In the late hours of Saturday night 170 drones, 120 ballistic missiles, and 30 cruise missiles barreled toward Israel. It was a direct and unprecedented strike on Israel from Iran.
Extraordinarily, Israel—with the help of the Americans, the British, the French, and even the Jordanians and the Saudis—were able to intercept 99 percent of the missiles.
Iran said the attack was a response to Israel’s hit on a consular building in Syria earlier this month that killed high-ranking Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders. Many analysts and journalists have also framed the attack the way Iran had: as a “retaliatory strike.”
But it’s a strange way to describe the historic onslaught considering Iran’s war of aggression since October 7. After all, it was Iran that trained and armed Hamas to come and butcher 1,200 Israelis. It was Iran that trained and armed Hezbollah, whose attacks on northern Israeli communities have kept tens of thousands from their homes.
Free Press columnist Matti Friedman nailed it when he wrote that this weekend’s attack was Iran coming out of the shadows for the first time: “like a flash going off in a dark room, the attack has finally given the world something valuable: a glimpse of the real war in the Middle East.”
Walter Russell Mead wrote on Twitter Saturday night: “By any reasonable standard, a state of war now exists between the State of Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The questions now are how fast and how far does it escalate, who will be drawn in, and who will win.”
Today, Michael Moynihan speaks with Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States about these questions—and what comes next in this unprecedented moment in history.
While the U.S. was instrumental in helping Israel defend itself over the weekend, Biden has been clear with Israel: he does not want Israel to respond. He is reported to have said to Netanyahu, “You got a win. Take the win.” But if Israel doesn’t respond, will that only embolden Iran further? Isn’t that the sort of appeasement that got us here in the first place? And if Israel is compelled to respond for the sake of its country, can it do so without American support?
As Michael Oren wrote for The Free Press: “The story of America can end only one of two ways: either it stands up boldly against Iran and joins Israel in deterring it, or Iran emerges from this conflict once again unpunished, undiminished, and ready to inflict yet more devastating damage.”
In this episode, Rivers and Sam are hangin' out at Disgraceland with one of our all-time favorite guests, comedian Ed Greer! We kick this one off by talking about the brand new, hilarious Gettysburg Address that was recently delivered by a certain ex-president. We also talk about the rapping son of 80s icon Cyndi Lauper and the chaos he's currently unleashing on the streets of New York's financial district. We test out an energy drink made by another rich white rapping child from the tri-state area. We also discuss a Moldovan sword swallower who's creating controversy in the evangelical world and the B-52's "Love Shack" is our JAM OF THE WEEK! Tune in now, y'all! Follow Ed on all forms of social media @EdGreerDestroys and listen to his AMAZING podcast, "The Greatest Pod" which is available in all the familiar podcast places. Follow our show on Twitter @TheGoodsPod. Rivers is @RiversLangley Sam is @SlamHarter Carter is @Carter_Glascock Subscribe on Patreon for HOURS of bonus content! http://patreon.com/TheGoodsPod Pick up a Goods from the Woods t-shirt at: http://prowrestlingtees.com/TheGoodsPod
Sixteenth-century Spain was small, poor, disunited and sparsely populated. Yet the Spaniards and their allies built the largest empire the world had ever seen. How did they achieve this?
In How the Spanish Empire Was Built: a 400-year History(Reaktion, 2024) Dr. Felipe Fernández-Armesto and Dr. Manuel Lucena Giraldo argue that Spain’s engineers were critical to this venture. The Spanish invested in infrastructure to the advantage of local power brokers, enhancing the abilities of incumbent elites to grow wealthy on trade and widening the arc of Spanish influence.
Bringing to life stories of engineers, prospectors, soldiers and priests, the authors paint a vivid portrait of Spanish America in the age of conquest. This is a dazzling new history of the Spanish Empire, and a new understanding of empire itself, as a venture marked as much by collaboration as oppression.
This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.
We'll bring you the key takeaways from the first day of former President Trump's historic criminal trial.
Also, we'll explain the Supreme Court's decision about a controversial law regulating transgender medical care.
And we'll tell you why workplaces might have to start supporting employees who want abortions.
Plus, how ocean temperatures are impacting wildlife, which WNBA team is already seeing the Caitlin Clark effect take hold, and where sweet tooths can get unlimited free ice cream cones today.
Those stories and more news to know in about 10 minutes!
The Supreme Court hears arguments today in a major case related to the January 6th Insurrection that has the potential to undo some of the charges former President Donald Trump faces. The case looks at whether the Justice Department was right to charge some of the people who stormed the Capitol that day with the crime of obstructing an official proceeding. The case has the potential to upend hundreds of prosecutions tied to the riot, and knock out two of the four charges Trump is facing in his federal insurrection case. Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s legal podcast ‘Strict Scrutiny,’ breaks down the case for us.
And in headlines: Jury selection began in Trump’s Manhattan criminal hush-money trial, the FBI announced it’s conducting a criminal investigation into the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, and our favorite NCAA stars are headed to the WNBA after yesterday’s draft.
Israeli leaders say the nation will respond to Iran’s weekend attack, but what that response will entail remains unclear.
“I can see a number of scenarios in which this does escalate to a regional and potentially even a global conflict,” says a former member of the National Security Council, Robert Greenway, adding, “I can see fewer ways in which we prevent that from occurring.”
Over the weekend, Iran launched about 300 drones and missiles at Israel. Unlike other attacks, this was not carried out by proxy terrorist groups in the region, but the nation of Iran itself.
If a larger conflict in the Middle East is to be avoided, says Greenway, who also serves as director of the Center for National Defense at The Heritage Foundation, the U.S. will need “to radically alter its policy and approach toward Iran and Israel.” (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)
U.S. policy changes toward Iran should include “to deny it the resources necessary, and to restore deterrence, with the support of Israel and our partners and allies,” Greenway says.
Greenway joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain what options Israel has as it considered retaliation against Iran, and how U.S. Middle East foreign policy is affecting the conflict.
