"Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth have re-injected toughness into their military ads, abandoning the woke vision of the Joe Biden administration".
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
The Cuomo Comeback Is Dead — And So Might Be the Old Democratic Party
"We’ve long known that young women are the emotional beating heart of today’s Democrat party. We also know that, while minority voters are shifting to support for Trump (no surprise, given that Democrat policies have made their lives significantly worse), more affluent, college-educated white voters remain loyal.
"That same trend showed itself in the ranked-choice voting that put Mamdani over the top:"...
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| Ever notice those young, female voices at leftist rallies? |
How bad is Zohran Mamdani for New York? Let us count the ways "Mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani wants to spend $65 million in taxpayer funds on transgender treatment — including for minors — if he’s elected to lead New York City.
"The Queens assemblyman, who is locked in a close race with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, says on his campaign website that the money would be funneled to public providers to help transgender New Yorkers." . . .
He has pushed for city-run food stores that would cost about $60 million, as well as free buses ($900 million) and child care (at least $5 billion).. . .
"The lefty lawmaker also wants to create a new department of public safety that would cost around $450 million."He claims the pricey endeavors would be paid for by spiking corporate taxes from 7.25% to a steep 11.5% and placing a 2% flat tax on the wealthy."That plan would require the approval of the state Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has vowed not to raise taxes — warning that doing so would help fuel an exodus of New Yorkers to states such as Florida." . . .
NYC mayoral primary delivers worst of all possible outcomes with Zohran Mamdani . . . "He rose by capturing the imagination and expressing the grievances of young people who feel they are being priced out of New York.
"He was up against a large, lackluster field and delivered a strong social media presence where he often seemed to be having fun.
"He said from the beginning his campaign was about affordability, and he’s right — but not in the way he intended."It’s that the city cannot afford his ideas.
"Similarly, his refusal to acknowledge that Israel is the rightful homeland of Jews is a key plank in what can fairly be deemed a hostile view of the lone Jewish state.
"He supports the BDS movement and refuses to condemn the “Globalize the intifada” movement, which is about targeting Jews around the world.
"On the way to his stunning victory, Mamdani has put a dagger in the political career of Andrew Cuomo, whose results so far have dramatically underperformed expectations and poll predictions." . . .
"Andrew Cuomo’s political comeback is officially dead. The former New York governor conceded Tuesday’s Democratic primary for New York City mayor to Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist who rose a wave of far-left energy to victory. The message from Democrat voters was loud and clear: the old guard is no longer welcome.
"Cuomo’s loss isn’t just about one race in one city; it is a warning sign for Democrats nationwide. It proves the deep rift within the party has only widened since their disastrous 2024 presidential bid, when party leaders pushed Joe Biden out of the race and hastily elevated Kamala Harris as their replacement candidate. That chaos left behind a party fractured between two very different visions for the future, and Mamdani’s win is just the latest skirmish in an ongoing civil war.
"On one side is the activist Left, which is young, aggressive, and unapologetically ideological. These are the voters and organizers who idolize Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, chant for climate revolution, and see American capitalism itself as the enemy. They want change, not compromise. Zohran Mamdani, backed by a slate of progressive celebrities and campaigners, is one of their rising stars. He comes across to his constituents as a true believer.
"On the other side is the Democrat establishment — people like Cuomo, Harris, and Nancy Pelosi — who still think political power comes from working deals in backrooms and courting donors at cocktail parties. They’re increasingly out of step with their party’s base, and Cuomo’s defeat reaffirmed that. He didn’t just suffer a surprising loss; he got trampled by a woke movement that sees him as a symbol of everything wrong with politics: ambition without belief and power without principle." . . .
They were Israel's 'eyes on the border' - but their Hamas warnings went unheard
"As Hamas attacked, the women at Nahal Oz, a base about a kilometre from the Gaza border, began to say goodbye to one another on their shared WhatsApp group."
"Israel's military has published its first official account of the mistakes that led to its failures during Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack, which triggered the Gaza war.
"The report concludes that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "failed in its mission to protect Israeli civilians".
"The 19-page report contains much that is already known about what led to catastrophic loss of about 1,200 lives when approximately 5,000 gunmen from Hamas and other Palestinian groups stormed into Israel, also taking 251 hostages in the process.
"There are no dramatic revelations, but it is still sobering to see the military's conclusions about how it misjudged Hamas's intentions and underestimated its capabilities laid out in black and white.
How Hamas built a force to attack Israel on 7 October
"The report says the military regarded Gaza as a secondary security threat, with priority given to Iran and Hezbollah. Its policy towards Gaza, it says, was "paradoxical: Hamas was illegitimate, yet there was no effort to develop an alternative".
"The military had chosen a "conflict management" approach to dealing with Gaza, it says. And had assumed that Hamas was "neither interested [in] nor preparing for a large-scale war" - a perception reinforced by Hamas's own deception tactics.
"Evidence from 2018 onwards suggesting that Hamas - which is proscribed as a terrorist group by Israel, the US, UK and other countries - was indeed developing an ambitious plan was interpreted as "unrealistic or unfeasible", reflecting "Hamas's long-term aspirations rather than an actionable threat".
"The report says that in the months leading up to the war, the Military Intelligence Directorate began to develop a new assessment, suggesting that Hamas's plan was not merely a vision but "a concrete framework for operational planning".
"However, this emerging assessment was not brought to the attention of senior officials in military intelligence." . . .
. . . "These women were not the only ones raising the alarm, and as more testimony is gathered, anger at the Israeli state - and questions over its response - are mounting.
