Not a good decision. It is at times like these that counterbalancing narratives are needed on this platform. Why cede public spaces?

Australia has become a net exporter of failed bans, from vaping to U-18 internet use which again is impossible to implement and sets a dangerous precedent for absolute state intervention in digital freedom. theguardian.com/uk-news/2026…

Russia and the US fell into the same trap. Both powers projected their own centralised structures onto smaller nations like Ukraine and Iran resulting in brutal quagmires. nytimes.com/2026/06/14/world…

A US-Iran deal won't change the reality of this war, which is that a small nation of 90 million people rocked the global economy and now forever holds that card, became a new hegemon of ME and ended 47 years of obscurity to gain a seat on the world stage.

Until the text of the US-Iran deal is signed and released, there is going to be a lot of spin on both sides. But here is my initial take. This war was a mistake, and it needs to end. The President thought that the Iranian regime would collapse quickly, but it did not. In fact, it has been strengthened strategically by its survival against a heavy US-Israeli assault and carrying out some effective counterstrikes. Many countries in the region are now courting Iran and looking to deescalate and rebuild ties. A sign of which way the wind is blowing. Getting the Strait of Hormuz open is the most important outcome of this MOU. Of course, the Strait was open before the war. Now we are paying to reopen it with sanctions relief. Iran has taken a theoretical point of leverage and turned it into a very real and powerful one, imposing costs across the global economy and rattling President Trump. As for the nuclear issues, there really is no agreement, other than to negotiate over the HEU stockpile and an enrichment moratorium. Iran knows how to drag out those negotiations, and try to pocket concessions along the way. It is possible that no deal will every be reached, and very likely that if one is reached, it will be worse than what we could have achieved through diplomacy before the war. Iran is not likely to take seriously that the US would return to war, certainly before the US midterms. So that means we will be conducting diplomacy without a credible threat of force. If any agreement ultimately reached actually safely puts Iran's nuclear ambitions out of reach, I'll acknowledge it. It's just too early to make that judgment. Trump is mainly focused on comparing his deal favorably to the JCPOA. But we are a long way from being able to make that comparison, and it may end up no better, or weaker than that deal. But in some ways, Trump's deal and the JCPOA are already similar. Nothing on ballistic missiles, nothing on proxies, nothing on weakening the regime or helping the Iranian people. And plenty of sanctions relief that will strengthen the regime, and be poured into the missile program and proxy network. Honest critics of the JCPOA will not twist themselves into pretzels to defend Trump's approach. Israelis are deeply disappointed in this outcome, but they should not be surprised. After some initial overlap of Trump's and Netanyahu's interests, there was a strong divergence. The United States needed this war to end. Netanyahu wanted to continue. Trump's claim to include Lebanon in the ceasefire and his harsh shutting down Israeli attacks on Hezbollah is also a win for Iran. After the JCPOA was signed, Obama and Netanyahu worked together to strengthen Israel's campaign of strikes in Syria to intercept Iranian weapons shipments to Hezbollah in Lebanon. So let's hope we see the removal of Iran's enriched uranium and a long-term suspension of enrichment, with full verification. But to achieve those goals, Trump's team is going to need to engage in far more sophisticated diplomacy, backed by qualified experts, than they have to date. If it is a phase one splash with no follow-up on implementation of later phases, like in Gaza, we will be much worse off after, and because of, this war.

Elon Musk's $1.1T wealth is more than 170 of the world's 195 nations. #SpaceX

What won't authoritarians do to stay in power. At least in South Korea's case, democratic guardrails held and Yoon was jailed for 30 years.

Attacking California's water infrastructure over US strikes in Iran is a new asymmetric playbook. Vulnerable local grids are now the frontlines. middleeasteye.net/live-blog/…

Shut out of SpaceX's massive IPO, Asian capital is flooding the entire space supply chain instead. And ETFs tracking the sector are exploding. Wall Street's exclusivity is accidentally funding a global space boom. scmp.com/news/asia/article/3…

TACO Trump has cancelled his strikes on Iran, in a huge surprise to nobody.

US agency NOAA has declared El Niño has officially begun. Many forecasts suggest it could be the strongest ever recorded. The strongest one before this, in 1877, killed more people than WWI. bbc.com/news/articles/c75ylx…

India is facing its worst heat crisis. Should have concrete policies in place before going all in on data centres which raise local temp by over 2C. aje.news/qgl094

After the US government put a health warning on IARC's low quality research, @zaruk wonders what a post-IARC world will look like. Less fear, ignorance or useless lawsuits It will be better and no one will notice when the cancer agency crawls into oblivion thefirebreak.org/p/welcoming…

NFHS data shows despite ban on booze, Biharis are drinking more. Worse, they're drinking illicit alcohol. Same with gutka ban (6-fold rise in a decade). Time govt understands prohibition is not the magic bullet.

Smart. Reuters and Time are joining The Atlantic and People Inc. in blocking unauthorised AI bots. By shifting to "allow lists", they’re reclaiming content value, forcing licensing deals and cutting infrastructure costs from wasteful bot traffic. digiday.com/media/reuters-an…

10 years too late but the US government now identifies IARC as a rogue research institution and conclude their monographs have no value They also need to deny public funding to all Ramazzini fellows (next step). I think they read Nathan Schachtman's paper! state.gov/releases/office-of…

SC should close the two-thirds loophole in the anti-defection law as it goes against the spirit of the law and favours bigger parties. The MPs should resign and contest their seats again. #TMC

Thailand's pragmatic response to aid drying up: induct Myanmar refugees into its formal economy. Template for India too. thefinancialexpress.com.bd/w…

For the first time in two decades of polling, more Americans sympathize with Palestinians (41%) than Israelis (36%), a reversal from 55% to 26% in Israel’s favor before to the October 7th attacks. Even 57% of Republicans aged 18 to 49 now disfavor Israel.trib.al/dcUq28Q

US unipolarity is giving way to regional actors dictating conflict resolution – Ukraine is turning to France, Germany and the UK for peace talks, while Iran is directly using hard power against Israel to safeguard Lebanon.

Substack isn’t the gold rush many imagine. A few stars thrive, most grind for scraps. This Poynter piece shows what the creator economy really looks like. poynter.org/business-work/20…