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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 23, 2026

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Israel and the US have long tried to kick that can down the road (sometimes brilliantly bloodless like with Stuxnet, more often through bombing and murder), but don't tell me that killing their supreme leader was about preventing them from gaining nukes.

Ok what was it about then?

but even if Trump's plan (add scare quotes to taste)

Look you don't have to like Trump or agree with him in all cases but to imagine he doesn't have a plan for anything he wants to do is basically to deny any theory of mind for Donald Trump. I think it's TDS by another name. It's not even entirely up to Trump, obviously the American and Israeli militaries had plans and backup plans upon backup plans wargamed out for decades. When people say things like this I suppose that they live too much in the 24-second news cycle and don't have much of a frame of reference beyond that.

Of course, if past bombings gave good reasons why Iran would want nuclear deterrence, the present war gives them excellent reasons.

Of course, and if Iran has good reason to pursue nuclear deterrence, the justification for bombing is excellent.