 15, 2025. The Post’s foreign affairs columnist delves into recently declassified documents to show how the national security bureaucracy sought to sabotage President Reagan’s desire to negotiated a total ban on ballistic missiles with Russia. A fascinating story.
Emma Graham-Harrison and Yuval Abraham, Revealed: Israeli military’s own data indicates civilian death rate of 83% in Gaza war and ‘We didn’t understand the goals of the war’: Israel’s inflated Hamas death toll shows lack of strategy in Gaza, The Guardian, August 21 and 22, 2025. A deeply reported story on the Israeli military’s estimates of the number of Hamas and Palestinian Jihad fighters killed in nearly two years of war in Gaza. The military’s numbers—less than 10,000—both indicate that civilian deaths in Gaza are around 4 out of 5 people killed and amount to just 20 percent of the total number of terrorists Israeli intelligence has identified.
David French, One Sentence in the Constitution Is Causing America Huge Problems, New York Times, August 21, 2025. The Times columnist argues that the first sentence of the Constitution’s Article II (“The executive power shall be vested in a president of the United States of America”) provides the foundation for Trump’s abuse of power. It was never intended to give the president sole authority over the government. And it should be changed to rectify that constitutional reality.
Ian Ward, JD Vance’s Tour in Iraq Taught Him His Government Lies, Politico, August 22, 2025. A smart look at the vice president’s experience in Iraq and how it helps explain Vance’s belief in populism and helped in his pursuit of power.
Finally, in case you missed it here are links to some of the things I did and wrote this week.
My bimonthly column in Political Europe addressed President Trump’s oft-repeated claim that he “ended 6 wars in 6 months.”
I wrote about the outcome of Trump’s meetings with Putin, Zelensky, and European leaders for Foreign Policy.
I continued to comment and reflect on the diplomacy to seek an end to the Ukraine war on various TV channels, including: CNN Newsroom, CTV News, MSNBC Chris Jennings Reports, BBC World News, MSNBC with Katy Tur, CNN News Central, MSNBC The Beat with Ari Melber, MSNBC The 11th Hour, and Newsmax Greta Van Susteren Reports.
I hosted two a World Review LIVE broadcast on Substack, with Elise Labott and Yasmeen Aboutaleb on Tuesday.
Happy reading, watching, and listening!