Every four years, the confused, the despondent, and the curious look to campaign postmortems for more details—gossip, really—on what happened in the last presidential election. These tell-all books are usually the work of reporters who hold back key tidbits as the contest unfolds to make the books more revealing when they appear.

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In the wake of the stunning success of the coordinated attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran's nuclear infrastructure, it is easy to bask in the glow of military prowess and technological sophistication.

After all, the world just witnessed what determination, precision, and bold leadership can achieve when facing an existential threat. Fordow, Isfahan, Natanz – all names that once struck dread – are now synonymous with a decisive demonstration of strength.

But as the headlines celebrate the strike, the pundits dissect the strategy, and the world recalibrates its stance toward Iran's ambitions, we must not forget the One without whom none of this would have been possible: the Almighty Himself.

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The uranium enrichment plant at Fordow was known as the jewel in the crown of Ali Khamenei, Iran's "supreme leader." It would have been more accurate to call it the dagger in the ayatollah's cloak, or maybe the bomb in the terrorist's backpack.

It was one ingredient in a decades-long strategic cocktail: Cook up terrorist proxies to kill and die for you and your goals; place them in a "ring of fire" around Israel; obtain a nuclear weapons capability; stir or shake vigorously.

All this and more grew out of the revolution that erupted in Iran in 1979. Its objective was not to make Iran great again but to restore Islamic power and preeminence in the Middle East and far beyond.

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It has now been nearly three-and-a-half years since the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin launched its "special military operation" against neighboring Ukraine, with the twin goals of "demilitarizing" and "denazifying" — that is, removing the democratic government in Kyiv. That effort persists, despite truly immense Russian losses of blood and treasure, with nearly a million casualties and an estimated $1.3 trillion in squandered economic growth by 2026. Despite these losses, the Kremlin's core objectives have not changed. Earlier this month, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's powerful Security Council, made clear on social media that the Kremlin remains dedicated to the "complete destruction of the neo-Nazi regime" in Ukraine. That, however, is just part of the story. In reality, Russia's strategic plans extend far beyond Ukraine.

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Gift or grift? The tiny Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar has just given the United States a 747 jet to serve as the new Air Force One. But what exactly is Qatar getting in return?

Qatar is an insanely wealthy country. Its citizenry is estimated to be 330,000 (with another 1.7 million foreigners serving as hired help on the peninsula). And yet the country controls more than 10 per cent of the world's energy. In other words, money is no object for Doha. Influence is the name of the game.

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Two weeks ago, a judge ordered the release of a 34-year-old named Mohsen Mahdawi, a graduate student detained weeks earlier by Department of Homeland Security agents in Vermont. The usual suspects, including pundits, professors, and our self-appointed intellectual and moral betters, celebrated Mahdawi's newfound freedom, arguing that detaining him—during his naturalization interview, no less—was an egregious overreach and that the Trump administration had no good case to make against Mahdawi. It was such a perfect storm of virtue signaling, complete with Mahdawi himself delivering a defiant speech from the courthouse steps, that the facts, as they usually do in such cases, were drowned out by the sound and fury.

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President Donald J. Trump failed to achieve his often repeated preelection vow to end Russia's war against Ukraine "in 24 hours," but the 47th president still accomplished something extraordinary.

In less than three months, he called into question the security architecture that not only has deterred Russian aggression, but also kept Europe relatively peaceful and prosperous for over 75 years through 14 different administrations, including his own first term.

The U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance of 31 European nations plus Canada, has been the backbone of Europe's defense since its creation in the ashes of World War II 80 years ago.

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The Biden administration's decision to cut off weapons supplies to Israel during the war in Gaza has raised concerns that the Jewish state is overly dependent on the United States for its security. Washington has supplied Israel with more than 10,000 tons of munitions since October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered more than 1,200 Israelis. However, the White House has threatened to suspend further arms transfers to restrain the Israeli military by conditioning how American armaments can be used against Hamas and Hezbollah, the Iranian- backed terrorist proxy in Lebanon.

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I can't believe we're having this discussion in September 2023, just as the fall respiratory virus season commences and we're experiencing a new wave of COVID-19, but the politicizers of COVID won't let up. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) this week introduced legislation that "would prohibit any federal official, including the President, from issuing mask mandates applying to domestic air travel, public transit systems, or primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools."

There was also the ill-timed article by John Tierney in City Journal on August 27th claiming that "maskaholics are incorrigible" and everyone should reject masks because "we're rational."

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While the ongoing protests in Syria's southern province of al-Suwayda' against the Syrian government and its policies are noteworthy, the tribal uprising in the eastern countryside of the eastern province of Dayr al-Zur against the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is arguably of greater significance, as it amounts to an actual armed revolt that has posed a serious challenge to the SDF's authority over the area- an authority that was only established because of the American-led campaign against the Islamic State. In turn the revolt raises very serious issues about U.S. policy in the region and the supposed ongoing American mission to ensure the "enduring defeat" of the Islamic State.

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