Evening Roundup, June 22
Making America sick again, AI wants in on due process, what did Trump just signal to our allies?, The Movement, cartoons, and Coffee with Contrarians ft. Joyce Vance
Spotlight Story
Hot Mic
The Algorithm Said No
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Just before Christmas in 2022, Robert Austin and his young daughter were living in his car in El Paso. He couldn’t find a shelter that would take them both, he turned to the safety net: he applied for food stamps, emergency cash assistance, and Medicaid for his girl.
Foreign Affairs
The Iran Deal’s Real Consequence
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The G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains gave Trump what he likes most: a room of leaders applauding as he signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran. The war had stopped. The Strait of Hormuz was reopening. Markets had calmed.
We have the highest GDP in the world. China is a distant second. Iran is 51st. Israel, with a small population is 26th. Oil rich Saudi Arabia is 19th.
Iran's military is ranked about # 16. We are number 1. Israel is # 15. Saudi Arabia is #21. Hezbollah is widely considered the most powerful heavily armed non-state actor in the world. Its active-duty military force is estimated between 20,000 and 50,000 dedicated fighters, with additional reserves swelling total numbers closer to 100,000.
In Iraq and Afghanisan, we bribed the Shia military to stand down.
Between the EU and the UK, their GDP is about the same as the US. Their orimary antagonist, Russia, has an economy comparable in size to Texas and slightly smaller than New York. California is much larger.
The "deal" between Trump and Iran is really not a treaty. It would be possibe to do an equivalent to the Treaty of Versailles after WWI, but we already have a UN, despite all its flaws. As I type, Teheran is decimated, Iran's "leaders" may/may not have public support, Moscow is burning.
The UN position on the conflict between the United States/Israel and Iran is defined by a dual approach: a demand by the Secretary-General for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a Security Council resolution that formally condemns Iran's retaliatory strikes.
Both the US and Iran jhave blood on their hands and are not interested in a global resolution. Israel and other principals need to be party to any agreement. Teheran is not the capitol of any other country.
So...why doesn't the UN act? I'm so old I remember the Geneva Accords.....