Saturday, May 9, 2026

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United States

Tennessee Passes a New Congressional Map; Protests Erupt at Capitol

The Republican-controlled legislature ended a three-day special session Thursday by approving a map that fragments Memphis, the state's lone majority-Black congressional district, into three districts and that Republicans expect will deliver a 9-0 GOP delegation in 2026. Democratic lawmakers walked off the floor, troopers arrested protesters who tried to reach the chamber, and litigation under the new Callais standard is expected to begin within days.

6 min read

World

Iran's New Supreme Leader Is Still the IRGC's Man. That Shapes What Washington Can Negotiate.

Mojtaba Khamenei was installed in March under Revolutionary Guard pressure rather than clerical consensus, and his first major public appearance outside Tehran on May 1 underlined a political reality that should be central to American strategy: the man Witkoff is negotiating with through the Omani channel cannot accept terms the Guards consider concessions, which constrains both what is achievable in Muscat and what the United States should expect from any agreement that emerges.

5 min read

Opinion

The Forever War Trap

The Iran air campaign was a genuine American success: short, decisive, and clearly bounded. The blockade that followed it may produce the diplomatic outcome the administration is seeking, and it may not. Conservatives who voted to end forever wars should be watching for the warning signs that distinguish purposeful pressure from the kind of drift that has snared previous administrations of both parties.

8 min read

Economy

The Fed Holds Rates Again. Powell: 'We Cannot Forecast Through a War.'

The Federal Open Market Committee voted 11-1 Tuesday to keep the federal funds rate at 4.50 to 4.75 percent for the third consecutive meeting, with the new Summary of Economic Projections showing a dot plot scattered across one, two, and zero cuts for the remainder of 2026 and Chair Jerome Powell using his press conference to articulate the most direct admission of monetary policy's limits during a geopolitical shock that any Fed chair has offered since Paul Volcker.

7 min read

Witkoff Is in Muscat for the Third Round of Iran Talks

What the Iran War Has Taught About American Industrial Capacity

World

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Oman Steps Forward as the Mediator Both Sides Will Trust

Sultan Haitham bin Tariq personally invited Vice President Vance and Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi to Muscat after the Islamabad track collapsed, reviving the back channel that produced the 2013 nuclear opening and offering the only diplomatic address that both Tehran and Washington have historically been willing to use.

April 28, 2026 · 6 min read

United States

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Treasury Names Six Chinese Banks in New Iran Sanctions Round

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated three regional Chinese banks and three Hong Kong-based trade-finance houses Monday for processing roughly $4 billion in payments tied to Iranian oil exports during the first quarter, the most direct sanctions confrontation with Beijing since the Iran war began and a calibrated test of how far the Treasury can press without triggering the kind of Chinese retaliation that derails broader administration objectives in the Pacific.

April 27, 2026 · 5 min read

Defense and Security

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Russia Vetoes the UN Resolution on Hormuz Freedom of Navigation. China Abstains.

The Security Council split 13-1-1 on a U.S.-British text affirming international rights of transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a result that delivered the expected Russian veto but produced the more interesting story in Beijing's decision not to join Moscow on a resolution targeted directly at American policy.

April 29, 2026 · 5 min read

Economy

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Oil Hits $112 as Asian Markets Open to a Collapsed Negotiation

Brent crude jumped almost 6 percent in the first hour of Sunday-night Singapore trading after the Islamabad talks fell apart, erasing two weeks of tentative relief and forcing Asian importers, particularly the Chinese refiners that take roughly 1.4 million Iranian barrels a day, to reckon with a war premium that no longer has a near-term path to dissipating.

April 26, 2026 · 4 min read

Analysis

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The Islamabad Talks Will Reveal Whether America Has a Theory of Peace

Vance, Witkoff, and Kushner fly to Pakistan on Saturday to negotiate with Iran. The military campaign destroyed Iran's nuclear program and shattered its military. Whether the Trump administration can convert that leverage into a durable settlement is the test that begins in Islamabad.

April 8, 2026 · 5 min read

Opinion

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