Fault Lines

Today, John, Jess, Les, and Andrew take stock of where the United States and Iran are headed — and how fast. Vice President Vance delivered a Trump-approved letter to Iran's National Security Council proposing direct talks, emphasizing the nuclear program as a non-negotiable agenda item. Meanwhile, the U.S. has been repositioning forces away from vulnerable bases, and the administration appear...

Today, Jess, Les, John, and Andy break down Israel's first election since the October 7 attacks, with no clear winner yet emerging and multiple outcomes still in play. Security, accountability, and the legacy of the attacks are driving voter sentiment, even as the parliamentary system makes coalition-building the decisive factor. With support for Israel increasingly contested in Washington, th...

Today, Les, Jess, John, and Andrew take stock of a turbulent electoral moment across Latin America. Lula's victory in Brazil marks a leftward shift in the region's largest economy at a time when recent Latin American elections have swung conservative — driven by economic frustration and deteriorating security conditions. Meanwhile, in Venezuela, a quiet diplomatic revolution is underway: f...

Today, John, Les, and Jess dig into the accelerating collision between artificial intelligence and cybersecurity as businesses scramble to respond to a wave of attacks over the last 48 hours. From AI agents operating autonomously inside U.S. bank accounts to unpatched vulnerabilities quietly spreading through critical systems, the threat environment may be growing faster than institutions can adap...

Today, Jess, Les, John, and Andrew examine the wave of riots sweeping France and what they reveal about the country's deepening political and strategic dysfunction. What began as student protests over school conditions has exploded into widespread unrest over cost of living and quality of life, with looting, clashes with police, and demonstrations now spreading to other parts of Europe. With a...

Today, Les, Jess, John, and Amy dig into the accelerating — and increasingly chaotic — diplomacy surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump announced an energy ceasefire barring strikes on oil infrastructure — then waived sanctions on Russian energy production — only for Russia to launch a massive attack on Ukraine the very next day. Now, reports are surfacing that Putin is floating a trilateral su...

Today, John, Andy, and Marc dig into the deepening rupture between the Trump administration and Ukrainian President Zelensky. After Trump announced a deal to allow Russian diesel into U.S. markets — following weeks of pressure on Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian refineries — Zelensky publicly condemned the agreement, prompting Trump to call for a new Ukrainian president. Reports have since emerg...

Today, John, Les, Jess, and Jamil take stock of a world where territorial sovereignty is suddenly anything but settled. From Spain's enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla — where a social media-driven migration crisis has Spanish polls showing 60% fear armed conflict with Morocco — to Argentina's renewed challenge to British rule in the Falklands, to the United States openly pressuring Denmark ove...

Today, Jess, Jamil, Les, and John break down the deadly Houthi strikes on Riyadh's airport, which killed well over a dozen people — including at least one American — and wounded hundreds. The attacks underscore the enduring threat Iran-backed forces pose to Saudi energy and critical infrastructure and regional stability, even as the United States considers more direct intervention. With Irania...

Today, Les, John, and Amy confront a collision of alarming headlines: a plague outbreak traced to Russian anti-plague research institute, an Ebola crisis in Africa surpassing 8,000 cases, and a public execution by firing squad making news at home. Against this backdrop, deep cuts to the CDC and the dismantling of U.S. global health infrastructure have left serious questions about whether America i...

Today, John, Jamil, Les, and Matt examine the renewed Saudi and Yemeni offensive against Houthi forces along the western coast of Yemen, a stretch of coastline critical to global shipping routes. Since the start of the Iran war, the conflict has escalated sharply — Houthi forces launched an offensive to take control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, declared a blockade on Saudi tankers, and drones stru...

Today, Les, Jamil, John, and Jess examine the sudden withdrawal of twelve U.S. B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford following the arrest and swift bail release of six individuals suspected of plotting an attack on the base. The bombers had been used in strikes against Iran, but the UK had imposed restrictions limiting their use to defensive operations — a constraint that may have already been straining t...

