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"Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are such tiny countries that if Russia wished to take a bite out of them, as it took bites out of Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 and 2022, it would simply swallow them whole." theatlantic.com/international/…

Mark Twain was gullible, emotionally immature, and prone to shoveling money into scams, Graeme Wood writes. Ron Chernow’s new biography of the writer reveals a man whose life was far less funny than his work. theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

Mark Twain was gullible, emotionally immature, and prone to shoveling money into scams, Graeme Wood writes. Ron Chernow’s new biography of the writer reveals a man whose life was far less funny than his work. theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

“A quirk in the German law about banning political parties states that a party can’t be banned unless it is actually strong enough to threaten German democracy. The AfD is a force of that magnitude: too big to ban and too big not to,” Graeme Wood writes: theatlantic.com/international/…

Last week, Germany arrested Peter Fitzek, 59, an anti-government figure also known as King Peter I. Graeme Wood spoke with him about why he built a counter-state disconnected from the rest of the country, and his frustration with modern bureaucracies. theatlantic.com/international/…

"Historically, attempts to arrest messiahs have met with mixed results, so to stay on the safe side, the Interior Ministry not only rolled up Fitzek and three conspirators but also shut down his whole operation, known as the Kingdom of Germany." theatlantic.com/international/…

A deal for the release of Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian academic kidnapped nearly two years ago in #Iraq, will be carried out in around a week, according to a pro-#Iran regime militia news network. 1/2 timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry…

The book you are looking for is always next to the book you are looking for

.Graeme Wood’s Atlantic review of Ron Chernow’s Mark Twain book is the type of article that makes you think maybe I can make time to read a 1,200 page biography.

As Iran’s deterrence eroded, the risks of conflict climbed, Graeme Wood writes. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

"This lineup of eager denouncers is like the cast of a drawing-room murder mystery, where everyone is a suspect because everyone has a motive." Indispensable commentary from Graeme Wood theatlantic.com/international/…

“Almost all of the countries around Iran have reason to prefer a weak Iran and dread a nuclear one.” Graeme Wood theatlantic.com/international/…

On the timing of Israel’s attack: theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

An odd exhibit in Mashhad at the museum adjoining the sacred tomb of Reza: ‘a sculpture depicted two hands emerging from a map of Iran, triumphantly clutching a glass ampule filled with highly enriched uranium. Below it, were small labeled samples from the nuclear-fuel cycle’

No love for IRIB or Iranian state media, but justifying the targeting of media outlets for broadcasting abhorrent sentiments and/or propaganda sets bad, slippery precedents. The line should always be clear: it is crossed if a journalist picks up arms and becomes a combatant.

Really worth reading Cullen Murphy’s lovely remembrance of William Langewiesche, who lived several lifetimes in just 70 years but still died too young. Then, of course, you have to read Langewiesche himself… 🧵 theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

Iran's practice of prolonged pressure, staying a smidge under the threshold of renewed hostility, is meant to persuade its adversaries to leave the region out of sheer stress and weariness. Ironically, Trump’s foreign policy is proof that this strategy is effective—or was until

It's hard to avoid recalling this passage from the English historian Tony Judt: