Wednesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Wednesday, April 8, 2026
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31 comments
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About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on
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BlueSky.
Here are the 10 point Iran demands, listed:
“List”
A responsible President of character would find it hard to accede to all this, but instead we have Donald J. Trump. Stay tuned.
(of course, with a normal President, the situation would not exist to begin with).
Not just Israel but the GCC also are not on board:
“Wajeeh Lion”
“Wajeeh Lion”
So. TACO. And once again we are to celebrate the arson for pissing on the conflagration that he started.
@charontwo:
Right. Or to any of the ten demands, with the possible exception of:
1. Guarantee that Iran will not be attacked again. (with crossed fingers behind back)
There needs to be an end to this war, but it’s difficult to see any U.S. objectives (whatever they may be) having been met. Despite the “decimating” of its air force, navy, nuclear program, and ballistic missile capability, Iran is in a stronger position now (as are, to a degree, China and Russia).
@Eusebio:
This deal is premised on the belief that Israel is a U.S. client state that can be forced to go along and the GCC objections can be ignored. I don’t see these beliefs as all that solid.
Spent last evening in a lovely establishment on Inis Mor (Aran Islands) with four locals. Takeaways:
1. The locals on this small island are better informed about US politics than most Americans.
2. As stated in a previous post, they hate Trump. Like real hatred. Their will celebrations all over Ireland when he dies. That’s not speculation. That was said to us more than once.
3. Dublin, Galway, and most large cities and mid-sized towns are currently having protests against high fuel prices. Dublin and Galway are effectively shut down due to tractors blocking every major street. They piled up, parked and have left their trucks and tractors parked in the middle of roads.
4. The locals were kind to us the moment they realized we were not “Red Hat wearers”. If you wear a MAGA hat in Ireland, you will not be treated well. If you associate at all in any way with MAGA, you might be kicked out of the pub you’re in.
5. By American CURRENT standards, both Ireland and Northern w are MUCH MORE woke than the USA. Every restaurant lists allergens for each mean. Our hotels have listed things like “Autism Friendly” and “All Genders Welcomed here”. There are signs everywhere that proclaim “End Racism Now” and “No Room for Racism in Sport”.
Gonna suck coming back to the USA in 10 days. Sad that I feel more at home in certain foreign countries than I do in the place I was born.
Two recommendations for those needing an escape:
Movie: Train Dreams. Quiet, meditative movie about a man’s life of no real consequence. Takes place in early 20th century rural Northwest. I really can’t stop thinking about it and I suspect everyone will come away with a different reaction. It is that kind of movie.
Book: The Wager by David Grann. True story about the disastrous voyage of a British warship (named the Wager) in 1740s. Well researched and documented. But with a propulsive narrative. Harrowing. I’m glad I’m living now and not then.
@charontwo:
And yet here we are. Surely the GCC are now factoring into their deeper thoughts, the apparent unreliability and schizoid expression of American leadership and our penchant for leaving messes.
@Scott: Train Dreams, two thumbs up.
@Rob1:
Loyalty only goes in one direction with Trump. Under Trump, the U.S. cares little regarding any concerns its “allies” have.
Add Israel to that. That’s a lot of “allies” for Trump to ignore.
@EddieInCA:
There are some similarities between the Irish story and the Jewish story. Both have long histories of being oppressed, and both peoples remember their history. The Irish remember that the American door was open when they were starving. The Israelis remember the righteous among the nations. Both arguably handicapped by their respective religions. Both punch way above their weight in the world. Both suffer from proximity to hostile nations.
But one is in Europe and the other is in the Middle East, so the Irish are active in basically every good cause there is – if someone is starving or dying of disease there’s an Irish nurse nearby. And the other country with a similar story became Sparta.
@charontwo:
With any luck, this has at least estranged Trump from Netanyahu.
Prof. Taylor posted this on the Ancient Geeks substack.
quote:
I’ve been saying this for years. And it’s not just Trek. Some other shows do the same, like Ahsoka. though these may be more like elongated movies, as they’re certainly not TNG eps 😉
And there’s more. It’s worth reading the whole thing.
@Michael Reynolds:
Sounds cool, if not for the fact that Sparta sucked ass in pretty much every category you can think of. Even their vaunted military was mediocre at best.
From the series’ conclusion:
Speaking of Sparta, one of my favorite factoids regards the phrase molon labe (“come and take them” – also much beloved by today’s gun nuts).
Wikipedia:
Of course, the Persians won the Battle of Thermopylae. Which means that, in the end, they did come and did take the Spartans’ weapons.
But Sparta bros somehow always omit that pesky little detail.
@drj:
They were better coming up with clever laconisms than fighting wars.
Philip II* threatened them with what he’d do if he invaded Laconia. The Spartans replied “If.”
Phillip invaded and then devastated much of the area.
*Alexander’s dad.
@drj:
I was not implying that Sparta was to be emulated, it was intended as cautionary because of course I actually know all that Spartan history. Sparta works for the purpose of my comment because among the readership are people who believe the common view of Sparta, and there are people who know the detail but also know the common view and would hence, understand what I was writing.
And now it’s being reported that Iran is closing the strait again because Israel attacked Lebanon/Hezbollah after the cease fire.
Netanyahu is a criminal thug who has done more damage to America’s support for Israel and Israel’s future prospects than Iran could ever dream of.
@Just Another Ex-Republican:
It’s likely a bit more complicated than that. That’s a useful spin for Israel bashing though.
@Michael Reynolds:
Admittedly, the comparison is somewhat apt in the sense that it hardly ends well if one abandons one’s civilizing principles in order to become the meanest son of a bitch of the neighborhood.
@charontwo:
Assuming that Iran is able to tell Hezbollah to knock it off for now (which it is), WTF is Israel doing in Lebanon except for dragging the US back into the war?
100 targets hit in 10 minutes: IDF launches largest strike across Lebanon since war began
Right after a cease fire deal has been reached.
@charontwo:
Saudi Arabia and all its rich Gulf neighbors have armed forces of their own. They can continue the war whenever they feel like it.
@charontwo: I have no problems with Israel. I have major problems with its current leadership, just like I do with America’s current leadership. The actions of Trump and Netanyahu have done lasting damage to both countries standing in the world, their future prospects, and both administrations are engaging in morally reprehensible behavior (from ICE and lawfare to Gaza and settler movements). And in fact both Netanyahu and Trump are criminals too.
But sure, pull up the anti-Israel card (hinting at anti-semitism to boot). Surely that helps have an honest conversation.
@Just Another Ex-Republican:
I am aware that Netanyahu has been likely to lose the upcoming election this autumn, and is probably now even more likely to be removed then.
Still, while Netanyahu lacks public support, the Israeli public does support action against Hezbollah. Thus, any conceivable Israeli leader would also continue to take kinetic action against Hezbollah. There is no way Israel would agree to accept tolerating Hezbollah, Netanyahu or no Netanyahu.
From the reporting I have seem, the supposed negotiations are not actually real, just a pretext for Trump to TACO his war crimey ultimatum.
And Iran claims UAE attacked its Lavan island refinery which is now burning, so it’s not just Israel that is not standing down for Trump’s TACO stunt.
@Just Another Ex-Republican:
You have no problems with an apartheid state that has been ethnically cleansing Palestinians to steal the entirely of the West Bank for the Jewish settlers? To say nothing of Gaza, or “mowing the lawn”?
Not a single problem? It’s a country constructed (very poorly) out of the failures of English Imperialism mixed with a desire to solve the “Jewish Problem” in Europe by sending them away. The racism and ethnic supremacy is baked into the country.
(I support a new Jewish homeland in either one of the Dakotas (we have a spare) or Wyoming, or any of our other empty states. We can move some topsoil if they want to keep their land given to them by their god or whatever — if the wire around Manhattan works to keep everyone indoors or whatever, then some topsoil will be good enough that they can say their are keeping the land)
@Gustopher: I would again say that Gaza, as well as their “mowing the lawn” approach and the apartheid state they are creating (with more than a whiff of ethnic cleansing to boot, as you said and I agree) is once again the fault of the current leadership rather than all of Israel. I don’t hate all my fellow Americans or my country even though we as a nation were dumb enough to elect Trump twice (for the record I never voted for him and actively campaigned against all 3 of his runs), and as a nation deserve the consequences of doing so.
Really I don’t really get into any state’s “right to exist” or hate countries in total. I try to limit my hate and disdain to specific people (Trump, Netanyahu, and Stephen Miller leap to mind) and, in some cases, movements/groups like, say, Hezbollah, the IRGC, or the Settler movement. I rather firmly believe that most people are just people trying to get along with their lives the best they can. Most of the evil in the world is done by a relatively small percentage of assholes who are both loud and somehow granted or seize power they shouldn’t have and get away with abuses because its so hard for the mass of relatively decent folks to do anything about it, especially because “doing something” entails some level of personal risk not only to themselves, but to their loved ones.
Your explanation of Israel’s creation is a bit disengenous, I think. While I don’t disagree with your claims not including that it was created in response to the world’s guilt in letting 6 million of them get exterminated leaves out a rather important, one might even say overwhelming, factor.
Frustrating thread. My initial conversation specifically named Netanyahu as hurting Israel, which led to criticism of me for Israel bashing, and when I tried to say I wasn’t bashing Israel I get challenged from the other side that I’m not critical enough. I should probably just return to my normal browsing and not comment.
@Just Another Ex-Republican:
Isn’t arguing about disagreements good for clarifying thinking?
@Just Another Ex-Republican:
Bibi’s been elected more than three times.
I just can’t give a pass to the voters of a nation that keep a bad leader in power for that long. Not as long as the elections are free, which in Israel and the US have been until now.
I’m currently reading The Good Virus, by Tom Ireland. It’s about bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria.
The author advocates their use as treatment for infection, though right now he’s telling the story of the biologist who did the earliest R&D on them, beginning in 1917.
What I find astonishing is people could manipulate and produce viruses, without 1) knowing what viruses are, or even 2) being able to see one. they made vials of clear fluid that killed bacterial cultures, by the simple expedient of filtering out everything else. No wonder some biologists believed viruses to be some kind of liquid…
@Scott: Have to ask if that book covered the rest of Anson fleet’s horrific odyssey around the world. On a par with Magellan’s, only about 17% of the crews who started lived to see the end, and yet it is still deemed a “success”. The tale of the Wager is just the tip of the iceberg.
Jim Whittaker, mountaineer has passed in his late 90s, 1st American to summit Mt Everest (kiwi got there first). Also REI CEO (not called that then, CEO?) https://www.rei.com/blog/climb/jim-whittaker-everest-legend.