Vale, Francis. For all the tumult of his pontificate, he was an evangelist for Christ, esp on life issues. The Pope also regularly visited prisons to remind us all that while all Saints have a past, all Sinners also have a future. Eternal rest & perpetual light grant unto him. ✝️

One of the most powerful images from Francis’ pontificate. May God grant him eternal rest.

The “throwaway culture” idea may be the great lesson of his papacy…that we have come to reject anything not immediately useful or appealing to us, including our fellow men, made in the image of God. So many of the darkest trends in our society have this character.

Very good, thoughtful article from Barry Posen arguing that a Ukraine force would lead Europe toward distributing its best forces in penny packets, when it should be concentrating them as a high-mobility, strong response force for the whole continent.

#BREAKING The Israeli Air Force conducted drills on Monday simulating missile and rocket attacks on its bases, the same ones targeted in Iranian air strikes in April and October 2024, a report by כאן חדשות said. "The exercise aims to boost readiness in case Iran-US talks

“Will the next pope be right wing?” Wrong question. Catholicism is nine times older than the left-right paradigm. There’s no way to plot conclave politics on less than twenty different axes, several of which operate on non-physical planes & three of which are about being Italian

In 1969, when he was 32 and about to become a priest, Bergoglio (Pope Francis) wrote this small personal "Creed" he carried in his breviary for the rest of his life. I printed this for my student who entered the Church two days ago on Easter Vigil, not thinking he'd die so soon.

Wow. You need to watch this.

A challenge for my non-religious friends: If you were inspired by the late Pope’s life, try going to a mass at your nearest church. Whether it is a weekday mass or a Sunday mass. Do it if you wish to pray for him. God hears all prayers, even if you’re not Christian.

There was a second, less-noticed resurrection over the weekend: Babak Zanjani, once sentenced to death in an alleged multibillion-dollar corruption scheme, won a government rail contract. sharghdaily.com/%D8%A8%D8%AE%D…

The technical discussions between Iran & the US experts, initially set for Wednesday, has been postponed to Saturday, said #Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman. Talks will coincide with the presence of both delegations’ heads.

New Episode! John Allen Gay and Michael D. Culp spoke with Concerned Veterans for America John Vick about U.S. Middle East and Africa policy and military intelligence careers! Check it out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and iHeart Radio! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joh… iheart.com/podcast/269-se…

I had an awesome chat with John Vick on Security Dilemma, diving into U.S. policy in Africa and the Middle East for my 2nd episode cohosting! Check it out now! #SecurityDilemma

So the internal investigation and firings at DOD stem from...a staffer reporting a hostile media inquiry to the press secretary? What was he supposed to do instead?

Quite a life: nytimes.com/2025/04/22/wor…

How much geopolitical intrigue should we expect in the coming conclave? My impression is it was present in the 20th century and a very big factor in centuries past. But I’m not sure I see an angle for most states today.

Khatami was famously alleged to have interacted with Israeli President Moshe Katsav at Pope St. John Paul II’s funeral. One can imagine a situation in which, say, Pezeshkian ends up in the same crowd as, say, Vance…

We let students/early career US foreign policy professionals suggest panel topics for the annual The John Quincy Adams Society summer conference. So far, interest in Asia (especially China) is about 5x interest in Europe. The Global South is about 4x Europe. This is a politically diverse set, too