TikTok's Opponents Want Chinese-style Censorship in America
Instead of freeing Americans from censorship, the TikTok bill would tighten the U.S. government's control over social media.
Iran
Record Low Turnout in Iran as Voters Lose Faith in Elections
Iran’s leaders wanted to show the world a high voter turnout. Instead, people stayed home for the "sham" elections.
Report Finds Rise in Governments Targeting Dissidents Overseas
One in five national governments tried to intimidate or kill exiles in recent years.
China and Iran Have Their WikiLeaks Moment
Hackers have unmasked some of the tactics Beijing and Tehran use to silence their opponents.
Errors and Escalations
Plus: Trump vows a costlier trade war, Elon Musk's brain implant, and more...
Politics Created the Border Crisis
Plus: A listener asks if libertarians are too obsessed with economic growth.
The Killing of 3 American Troops Was an Avoidable Tragedy
The U.S. base on the Jordanian-Syrian border has long been "strategic baggage."
Israeli Spy Base
Plus: Workplace wellness programs, obnoxious awards shows, "love gov" update, and more...
The Trump Train Rolls Through Iowa
Plus: A listener asks the editors if there are any bad laws that might discourage people from having kids.
The War on Terror Zombie Army Has Assembled
All of the unfinished U.S. conflicts in the Middle East are coming together into one big crisis for Biden.
U.S. Attacks Houthis in Yemen
Plus: Biden staffers can't grow a pair, AI ancestor worship, Taiwanese elections, and more...
Hell Hath No Fury
Plus: Nuking the Hamptons, upcharging the autists, tearing down the statues, and more...
Iran Explosion
Plus: Gay fallout, Lithuanian badasses, Epstein buddies, Haley chutzpah, and more...
Escalation in the Red Sea
Plus: Inheritance taxes, lady gadgets, a stabbing in South Korea, and more...
Private Jets to the Climate Conference
Plus: Chinese migrants, socialized medicine kills, NYC can't handle preteen bullies, and more...
Why Are American Troops Still in Iraq and Syria?
Our troops are just sitting there with targets on their backs. Why?
Republicans Pivot to Bombing Iran in Third Debate
Sen. Tim Scott: "You actually have to cut off the head of the snake, and the head of the snake is Iran and not simply their proxies."
Another Hostage Crisis Bedevils an American President
Biden will reportedly freeze Iran's ransom deal while the U.S. tries to find 14 missing Americans in Gaza.
Ron DeSantis Announces Intentions to Sanction Iran in Florida
Following reports that the Iranian government aided in Hamas terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, the governor plans to expand restrictions on business with Iran.
India's Alleged Assassination of a Dissident in Canada Highlights Repression Across Borders
No place is truly safe for dissidents when governments see no limits to their authority.
Methanol-Tainted Liquor and Xylazine-Tainted Fentanyl Illustrate the Same Prohibitionist Peril
While the lethal effects of Iran’s booze ban are widely recognized, politicians ignore similar consequences from U.S. drug laws.
Deirdre McCloskey: 'What We Want Is a Nonslave Society'
The economic historian and Magatte Wade, Alex Gladstein, Mohamad Machine-Chian, Tony Woodlief, and Tom Palmer are challenging authoritarians everywhere.
John Bolton Is Still Wrong About Iraq
Bolton says the Bush administration's biggest error in Iraq was failing to invade Iran too. That's madness.
Two Decades Later, the War in Iraq Is Over—Right?
There’s no vital U.S. interest served by this indefinite advise-and-assist mission in the region.
Ron DeSantis Is Clumsily Backing Away From His Past as a Russia Hawk
DeSantis' foreign policy seems to be defined by a simple rule: Whatever Democrats do is wrong, but whatever Republicans do is right.
After Muslim Students Complained That an Art Exhibit Was 'Harmful,' Macalester College Shut It Down
"My artwork is unapologetic," said the artist. "Sometimes it can be very political. Sometimes it can be very controversial."
Iran Attempted To Use the World Cup To Stoke Nationalist Pride
And their team wanted nothing to do with politics.
Today's Iran-U.S. World Cup Match Is Even More Politically Fraught Than Famous 1998 Meeting
Both teams are better than they were in 1998, but the political situation between the two countries has not improved.
Iran Tries To Coopt and Crush Feminists at the Same Time
After a month of tear gas and beatings and gunfire, Iranians may not be convinced to move on so easily.
Can the Iran Protests Do Better Than Uprisings of the Past?
This time could really be different.
Climber Who Competed Without Her Hijab Apologizes as Protests Continue To Rock Iran
Plus: Bite mark analysis is a sham, tax code adjusted for inflation, and more...
The Iranian Protests Were Not Made in the U.S.A.
The onerous sanctions regime carried out by the Trump and Biden administrations has done immeasurable harm in Iran.
Iran's Hijab Protests Are Part of a Long, Slow Revolution
Plus: A bevy of bad economic indicators, Italy elects right-wing populist Giorgia Meloni, and more...
Putin's Push and Ponytail Solidarity
Plus: The editors engage in a full-throated denunciation of the CIA in response to a listener question.
Are We Past 'Peak Petrostate'?
It's the economics of energy production that make petrostates more trigger-happy, Emma Ashford argues in Oil, the State, and War.
Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses Enraged the Muslim World
In 1989, Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for the author and those involved in the book's publication to be put to death.
Revenge at All Costs
The Iranian metal band Confess was charged with blasphemy and anti-government propaganda in 2015, before fleeing to Norway. Their latest album documents this experience.
A Hero Is a Movie in Which Everyone Both Is and Isn't a Hero
A new Iranian thriller is both an elaborate social parable and an extended advertisement for the U.S. bankruptcy system.
After 18 Disastrous Years, the U.S. Should Withdraw All Troops From Iraq
I witnessed firsthand how U.S. actions that favored one group inevitably angered another, which is why the war is an endless game of whack-a-mole.
Olympics Remind Us That Sports Build Bridges Where Governments Can't
Engaging peacefully with someone who history says you should hate is no small task, but sports make it possible.
Iranian Operatives Plotted To Kidnap Brooklyn Journalist
From the other side of the world, the regime plots ways to chill free speech.
America Is Back to Bombing Syria
Plus: Remembering Steve Horwitz, Oregonians can temporarily pump their own gas, and more...
Taghi Amirani on the Legacy of the U.S.-Backed Coup in Iran
Amirani argues that the 1953 coup became the "playbook" for future U.S. covert actions in countries such as Guatemala, Vietnam, and Chile.