So yes, as we said last night, this was a pretty big deal. This is not my subject area. So I will spare you any unrooted commentary. I’ll share one thing. In all the conversations I’ve had over the years with people who do know about Iran they stress one thing: for decades, Iran’s core defense doctrine has been to maximize its strategic reach and deterrence as much as possible without getting into a conventional war with the U.S. That’s clear in the use of proxy militias across the region. It’s clear in the ways Iran has antagonized the U.S. but only up to a point while it occupied its two immediate neighboring states, Iraq and Afghanistan.
JoinWe now have apparent confirmation that the U.S. mounted a retaliatory raid on a convoy in Iraq (unclear whether it’s a drone attack or missiles) that killed a leader of the Iraqi militia that menaced the U.S. Embassy and critically also killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. There is apparent confirmation of Soleimani’s death on Iraqi TV. I don’t believe we have clear confirmation that this was a U.S. strike. But it’s hard to know who else would be in any position to have done it. It’s a chaotic and developing story. Perhaps new reports will change the picture. But it seems pretty clear that Soleimani is dead.
I hesitate to comment more than simply to say that this is a massive, massive escalation of the confrontation between the U.S. and Iran. Soleimani is a very important figure in Iran. People will disagree about the wisdom of this action or its eventual consequences. But this is a big, big deal — a pandora’s box type escalation with consequences that are hard to predict.
I want to recommend a new publication to you. TPM alum Nick Martin is starting a new email-based publication focused exclusively on hate groups and extremism in the U.S. — militias, white nationalist groups, neo-Nazis, et al. This is well-trodden terrain for TPM, as you know if you’re a regular reader. But I don’t know anyone who knows the subject better or is more dedicated to the beat than Nick. It’s called The Informant and it launches next Monday, Jan. 6. If you’re interested, you can sign up for it now at this link.
If you’ve observed or been engaged in the debate over The New York Times’ “1619 Project,” I have a book I want to recommend to you. It’s not about that specific debate at all, not about slavery or the Civil War or American history, at least not directly. It’s called That Noble Dream: The ‘Objectivity Question’ and the American Historical Profession. I was reminded of it today for a totally random reason — a quote from deep in the book by the late historian of slavery Eugene Genovese.
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Over the holidays the Times ran a Ukraine scandal story which mainly stitched together the broader storyline but also broke some significant news. In late August the Secretaries of Defense and State and the National Security Advisor met together with the President in the Oval Office to try to persuade him to release the contested military aid to Ukraine. This news only confirms what has always been the most ominous dimension of the Ukraine scandal.
JoinHappy New Year, folks!
So several people wrote in yesterday to say that, like many others, I had erred in saying that yesterday was the last decade of a whole decade. Technically, this is incorrect. In practice, it is correct. As I asked one reader, do you think 1980 was a year in the seventies or the eighties? I rest my case. Have a wonderful day, everyone.
We’ve come down to the final day of 2019 and the last day of the second decade of the 21st century. At TPM this was a challenging year – a lot of change, negotiating our first collective bargaining agreement, some substantial management reorganization of how the operation runs and a lot of grinding work (batting out single after single) to secure the financial basis of the organization.
But it was also a good year, really a very good year. Because we managed to accomplish the key things we needed to accomplish, which is really all that matters. Indeed, key accomplishments were ones that not only worked for us this year but laid the groundwork for vitality for years to come.
Lev Parnas is a crook and (one imagines) a liar. But there’s little doubt he did things, witnessed things and knows about things that are highly relevant both to the upcoming impeachment trial and the actions and criminal activity of Rudy Giuliani and President Trump. It is also highly, highly likely that his electronic devices contain evidence that can confirm a significant amount of that and put it beyond Parnas’ say-so, which is of limited value. So Parnas’s efforts to share these records with the House is one of many reasons why President Trump, Mitch McConnell and basically all Republicans want a Senate whitewash trial absolutely as soon as possible.
It’s the lucky 13th anniversary of the Golden Duke Awards. And the winners are in!
We return with an especially august panel of judges for 2019: Erin Ryan, Talia Lavin, Susie Bright, Jeet Heer, Jim Newell. And in a new innovation, 2,477 TPM members have cast their ballots for a new Members’ Choice award. Big surprise for 2019: Members voted overwhelmingly (59.7%) for President Trump and his shakedown of Ukraine for Best Scandal General Interest. But, surprisingly, the Golden Duke actually went to Duncan Hunter, the now disgraced, soon to be resigned and inevitably to be incarcerated crooked bro-rep from Greater San Diego. So that and many other surprises which you can read here in the results announcement.
The latest news about the attack on a Rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York is that the alleged assailant, Grafton Thomas has, according to his family and lawyer, no known history of ties to hate groups and a long history of schizophrenia. If we take those claims at face value that puts the incident in a somewhat different light and suggests the possibility that the attack was the product of delusion or psychosis more than ideology or bias. But even if we assume all this, it’s probably wrong not to see the connection to the mass shooting in Jersey City early this month and the string of anti-Jewish attacks over the last week.
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