Geopolitics and Security
International affairs, wars, militaries, intelligence, and diplomacy, including Israel's wars and external security.
#5496: Taking Down Jerusalem's 7km Border, Street by Street
Barbed wire, minefields, and a wax-pencil line: how Jerusalem's seven-kilometre border was physically torn down after 1967.
#5495: Musrara: Growing Up on Jerusalem's Pencil-Drawn Border
How a border drawn with wax pencils in 1948 split Musrara's homes in two — and shaped the neighborhood that raised the Israeli Black Panthers.
#5479: Why Number Porting Takes 30 Minutes
Routing a ported number takes milliseconds. So why does the SIM swap take hours? We trace the signalling behind "keep your number.
#5445: Israel's Periphery: Why It's Not About Distance
What "peripheria" really means in Israel — and why a $10B Intel fab sits in a town that still tops unemployment.
#5441: Dollar Plumbing: Why Bessent's Iran Threat Has Teeth
One line from Treasury can ground an airline worldwide. The reason lives in New York's clearing houses, not the currency itself.
#5440: What Does a Space Force Actually Do All Day?
Rockets get the coverage, but the real work happens at consoles on the ground. What 15,000 Guardians actually do.
#5439: Life at 76 Degrees North: Inside Pituffik Space Base
A few hundred people, four months of darkness, and a $100M-a-year mission on thawing permafrost.
#5377: Is the U.S.-Israel Split a Blip or a Realignment?
Gallup's 2026 first-ever Palestinian sympathy lead isn't a flip toward Palestinians — it's a decade-long collapse in support for Israel.
#5357: Pan-Arabism, the Umma, and Why the Arab League Can't Enforce Anything
What pan-Arabism actually claims, why it isn't the umma, and why 22 members can't stop sanctioning each other.
#5348: Greenland's 56,000 People, Two Big Powers, and One Vague Deal
85% of Greenlanders oppose joining the U.S. — yet Washington and Copenhagen are about to sign a security deal about their island.
#5347: What "On the Sidelines" Actually Means in Diplomacy
A "sidelines" meeting sounds casual. It's actually a fully scripted format with its own rules — and the Greenland signing shows why the label matters.
#5346: Why the UN's Biggest Week Is All About the Sidelines
The UN General Assembly meets year-round — so why do heads of state fly in for one frenzied week each September?
#5338: Iran Is Rebuilding Parchin. Again.
Satellite imagery shows Iran rebuilding the Taleghan Two site at Parchin for the second time in 18 months — this time under a tarp.
#5315: What It's Like Living Next Door to a Prime Minister
Motorcades, megaphones at 5:30 a.m., and a three-meter wall — what neighbors of heads of state actually endure.
#5314: Private Cyber Skills vs. Government Ops
What actually changes when a cybersecurity operator crosses from protecting a company to protecting a state?
#5310: Who's Actually Allowed Into North Korea?
North Korea keeps no public visitor statistics — so who actually gets in, and why have the diplomats who lived there said almost nothing?
#5302: Grass, Road, or Water: Where Does a Crippled Jet Land?
An A320 is in trouble with three options left: a grass runway, a road with traffic, or open water. The data on which one crews actually pick.
#5298: The Mountain, the Message: Nuclear Tests as Diplomacy
Nine states. Two thousand detonations. Why a nuclear test is often a sentence in a conversation, not a lab result.
#5296: What North Korea's Borders Actually Look Like
Sixty-three defectors reached South Korea this year — every one through a third country. Here's what the DMZ, China, Russia, and sea routes really ...
#5295: North Korean Banquets: What's Actually Served
North Korea's state banquets are elaborate, plentiful — and often described as bland. What's really on the table?