Today, Jess, Les, John, and Amy examine two developments reshaping how America projects power. Former NBA star Dennis Rodman was photographed with President Trump in Texas as the administration eyes a renewed opening with Kim Jong Un, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used his State of the Force address to unveil a new autonomous warfare command and launch Project Meridian, a 120-day effort to...

Today, John, Les, and Jamil break down Trump's high-profile AI summit, where the president gathered leaders from the country's biggest tech companies at the White House to address public concerns around AI safety while announcing a rebranding of artificial intelligence as "super intelligence." The summit produced voluntary safety commitments framed by Trump as morally binding, an...

Today, Les, Jamil, John, and Andy examine the latest twist in U.S.-Iran negotiations after reports emerged that the Trump administration rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz on terms resembling a version of the JD Vance MOU from mid-June. The administration has since rebuffed the overture, signaling confidence that a stronger deal is within reach, while Iran's economy co...

Today, Jess, John, Les, and Algene break down a packed week at the UN General Assembly in New York, where world leaders delivered speeches ranging from Trump's stark warnings toward Iran to Zelenskyy's push for a settlement framework and ongoing maneuvering over Ukraine. However, Xi Jinping’s to skip New York for a White House meeting also puts the UN’s role in global diplomacy under scrut...

Today, John, Les, Jess, and Jeffrey break down the new U.S.-Denmark-Greenland security agreement, which amends the foundational 1951 defense pact. The deal expands American control over security and investment in Greenland, while notionally recognizing Greenlandic sovereignty. It lacks any expiration and seeks to lock any future independent Greenland into the agreement and NATO alignment. The back...

Today, Les, John, Jess, and Amy break down the high-stakes summit between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, taking place in Washington, D.C. against the backdrop of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York. The two leaders are meeting as tariff suspensions hold, an AI race intensifies, and China quietly continues supplying Iran with economic and military support even as it reduces...

Today, Jess, Les, John, and Andrew dig into the Houthis' resurgent offensive and the widening regional crisis it has triggered. With Houthi strikes targeting Saudi Arabia, Iraqi militias hitting Saudi’s East-West pipeline, and the Strait of Hormuz under pressure, Riyadh finds itself encircled.  after Washington declined to intervene on its behalf, Riyadh has turned to China, Iran’s top tradin...

Today, Jamil, Les, John, and Matt dig into the Pentagon's confirmation that the United States has deployed weapons on orbit, marking a possible escalation in the militarization of space. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits weapons of mass destruction and military installations on celestial bodies, but places no ban on conventional weapons — leaving the current U.S. posture in a legal gray zone t...

Today, John, Jamil, Les, and Jess dig into a week defined by alarm bells from the people building artificial intelligence. Reports of model development mishaps over recent weeks, including the OpenAI-Hugging Face incident where a swarm of AI agents escaped their sandbox, was seemingly enough for a coordinated campaign around the latest resignation from an AI lab to spark a week-long media frenzy....

Today, Les, Amy, Jess, and John mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks by taking stock of where America stands in the long struggle that followed. Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force within days of the attacks, launching two decades of operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and beyond — and the United States has not suffered a major attack on the homeland since. Bu...

Today, Jess, Les, and John examine the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, a sweeping sanctions bill that passed the Senate over the summer but has since stalled in the House. The legislation would expand pressure on Russia's shadow fleet and grant the president authority to impose tariffs on the top five importers of Russian fuel, while also extending longstanding sanctions on Iran...

Today, John, Les, and special guest Clayton Seigle, Managing Director of Energy Practice at Beacon Global Strategies, take stock of the most significant oil supply disruption in recorded history — and why prices haven't fully reflected it, yet. Since the outbreak of war with Iran six months ago, flows through the Strait of Hormuz have swung wildly, forcing emergency draws on the U.S. Strategic Pet...

Today, John, Les, and Rear Admiral (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, co-lead of the Air and Missile Defense Program and Senior Director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, take stock of where the U.S.-Iran conflict stands after weeks of strikes, counterstrikes, and an ambiguous MOU that collapsed into a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz. Ov...