APRIL 3, 2026

The top topic: Trump risks falling in to the ‘asymmetric resolve’ trap in Iran — just as presidents before him did elsewhere
“Little has seemingly gone as Washington planned in the war against Iran. The Iranian people have not risen up, one hard-line leader has been replaced by another, Iranian missiles and drones keep hitting targets across the Middle East, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, driving oil and gas prices up worldwide, and in sharp contrast to Trump’s demand for ‘unconditional surrender,’ Tehran has rejected a 15-point U.S. plan for a ceasefire. So how did things go so wrong? I believe the answer is simple: Trump, like other U.S. presidents before him, has fallen into what I call the trap of asymmetric resolve. In short, this occurs when a stronger power with less determination to fight starts a military conflict with a far weaker state that has near boundless determination to prevail. Victory for the strong becomes tough, even close to impossible. When it comes to Iran, the Islamic Republic wants — and needs — victory more than the United States. Unlike the U.S., the Iranian government’s very existence is on the line. And that gives Tehran many more incentives — and in many cases very effective countermeasures — through which to fight on.” The Conversation

I Saw Something New in San Francisco: “You might think that A.I. types in Silicon Valley, flush with cash, are on top of the world right now. I found them notably insecure. Behind this drive [to be ahead in AI development]  is an experience of A.I. that many casual users have not yet had. An A.I. without deep knowledge of you is an upgrade, perhaps, over Google search. An A.I. with deep knowledge of you feels like something else entirely. I have heard people talk about their A.I.s in terms that bring to mind the daemons from Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy: They become companions that know you deeply, that you feel safe telling things you’d never tell another person, that become a separate self that nevertheless feels like a part of your own self. That this sounds strange and disquieting does not mean it is not happening.” Ezra Klein, NYT. And see Cal Newport, also NYT, on the cognitive effects of AI use.

From the Commune to communalism
March – May 2026 marks 155 years since the Paris Commune, which can be considered a later upgrade to that 250th whatever it is…

“Although the Paris Commune, as it came to be known, lasted just 72 days, it achieved some major reforms: the death penalty, conscription and child labour were abolished, debts were cancelled or postponed, and the communards established a women’s union, producer-owned cooperatives and a secular school system. The elected rulers took a worker’s wage and were actively building what communard Paschal Grousset later called ‘the republic of our dreams… democratic and social… a precision instrument of economic transformation’. By 28 May, the experiment with self-organisation and municipal democracy had been violently repressed. Yet the experience of Paris has come to inspire many different political movements and numerous theorists claim ‘the Commune’ as their own.” Red Pepper (UK)

We Must Tax Their Wealth
To tax the richest Americans, we need to go after their wealth, not just their income — Under Trump’s second-term tax giveaway to the rich, “The further up the economic pyramid one goes, the more the effective tax rate tends to decline… plus, “Instead of selling assets to fund their lavish lifestyles, many billionaires simply take out nontaxable loans against their appreciating assets, following the “buy, borrow, die” strategy that was first spotlighted by ProPublica in 2021. David Gamage, a scholar of tax law and policy at the University of Missouri, told Jacobin that studies find that “approximately three-quarters of the true economic income (or wealth accumulation) of very wealthy American taxpayers will never be subject to the federal or state income taxes or estate or gift taxes.” Jacobin via Portside. Also, Bernie in The Guardian 

What I Saw in Cuba Was Resilience
“What I witnessed over those days was not the Cuba of Western propaganda. It was a country enduring a 66-year siege, and a people who, against all odds, continue to build, create, and care for one another.” Counterpunch via Portside