What Caught My Eye (no. 48)
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.
Ben Rhodes, “The Rot Goes Deeper Than ICE,” The New York Times, January 30, 2026. Rhodes, a writer and former Deputy National Security Advisor during the Obama administration, argues that the abuses seen in ICE operations, exemplified by the federal crackdown in Minneapolis, are not isolated failures but symptoms of a deeper structural problem within the Department of Homeland Security. Rhodes traces the excesses within DHS back to the moment after 9/11, when its creation fused immigration enforcement with counterterrorism, importing a mindset that treats civilians as threats and prioritizes force over accountability.
Martha Muir and Jamie Smyth, “The Political Cost of America’s Surging Electricity Bills,” Financial Times, February 3, 2026. Muir and Smyth, both energy reporters for the FT, argue that rapidly rising electricity prices are emerging as a serious political liability for the Trump administration. They show how surging demand from AI data centers, combined with underinvestment in grid infrastructure, higher LNG exports, and policy moves hostile to renewables, is pushing electricity costs well above inflation, particularly in the Midwest and mid-Atlantic states. They conclude that energy dominance pursued without affordability risks voter backlash, as Americans increasingly blame politicians for failing to rein in utilities, data centres, and a strained power system.
Ashley Parker, “The Murder of The Washington Post,” The Atlantic, February 4, 2026. Parker, the former senior national political correspondent for The Washington Post, argues that Jeff Bezos and publisher Will Lewis are dismantling what made the Post an essential civic institution. Using layoffs and closures to hollow out the newsroom without a credible strategy for renewal, she describes recent cuts as part of a broader pattern of treating the paper like a distressed asset while blaming journalists for business failures. She shows the changes as a cultural and democratic loss as well as a personal one, and warns that continued cuts risk erasing the institutional memory, breadth, and newsroom ethos that allowed the Post to consistently produce exceptional public-interest journalism.
Yaroslav Trofimov, “A Wargame Shows Just How Vulnerable Europe Is to a Russian Attack,” The Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2026. Trofimov, The WSJ’s chief foreign correspondent, reports that European officials are increasingly worried Russia could test or attack NATO sooner than the previously common 2029 estimate. He centers the story on a December wargame run by Die Welt and Germany’s Helmut-Schmidt University that simulated an October 2026 Russian move into Lithuania, using a “humanitarian crisis” in Kaliningrad as pretext and exploiting Western hesitation to prevent a decisive NATO response. In the scenario, U.S. leaders decline to trigger Article 5, Germany hesitates, and Poland mobilizes but does not intervene—allowing Russia, with a relatively small initial force, to seize a key Baltic chokepoint and undermine NATO credibility. The article contrasts traditional views of Russian aggression with the idea that fast grabs of defensible terrain and political indecision may be the core near-term vulnerability for Europe.
Andy Milburn, “Gaza and the Conduct of Urban War: Civilian Harm, Risk, and Responsibility,” January 28, 2026. Milburn, an author and retired Marine, argues that Gaza’s catastrophic civilian toll is not an inevitable byproduct of urban warfare but the result of institutional choices about how force is applied under uncertainty, especially how commanders prioritize risk between their own troops and civilians. Drawing on his experience commanding U.S. forces in urban combat, he says uncertainty should tighten restraint rather than justify expansive targeting and permissive proportionality judgments. His core argument is that Gaza reflects a systematic allocation of risk onto civilians, producing humanitarian and strategic consequences.
Peggy Noonan, “A Lament for the Washington Post,” The Wall Street Journal, February 5, 2026. Noonan argues that the hollowing out of The Washington Post is not merely a media-industry problem but a democratic crisis, leaving the capital of the world’s most powerful nation without a fully functioning newspaper to monitor power. She frames the paper’s layoffs and shrinking scope as a near-destruction of an institution that once trained reporters, exposed abuse and anchored civic life, rather than a normal restructuring. Noonan faults both ownership and media leadership for lacking the imagination or will to sustain journalism, concluding that the Post’s decline, especially during a Trump presidency, represents a historic failure with long-term consequences for American self-government.
Stephen M. Walt, “The Predatory Hegemon: How Trump Wields American Power,” Foreign Affairs, February 3, 2026. Walt, a leading scholar of realist international relations theory and professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, argues that Trump’s second-term grand strategy is best understood not as isolationist or imperialist, but as “predatory hegemony,” in which the United States uses its dominant position to extract concessions, tribute, and public deference in a zero-sum worldview. He warns that predatory hegemony will ultimately weaken U.S. influence, erode alliances, and leave America poorer, less secure, and more isolated over time.
David E. Sanger & William J. Broad, “Nuclear Arms Control Era Comes to End Amid Global Rush for New Weapons,” The New York Times, February 5, 2026. Sanger, the White House and National Security Correspondent for the NY Times, and Broad, the senior science correspondent, report that with the expiration of New START, the last remaining U.S.-Russia nuclear arms control treaty, more than five decades of bilateral limits on the world’s largest nuclear arsenals has come to an end. They argue the lapse comes at the worst moment: Washington and Moscow are already planning and fielding new warheads and delivery systems, while China’s rapidly expanding arsenal and new technologies make a simple two-party framework outdated. They warn that, absent a “strategic pause” or renewed verification regime, the likely result is a cascading global arms competition.
Sam Freedman & Lawrence Freedman, “Putin Is Not Getting an Accurate Picture,” Comment is Freed Substack, February 1, 2026. In the second part of their interview with former MI6 chief Richard Moore, Freedman père et fils explore great-power politics and intelligence cooperation in the Trump era. He shows that Vladimir Putin is operating with distorted information, insulated from reality by his system, while warning that misperception at the top of authoritarian regimes is a major strategic danger. Moore also discusses how intelligence chiefs often play a diplomatic role, using back-channel contacts to manage crises when formal diplomacy is too exposed or politically constrained.
Matthew Zalewski, “The Chinese Yoke: Russia’s Return to Vassalship,”War on the Rocks, February 4, 2026. Zalewski, an Army Foreign Area Officer specializing on Russia and Central Asia, argues that Russia is sliding into a position of structural subordination to China, akin to a modern “vassalship,” as a result of its war in Ukraine and deepening geopolitical isolation. China has become Russia’s economic lifeline in ways that are difficult to reverse. After the war, Moscow will try to reduce this dependence by courting alternative partners but sanctions, demographic decline, and regime fragility will limit its options. Zalewski concludes that a Western “reverse Nixon” strategy to peel Russia away from China is unrealistic under the current regime and risks strengthening a hostile state already embedded within Beijing’s orbit.
In case you missed it, check out this week’s episode of World Review where we discussed Iran, Trade, and the ongoing Ukraine peace negotiations.
Happy reading, watching, and listening! Stay safe and stay warm.