What Caught My Eye (no. 50)

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.

• Thomas L. Friedman, “Netanyahu Plays Trump and American Jews for Fools — Again,” The New York Times, February 17, 2026. Friedman, the New York Time’s foreign affairs columnist, argues that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government is endangering both Israel’s democracy and U.S. interests by pursuing de facto annexation of the West Bank and permanent control over Gaza. He contends that settler violence and policies denying Palestinians political rights are pushing Israel toward apartheid, fracturing American Jewish support and alienating younger U.S. voters. Friedman argues that Netanyahu’s government and its far-right allies are the biggest threat to Israel, not Iran.

• Jamelle Bouie, “Marco Rubio Is Failing Western Civ,” The New York Times, February 18, 2026. Bouie argues that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s nationalist defense of “Western civilization” distorts both American and European history. He contends that the United States was founded not as a continuation of a “Western civilization,” but as a break from the old world in favor of republican self-government and universal principles of equality. Bouie compares Rubio’s rhetoric centered on common ancestry and culture to the antebellum South’s pro-slavery ideology, which rejected the Declaration of Independence’s egalitarian claims in favor of racial hierarchy. He concludes that the Trump administration’s vision of Western civilization undermines the ideals at the core of the American founding.

• Janan Ganesh, “Maga Will Regret Embracing Europe’s Hard Right,” Financial Times, February 18, 2026. Ganesh argues that the Trump movement’s growing affinity for Europe’s hard-right nationalist parties is strategically self-defeating. Historically, European nationalists have harbored deep suspicion of American influence, often viewing the U.S. as a homogenizing commercial empire at odds with their “blood and soil” ethos. By encouraging these movements, MAGA risks empowering governments in Europe that may ultimately undermine American interests.

• Shaun Walker, “A war foretold: how the CIA and MI6 got hold of Putin’s Ukraine plans and why nobody believed them,” The Guardian, February 20, 2026. In this in-depth retrospective, Walker reconstructs how U.S. and British intelligence concluded months before February 2022 that Vladimir Putin intended a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Many European intelligence services doubted the scenario, shaped by assumptions about Putin’s rationality and lingering distrust after the Iraq War intelligence debacle. Drawing on more than 100 interviews, he shows that Washington and London pieced together the picture from satellite imagery, intercepted communications, and other indicators and not a single decisive mole inside the Kremlin.

• The Economist, “How big is the prize of reopening Russia?” February 17, 2026. The article examines reports that Russia has promised up to $12 trillion in economic opportunities to the Trump administration in exchange for sanctions relief and a peace deal in Ukraine. While Moscow is offering access to Arctic oil and gas, rare earth minerals, infrastructure projects, and resumed trade, much of the figure appears to be inflated rhetoric designed to appeal to President Trump’s deal-making instincts. In reality, Russia’s economy is relatively small, heavily sanctioned, risky for foreign investors, and increasingly dominated by China, which has already filled many commercial gaps left by Western firms. The article concludes that while individual insiders might profit from selective deals, the broader promise of a transformative economic windfall is unrealistic, and the strategic costs of enabling Russia’s recovery could outweigh any commercial benefits.

• Nancy A. Youssef, “What Would War With Iran Look Like?” The Atlantic, February 21, 2026. Youssef, a seasoned national security writer with experience in Iraq and Egypt, examines what a potential U.S. war with Iran could entail as President Trump amasses significant military forces in the Middle East. She outlines three possible objectives: targeting Iran’s leadership, degrading its ballistic-missile capabilities, or striking its nuclear facilities. While the Pentagon has positioned carriers, submarines, fighter jets, and air defenses to enable both offensive strikes and force protection, military officials caution that even successful attacks would likely provide only temporary setbacks to Iran’s programs. Ultimately, Youssef argues that the buildup reflects both leverage for negotiations and preparation for conflict, but that military force alone cannot permanently resolve Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Finally, in case you missed it here are links to some of the things I did and wrote this week.

• I appeared on Ian Bremmer’s PBS show GZERO WORLD to discuss developments in European security.

• I wrote in Politico on how Middle Powers continue to uphold a rules-based international order.

• I joined Lev Parnas on Lev Remembers to discuss Russia’s economy, the Ukraine “peace process,” and the Russia connection to the Epstein files.

• I was interviewed by Diane Rehm on Greenland, Ukraine, and my takeaways from the Munich Security Conference.

• I wrote on America Abroad on the importance of Europe to any U.S. ability to strike Iran.

• Finally, this week’s World Review focused on the looming risk of war with Iran, dynamic changes in Syria, and Trump’s efforts to champion European far-right politics.

Happy reading, watching, and listening! Stay safe and stay warm.