"The BBC has spoken also to the grieving families who have now lost their daughters, and to experts who see the IDF's response to these women as part of a broader intelligence failure. The IDF said it was "currently focused on eliminating the threat from the terrorist organisation Hamas" and declined to answer the BBC's questions.
" 'The problem is that they [the military] didn't connect the dots," a former commander at one of the border units tells the BBC.
"If they had, she says, they would have realised that Hamas was preparing something unprecedented." . . .
Accounts of survivors of the intense battle that took place at the Nahal Oz base on October 7th provide a chilling glimpse into the realities faced by those on the front lines
Damaged or destroyed - how much does leaked US report on Iran's nuclear sites tell us?
"The site of Fordo is probably the most spied-on place on the planet.
"Western intelligence first went public in 2009 that it was home to a secret nuclear facility and now understanding the damage done by US strikes will be vital in determining where the conflict goes next.
"A leaked Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessment has suggested the core components of Iran's nuclear programme have not been destroyed and the strikes only set back Iran's efforts by months rather than years.
"But that is only an initial assessment and labelled as "low confidence" – the tag comes because it is early days in trying to understand what happened at a place which is deliberately hidden from prying eyes." . . .
. . ."Even so, the centrifuge machines, which spin at high speeds to enrich uranium, are highly sensitive which means the explosion will likely have crashed many of them by sending them spinning off their axis.
"Developing a clearer picture of the damage will require other forms of intelligence – ranging from seismic detectors which can analyse the depth and magnitude of underground explosions (also used to understand earthquakes), sniffers to look for radiation (which international inspectors say they have not seen), and sensors like LIDAR (light detection and ranging) which can provide 3D maps using laser pulses from aircraft or drones to try and look inside the mountain.
"Informers and intercepted communications will also be vital as they may reveal Iranians discussing the damage and its implications. All of that will be constantly updated to provide the final assessment with a higher degree of confidence.
"And even if the sites like Fordo were dealt serious damage and made unusable for the moment, as US officials have claimed, that is different from saying it is the end of Iran's overall programme. That is because it could be reconstituted at new sites.
"A fleet of lorries was seen at Fordo just before the attack and the crucial question is what they were moving and where it has gone." . . . Much more here.
30,000-lb Bunker Buster vs Iran’s Deepest Nuclear Facility
Megaprojects Uncovered "Can the US's 30,000-lb GBU-57 bunker buster really penetrate Iran’s most secure nuclear facility—Fordow? This underground megaproject lies over 300 feet beneath reinforced rock and concrete. But America’s most powerful non-nuclear MOP was built to break what others can’t.
"In this in-depth documentary, we compare the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator vs Iran’s deepest underground nuclear site. From B-2 stealth delivery tactics to void-sensing smart fuses, this video explores the advanced technology behind bunker-busting operations—and what happens when massive kinetic force meets hardened engineering. "We break down: – Fordow’s construction, depth, and defenses – How the MOP Bunker Buster works and what makes it different – The risks and Chances of failures of such attempt – Why the US hasn’t used it—and what other nations are developing in response "This Video is about engineering, defense innovation, and the global race for underground supremacy." . . .
. . ."But the biggest question is: Could Iran ever shoot down a B‑2 stealth bomber? In this video, we break down:
➤ The unprecedented precision of the June 22 B‑2 strikes
➤ Why Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan were critical targets
➤ The role of the S‑300, S‑400, and Iran’s air defenses in this escalating crisis
➤ What would happen if a B‑2 were hit — and why it could ignite a larger war
➤ The reality of stealth technology versus modern surface‑to‑air missile threats
Intelligence, Strategy, and the Israeli-Iranian War –
"In either case, the Trump administration should force the conversation rather than simply accepting Israeli judgements about the best way forward. Evaluating the prospects for military options requires good intelligence — and a willingness among policymakers to pay attention."
"States use intelligence to inform their strategic decisions — and to influence their friends. Israel has a long history of passing secret intelligence to the United States in order to win its support, and according to multiple reports, it is trying again. The White House is more likely to join the war against Iran if it accepts Israeli intelligence at face value. But in doing so, it will sacrifice its strategic flexibility and risk losing diplomatic leverage. For a president who cherishes bargaining power, this would be a grave mistake.
"History helps shed light on the relationship between intelligence, strategy, and clandestine diplomacy. In 1967, Israeli officials approached the White House in search of material support in advance of the coming war with Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. To make the case, they shared a pessimistic intelligence analysis of the balance of forces and the danger of fighting a Soviet-backed alliance that surrounded Israel on all sides. President Lyndon B. Johnson had offered rhetorical support, but they wanted much more.
"Although the administration had reasons to avoid entanglement in a Middle Eastern war, Johnson was sufficiently concerned to ask the CIA for its assessment of the looming conflict. The agency predicted that Israel would win decisively and quickly. Armed with this analysis, Johnson parried Israeli requests. “All of our intelligence people are unanimous that if [Egypt] attacks,” he told the Israeli foreign minister, “you will whip hell out of them.”
"The CIA got it right. The famously lopsided war began with an Israeli surprise attack and ended six days later with a comprehensive Israeli victory. Johnson limited military support and avoided U.S. intervention, managing to spare the country from involvement in another war at a time when public opposition to Vietnam was increasing.
"A similar story is playing out today. Israeli officials are making ominous statements about Iran’s nuclear capability. Invoking the Holocaust, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that a comprehensive attack on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure was needed to stave off disaster, “We can’t leave these threats for the next generation,” he said, “if we don’t act now, there won’t be a next generation.” And as was the case in 1967, Israel has reportedly shared intelligence on Iranian nuclear research and its progress towards the bomb.
. . ."
Joshua Rovner is associate professor of international relations at American University, and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. His most recent book is Strategy and Grand Strategy.
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